For Students
Ballet is hard, and seeing students discover this fact is both exciting and painful at the same time. Once serious ballet training begins, a student will spend a lot of time facing the barre, and in most studio settings, this means they’ll be staring at a blank wall for months. So how does one instill…
Syllabus. Curriculum. Dance Teacher Training. These are terms, which have garnered some negative attention in the ballet world as of late. I have witnessed school directors and teachers back away from them as if they were dirty “four letter words.” I believe this is simply because ballet teacher training has rarely been required in our…
I stood staring at the casting sheet. I felt others jostling around me for a better look at the board, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. Where was my name? I had wanted so badly to be in this piece – I had been dancing all summer, I had felt strong in the audition,…
Well, let’s be honest maybe not EVERY student… There are several people that come to mind from my college days that I’m not sure I’d enjoy sharing a barre with. But if you are a student of the arts ergo film, fashion, photography, theater (especially theater after all every actor should dance and every dancer…
Step one: It is going to be okay! There are millions of people on the planet and a very small percentage of them actually become prima ballerinas. Most of them are beautiful, fabulous people, born with phenomenal musicality and naturally spectacular feet. So you’ve come to terms and now you can admit it, you’re burnt…
Recently, I had the opportunity to watch a master at work: I took photos at a Master Class taught by the one and only Edward Ellison, which meant I got to be a fly on the wall and soak up his words of wisdom. Among my favorites? “I want to see your fire.” It was…
Very often, we think of the typical year running from January through December. Around the end of December, many people make “new year resolutions” that typically revolve around some sort of goal; maybe to exercise more, finally clean out a room and have a yard sale, volunteer at a local charity or humanitarian cause, or…
A dance resume is a wonderful tool for a dancer to use throughout their career. Whether applying for summer intensives, scholarships, and college dance programs, or gearing up for company additions and commercial gigs, a dance resume provides casting directors, choreographers and teachers with the necessary information to gauge a dancer’s potential for dance programs…
In a world of arabesques and pirouettes, where do Downward Facing Dogs fit in? While Sun Salutations may not have a place at the barre, with cross-training and questions surrounding it remaining a hot topic in the ballet world, yoga can benefit dancers in a multitude of ways. Pilates is usually touted as being the…
To answer this question, let’s begin with a little experiment: Where ever you are at the moment, take a few steps and find out which leg is your good walking leg and which is your bad walking leg. It should become obvious in very little time that most likely there is no good or bad…
