Sadler’s Wells is already a presenting house, a producer of shows that tour internationally—including the recent U.S. engagements of Kate Prince’s Message in a Bottle, set to the songs of Sting—and a supporter of artists. The theater has 23 associate artists, including the likes of Akram Khan, Sharon Eyal, Oona Doherty, and Crystal Pite, and recently launched the £40,000 Rose International Dance Prize. 

The new mid-scale venue, which also houses six studios, will allow the theater to further expand its work and make a greater diversity of programming from regional and international artists possible. The smaller size of the theater means less financial risk for companies touring to London but leaves plenty of room for artistic risk, according to Sadler’s Wells artistic director and co-CEO Alistair Spalding. “We can be a little more courageous with some of the work,” he says. 

Sadler’s Wells East will also be home to the Rose Choreographic School, a new research initiative through which 13 choreographers will spend two years exploring their practice, with William Forsythe, Trajal Harrell, and Alesandra Seutin on the artistic faculty for the first cohort. “We really want it to be an engine for talent development,” says Spalding. “We want to be developing relationships and building the next generation.”

Fittingly in the year that breaking becomes an Olympic sport, Sadler’s Wells East will also house the U.K.’s first comprehensive hip-hop academy. Academy Breakin’ Convention will offer 16- to 19-year-olds a complete education in the elements of hip hop—breaking, popping, hip-hop social dance, emceeing, deejaying, music production, and graffiti—resulting in a BTEC diploma (equivalent to British A-Levels). It’s led by Jonzi D, artistic director of Sadler’s Wells’ hugely successful annual Breakin’ Convention festival.

Queen Elizabeth Park is in the borough of Newham, in East London, one of the city’s most economically deprived areas. Sadler’s Wells East is neighbor to a number of new outposts of cultural institutions, including V&A East, BBC music studios, and the London College of Fashion, part of the area’s burgeoning regeneration since the London Olympics. There will be a strong focus on community engagement, with a stage in the large foyer for local dance groups to perform on. Spalding hopes to nurture the rich pool of dance talent in East London, an area that has already produced some of the country’s leading hip-hop choreographers, such as Sadler’s Wells associate Botis Seva. The first show announced for the venue’s opening season, Our Mighty Groove, by choreographer Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu, will feature young East Londoners among the cast in an immersive production inspired by the transformative power of the club dance floor.

Originally slated to open in 2022, the construction of Sadler’s Wells East has been beset by delays caused by COVID-19 lockdowns and the rising prices of raw materials due to Brexit and the war in Ukraine. Spalding, for one, can’t wait for the doors to finally be open. “It’s been 10 years since the inception of the project,” he says. “So we’re really, really keen to get going now.” 

The post Sadler’s Wells East Will Be Home to a Choreographic Development Program, Hip-Hop Academy, and More appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Even with these similarities, dance and sports differ in stark ways. Some of the most notable involve funding and compensation. As dance reaches sport status at the most important multisport event in the world, a complicated question looms: Will the Olympics help dancers get paid like athletes?

Olympic athletes often make the bulk of their money through sponsorships, not from winning medals. Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast of all time, was one of the highest-paid female athletes of 2023, making $7 million in sponsorships and $100,000 from her salary and winnings. But you don’t have to be the GOAT or star in commercials to cash in on the buzz: Athletes can commercialize their personal social media presence and get paid to promote products and services to their ballooning fanbase.

The 2024 Olympics could be a turning point for dancers who are accustomed to making a living performing and teaching. “It changes everything,” b-boy Alien Ness told The New York Times in October 2023. “Now it’s an Olympic gold medal. Now it’s a box of Wheaties. Now it’s your own Nike shoe. It’s everything that comes with that.” There’s technically nothing stopping dancers from using their social media followings for #SponCon—plenty do this already. But participating in the Olympics comes with cachet and exposure that can change the size of an athlete’s platform and make them a household name.

Breakers who were well-known in small circles of influence will suddenly have their faces splashed across screens all over the world. The Olympian-to-pop-culture-figure pipeline is real. After snowboarder Chloe Kim made her Olympic debut in 2018, for example, Corn Flakes put her on a special-edition box, Mattel designed a Barbie in her likeness, and Nike featured her in a commercial that premiered during the Oscars. That’s real money. Could super-charismatic breakers like Team USA’s Sunny Choi or Victor Montalvo see a similar boost?

Even televising dance is progress for an industry that, outside of reality competitions like “So You Think You Can Dance,” typically relies on live experiences to generate a profit. For the upcoming Summer Games, NBC will air eight hours of breaking, in addition to streaming medal events on its digital platform Peacock.

Olympic broadcast partnerships are the single greatest source of revenue for the Olympics. The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo brought in more than $3 billion in broadcast revenue, a gargantuan number. If the Olympic breaking broadcasts successfully attract large audiences, that might pave the way for more—and more lucrative—dance onscreen.

Like dancers, athletes have short professional careers, but Olympic success can extend their shelf life: There’s a well-constructed off-ramp for Olympic athletes. The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, for example, provides resources to help prepare athletes for their careers post-Olympics, including tuition assistance for continuing education, professional development, financial literacy, and personal branding programs. That’s in addition to top-tier health insurance, access to sports medicine clinics, and mental health care.

These kinds of perks are major financial boosts for dancers, who are often self-employed and paying hundreds of dollars a month for health insurance. If we’re proudly proclaiming that dancers are athletes, they should be able to reap all the financial benefits that come along with it.

The post Will the Olympics Help Dancers Get Paid Like Athletes? appeared first on Dance Magazine.

“When I was at my worst with my anxiety, even just being in a dance class was quite an anxious thing for me,” Ungar says. “In trying to calm myself down and be present, there was not always much space left for me to remember what I was physically meant to be doing.”

Learning and retaining choreography and corrections can be challenging for any dancer. But certain mental health conditions—like anxiety, depression, ADHD, OCD, and PTSD, to name a few—can make it even more difficult to process and retrieve memories. Understanding how these conditions impact the brain, and finding ways to both address those changes and improve overall memory, can help dancers cope.

How Mental Health Affects Memory

The effects of mental health on memory might differ based on the nature of the mental health condition, according to Paula Thomson, a clinical psychologist who works with dancers and is a professor at California State University, Northridge.

Depression affects the prefrontal cortex of the brain, “which is very involved in memory processing and retrieval,” Thomson says. That can make the mind feel less sharp, as well as disrupt hunger and sleep cycles. Without proper nutrition and rest, a dancer will be even less equipped to function at maximum memory capacity.

Anxiety-related conditions often result in divided focus, which means a person is attending to both the task at hand and their experience of anxiety. “When people have an anxiety disorder, they feel the anxiety so acutely that they can’t trust themselves to learn, because they just are so anxious about the catastrophic ‘what ifs,’ ” Thomson explains.

Some dancers might also dissociate as a coping mechanism for very high anxiety. Dissociation refers to a state of disconnection where an individual feels somehow separated from the present moment or their sense of self. “The memory area of the brain, the hippocampus, kind of shutters on and off because the anxiety dosing is so high,” Thomson says, which can cause memory gaps.

Tools for Dancers

When mental health issues lead to memory troubles, “step one is to recognize and attend to self-care,” Thomson says. If the problem is relatively mild, there are some tactics you can practice on your own. To calm anxiety, Ungar recommends taking a series of steadying breaths, which can help regulate the nervous system, leading to a decrease in the physical symptoms of anxiety. Thomson also suggests starting each day with an internal scan to gauge your physical and mental wellness, so you can then implement self-regulation skills to help you feel more present. Examine things like your anxiety levels, emotions, and appetite.

“If it becomes a persistent problem, seek professional help,” Thomson says. Consider reaching out to a mental health professional with experience working with dancers, creatives, or athletes, who can provide advice and coping strategies tailored to you.

To help improve memory, Kathleen McGuire Gaines—a former dancer and the founder of Minding the Gap, an organization focused on mental health advocacy within the dance industry—recommends using visualization techniques. Mentally running through difficult choreographic sequences and picturing yourself mastering them, for example, can help cement those sequences in your memory. “There’s been a lot of research done on how effective visualization is and the way it connects your mind and your body,” she explains.

Ungar agrees, adding that listening to the music aided her visualization practice. “Just getting used to the music really helped me, when I was in those situations where my anxiety was high and I was more stressed, to rely on memory a bit more,” she says.

McGuire Gaines encourages dancers to ask questions if the choreography isn’t sinking in. Additionally, if you feel comfortable, be honest about your mental health with your teacher or artistic director. They might be able to help provide resources and other support.

Advice for Teachers

Dance educators, who work so closely with their students, are sometimes the first to recognize when a dancer might be struggling with mental health. They are also particularly well-positioned to support them.

Claire Munday, who owns the UK-based RISE Studios and Tappy Toes, recommends checking in with each of your students to gauge their general well-being. “If they’ve had a really awful day, my approach to how I teach them is very different, as opposed to if I know they are a 10 out of 10,” Munday explains.

Kathleen McGuire Gaines, a former dancer and the founder of Minding the Gap, also encourages teachers to keep an eye out for dancers who might be struggling with memory, especially if this is unusual for them.

“That is a sign that a person is experiencing distress,” she says. “They may not want to talk to you, but opening that door of ‘I see you and I noticed­ this and I care about you’ may give them an opportunity to either tell you what’s going on or to seek the support they need.”

The post How Anxiety and Depression Can Affect Your Ability to Learn Choreography appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Caprioli will present four pieces at different venues throughout Venice during the festival, including flat haze (2019), in which her explorative movements unfold under a canopy of threads. Her world premiere—The Bench, based on a textual narrative she wrote in 2020—will be performed in the middle of Venice’s famous Giardini park, where the festival’s visual art pavilions are located.

While Venice’s dance festival occurs annually, the Biennale’s historic visual art festival, which tends to draw a larger crowd, takes place on alternating years. So this summer offers a special opportunity for cross-pollination. “You’re getting this kind of accidental or occasional audience that come to see the art and then realize that there’s dance there,” says McGregor, “and they’re a critically curious audience who are willing to give feedback.”

Biennale attendees will have many dance options to choose from. Dance Magazine cover star Trajal Harrell, whom McGregor selected for the Silver Lion Award, will be presenting two works: his solo Sister or He Buried the Body and the group piece Tambourines. In Find Your Eyes, self-described “choreo-photolist” Benji Reid turns the stage into his photography studio, creating images of the three dance performers in real time. Dance meets technology in Swiss choreographer Nicole Seiler’s Human in a Loop, where the viewers watch AI setting movement for the dancers in real time, and in Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor’s genre-defying De Humani Corporis Fabrica, in which tools drawn from medical diagnostic technology and noninvasive microsurgery show the body from the inside out.

The through line in this diverse collection of dances? “Connection,” says McGregor. “My first sense was about touch. When you feel the weight of a body, you have a different responsibility and care for that body, when it’s not an abstracted thing.” His second layer of connection, of being “boundaryless,” opens the interpersonal to the global. “We’re in a situation politically and in the world where it’s so easy to dehumanize everyone,” he says. “I wanted the festival to concentrate on human stories and remind us what we all share.”

See the full schedule at labiennale.org.

The post “Innovative, Edgy, and Perhaps Difficult to Like”: The 2024 Venice Biennale’s Experimental Dances appeared first on Dance Magazine.

This summer, Odedra will be debuting two such creative exchanges, one on either side of the Atlantic. July 11–12, his 2020 work Samsara, a Journey to the West–inspired duet with Chinese dancer Hu Shenyuan, will make its U.S. debut at New York City’s Lincoln Center. Then, in August, Odedra will premiere Songs of the Bulbul, a new solo collaboratively created on him by Rani Khanam to a musical score by Rushil Ranjan, at Edinburgh International Festival.

Samsara is inspired by the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West and aims to trace the steps we take in search of our higher selves. What led you to explore this topic?

Journey to the West tells the story of a 7th-century monk who went from China to India to retrieve the original Buddhist scriptures. Many monks had already attempted the journey but never made it back. I had this image in my mind that it was the same monk life after life after life trying to get to his destination, and that he saw his footprints in the sand from the times he’d been there before. That’s how the idea for Samsara started.

I was also fascinated by the sense of cultural interdependence in the story. The fact that the monk wants to receive knowledge from a different culture is particularly interesting today as the invisible walls between nations are becoming so high.

Samsara is a duet with Chinese dancer Hu Shenyuan, who’s known for his fluid, mercury-like movement style. Tell us about your relationship.

Hu and I are like one soul split into two. He doesn’t speak any English, and I don’t speak any Chinese, so we communicate through eye contact and silence. We laugh at the same things and know exactly what each other’s thinking. When we’re moving together, we know within a fraction of a second what the other’s going to do. We have this incredible give-and-take.

I read that you have similar life stories, too.
I decided to leave Birmingham at 15 because I felt like the environment around me didn’t match the environment within. Hu also left his hometown at 15 to train at Beijing Dance Academy. At that age, you can only imagine what the world’s going to be like. There’s this sense of not knowing where you’re going, but knowing that you have to do a journey. That is the main similarity between us: Something pulled us on a path that was carved out before we were conscious enough to know what it was. That something was dance.

It’s a busy summer for you: You’re also premiering a new solo, Songs of the Bulbul at Edinburgh International Festival in August.

Bulbul is inspired by the ancient Sufi myth of a Persian bird that gets captured and sings a beautiful, melancholic song. There’s a process of training that the bird has to undergo for the melody to reach its highest level of potency: It’s first put in a large, golden cage near a window, where it sings in reverence of its former freedom. From there, it’s placed in an even smaller cage. Because of the confined environment, it sings more powerfully to be free. The process carries on like this until the final stage when the bird’s eyes are removed, and it sings its final song before leaving the world.

This story reminded me of the life of an artist. Every time I’m onstage, I die a little. I leave a small part of myself with the audience until there’s nothing left to give. For me, this isn’t a negative thing. When the bird in the story dies, it’s freed from its cage as well as the body that contained its powerful soul. Bulbul is about this sense of freedom.

Bulbul is being made on you by Indian kathak dancer, choreographer, and guru Rani Khanam. Why is it important for you to have work created on you as well as choreograph your own works?

I love going into other people’s worlds. I feel like I will be a student for life because I always want to learn. I also love that through Bulbul I’m able to give Rani a chance to work with lighting and dramaturgy, which isn’t so common in India, and to make her world more accessible to people who aren’t normally exposed to it.

Samsara has some very iconic scenic elements, including a stream of sand that pours from above. Can we expect something similar in Bulbul?

It’s become a running joke in the company: “What’s going to fall from above next?” In Bulbul there’ll be a lot of candles and petals, which are very important in Persian poetry. When the bird dies, I want to use light to suggest that it leaves behind an imprint of positivity and energy. I like to immerse myself in worlds that I can get lost in.

The post Aakash Odedra on Cross-Cultural Collaborations and Entering Other Choreographers’ Worlds appeared first on Dance Magazine.

The “comp kid” image has come a long way. Once viewed as over-the-top performers who prioritize tricks and trophies, competition dancers now fill the ranks of top colleges, conservatories, and companies around the globe. Competition studios are training dancers who aren’t just ready to win—they’re ready to work professionally. And the dance world is now making space for them to thrive.

The Bar Keeps Rising

How did competition dance achieve this image upgrade? One factor is that the technique at competitions has skyrocketed over the past 20 years. “Every time someone steps it up, whether it’s one studio or one dancer, a whole shift happens,” Upshaw explains. “You’re only as good as who you’re competing with.” And versatility, always a comp-kid strength, has become even more impressive. To win, today’s comp kids must do more than master the latest trendy moves: They must also study diverse dance styles and perform innovative choreography.

Competitions and conventions have also shifted their priorities, with many now emphasizing their educational aspects instead of focusing on titles and trophies. Choreographer Jessica Lang—who competed as a child and teen before attending Juilliard and launching a professional career that included running her own company and dancing for Twyla Tharp—believes that change has been especially impactful. Lang says education-minded competition directors have helped competition dancers “become more than what the outside world could perceive them to be.”

Studios are also bringing in more guest artists. “Competition dancers are getting direct contact with the professional world from a young age,” says Katie Langan, chair of the division of fine and performing arts at Marymount Manhattan College. Often, that contact comes in the form of successful alumni returning to teach and choreograph.

Competitions and competitive dancers tend to be very active on social media, offering plentiful information about and footage of top performers and schools—which has helped lift the scene’s overall technical and artistic standards. “Students can easily search for a competition, see who won last year, and watch those routines,” says Michele Larkin, co-owner of Larkin Dance Studio in Maplewood, Minnesota. Larkin’s niece Mackenzie Larkin Symanietz, an instructor at Larkin Dance Studio, adds, “We can all look at what other studios are doing, in a way that’s not copying but admiring. What can I take to make our dancers the best they can be?”

And social media visibility has helped those in other parts of the dance world get a handle on what competitive dancers are capable of. “Competitions post winning dances as marketing,” Upshaw says. “That gets people’s names out there.”

Dance Culture Is Changing

Langan admits that when she first became involved with competitions, about a decade ago, she was skeptical. Then she saw the performers. “These students are very, very talented,” she says. “They’re fearless, and their solos are so well-choreographed.” Langan isn’t the only college dance program chair to have had her assumptions about competitive dance challenged. Scholarship programs at competitive events have led to an intertwining of the competition and college realms: More comp kids are pursuing dance majors, and, in turn, more dance departments are welcoming them.

There has also been a shift within those dance departments. “We’ve been breaking down the hierarchy,” Langan says. “No one style is better than any other.” This often involves incorporating cultural and social dances into the curriculum; it also means no longer viewing concert dance, particularly ballet and modern, as the be-all and end-all. Dancers who’ve competed in jazz, contemporary, tap, hip hop, theater dance, and acro may feel more welcome on campus if every aspect of their training is valued.

As far as landing a job, versatility is an asset in today’s dance climate. Even the most classically oriented ballet companies are seeking out well-rounded dancers, a trend that began some decades ago and has only become more pervasive. Madison Brown, now a dancer with American Ballet Theatre, attended competitions frequently as a teen. While she recalls a few teachers wondering why she’d continue competing in contemporary after declaring her intention to become a professional ballet dancer, Brown says she’s grateful for the breadth of her training: “I hear a lot of people saying they wish they’d done other styles growing up.”

Looking to the Future

Just as professional dancers often revisit their childhood studios, many former competitors, now affiliated with big-name shows and institutions, return to teach and judge at events they attended as students. More and more of these comp alums have earned positions of power within the dance world and are able to mentor or even hire members of the next generation.

“When I was doing conventions, I crossed paths with choreographers like Andy Blankenbuehler, who I later ended up working with,” says Upshaw, whose Broadway credits include the ensemble of Hamilton and assistant choreographer for the musical Hell’s Kitchen. Now Upshaw is the one with the influence. As a judge for On Stage America a few years ago, “I loved being behind the table,” she says. “I saw so much potential in these young artists. The confidence they exuded gave me a lot of hope for dance’s future.”

The “Dance Moms” Effect

From 2011 to 2019, the reality TV show “Dance Moms” earned a large viewership with its talented tweens, their domineering teacher, and cast of catty stage parents. Unfortunately, “the show made it seem like competition dance was all about negativity and drama,” says Mackenzie Larkin Symanietz. “It gave competitions a bad reputation.” Now that it’s been several years since the show ended (aside from a recent reunion special), the shadow cast by “Dance Moms” is finally waning.

“It wasn’t representative of the community most of us try to surround ourselves with,” Symanietz says. “You have to have a positive competitive relationship with the people you’re up against. You have to appreciate everything that’s happening onstage.”

Comp Kid Magic

As more and more competition dancers enter higher education and the professional world, directors and choreographers are seeing firsthand everything they have to offer:

Confidence onstage: “Competitions give you stage experience,” says choreographer Jessica Lang. Broadway dancer Kamille Upshaw agrees: “Competing every weekend made me comfortable in front of the audience. I knew how to manage my nerves. I made mistakes onstage and learned how to recover. Those tools are so important.”

Strength and stamina: “As a professional, you might be dancing all day, with only a short break for lunch,” Madison Brown says. “For me, that was like a convention workshop day! When I joined the ABT Studio Company, I was less overwhelmed, because I’d been exposed to that workload at a young age.”

Quick thinking: As a result of their experiences in fast-paced convention environments, “Competition dancers are capable of learning a lot of material very fast,” says Lang. “They’re musical and hyper-rhythmic.”

The post Shifting the Comp Kid Stigma appeared first on Dance Magazine.

At dance competitions, participants from the same studio often end up not just performing alongside but also competing against each other in solos and group routines—all within the same weekend. The situation can be stressful, confusing, and awkward, particularly for younger dancers. But it doesn’t have to result in comparisons and tears.

When Comparison Goes Too Far

Peer-to-peer comparison is natural, especially for dancers in their tweens and teens, according to Dr. Chelsea Pierotti, a former professional dancer and a professor of sports psychology at University of Colorado Boulder. But it can become toxic when heightened by the stresses of a competition weekend. Those pressures often “replace all the fun of competing with anxiety,” Pierotti says. Demanding that soloists beat out their competition can affect the whole studio’s performance. “You can’t expect cohesion and unity in your group numbers at competition if the same dancers feel pitted against each other as soloists,” Pierotti explains.

Dancers: Focus on the Positive—and Yourself

Michelle Leagans, competition choreographer, owner of Power­ Intensives, and author of the new dance journal Hey Dancers…Let’s Talk About It!—encourages dancers to be the type of teammate they’d want to have. “If you’re able to cheer and be happy for your friends, then they’ll want to do the same for you,” she says. “Eventually, the environment becomes more about friendship and encouragement than competition.”

Similarly, if conversations with peers begin to turn negative or mean, Pierotti recommends trying to shift to other topics. “It can be hard socially when you’re the only one not gossiping and ranking, but that distracts you from doing your own personal best,” she says. “Remember, everyone gets their own experience onstage; one dancer’s success is not another dancer’s failure.”

Leagans also suggests that dancers keep track of their own personal goals and successes from week to week, either with their teacher or through journaling. “Smoothing out your transitions, or nailing a turn sequence you’ve been working on, is a win that’s just as worthy of celebrating as first place,” she says. “It demonstrates that the only dancer you’re truly competing against is yourself.”

Teachers: Set the Standard

Ultimately, teachers are responsible for creating a positive competition culture within their team. Pierotti encourages them to be extra-conscious of favoritism around their dancers in class and rehearsal. “Everyone should be getting the same level of attention and critiques, which sets the tone that everybody is working hard and earning their success,” she explains.

Leagans recommends fostering studio friendships that go beyond competing, which will help teammates support each other even when the stakes are high. “I’ll use team games, big/little sibling pairings, holiday parties, and spirit-week dress-ups—anything fun that allows dancers to just enjoy being together,” she says.

And remind dancers that competing is not the only reason they dance. “Explain to your students that their work ethic and determination to improve in class is far more significant than what three judges think of them onstage on one particular day,” Leagans says.

The post How to Handle Competing Against Your Studio Teammates appeared first on Dance Magazine.

You are doing so much these days. How, at this point in your career, do you choose which projects to take on?

First and foremost, does the project get me excited? Do I like the music or the people I’d be working with? Is it a medium I haven’t worked in before? The real problem is that I’m down for all of it. A lot of times I just do what comes up first, because I really love what I do.

For Awakening, the fabulous [producer/director] Baz Halpin is my good friend, and he invited me to rework the “Earth Section” of the show. When I saw the team that had already been assembled, I immediately said yes.

What was your approach to this big Vegas spectacle?

I watched the show before I went into rehearsal, and saw these humans in costumes that looked like trees. I thought it would be cool to create more of a structure and rework the staging so they could become a root system. I watched a lot of videos on YouTube about how trees move in the wind, and researched what trees do in both storms and sunlight so that I could picture shapes in my head. Then I tried to make a language of movement that matched. For example, a root system through the soil, or a branch shaking in the thunder—those analogies were really helpful. The dancers are a team of krumpers, lockers, and flexers who are hypermobile in their joints, so it was really cool to work with them and bring the vision to life.

How do you create a distinctive movement vision/vocabulary for each project you do?

A huge part of my job is researching and understanding the world I’m trying to create. A lot of time and effort goes into that. Is it a live performance? Is it televised? Is it a film? Is it in an intimate space? Is it vast? What are they wearing? It’s the who, what, where, when, and why. I have to be able to answer those questions before I create. If I can do that, I understand the lane we are in, and the work ends up being unique and the best it can be.

As an active member of the Choreographers Guild, what are your thoughts on the progress the group has made so far? And what are the most pressing issues that even well-established choreographers like yourself continue to face in the entertainment world?

There have been some big steps forward in terms of visibility. What comes along with that is the ability to have bigger meetings. We can go to SAG, or the press, or a studio and say, “Hey, this has come up for our community—are you willing to talk about it?” But there are many protections we still need—health, pension, residuals. We are at the start of the climb now that we are unified.

The post Choreographer Mandy Moore Brings Her Creative Vision to Vegas appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Comings & Goings

Amy Cassello has been named artistic director of Brooklyn Academy of Music after serving in the role on an interim basis since last fall.

Theresa Buchheister will step down as artistic director of New York City’s The Brick at the end of August.

Maya Erhardt has been appointed executive director of Richmond Ballet, effective July 1.

Stéphane Labbé has been named executive director of Ballets Jazz Montréal, beginning July 29.

Aaron Myers has been appointed executive director of Boston Dance Alliance, after serving in the role in an interim capacity.

Jenny Novac has been named interim executive director of Dorrance Dance.

Lissa Twomey will step down as executive director of The Australian Ballet.

At English National Ballet, beginning with the new season, Gareth Haw has been promoted to principal; Precious Adams, Ivana Bueno, Lorenzo Trossello, and Erik Woolhouse to first soloist; Rentaro Nakaaki, Emily Suzuki, and Francesca Velicu to soloist; and Alice Bellini, Georgia Bould, Minju Kang, Eric Snyder, Angela Wood, and Rhys Antoni Yeomans to junior soloist. Lead principal Erina Takahashi adds the position of répétiteur.

At the National Ballet of Canada, Tirion Law has been promoted to principal, Hannah Galway to first soloist, Emerson Dayton, Keaton Leier, and Isaac Wright to second soloist. First soloist Jordana Daumec has retired.

Harrison James will perform as a principal at both National Ballet of Canada and San Francisco Ballet for the 2024–25 season.

San Francisco Ballet principal Isaac Hernández has departed the company.

Hope Boykin, mayfield brooks, Kayla Hamilton, Soomi Kim, Baba Oludaré, and Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre are among Brooklyn Academy of Music’s 2024 resident artists.

Vidya Patel has been named artist in residence of the Philharmonia Orchestra for the 2024–25 season.

Awards & Honors

Chief Manny (Brandon Calhoun), Brendan Fernandes, Darrell Jones, Vershawn Sanders-Ward, and Robyn Mineko Williams are among the inaugural recipients of the Walder Foundation’s Platform Awards, each of which includes a $200,000 unrestricted grant and professional development opportunities.

Justin Peck won the 2024 Tony Award for Best Choreography for Illinoise. Other winners included The Outsiders for Best Musical and Merrily We Roll Along for Best Revival of a Musical.

Justin Peck received the 2024 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography for Illinoise at Park Avenue Armory.

Winners at the UK’s National Dance Awards included Iain Webb (Outstanding Achievement), William Bracewell (Best Male Dancer), Fumi Kaneko (Best Female Dancer), Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Outstanding Company), ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company (Best Midscale Company), Drew McOnie Company (Best Independent Company), William Forsythe (Best Classical Choreography, for The Barre Project by Tiler Peck and Friends), Kyle Abraham (Best Modern Choreography, for Are you in Your Feelings? at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater), Brandon Lawrence (Outstanding Male Classical Performance, for Liebestod at Birmingham Royal Ballet), Tiler Peck (Outstanding Female Classical Performance, for Turn It Out by Tiler Peck and Friends), Paris Fitzpatrick (Outstanding Male Modern Performance, for Romeo + Juliet with New Adventures), Jemima Brown (Outstanding Female Modern Performance, for Surge with Tom Dale Company), Sae Maeda (Emerging Artist), Carlos Acosta (Outstanding Creative Contribution, for the concept of Black Sabbath – The Ballet), York Dance Project (Best Dance Film, for Sea of Troubles), and Javier De Frutos (Best Short Dance Film, for Whoever You Are).

Wayne McGregor, CBE, was named a Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the King’s Birthday Honours.

Choreographers Mandy Moore, Kenny Ortega, Prem Rakshith, and Woo-Ping Yuen have been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts’ 2024–25 Dance Research Fellows are Marina Harss, Jordan Demetrius Lloyd, Alessandra Nicifero, Marcelline Mandeng Nken, Brian Seibert, and Maria Vinogradova.

Jenna Savella received National Ballet of Canada’s 2023/24 David Tory Award, which includes a $3,500 prize. Monika Haczkiewicz and David Preciado received the Patron Award of Merit, which includes a $1,500 prize.

Derek Brockington was named to Crain’s New York Business’ “20 in Their 20s 2024” list.

New Funding Opportunity

The initial application period for Dance/USA Fellowships to Artists, which will award $31,000 unrestricted grants to at least 25 individual artists as well as additional resources, is open until Thursday, August 15. More information here.

The post News of Note: What You Might Have Missed in June 2024 appeared first on Dance Magazine.

It’s all in pursuit of one goal: to win gold this summer, during the first time in history that the Olympic Games will feature a breaking competition.

Thirty-two dancers total—16 b-boys and 16 b-girls—will compete battle-style in Paris’ Place de la Concorde to sold-out crowds on August 9 and 10. Qualifying competitions have been going on since 2022, with the final two happening just this May and June. Choi and b-boy Victor Montalvo were the first to qualify for the U.S. breaking team. Last week, at the culmination of the qualifier series, another four dancers—Vicki “La Vix” Chang, Logan “Logistx” Edra, Jeffrey “Jeffro”­ Louis, and Miguel Angel Rosario Jr., aka “B-boy Gravity”—competed for the last two potential U.S. spots (one for a b-boy and one for a b-girl), with Edra and Louis ultimately earning them. 

The Olympic Games are by no means the first worldwide breaking event. But they do mark the first time that a breaking competition is being put on in a big way for the general public, not just the breaking community itself. 

That’s drawn its fair share of side-eye. Some people unfamiliar with breaking have questioned the idea of it being classified as a “sport.” And some in the breaking community worry that taking part in the Olympics will water down the culture. Dancers taking part, however, see it differently. “We’re always going to have our underground events, our local events for the community,” says Chang. “But this way, we can also show what we do to people who otherwise might not even know that it exists.” 

Or, as Edra puts it, “Sometimes we are seen more and sometimes we are seen less—it doesn’t change the way we are representing. It just adds to the type of motivation.”

Balancing Regimented Scoring and Artistic Freedom

Of course, some elements of a traditional battle have been tweaked in its translation for the Olympic stage. Most notable is the more regimented scoring. “In cultural breaking events, it’s based off of opinion—it’s super-subjective,” says Montalvo. But at Olympic competitions and qualifiers, there’s a structured points system. That rewards a slightly different strategy, Montalvo believes: “You have to be more explosive from beginning to end, getting straight to the point, doing big moves on the beat, ending off with a big freeze. And if you’re too complex, really being super-creative, I feel like you don’t get too far.” Because judges are ticking off particular boxes to tally the score, dancers need to be well-rounded, whereas, Louis says, in other competitions a breaker could just do one thing really well and win with that. 

Po Chun Chen, aka “Bojin,” head of the breaking division of the World DanceSport Federation (the organization helping to oversee breaking at the Olympics), acknowledges that it’s been a challenge to balance the sport and the culture in a dance form started by oppressed people looking for a way to freely express themselves. “We cannot lose the original soul of breaking, which is the freedom,” he says. One way in which the WDSF is attempting to honor the hip-hop roots of breaking at the Olympics is by starting out the competition with the judges showing off their own skills in a cypher as a way of celebrating the culture. Though the practice would be unthinkable in figure skating or gymnastics, “this is our culture,” says Chen. 

New Benefits and Growing Pains

Despite any debates over authenticity, one thing is clear: The Olympics are creating a high-performance support system for top-ranking breakers. The highest scorers from qualifying competitions are now part of Team USA, and have been flown to the Olympic facility in Colorado Springs a handful of times for training camps. They’ve been given strength and conditioning coaches, sports psychologists, dietitians, and health-care coverage. Some have also received grants, like the one from the Women’s Sports Foundation that Chang has used to rent studio space so she doesn’t have to dance outside. “There’s a lot of different resources that we, as breakers, have never seen before,” says Louis. 

That said, because breaking is brand-new to the Olympics, the infrastructure and monetary support lags far behind more established sports like rowing or swimming. “They’re being treated like the world’s greatest athletes. We’re being treated more like very talented dancers. That’s the disconnect right now,” says Ivan “Flipz” Velez, who will be the judge repre­senting North America in Paris. There’s reportedly been some scrambling involved as WDSF figures out the details of breaking becoming an Olympic sport. Dancers say they had to stay flexible and adapt quickly to changes as organizers decided exactly what the judging system would look like, how music would be handled, and what type of floor would be used. 

A Transformative Time

Many of breaking’s Olympic hopefuls have already seen their lives change dramatically. Montalvo shares that he’s had a slew of press requests and has sponsorship deals from major brands like Red Bull, Delta, Comcast, Jack in the Box, and Athletic Brewing. “There’s a lot of media that wants to know what breaking is all about,” he says. “This has been the busiest year of my life.” 

Choi says that juggling appearances and events along with corporate partnerships and media interviews has actually made it tricky to prepare the way she wants to. “It’s been really amazing but also challenging, because I know I need to be focusing on training for the Olympics,” she says. 

Even dancers who didn’t know whether they would qualify until June upended their lives for the possibility. Chang says she stopped working as a restoration ecologist to pursue breaking as a career. She now dances with her crew two to three hours a day, five days a week; cross-trains for an hour four days a week; does biweekly sessions with a sports therapist; and joins regional competitions for practice on some weekends. In addition to physical prep, Louis shares that he’s been studying his past competitions to analyze his strengths and weaknesses, dissecting videos of competitors, and watching footage from the 1980s to diversify his arsenal of movements.

The effort is worth it because these dancers’ dreams for the Olympics are about more than medals. Montalvo hopes the coverage will get a younger generation in the U.S. interested in breaking. Louis hopes it leads to more professional opportunities for breakers to make a living. And Velez hopes the Olympic spotlight gives breaking the same level of prestige as ballet.

“We’re flying as well, with the double air flares and multiple 1990s—and sometimes nobody trains us,” says Velez. “I want there to be this worldwide awakening to accept us as artists, not as ‘underground,’ these terms that suppress us and keep us from being seen in our biggest light. ’Cause this is the biggest light, the biggest stage we’re going to be on.”

A Longtime Dream Fulfilled

Insiders say that Choi, the first American b-girl to qualify for the Olympics, is a front-runner to medal at the Games. But for her, just the opportunity to compete marks a full-circle moment: When she was young, Choi was a serious, Olympic-track gymnast. 

“I used to draw pictures of me competing at the Olympics as a child,” she says. “To have this opportunity come back to me and to see it through, it’s really fulfilling and special. Little Sunny would be so proud of me.”

Breaking’s Olympic Future

Unfortunately, it’s already been announced that there will be no breaking competition at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. “Come on, it was born in this country! How is it not going to come back to its motherland?” asks Velez. But a successful run in Paris could pave the way for the sport’s return at the Brisbane Olympics in 2032. 

“We’re using the example of baseball as our guide,” says Chen, head of the breaking division of the World DanceSport Federation. Baseball was left out of the Paris Games, but it will be back in the 2028 Olympics. 

The post Breaking New Ground: For the First Time in History, Dancers Are Competing at the Olympics appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Street-Shoe Style

Since most dance shoes aren’t particularly supportive, Cavaleri says wearing good shoes outside of the studio is essential. “One way to tell if a shoe is supportive is if it doesn’t have a lot of give when you try to bend or twist it,” she says. “With less bend, the shoe acts like a brace for your foot, and your little stabilizer muscles don’t have to work as hard while walking.” And a more rigid shoe gives the toe joints a break from all the motion required of them while dancing. 

Nelson also recommends lace-up rather than slip-on shoes. “This secures the shoe around your foot, so the two move as one,” Nelson says. “As your foot swells throughout the day, you can adjust the shoe to fit comfortably, which prevents bunions, blisters, plantar fasciitis, and calluses.”

Studio-Shoe Safety

There isn’t much we can do about how unsupportive most dance shoes are. (You can’t put orthotics in a ballet slipper.) Still, there are a few choices we can make that will help our feet stay healthy. Cavaleri advises crossing pointe shoe elastics at your ankle when you sew them for added support, for example. 

For musical theater, Cavaleri says boots provide more support than standard heels. “It’s almost like a built-in ankle sleeve,” she says. Wearing boots constantly, though, can have downsides. “It’s been published that high tops weaken ankle muscles,” Novella warns. “Anything that crosses the joint weakens the muscles at the joint.” If a show or role has you in boots for long stretches, make sure you’re cross-training and diversifying your footwear in class. 

Pre-Class Care

To warm up and prepare your feet for class, Cavaleri recommends what she calls “toe yoga.” “Set your foot flat on the ground and lift your big toe up,” she says. “Then, set the big toe down and lift your four little toes up. Repeat that motion 10 to 15 times.” She also encourages winging and sickling the ankles with a resistance band 10 to 20 times. 

Though warm-ups are important, Novella recommends tailoring them to your activity levels each day. “It’s tough for me to say, ‘Do exercises, then class, then rehearsal, then a performance,’ ” he says. “Those poor muscles only have a certain amount of stamina. You’re walking a tightrope. It’s good to be under the wing of a PT who has knowledge of that balance.” 

Pain Points

Blisters, corns, ingrown toenails: They may seem like occupational hazards for dancers, but there are ways to make them less miserable. 

If you’re prone to corns, Novella says to avoid solutions or corn pads that contain salicylic acid. “Using callus-dissolving solutions can cause really bad blisters, raw skin, and more pain than before,” he says. “Don’t put gel pads over corns. Instead, put things around the perimeter of the corn, like lambswool or moleskin, to ease the pressure on it.”

In a tragic turn of events for me, Novella says to avoid getting pedicures. “Cut your own nails,” he says. “If someone else cuts them too short, you’re looking at five months of ingrown toenails.” Beyond that, you might lose calluses that are essential for dancing. 

To prevent ingrown toenails, Novella says to cut the nails at the skin corner (not short of the skin corner) and round them with a nail file, while keeping the central part of the nail close to the quick. “Upkeep with an emery board on a 7-to-10-day interval,” he says. 

At the end of the day, if something about your feet feels off, Cavaleri recommends seeing a doctor, physical therapist, or athletic trainer right away. “We’re so used to our feet getting beat up that we let injuries linger, and an injury that would have lasted six weeks can turn into a six-month problem,” she says.


To see these tips in action, head over to Dance Magazine’s YouTube channel.

The post Dancer Diary: How to Protect Your Feet, Both In and Out of the Studio appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Play the Long Game

When choosing acro elements in a routine, choreographers should consider not only the dancers’ comfort level with the material, but also the physical demands it will add to performing across an entire comp season. “Dance floors—especially competition stages—aren’t built for hard-core tumbling,” explains Meghan Sanett, a judge and faculty member with Tremaine Dance Conventions who choreographs competition routines across the country. “Over time that can really affect a dancer’s body, and ultimately their career longevity.”

If the choreography does include acrobatic elements, dancers need to train for them consistently. Ashley Thompson, competition director at Angelic Academy of Dance in Bonita Springs, Florida, requires dancers who tumble to attend acro class—which has a big focus on conditioning—weekly. “We mostly push for cleanliness in the tricks our dancers can already do, like aerials and front aerials, and only allow a dancer to attempt something new if they’ve developed the proper strength for it,” she says. “I never want a dancer to feel more nervous than they should be because their solo has certain tricks in it.”

Similarly, Krystal Aguilar, an instructor at both Danielle Peyton Dance Company in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, and Sublime Dance Company in Guttenberg, New Jersey, reviews routines with the studio owners to help ensure the dancers’ safety. “Collaboration is key,” she says. “I’m always checking in for feedback on students’ progress with skills in their other classes.”

Make It Seamless

According to Sanett, the transitions into and out of acro moments are crucial parts of the artistic whole. “When you’re watching a dancer performing very stylized movement, and then suddenly they go into a huge hurdle and an aerial, it can totally throw off the vibe of the whole number,” she says. “Finding creative preparations and landings is the easiest way to integrate acro into the rest of your choreography.”

Don’t Overdo It

Will judges deduct points for routines that are too “trick-y”? Not necessarily, according to Aguilar, who also judges competitions. “But I would be more forgiving if, let’s say, a dancer puts their hand down on one aerial, versus someone with a solo full of tricks that aren’t executed well or detract from the performance aspect,” she says.

Thompson will often choreograph an entire number before going back and adding in acro components. “The dancers learn and practice a wide variety of tricks, but that doesn’t mean we need to include them all in every number,” Thompson says. “If there’s a big musical cue, I may plan for an acro moment, but otherwise I only like to sprinkle in tricks when there’s a part in the storyline that really needs something extra.”

Let the Dancing Take Center Stage

Remember that acrobatic elements rarely make a significant difference in a routine’s score—and that, ultimately, the score is less important than artistic integrity. “I feel like sometimes teachers overemphasize the ‘winning’ aspect of competing, and dancers these days think they need all these crazy tricks to win,” Sanett says. “I really appreciate all the hard work dancers put into learning difficult tricks, but I’d rather see movement quality, musicality, and emotion showcased onstage.”

The post How to Thoughtfully Incorporate Acrobatics Into Competition Routines appeared first on Dance Magazine.

How did you discover that you loved pole dancing?

I don’t even remember how I found out about pole. I think I had some friends who did it. Having a background in Irish dance, there’s not a lot of opportunities to connect with your body. I’m someone who’s been through a lot with my body in terms of being a trans person, so I was like, This seems like something that will be really good for reconnecting with my body in a positive way. I also wanted to work on my upper body strength—Irish dancing is all in the legs.

Why is it that Irish dancing doesn’t allow you that connection to your body and pole dancing does?

Irish dancing does bring me so much joy. But you’re covered from head to toe, you don’t show any skin. The more you advance in pole, the less clothes you have to wear, because you need your body to grip the pole. I struggled with that at first. I would always wear a crop top, and that made me really dysphoric because it reminded me that I had breasts and that they shouldn’t be there. At my first showcase at the studio, I did it just with trans tape and pole undies. I was so nervous. I was like, All these people in the audience know that I’ve got boobs. Then I performed and it was just so joyful. I just felt like I was like every other guy.

I got gender-affirming surgery in September, and did my first performance topless without any tape early this year. It was truly one of the happiest moments of my life. I was like, I am dancing with my dream chest on display, in front of all these people. That’s not something I could do in Irish dancing, to have my scars on show and to be who I am and have everyone there cheering me on as a trans-masc person.

How has your pole dancing community welcomed and helped you?

I was a bit nervous when I first went because I’m quite often the only trans person in the room. I remember having a chat with one of the owners and saying that in the past I hadn’t always felt included in spaces. She was like, “If anyone says anything negative to you, tell me, because we will not allow that.” That made me feel so incredibly supported and safe.

In terms of accessing surgery, I needed it physically and mentally. Physically, the damage to my body from binding had hit a level where I needed surgery. I had been binding for six years and it was not good. And mentally, my chest dysphoria has always been really debilitating, and it was really affecting me. It was halting my progression in pole and my performance in Irish—I wouldn’t practice because I couldn’t deal with seeing my chest.

I saw a surgeon and got a date, and it was a lot sooner than I was expecting and I just didn’t have the money. I was panicking and I brought it up at the studio to some of my friends, and one of the owners overheard. She called me over and was like, “When do you need the money? Why don’t we have our next showcase be a fundraiser for your top surgery?” I had so many emotions. I had to take time to think about it because I was so shocked.

The showcases that we do are called “Category Is,” and the category gets decided a week or two out from the show. They named it “Category Is: Trans Pride,” and you had to dress in the colors of the trans flag. I felt so incredibly held by this community and this dance studio.

What has the response been to sharing your journey with pole dancing?

I struggled when I first started pole, thinking, Is it weird if I do pole as a trans guy? Are people gonna judge me? But representation is so important. Hopefully, there are some femme trans guys out there who can see me performing or see me at a competition, or see me online. And if they want to pole dance, or they want to wear eight-inch heels, or they want to wear makeup, or they want to grow their hair, they can do that, because they can see, Oh, he’s doing it, and he’s celebrated, and he’s accepted.

The post How Trans Irish Dancer Hayden Moon Found a New Home in Pole Dancing appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Company: Independent artist managed by Shannelle “Tali” Fergus

Age: 26

Hometown: Birmingham, England

Training: Urdang Academy

Origin story: “I was quite an athletic kid,” says West, who started with gymnastics and martial arts. “I watched all of the Jackie Chan films.” After b-boy Jovan Rumble came to West’s high school to guest-teach a Boys Dancing class, “he invited me to train with his crew, called Lab Rats, and, from there, I just fell in love with the energy of dancing itself.”

Turning point: In 2017, West had just booked Thriller Live, a long-running Michael Jackson revue on the West End. “I was excited about that, but my spirit wasn’t in it—it wasn’t my lane, it wasn’t my realm.” Without knowing that West was already committed to Thriller, Fergus saw West at an audition to perform with pop group Years & Years. “I was a huge fan of Tali’s when I came to London,” says West. “I watched all of her videos. I was obsessed, like, ‘Who is this human?’ ” Now West’s mentor and manager, she helped him get out of the Thriller contract so that he could join the Years & Years tour. “It was wild—a complete shift in my trajectory,” adds West. “Everything changed.”

Pressure cooker: Filming Jungle’s 50-minute visual album Volcano was a whirlwind. “We rehearsed for four or five days, got two days off, and then we shot 14 films in two days. But I love the thrill of being thrown into the deep end like that.”

West on Volcano choreographer Shay Latukolan: “When someone’s performing movement that genuinely feels good to do, it transcends the screen and the viewer gets to secondhand-feel that way, too. That’s the nature of Shay’s choreography.”

What his mentor sees: “I genuinely think that Will is a once-in-a-generation talent. He has a way of reaching past himself to people,” says Fergus. “That is true of him as a performer and a creative, but also as a human—and I think if he wasn’t inclined that way as a human it wouldn’t read in quite the same way.”

Finding his voice: Inspired in part by meeting Jungle’s J Lloyd and Volcano singer Lydia Kitto, West shares that “I’m looking for a vocal coach. The fact that I’m working on music is no secret.”

Wish list: West “would drop everything to work with some people” across the performing arts spectrum. “If you see Tyler, the Creator on the street, tell him I’m coming. I’d love to work with him—and with FKA twigs. Kojey Radical is incredible. Oh, and Daniel Caesar: That’s my guy. I listen to his music, like, every day. Jordan Ward is amazing. I want to be in a movie with Zendaya. LaKeith Stanfield.”

The post Get to Know Commercial Dancer Will West, a “Once-in-a-Generation-Talent” appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Dream a Little Bigger

PARIS  Hofesh Shechter plunges into the subconscious with Theatre of Dreams. The choreographer’s latest evening-length unearths the fantasies and emotions that permeate both dreams and the waking mind. Performed by Hofesh Shechter Company and a small band of live musicians, the new work premieres in Paris at Théâtre de la Ville June 27–July 17 ahead of a European tour this fall. hofesh.co.uk.

Ballet Is Black

WASHINGTON, DC  Following its weeklong celebration of Black ballet dancers in 2022, Kennedy Center hosts Pathways to Performance: Exercises in Reframing the Narrative for a two-show engagement showcasing works by Black choreographers, danced by Black artists. Guest curated by Theresa Ruth Howard (who will bring Pathways to Jacob’s Pillow the following weekend), the program includes the first full staging of a recent work by Portia Adams and a premiere from Meredith Rainey alongside new commissions by Jennifer Archibald and Kiyon Ross, the latter a pas de deux created for Ashton Edwards and Zsilas Michael Hughes. Donald Byrd’s From Other Suns, which was commissioned for the 2022 edition of the program, also returns. July 2–3. kennedy-center.org.

Dorrance Dances

NEW YORK CITY  Michelle Dorrance and her dream team of percussive dance collaborators return to The Joyce Theater with a brand-new work. July 16–21. joyce.org.

Who’s On Pointe?

SAN FRANCISCO  Ballet22 (one of our 2022 “25 to Watch”) brings works by Houston Thomas, William Forsythe, and Christian Denice, and an excerpt from Giselle—all danced by men, mxn, and nonbinary dancers on pointe—to ODC Theater for its summer season. Aug. 9–11. ballet22.com.

The post 4 Summer Performances Happening Outside the Festival Umbrella appeared first on Dance Magazine.

American Dance Festival

DURHAM, NC  Following performances by Ballet Hispánico, Hung Dance, Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, Baye & Asa, Doug Varone and Dancers, Kayla Farrish, and Les Ballet Afrik in June, American Dance Festival bookends a busy July with Netta Yerushalmy’s festival debut (MOVEMENT, July 2) and Paul Taylor Dance Company in a trio of its founder’s classics (July 26–27). In between are ADF-commissioned premieres from Dom-Sebastian Alexis, Iyun Ashani Harrison, Gavin Stewart and Vanessa Owen, Stacy Wolfson and Curtis Eller, Milka Djordjevich, and ShaLeigh Dance Works; the ADF debut of Shay Kuebler’s Radical System Art; Urban Bush Women in Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s SCAT!… The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar; and more. Plus, the festival continues to expand beyond the summer, with Chris Yon & Taryn Griggs presenting YOGGS FAMILY NEWSLETTER, 2014-present (at the Nasher Museum of Art on Sept. 12); and the premiere of Carl Flink’s Battleground, for Black Label Movement (Oct. 11–13). americandancefestival.org.

Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival

BECKET, MA  Among the multitude of dance artists making the pilgrimage to Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival this summer will be The Royal Ballet, which takes over both the indoor and outdoor stages for its weeklong Pillow debut—and with a new work by Wayne McGregor among its offer­ings. Camille A. Brown & Dancers also premieres I AM, inspired by an episode of “Lovecraft Country.” Multi-day engagements mark the Pillow debuts of Social Tango Project, M.A.D.D. Rhythms, MoBBallet’s Pathways to Performance, Dancers of Damelahamid, and Gibney Company, while other intriguing programs from the likes of Shawn L. Stevens and Friends, Miguel Gutierrez, Annie Hanauer, Kankouran West African Dance Company, DaEun Jung, and Princess Lockerooo appear for just one evening—plus many more performances and events across the nine-week extravaganza. June 26–Aug. 25. jacobspillow.org.

Bates Dance Festival

LEWISTON, ME  Aretha Aoki and Ryan MacDonald kick off the performance series at Bates Dance Festival with the premiere of IzumonookunI, inspired by the founder of kabuki and featuring the couple’s 7-year-old daughter. Sean Dorsey Dance returns to Bates to give the local premiere of The Lost Art of Dreaming, and Shamel Pitts’ TRIBE offers BLACK HOLE — Trilogy and Triathlon. New this summer is an invitational dance battle featuring breaking, hip-hop, and house dancers, moderated by Shakia “The Key” Barron and Duane Lee Holland Jr. July 12–Aug. 2. batesdancefestival.org.

Vail Dance Festival

VAIL, CO  The always-starry Vail Dance Festival boasts eye-catching debuts among its eclectic offerings this summer, including artist in residence Sara Mearns in Martha Graham’s Clytemnestra, American Ballet Theatre stars Catherine Hurlin and Aran Bell in Jerome Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun, and New York City Ballet’s Roman Mejia’s first Apollo outing. Michelle Dorrance puts on a full evening celebrating the history and progression of tap dance (July 31), while the Colorado Dances program (Aug. 4) showcases Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, Colorado Ballet, and DanceAspen. It all culminates in the NOW: Premieres program Aug. 5, with new works by Kyle Abraham, Dorrance, Lauren Lovette, Justin Peck, Tiler Peck, artist in residence Jamar Roberts, and Pam Tanowitz. July 26–Aug. 5. vaildance.org.

Edinburgh International Festival

EDINBURGH  The Scottish capital bursts at the seams every August, but a trio of dance gems can be found at the Edinburgh International Festival this year. Brazilian troupe Grupo Corpo presents two UK premieres, Gil Refazendo and Gira, Aug. 5–7. Aakash Odedra debuts a new solo, Songs of the Bulbul, exploring a Sufi myth about a captured bulbul (a songbird that symbolizes the pursuit of religious enlightenment in Sufism), developed in collaboration with Rani Khanam, Aug. 9–11. And Kidd Pivot brings Assembly Hall, Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young’s latest dance theater work set at the annual general meeting of a group of medieval reenactors where the lines between Arthurian myth and reality blur, Aug. 22–24. eif.co.uk.

The post Summer Dance Festival Season Hits Full Swing appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Fry, who left Ballet West in 2021 to focus on her luxury wedding cake business, Ballerina Baker, developed this cookie recipe to fill that gap. She frequently makes them at home with her two daughters, ages 1 and 3, and sends them to the theater with her husband, Ballet West principal Adrian Fry, during show weeks. “If you need that boost of energy before you go out onstage, these are a really good option,” she adds.

From Stage to Bakery

Long before Ballerina Baker was born in 2017, Fry was known at Ballet West for bringing baked goods to the studio for her colleagues to try. “Baking was always my therapy,” she says. “My way to destress from the high anxiety of the dance world.” What started as a way to monetize the work she was already doing—making wedding cakes for her friends, and friends of friends—is now a full-fledged business.

Fry only takes on 12 cakes a year—what she calls “edible works of art”—and flies them to weddings all over the country in a specialized box called a CakeSafe. This year she’s tackling her first two international projects, in Canada and Italy. “I feel like ballet is very similar to baking, where you are trying to achieve perfection, but you still have a lot of artistic freedom and voice within the boundaries of what is set for you,” she says. “I love that about both baking and ballet.”

Fry’s mentor, Maggie Austin, is a former Joffrey Ballet dancer who has made cakes for celebrities, royal weddings, President Obama’s White House Christmas party, and others. “She took me under her wing, and I started studying a lot from her on more intricate sugar work, sugar flowers, and just the artistry of cake decorating,” says Fry. “My brand now is very different from the brand when I started. It’s much more luxury-focused.”

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted grass-fed butter, ghee, or dairy-free alternative (“It doesn’t have to be grass-fed,” says Fry, “but it’s a bit more pure and has a higher unsaturated-fat content.” If taking the dairy-free route, Fry recommends Miyoko’s European-Style Plant Milk Butter.)
• 1/2 cup coconut-palm sugar (Fry prefers this white-sugar alternative—also called coconut sugar—because it’s less refined. She compares its molasses-forward, nutty flavor to that of brown sugar.)
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups almond flour
• 1/2 cup arrowroot starch
• 1/4 tsp coarse sea salt, plus more for sprinkling on top of cookies (Fry loves using Maldon Sea Salt Flakes.)
• 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chunks (If you’re concerned about gluten or dairy contamination, Fry recommends Enjoy Life brand for both types of chocolate in the cookies.)
• 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375˚ F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
2. To brown your butter (or butter alternative) on the stovetop, melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, occasionally swirling the pan, and allow it to come to a simmer. Once the butter begins to smell nutty and turn light brown in color, remove from the heat.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the browned butter and coconut palm sugar for 2–3 minutes, until smooth and light in color. (If you don’t have a stand mixer, Fry suggests using a hand mixer with the beater attachments.)
4. Add the maple syrup, egg yolks, and vanilla extract, and beat for another 2 minutes.
5. Add the almond flour, arrowroot starch, and 1/4 tsp sea salt, and beat until incorporated.
6. Turn the mixer down, and stir in the chocolate chunks and chips.
7. Using a tablespoon scoop or your hands, roll the cookie dough into roughly golf-ball–sized balls and place them on the baking sheets, leaving 2 inches of space in between.  
8. Bake for 9–10 minutes, or until the cookies are just starting to brown around the edges.
9. Remove the cookies from the oven and immediately sprinkle with the remaining sea salt, to taste. Let them cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

The post Ballerina Baker Jordan Fry’s Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies appeared first on Dance Magazine.

I dance because dance is home. Home as I have built it, home as it feels, and home where I find the people I love and who love me. Through dance I have tasted freedom, instinct, abandon, and trust. I have learned how to make mistakes, how to fail, how to collaborate, how to be disappointed, how to work hard, how to be proud of both myself and of others. This home has raised me and it has shaped the woman I am. I have found my voice. Dance has shown me that magic is real and this life we have is singular and spectacular.

From dancer to teacher to choreographer to stager to rehearsal director, my relationship to dance continues to evolve. Dance is woven into my being; it is how I see and traverse the world. I am dancing when I catch the train, when I hold your hand, when I am at my sewing machine, when I am grieving, crying, laughing, when the sun streams through the windows, and when the moon is full. I have learned through dance that everything matters, everyone matters, and everything is dancing with one another.

Even within the beauty and bliss, many times in my career I have lost myself. I have questioned, “Is this life in dance worth it?” “What am I giving up?” When these questions bubble up and begin to take over, I remind myself to return to where it all began. I return to the barre, I plié, and the reason why I dance comes to me. I am home. There is a pact embedded in the piano notes that we are in this together and that I belong here. To belong may be the greatest feeling in the world. More and more often these days, I am gaining opportunities to tell you, you belong here too.

The post Choreographer Ching Ching Wong on Finding a Home in Dance appeared first on Dance Magazine.

When addressed and managed, SI joint dysfunction is easily treatable. But when ignored, this condition can affect other structures in the body, potentially leading to more serious issues. “Your SI joint is your center of gravity, so you don’t want to ignore it for too long,” says Sylvie Le, a physical therapist and yoga instructor based in Rhode Island. “You will end up having pain down the kinetic chain, like in the lower back—even in the neck. There’s research that shows if there’s SI joint dysfunction, it can lead to jaw pain and headaches.”

What Is SI Joint Dysfunction?

The SI joints connect the sacrum (the triangular bone at the base of the spine) to the pelvis, providing stability and support to the spine while allowing for a small amount of movement. These joints don’t naturally have a large range of motion, and dysfunction can occur when they are moving either too much or not enough.

The SI joints play a key role in walking, running, and other similar motions, and dysfunction can also occur if one side is moving more than the other, or they are otherwise out of balance. “The SI joints might not be moving symmetrically, or they might be in a position in which they’re not neutral, or they might have shifted or rotated in one direction,” Le explains. “That can cause you to start overusing one hip and maybe underusing another. This can lead to poor load distribution up your spine.”

SI joint dysfunction can also manifest as pain and weakness in the groin/hip flexor area, snapping and popping in the SI joints (see sidebar), limping, pain while sitting, or a feeling of stiffness in the glutes and low back.

Causes and Treatment

Sigrist explains that SI joint dysfunction often can be the result of a weakness in the muscles that stabilize the joint, like the glutes, hip flexors, and abdominals. Less commonly, SI joint dysfunction can be caused by some form of blunt trauma—for example, if a dancer falls backwards and lands on their tailbone.

Strengthening the SI joint stabilizers can be an important aspect of recovery, and a physical therapist trained to work with dancers can offer specifically tailored recommendations. There are also common exercises to work into a warm-up, to help with mitigation and/or prevention (see sidebar). In addition to strengthening exercises, physical therapists might also do joint-mobilization work if stiffness is present. Use of stabilization tools, like tape or an SI joint belt, might also be recommended.

Sophie Lane, who co-founded Production Physiotherapy with Sigrist, cautions that dancers should be extra-aware of overstretching in the pelvic area. She emphasizes the importance of building strength and not pushing the body to its limit without the musculature to support it. “I like to see this area around your pelvis as your tree trunk, and your legs and your arms are your branches,” she explains. “If you build capacity and strength through the trunk, then that’s where we would like to see pain reducing and performance increasing.”

Pop, Pop

Sometimes dancers who are suffering from SI joint dysfunction may want to pop the joint for relief. But is this approach helpful or harmful? According to Sophie Lane, co-director of Production Physiotherapy, popping isn’t inherently bad, but it is usually a sign that an underlying condition needs to be addressed. “It won’t do any harm, but it will be short-term relief,” she explains, adding that the goal of working with a physical therapist is to move away from quick fixes towards establishing long-term solutions.

Strengthen and Support

Sylvie Le, MSPT, DPT, recommends the following exercises for strengthening the SI joint stabilizers:

Bird Dog: Start in a stable hands-and-knees position. Lift the right arm and left leg until they are parallel with the floor, without moving the trunk. Switch sides and repeat.

Glute Bridge: Start by lying on your back with your knees bent. Pushing through your feet and using your glutes, lift up into a bridge position.

Dead Bug: Start on your back with your legs in tabletop and your arms reaching towards the ceiling. Lower and straighten the left leg and right arm to 45 degrees,­ return to neutral, and repeat on the other side.

The post Pain in the Lower Back? Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Ignore It appeared first on Dance Magazine.

It was great to see Justin Peck accepting his second Tony (the first was in 2018, for Carousel) back on the stage of Lincoln Center’s Koch Theater, home first to his dancing and then to his choreography for New York City Ballet. It was a reminder of how much nourishment today’s Broadway musicals get from other fields of dance. This year’s Tony-nominated choreographers—Brown, the Kupermans, Peck, Robb and Carroll, and Annie-B Parson, who rearranged her surging choreography for the downtown hit Here Lies Love when it briefly reopened on Broadway—came with experience not just in ballet but in contemporary concert dance, circus arts, and martial arts, all moving Broadway musicals in new directions.

For the old ways, there was the Tonys’ traditional In Memoriam section, accompanied by a mournful rendition of “What I Did for Love,” from A Chorus Line, sung by Nicole Scherzinger (her Olivier-winning performance in Sunset Boulevard arrives on Broadway this fall). Thankfully, the Tony producers ignored the dreadful precedent set by this year’s Oscars broadcast, which featured 20 dancers sweeping across the stage as photos and illegible names flashed on overhead screens—simultaneously insulting both the departed and the dance, neither of which was allowed to actually register. By contrast, the heartfelt tributes to the late, lamented Chita Rivera—from Brian Stokes Mitchell, Bebe Neuwirth, and Audra McDonald—incorporated dance snippets that distilled the essence of her most memorable roles. And when DeBose arrived in a lilac dress to lead the company of dancers in “America,” from West Side Story, you had to wish that the snippets had been longer.

It’s possible that the segment was truncated when the broadcast added a number from Stereophonic to the show. David Adjmi’s play about a ’70s rock band recording an album earned a record 13 nominations—aided by the fact that most plays don’t compete in categories like Best Orchestrations and Best Score. When one of the show’s five Tonys went to Adjmi for Best Play, he closed his acceptance speech with a remark that surely resonated with an audience full of art makers. Calling for government funding of the arts, he said, “It’s the hallmark of a civilized society.” Wonder if any candidates were watching.

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In his book The Map of Making Dances, the late Stuart Hodes wrote, “When you make a dance, you explore a landscape.” Part of the challenge of choreographing a short dance is establishing the landscape quickly. Where are we? Who is the person or persons dancing? What mood or mode are they in? The choreographer needs to get all that across in the blink of an eye.

How to do that? There is no foolproof method, but one option is to start the way artists start making anything: Try stuff out. Explore. Improvise. Janis Brenner, who teaches at Marymount Manhattan College and Steps Conservatory, advises, “You’re following your intuitive thread. Stay with your intention.” A particular landscape can be envisioned beforehand, or it can emerge while improvising.

The next stage is to pare down. Brenner puts it this way: “You distill your improvisational exploration down into essentials.” This requires having the discipline to dump the moves that are just about display. A short work will not be memorable if it’s just crammed with all the things the choreographer’s good at.

Does a short piece take less time to make than a long one? Sometimes. Michel Fokine spent only half an hour to make The Dying Swan for Anna Pavlova in 1905. The fact that they had danced together for years helped. He had a keen sense of her expressive abilities, so her dancing was already part of the landscape. With his clear image of a swan gliding on a lake, the dance almost made itself.

Of course, a dance can be so short as to be inconsequential. Going back to Hodes: “A complete dance may be short…but a dance that doesn’t take time to develop its ideas is too short.” The best ones create a sense of discovery while also knitting all the elements together—the landscape, the distillation of the exploration, and, of course, the power of the performer.

A good short work never overstates its point. Every move counts. The late Trisha Brown once said to me, while working on Watermotor, “I would go to the guillotine for every move.”

Masters of Brevity

Looking at the 20th century alone, there have been many iconic solos that are under eight minutes. Here are some
of my favorites.

Pizzicati (1916, about two minutes), aka The Shadow Dance, by Michio Ito, to music by Léo Delibes. A solitary figure, moving in a way that’s reminiscent of a puppet—or a dictator—projects a huge shadow. Ito’s biographer, Helen Caldwell, described it as having a “mystifying power.”

The Dying Swan (1905, just over three minutes), by Michel Fokine, to music by Camille Saint-Saëns. Fokine said of his iconic solo for Anna Pavlova, “This dance aims, not so much at the eyes of the spectator, but at his soul, at his emotions.”

The Stair Dance (c. 1918, about three minutes), by Bill Robinson. The tap dance legend developed this gem during his years in vaudeville. Elegant, relaxed, and upbeat, he ascends and descends a set of stairs, generating sounds like a clear, rippling brook.

Revolutionary Etude (c. 1923, about two and a half minutes), by Isadora Duncan, to music by Alexander Scriabin. Influenced by the Russian revolution, Duncan portrayed a woman warrior who gathers energy from the heavens and earth. Many Duncan dances are depicted as light and skippy, but this one brings out the fists.

Lamentation (1930, three and a half minutes), by Martha Graham, to music by Zoltán Kodály. “I wear a long tube of material to indicate the tragedy that obsesses the body,” Graham wrote in her autobiography, Blood Memory, “the ability to stretch inside your own skin, to witness and test the perimeters and boundaries of grief.”

Mourner’s Bench (1947, six minutes), by Talley Beatty, to the traditional spiritual “There Is a Balm in Gilead.” Inspired by Howard Fast’s historical novel Freedom Road, it features a dancer that cultural critic John Perpener describes as “an archetype of human suffering, perseverance, and ultimate nobility.”

Harmonica Breakdown (1938, three and a half minutes), by Jane Dudley, to music by Sonny Terry. Evoking the Dust Bowl calamity during the Depression, a woman strides with fierce determination in the face of grinding poverty and oppression.

Strange Fruit (1943, three minutes and 40 seconds), by Pearl Primus, to the poem of the same name by Lewis Allan, aka Abel Meeropol. As the protagonist leaves a lynching ground, “the horror of what she has seen grips her,” Primus said, “and she has to do a smooth, fast roll away from that burning flesh.”

Watermotor (1978, two and a half minutes), by Trisha Brown, no music. Although it is carefully choreographed, this solo captures the heady ride of free-wheeling improvisation, challenging the eye to see the initiation and follow-through of Brown’s intricate, elusive movement chains.

Little Ease (1985, under three minutes), by Elizabeth Streb, no music. The landscape is a small rectangular box that confines the dancer physically and psychologically. She stretches, pumps, knocks, and hurtles herself at its walls. Every move shows a fearless quest for freedom.

Caught (1982, six minutes), by David Parsons, to music by Robert Fripp. As Deborah Jowitt wrote, this solo “shows us, via meticulously timed flashes of strobe light, a dancer who can appear to fly.”

Slipstream (1985, three minutes), by Margie Gillis, to music by Johann Sebastian Bach. Gillis breathes along with Bach’s cello suite, expanding her lungs until­ she hits the high mark of the music. The effect is an ecstatic swirl of circling torso, trailing hair, and rising cello notes.

The post The Big Impact of Short-Form Choreography appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch co-direct Jellicle’s premiere run, which begins June 13 at the new Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) in lower Manhattan. 

What were your first impressions of each other?

Arturo Lyons: Of Omari? I just remember he had so much energy on that runway, jumping around, going crazy. [Laughs]

Omari Wiles: When I was first introduced to Arturo, he was in the House of Manolo Blahnik and I instantly gravitated toward his style, his technique.

AL: It’s easy for us to create together because we have such respect for each other.

When did each of you first encounter Cats?

AL: I grew up on Cats and had friends who’d seen it. I’ve always had this vision embedded in my head of cats on garbage cans, their eyes glowing green, so magical and mystical. 

OW: My elementary school took us to see Cats on Broadway as a field trip. I’d grown up with African dance, but that was my first time seeing contemporary dance and ballet in a theater. I remember the storytelling about how the cats were trying to ascend to the Heaviside Layer or, to borrow the words we use in ballroom, to become legendary.

How are you drawing upon your experience as teachers?

OW: The cast is a mixture of people who are new to vogue but have a musical theater background, and people who participate in ballroom. Arturo and I both teach vogue for all levels, from beginner to intermediate to advanced, and, as choreographers, we want to make sure that everyone looks good—that the ideas in our head look good on these bodies.

AL: Our teacher hats are definitely on, to get everyone in the cast on the same level so, as choreographers, we don’t have to hold ourselves back.

OW: Also, basically everyone in the ensemble for the original Cats was a trained dancer, but, in this version, not every category is a dance category. So it’s about training these actors and dancers how to feel being a model, how to feel walking Best Dressed, how to feel walking Face, how to feel the fashion.

How has being involved in “Legendary” informed this process so far?

AL: “Legendary” gave us publicity and put us in front of more eyes than we usually have on us, but I’ve been creating these types of performances long before that show ever came around.

OW: Whether it’s “Legendary”or these other shows that Arturo and I have put on together, it’s definitely different from a real-life ball, where anything goes and anything can happen. For a show, things have to be tight. The energy from the audience changes every evening, but the show stays the same. We’re structuring this musical to be as authentic, but also as presentational, as possible, with help from the directors.

How does the music relate to the original score? Should we expect remixes, new arrangements, or new songs, or all of those things?

AL: I think you should wait and see and find out. [Laughs]

Capital Kaos is credited as “ballroom consultant.” What do they bring to this Ball?

OW: Capital Kaos is one of my house members and a ballroom DJ, who’s known for a lot of beats and mixes, who’s adding some of those nuances to the original score. So that’s a little hint in response to your previous question.

Vogue, like any other dance form, is always evolving and reflecting its time. Does either of you feel the movement in this show could become a record of where vogue was in 2024?

AL: I think it’ll be a snapshot like that, but also an homage to what it was.

OW: Right. Vogue’s evolved from the old way—you know, pops, dips, and spins—to now, vogue femme, which is more fluid, with more articulation in the way we use our hips in the catwalks, in the way that we arch our backs.

Sounds feline. Anything else you’d like to share about the Ball?

AL: It’ll be immersive because of the way the venue is designed, and things may happen unexpectedly.

OW: We’re bringing the magic, the glitz, the glamour, the fashion, and the creativity that comes from ballroom to the musical theater stage, and we’re adapting the original story to fit ballroom, to show people: These descriptions of cats? They’re real lives, coming from the queer community. That even in fiction, there’s truth. 

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As I take some of the fitness classes, I realize how nice it is to see exercises demonstrated not just with proper workout form but also with pointed dancers’ feet and strong port de bras. Many of the newer workout videos feature both Gregson-Williams and Woodward, with one teaching and the other one taking the class while asking smart questions on form or commiserating over “the burn,” which helps me not feel so lonely on the other side of the screen.

Although the pair are hoping to attract everyday gym-goers who might want to take a beginner barre (their most popular video) from time to time, Woodward says the primary target audience is serious ballet dancers and students looking to complement their training, and former dancers interested in starting again. She hopes they take advantage not only of the ballet videos taught by world-class dancers but also the chance to cross-train effectively.

“Introducing Pilates and yoga into your practice is so crucial,” she says. “It’s been one of the biggest helps in my life, personally, for strengthening.”

Woodward adds that she hopes the fact that these videos live online—so you can take them without a mirror or other people nearby—turns them into a deeper mind–body experience: “I feel like this is a great way to go inward and see what you really feel in your body and what makes you feel best.”

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Beyond the delicately winged foot that goes in and out of favor in ballet’s arabesque, performers may be asked to wing and/or sickle their feet as part of choreography. While winging (toes pointed outward) and sickling (toes pointed inward) involve relatively small ranges of motion, to execute them safely requires proper strength and an understanding of the anatomy of the foot and ankle.

Building a Foundation

Injuries can occur when a dancer puts weight on a winged or sickled foot, because it impacts the alignment of the ankle and can put undue strain on the ligaments and tendons. The ankle is supported by the strong deltoid ligament on the inside, and three weaker ligaments (the posterior and anterior talofibular and the calcaneofibular) on the outside, explains Dr. Tania Burinskas, a podiatrist and former dancer based in Maryland. Her husband and professional partner, foot and ankle surgeon Dr. Justin Lewis, says, “Those areas on the outside are more prone to damage, and [the injury can be] more catastrophic for a dancer than the deltoid ligament, which is usually pretty strong.”

Because of the risk of injury, it’s important to learn how to support winged and sickled foot positions through both strength and technique. Kelly Ashton Todd, who uses winged and sickled feet as artistic choices in her choreography, recommends first focusing on fundamental elements like turnout and foot articulation. “Having solid technique as a foundation is really important,” she says. “Working on turnout and arch support and going through the foot is an important place to start and get really grounded in, before you add sickles or wings.”

Burinskas encourages dancers to avoid overstretching the area, noting that this can often be a precursor to injury. “You’re going to stretch those tendons that are attached to the muscle, but then if you don’t subsequently strengthen them, you’re going to have a beautiful winged foot in the air, but your supporting foot is going to have those stretched tendons and might not have the strength for stability,” she explains.

Steady Steps

To support winged and sickled foot positions, Mullin emphasizes­ the importance of cross-training, encouraging dancers to strengthen their glutes. “Once you have that stability at the top of your leg, you gain so much more stability in the lower parts of your leg, too,” she says.

Lewis and Burinskas add that simple exercises like calf raises at the barre and balancing on demi-pointe are crucial for ankle stability as well. They also recommend a series of exercises­ with a TheraBand to bolster ankle strength (see below).

Mullin has found working with a BAPS (biomechanical ankle platform system) board to be helpful for her own ankle strength. She recommends standing on the device—which is similar to a BOSU ball, albeit much smaller—and moving the ankle in a circle, which helps by strengthening each supporting muscle. She also recommends a stability pad, which is a small, thick piece of foam. Standing on the stability pad, either on one leg or two, can help develop the intrinsic ankle stabilizer muscles. “Developing those little, finite bits of strength is really important as well,” she says.

Todd has found that rolling out the hips, psoas, and IT band has been crucial, because tightness in these areas can affect the kinetic chain and have impacts on the feet. She also uses therapy balls to roll out her feet after a long day of dancing for the same reason. “You have to be doing your physical therapy exercises, rolling out your feet, and strengthening your feet,” she says. “The longevity of a dancer is a forever process.”

Building Strength

Dr. Tania Burinskas, a podiatrist and former dancer, and Dr. Justin Lewis, a foot and ankle surgeon, recommend this exercise to build strength in the muscles that help with winging and sickling:

1. Place a looped or knotted TheraBand around your left foot and the other side of the TheraBand under your right foot.
2. Hold on to the non-looped portion of the band, adjusting tension as needed.
3. Resisting the pull of the TheraBand, wing the left foot, then bring it back to neutral.
4. Repeat with the other foot, and in both flexed and pointed positions.

The post Safety Tips for Winged and Sickled Feet appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Comings & Goings

Nikolaj Hübbe will step down as artistic director of Royal Danish Ballet at the conclusion of his current contract in summer 2026.

Amanda Ram will serve as National Ballet of Canada’s interim executive director after Barry Hughson departs for American Ballet Theatre on July 1.

Lucinda Lent has stepped down as executive director of L.A. Dance Project, with artistic director Benjamin Millepied assuming the additional role.

Dance Umbrella Festival artistic director Freddie Opoku-Addaie and executive director Tania Wilmer have been named joint chief executive officers.

Zack Winokur has been named producing artistic director of New York City’s Little Island.

National Ballet of Canada senior répétiteur Peter Ottmann will retire from the company at the end of the current season.

At New York City Ballet, Emma Von Enck has been promoted to principal, David Gabriel, Jules Mabie, and Alec Knight to soloist.

At Philadelphia Ballet, beginning with the 2024–25 season, Sydney Dolan has been promoted to principal, Pau Pujol and So Jung Shin to first soloist, Jacqueline Callahan, Lucia Erickson, Isaac Hollis, and Nicholas Patterson to soloist, and Yuval Cohen and Mine Kusano to demi soloist.

At Miami City Ballet, Cameron Catazaro has been promoted to principal soloist, Mayumi Enokibara to soloist.

San Francisco Ballet principal Angelo Greco will join Houston Ballet as a principal at the start of the 2024–25 season.

Pacific Northwest Ballet principal James Kirby Rogers will depart at the end of the current season to join Dresden Semperoper Ballet. Soloist Ezra Thomson will retire from performance and shift to the role of rehearsal director at PNB at the start of the 2024–25 season.

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre principal Yoshiaki Nakano and soloist William Moore have retired. Principal Masahiro Haneji and soloists Jessica McCann and Gustavo Ribeiro will depart the company at the end of the current season.

Big Muddy Dance Company has rebranded as Saint Louis Dance Theatre.

Awards & Honors

Rosie Herrera was named the inaugural recipient of the National Center for Choreography-Akron’s Knight Choreography Prize, which includes a $30,000 unrestricted grant and $20,000 in programmatic support over two years.

Misty Copeland received the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music and Dance in America from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.

Justin Peck received the 2024 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Choreography (Broadway or off-Broadway) for Illinoise.

Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreographer for their work on Buena Vista Social Club.

Winners at the 2024 Chita Rivera Awards included Camille A. Brown (tie, Outstanding Choreography in a Broadway Show, Hell’s Kitchen), Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll (tie, Outstanding Choreography in a Broadway Show, Water for Elephants), Antoine Boissereau (Outstanding Dancer in a Broadway Show, Water for Elephants), Tilly Evans-Krueger (Outstanding Dancer in a Broadway Show, The Outsiders), the cast of Illinoise (Outstanding Ensemble in a Broadway Show), Jennifer White (Outstanding Choreography in a Theatrical Release, Barbie), and David Petersen (Outstanding Direction of a Dance Documentary, Lift). Mayte Natalio received the Douglas and Ethel Watt Critics’ Choice Award. Phil LaDuca received the Vanguard Award.

New Funding Opportunity

Dance/NYC is accepting expressions of interest for the fourth iteration of its Dance Advancement Fund, which will award two-year general operating support grants of $6,000 to $40,000, as well as ongoing professional development, beginning in September. It is open to New York City–based organizations with operating budgets between $25,000 and $250,000. Expression of interest forms are due June 18, at 5 pm ET; more information available here.

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But the past few years have seen a sea change in ballet, thanks to the persistent advocacy­ of dancers and their allies. Training and performing on pointe are now more widely available to all genders, in both major companies and freelance projects. The result is an expansion­ of the creative possibilities in ballet—and, for nonbinary dancers Maxfield Haynes, Zsilas Michael Hughes, and Leroy Mokgatle, a sense of fulfillment that is as personal as it is artistic.

A Fuller Range of Motion

A growing number of companies worldwide are hiring nonbinary dancers who desire, or prefer, to dance on pointe—and are supporting their authentic identities. When casting roles, the artistic staff at Staatsballett Berlin offers corps dancer Leroy Mokgatle options. “For neoclassical and classical, I would rather perform on pointe, on the feminine side,” says Mokgatle, whose debut as the fairy Coulante in last year’s run of The Sleeping Beauty has racked up more than 8,000 likes on Instagram. “Being nonbinary, we have periods of time when we see ourselves differently,” Mokgatle says. “With all the different repertoire that we have, I feel like I need to tap into different parts of myself.”

Since joining the Pacific Northwest Ballet corps in 2022, Zsilas Michael Hughes has amassed a repertoire that ranges from Crystal Pite’s The Seasons’ Canon to George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante. Artistic director Peter Boal supported their interest in performing on pointe early on, and in their first season Hughes made their pointe debut as a Fairy in Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The Fairy’s lyrical choreography made it the right first role for Hughes, who has been dancing on pointe for less than two years. “The technique wasn’t my biggest concern,” they say. “It was the essence that the fairies possess—an effortless elegance. It’s work getting there.” As their technical skill advanced, Hughes was cast in Snow, Flowers, and the Peacock solo (PNB’s rendition of Coffee) in The Nutcracker, parts that have allowed them to express the feminine aspects of their identity.

Beauty From the Inside Out

All performing artists aim to put their true selves into their work, but ballet’s gendered roles make that more complicated for nonbinary dancers. “We are always cognizant of what hat we put on,” Hughes says. “It’s different than a cisgendered person, because as a nonbinary person you live in a constant state of your character that isn’t often portrayed onstage.”

Working on pointe can transform these artists’ sense of belonging in their art form and, by extension, in their own lives. Hughes and Maxfield Haynes, for example, perform regularly with Ballet22, a pioneering company based in Oakland, California, that presents straight and queer male, trans, and nonbinary dancers on pointe, in their true gender identities. “There’s never been a space for us all to come together and not have our work be a joke,” says Haynes, who was previously the Metropolitan Opera’s first nonbinary ballet soloist in its production of The Magic Flute.

When Hughes showed up for last summer’s Ballet22 rehearsals, “it took a minute to truly allow myself to believe that the people leading the company truly believed in me,” they say. Dancing the Golden Fairy variation from The Sleeping Beauty with the company felt transformative—because of the technical challenge, and because Ballet22 granted them freedom to interpret the role from their own point of view.

Though not all corners of ballet are as welcoming, evolving attitudes toward pointe shoes have already had a meaningful ripple effect. Now that more companies and artists are willing to see Haynes’ pointe work not as comic relief but as a serious, innovative endeavor, “I feel a general softening of my hard edges,” Haynes says. “Being socialized and trained as a male dancer, I was taught to push through. But that softening—tenderness, actually—with myself has been very transformative for my personal process. I’m noticing it in how I show up in relationships, how I show up with my family.”

Mokgatle echoes that sentiment. “I was trapped between my gender and what my spirit wants to do,” they say. Now, “I feel like I can use my body to its actual limits.”

Hughes has discovered a larger purpose through dancing on pointe and, in turn, thriving as an artist. “I’m one of the first dancers to truly know what it feels like to be immersed in themselves,” they say. “There are going to be some really tall, broad, muscular, gorgeous humans that want to be the Sugar Plum Fairy, and they’re going to have the opportunity to do so. This world is going to be so much more beautiful because me and people like me went through the pain—because we heard ‘no,’ but it didn’t stop us.”

New Perspectives on Partnering

Substantial experience dancing on pointe can be a partnering game-changer for dancers typically assigned to male roles: There’s nothing like literally putting yourself in your partner’s shoes. “To be an empathic partner, you need to understand what they’re going through,” says freelance dancer Maxfield Haynes. “It’s an understanding for minute adjustments, how much space you can open up for somebody. I don’t understand anymore how all men are not being trained on pointe.”

Pacific Northwest Ballet corps member Zsilas Michael Hughes, who frequently performs supporting roles in pas de deux, has gained a nuanced awareness of balance and alignment from dancing on pointe. “Most partners do not check the connection of head, shoulders, knees, and toes in relation to the pointe shoe—they’re mainly looking at the hips or the head placement,” they say. “I use all of those. Also, I know how to take off some of the pain where a bunion might be on their working side.”

Staatsballett Berlin corps dancer Leroy Mokgatle, on the other hand, rarely serves as the supporting partner and is often partnered on pointe in performance. “I’m trying to learn to trust my partner and rely on their strength, rather than always trying to help as much as possible,” they say. “I don’t want to lose the softer, more feminine side. This is the biggest challenge for me.”

If the Shoe Fits…

In response to the rising popularity of pointe work among male-identifying and nonbinary dancers, pointe shoe makers like Bloch, Freed, Gaynor Minden, and Nikolay are offering a greater range of foot sizes, widths, and customization options than ever before. But the shoe search can still be difficult. “You really have to invest the time in finding what shoe is right for you,” says freelance dancer Maxfield Haynes.

Staatsballett Berlin corps dancer Leroy Mokgatle’s wide feet require a more spacious box, but they also use a shoe crafted of stretch fabric rather than satin. The extra give helps them articulate through their feet in landings—a challenge for dancers who start pointe work in their late teens or 20s, when the foot bones are not as malleable as at age 11 or 12.

Pointe training resources, live classes, and tutorials geared toward male and nonbinary dancers abound online. Haynes recommends the 4Pointe Instagram page, which has released a video with specific guidance for nonbinary and male-identifying dancers on pointe.

For all of these dancers, starting from the beginning as already-accomplished professional dancers took patience. “The level of humility that comes with this is laughable,” says Hughes. “But if you go for it in the most knowledgeable way possible, it’s magical.”

The post Meet Three Nonbinary Ballet Dancers Performing On Pointe appeared first on Dance Magazine.

In Indian culture, cooking is deeply tied to hospitality, a tradition Bhargava works to share with Rovaco’s audiences. “For the longest time I had a fear of proudly claiming my identity, and a lot of it had to do with growing up in postcolonial India, where it was ingrained in people’s brains that Western culture is superior,” he says. “Now I’m trying to unlearn those tendencies and highlight aspects of my culture and identity in my work.”

For the past few years, he’s put on the Rovaco Dance Party, where guests are immersed in a five-sensory experience that includes Indian food and drink. While Bhargava emcees the event, dancer Ashmita Biswas takes on the cooking and each year finds a new way to put her own twist on Indian street-food delicacies, drawing on influences from her native Kolkata and her Bengali upbringing. “We feel that culture is best understood when it is experienced firsthand, as opposed to just watching it from afar,” says Bhargava. “We let them experience the beauty of it.”

Bhangra Bops

Bhargava likes to listen to upbeat music while he’s cooking. He has also recently started learning bhangra, a traditional Punjabi dance form, and has found himself drawn to Punjabi music, especially songs by Diljit Dosanjh, Garry Sandhu, and Jasmine Sandlas.

This recipe yields 8–10 pancakes.

Ingredients

• 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 small plum tomato, finely chopped
• 2 cups besan flour (The Hindi word “besan” translates to gram or chickpea flour. You can find besan at Indian or specialty grocery stores, or on sites like Amazon.)
• 2 tsps red chili powder (Red chili powder, as opposed to chili powder, tends to be hotter and is customary in Indian cooking. If you can’t find it, Bhargava suggests substituting with 2 tsps of finely chopped fresh green chilies.)
• 2 tsps salt
• 1 tbsp crushed kasoori methi/dried fenugreek leaves (“These come in a box that lasts forever,” says Bhargava. If you can’t find them, you can substitute 1 tbsp of finely chopped fresh cilantro.)
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups water (Bhargava says that the exact amount depends on your desired consistency.)
• vegetable oil or cooking spray for the pan
• chutney, hot sauce, or ketchup

Instructions

1. Chop half a small red onion and half a small plum tomato, and set them aside.
2. Combine besan fl our, red chili powder (or green chilies), salt, and fenugreek leaves (or cilantro) in a large bowl.
3. Add water, starting with 1 1/2 cups and adding more if you prefer a thinner consistency, and whisk vigorously until the batter is smooth and frothy, with no lumps.
4. Mix in the chopped onions and tomatoes and stir to combine.
5. Place a skillet over a medium flame, and grease it well with oil or cooking spray. When the pan is hot, add a ladleful batter to the center. Using the back of the ladle, spread the batter until it thinly coats the pan.
6. Once the batter solidifies and the edges lift from the pan, usually after 90 seconds to 2 minutes, use a spatula to flip the pancake. Cook the other side for roughly 90 seconds, occasionally pressing down with the spatula so that the entire cheela cooks evenly.
7. Remove the cheela from the pan, and enjoy it hot. (They can get dry once cold, adds Bhargava.) Serve with a condiment such as chutney, hot sauce, or ketchup.

The post Rovaco Dance Company Founder Rohan Bhargava Shares His Savory Indian Breakfast Recipe appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Two key initiatives are already in progress to combat this: one by Dance/NYC, collecting data from dance industry workers, and the other by the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, to establish an information bank on salary ranges, compensation, and the like. While both are excellent, it’s crucial that more is done.

There is one immediate step with broad impact: real transparency throughout the dance economy. How can dance organizations do that? By making their annual tax returns available.

As Alan Harrison said in his excellent blog for ArtsJournal, “Yes, You Do Have to Show Your Nonprofit Tax Returns to Anyone Who Asks, No Matter What.” But, as I’ve discovered through my work at Dance Data Project, many dance companies respond to these requests with “We are too busy right now,” or even “You have no right to this information.”

To date, 19 of the largest 50 ballet companies in the U.S. have placed their most recent federal returns online. This is a great first step, one that other companies should implement as soon as possible. Those in dance leadership positions are also in dire need of basic education around their obligations to the community. In return for not paying taxes, a duty of disclosure is beyond expected—it’s mandated.

In 1969, reacting to multiple instances of self-dealing, inflated salaries, and undisclosed perks obtained by leadership, consultants, and board members, Congress enacted a series of reforms designed to shed daylight on operations of the not-for-profit sector. Today, by law, all 501(c)(3)s must provide any taxpayer, upon written request, with their most recent three years of annual returns (990s), within 30 days—or within 24 hours, if a member of the public makes this request in person. Note the immediacy expected of these not-for-profit organizations, underlining the social obligation for fiscal transparency at any point in time. Congress and the IRS also demonstrated how serious the issue is by making individual leaders, not just organizations, liable for penalties of up to $10,000 for failing to provide copies of an annual return.

Those in the dance workforce should equip themselves with an understanding of how to navigate 990s and the IRS website. Knowledge of pay practices, the importance of residuals, intellectual property rights, federal requirements on overtime, and salary information, as well as state mandates around leave and safe working conditions, should be taught and available to all. (DDP is planning a series of informational videos to begin to cover these topics.) Yet there’s a lingering sense of discomfort around a frank discussion of money and economics in an industry built by a generally underpaid workforce.

The pandemic threw these issues into yet starker relief. Coming out of shutdowns, while larger companies have seen robust attendance for perennial favorites like The Nutcracker, smaller productions with newer, more innovative voices are struggling. Overall, the audience for ballet dropped 37 percent between 2017 and 2022, and audiences for other dance forms dropped by almost half, per findings from National Endowment for the Arts.

DDP reports have shown that in the classical dance world, artistic and executive compensation has steadily risen as a percentage of budget. Within the largest 50 U.S. ballet companies, average artistic director compensation as a percentage of total budget increased from 1.59 percent in fiscal year 2018 to 2.50 percent in fiscal year 2022. The average percentage of executive director compensation compared to overall budgets increased from 1.38 percent in fiscal year 2018 to 2.44 percent in fiscal year 2022.

While their compensation grows, we see countless dance workers fighting for salaries that cover the cost of basic living expenses. No wonder we are seeing a rise in unionization efforts. It’s a failure of the industry that, in many cases, the only avenue for dancers seeking daylight on pay and benefits is to seek representation.

Elizabeth “Liza” Yntema is the founder and president of Dance Data Project.

The post Op-Ed: Why Financial Transparency Is Vital for the Dance Field’s Health appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Before rehearsals for the show began, some questions came to mind: Would being a trained dancer who strives to be respectful be enough to thrive in the rehearsal space? Were there elements of rehearsal etiquette I’d missed during my time off? I caught up with Jasperson as well as Los Angeles–based choreographer Galen Hooks to learn the unexpected do’s and don’ts of professional dance spaces. (And keep in mind that every choreographer has a different approach and set of expectations. If there’s one overall takeaway here, it’s that we should pay close attention to the unique preferences of the artists we work with.)

1. The performer–choreographer dynamic is not the same as a student–teacher hierarchy.

According to Hooks, the primary difference between the student–teacher hierarchy and the performer–choreographer dynamic is found in expectations. “A teacher is there to help you improve your skills as a dancer,” Hooks explains. “But as a professional, the choreographer is there to create on the skills you already have. They shouldn’t be helping you learn on the job. You should come with your tool belt fully sharpened, asking what you can do to help make their vision happen.”

2. But you can still make friends with the person at the front of the room.

“Many of the choreographers I’ve worked with create a friendly atmosphere that feels like we are comrades,” Jasperson says. Through that friendship, dancers can come to understand the personality of their choreographer, which can make them better able to capture and adapt to their vision. “That brings reliability to the performer–choreographer dynamic,” he says.

3. Be judicious with your questions.

When it comes to asking questions in rehearsal, both Jasperson and Hooks advise practicing patience. “Almost every question can be answered by watching,” Hooks says. “Do everything in your power to answer things on your own.”

While working with Andy Blankenbuehler as a performer on the creation of Hamilton, Jasperson discovered that asking too many questions during the creation process wasn’t necessarily productive. “Many choreographers are still working out exactly what they want, and they may not immediately know the answer to your question,” he says. “Andy would start moving and we would all follow. Just when I thought I had figured it out, he would shift it. It took time for it to all settle, and rather than asking ‘Do you want this or that?’ I would sit back, be patient, and move with him.”

Once the movement is defined, whether it’s appropriate to ask a question or not will be a matter of timing and preference for each choreographer. For example, if they’ve moved onto a new section, hold your questions. “Stay where their mind is,” Jasperson says. That said, when there’s a window of time between settled movement and new movement, Jasperson says he’s happy to make a few clarifications.

4. Read the room before giving input.

Choreographers’ thoughts on input vary widely. In order not to step on toes, Hooks recommends asking the choreographer their preferences on when and how dancers should speak up before rehearsals begin.

Hooks prefers that dancers rely on the choreographer’s assistant to address small issues, like errant traffic patterns. Jasperson is generally more open to suggestions. For example, in the final half-hour of our last rehearsal for HOTY, producers requested a major change to the music—a stressful moment. In response, we dancers got to work throwing out ideas for timing. “That was a great example of you guys being connected with me and what I was looking for,” Jasperson says. “We were all trying to reach the same goal, and I loved that you gave timing options that I could build on and make adjustments to.”

5. Stay present—and out of your head.

Hooks has seen many dancers get intimidated when working with big-name artists. “But more experienced dancers know that’s when they need to come alive,” she says. “Don’t be shy, or nervous, or timid.” And if the person in charge gives you a correction, remember that it’s an opportunity to improve, not a scolding. “Say ‘thank you’ for the note, then consider how you can take it and adjust what you’re doing to help make this thing work,” Hooks says. “It’s not a personal attack. Don’t withdraw.”   

6. Look the part.

We all know it’s important to be on time, but it can also be helpful to look camera-ready at rehearsal, especially on commercial projects. “I have seen choreographers be upset with how the dancers were presenting themselves in rehearsal,” Hooks says. “Cameras, the featured artist, or the director could walk in at any second.” Jasperson recommends dressing in a way that matches the vibe of the project—no pink tights for a hip-hop show, for example—to help the creative team get a better sense of how the finished product will look.

To hear more about how these tips benefited me in my recent rehearsal experience, head to Dance Magazine’s YouTube channel.

The post Dancer Diary: The Surprising Do’s and Don’ts of Rehearsal Etiquette appeared first on Dance Magazine.

What drew you to Coppélia, and how does this work relate to your other reimaginings of classical ballets?

In 2017, I was working on a dance-based project inspired by the artist Greer Lankton. She was a trans woman, and she made these really incredible dolls that were versions of herself and her friends. It made me think about Coppélia, and the power dynamics that existed between Dr. Coppélius and Coppélia. Within the context of ballet, I’ve also felt like a doll my whole life—I’d put on performance makeup and experience this dysphoria or disembodiment when I looked in the mirror. I began to properly research Coppélia’s history as a travesty ballet in 2021, and I was like, “Of course I have to do this!”

The same themes always come up when I look back at my work: intense suffering and pain often caused by relationships to expectations, which is deeply intertwined with ballet. There are often these central characters going through something, whether it’s death, transformation, or reclamation. But there is also always joy—it’s very important that there is joy as a way out.

What has the choreographic process for the show looked like?

I started with a lot of improvisations with the dancers moving each other’s limbs around. I want to play these push-and-pull games where we get into positions, almost like dolls, to see what it feels and looks like, and we go from there.

The dancers also learned a men’s variation of their choice as an exercise, and the show’s version of the mazurka was born from that. Creating that section felt like a full fantasy to me—we were playing together, figuring out how we could make it weird and doll-like. I channeled John Jasperse and Cunningham a bit, thinking about the physics of movement in a mathematical way.

What were some of the inspirations for the costumes and makeup?

Karen Boyer, our costume designer, created this incredible look for the show based on concepts, eras, and photographers I’d researched, including Claude Cahun, a French surrealist photographer from the 1910s and ’20s whose work explored their gender identity; lesbian salon culture in turn-of-the-century Paris; the Weimar Republic era in Berlin—just queer extravagance and theatricality on display.

What were some of the takeaways from your research process?

Diving into the world of travesty ballets was so affirming. To know that these performers—who were considered to be women (I’m not sure how they might identify now in the context of our current time)—had fans and power and were honored and celebrated. I’ve always been really into “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” and I drew these parallels to modern-day drag and how much people love it. My own experience with drag was especially formative. I had just stopped ballet and had this huge,180-degree moment as a freshman in college where I felt really powerful and able to tap into these qualities of strength and power through drag, and it let me step into these parts of myself that I’d never felt like I was allowed to be in before.

How do you make space for joy when there are so many other heavy feelings present in your work?

I think they really go hand in hand. To share traumatic things requires a certain amount of safety, connection, and support, but these feelings also yield a lot of joy. If something isn’t fun for me in the studio, I won’t want to go, so I try to find the things that provoke this feeling of life force.

At the end of the day, I want to allow the dancers to feel really checked into themselves. That’s ultimately what I want to project into the ballet world—dancing from a sense of connection and embodiment versus stress and disconnection.  

The post Ballez’ Katy Pyle Creates a <i>Coppélia</i> Rooted in Queer History appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Roh’s dancing, whether onstage or on the court, radiates with sincerity and effervescence. She has tried everything from commercial jobs abroad (“Destiny,” MGM Cotai resort’s resident show in Macau), to backup dancing for Kylie Minogue, to dancing with Jessica Chen’s J CHEN PROJECT and Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company in New York City. Her Brooklynettes experience has been fulfilling in new ways: “To be part of the environment that’s been established by our coaches has been such a blessing,” she says. “From the moment I auditioned, I knew I was in good hands.”

At the Helm
“As a co-captain for the Brooklynettes, I try to both give myself grace and hold myself accountable. In this role, it’s important to develop one-on-one relationships with the dancers. I’m even taking a leadership coaching course, in order to consistently show up as my best self and help lead this group of amazing women.”

A Second Act
“Once I’m at an age where my body is no longer able to physically perform, I’d love to dive into dance therapy. My younger brother is on the spectrum and I’ve seen how movement is so innate to him. We’ve gone to BTS concerts together, and music fills his body—his smile in those moments is unreal. I’ve seen how powerful music and dance can be no matter if someone is neurodivergent or neurotypical, and I really want to explore that one day to help different communities.”

New Perspectives
“Pursuing a BFA in dance at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts challenged the ways I approach dance. In addition to many genres of dance, the program offered anatomy classes and music theory—courses that supplemented my dance education and helped me to become a well-rounded artist. It set me up for success.”

The post Step Onto the Court with Brooklynettes Co-Captain Hayoung Roh appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Slated to appear are ballet dancers Jindallae Bernard (Houston Ballet) and Yuval Cohen (Philadelphia Ballet); Broadway choreographer Karla Puno Garcia; contemporary artists Miguel Alejandro Castillo, Lucy Fandel, Sydnie L. Mosley, Donovan Reed (A.I.M by Kyle Abraham), and Danielle Swatzie; Irish and hip-hop dancer Kaitlyn Sardin; jazz dancer Erina Ueda (Giordano Dance Chicago); tap dancer Naomi Funaki; and choreographer Kia Smith, who will premiere a new work for a member of her South Chicago Dance Theatre.

Get your tickets here!

This event is sponsored by Philadelphia Ballet and the George Mason University School of Dance.

Across L–R: (1) Alejandro Castillo; photo by Maria Baranova Photography, courtesy Castillo. Donovan Reed; photo by Christopher Duggan, courtesy A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham. Lucy Fandel; photo by Bailey Eng, courtesy Fandel. Karla Puno Garcia; photo by Laura Irion, courtesy Garcia. (2) Yuval Cohen; photo by Arian Molina Soca, courtesy Philadelphia Ballet. Kia Smith; photo by Michelle Reid, courtesy Smith. Jindallae Bernard; photo by Amitava Sarkar, courtesy Houston Ballet. Sydnie L. Mosley; photo by Travis Coe, courtesy Mosley. (3) Erina Ueda; photo by Todd Rosenberg, courtesy Giordano Dance Chicago. Danielle Swatzie; photo by Shoccara Marcus (Schocphoto), courtesy Swatzie. Kaitlyn Sardin; photo by Isabella Herrera, courtesy Sardin. Miguel Naomi Funaki; photo by Christopher Duggan, courtesy Ayodele Casel.

The post Join Us for 25 to Watch Live on July 29 appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Ubeda’s performance snagged one of those Chita nominations; another went to Rachel Lockhart, making her Broadway debut as Morgan after joining the show before its January run at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and its sold-out stop at New York City’s Park Avenue Armory in March.

Despite the differences in their backgrounds—he’s the first artist in his Miami family, she started training “fresh out of the womb” in her mother’s Birmingham dance studio—and their career tracks—his began in a Broadway ensemble, she’d always expected to join a company—they talk about Illinoise in similar terms. He sees his younger self in the role of Henry, “a young queer man who is coming of age,” and she finds echoes of her own questions about ancestry and identity in Morgan’s searching solo to “Jacksonville.”

Peck’s history is reflected in the show as well. “Most people know me from ballet,” he says. “But I really got my start from musicals.” Inspired by regular family trips to New York City to see shows (Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk was the standout), he was a tap dancer for years before “broadening out.” “Ballet came last,” he says, and when he began choreographing, he “was always a little bit restless about staying in one particular lane.”

With its wide-ranging styles and stories, both on and off the stage, Illinoise travels in multiple lanes that crisscross in surprising (and unsurprising) ways. Tyrone Reese, one of the understudies, was a year behind Lockhart at the Alabama School of Fine Arts and followed her to Juilliard; Lockhart didn’t know cast member Kara Chan, but soon discovered she was also a Juilliard alum. Ubeda and Gaby Diaz have known each other since they were 10, and Ubeda and Ahmad Simmons, who plays his lover in Illinoise, have done four Broadway shows together. Lockhart and Byron Tittle, whose tapping augments her “Jacksonville” number, have both danced with Doja Cat. And Ubeda, Diaz, and Lockhart were also memorable contestants on “So You Think You Can Dance”; Ubeda won Season 11.

Among Ubeda’s “SYTYCD” prizes was a contract for On the Town. He’d never seen a show, much less envisioned a Broadway career. “I had to learn it in three days,” he recalls. He credits that experience for the “sense of community” Lockhart says she felt when she first walked into an Illinoise rehearsal. “What we do onstage has to do with a group of friends who are warm with each other,” Ubeda says. “And we’ve all been in those shoes, where we are the youngest and newest person. At On the Town, they made me feel so at home. We all make it a point to make sure newcomers have what they need to succeed, and with these, it wasn’t hard—they bring something new to our campfire.” And to the ecosystem.

The post Inside the Creation of <i>Illinoise</i>’s Onstage—and Offstage—Community appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Pointe of Pride (May 21, Chicago Review Press) picks up a year after the events of Pas de Don’t, following Carly Montgomery—­career corps member at New York Ballet and best friend of Pas de Don’t protagonist Heather Hays—as she arrives in Sydney for Heather’s wedding during winter layoffs, only to learn that company promotions are happening much sooner than anticipated. Determined to get the soloist contract she wants under the company’s new director but unable to impress in-person from the other side of the world, Carly comes up with a plan: boost her social media presence by collaborating with dancer-turned-photographer Nick Jacobs, whom she’s already spending a lot of time with as they complete maid of honor and best man duties. The problem? They can’t stand each other.

A funny, compelling enemies-to-lovers romance, Pointe of Pride deftly handles topics like intimacy and pelvic floor dysfunction (a not uncommon issue for dancers), the precarity of dance careers, and the fears that can accompany transitioning away from performing.

The post A New Ballet-World Rom-Com From Chloe Angyal appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Tell us about what drew you to teaching and your early experience. 

I started training at age 10 with Mr. Mitchell at DTH, and I saw how he had a way of getting whatever he needed out of a dancer. He knew exactly what to say. I was so fascinated by that, and it drew me to wanting to be in the front of the room. I started teaching at Lula Washington Dance Theatre, and then did the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet teacher training that summer, 2013. I was on CPYB’s summer faculty from 2018–22, and I also taught for Ballet Academy East. I’ve taken every opportunity I could to teach, like giving community master classes while on tour with DTH. 

What was your exposure to SAB and NYCB as a young dancer?

Growing up at DTH, I thought ballet was for Black people. But then I learned why Mr. Mitchell was famous, and why what he had achieved was so incredible. But I didn’t think those institutions were for me, although I did later audition for SAB twice. 

What was your journey to becoming an SAB permanent faculty member?

Participating in the National Visiting Fellows program was eye-opening. Seeing Katrina [Killian, Children’s Program manager who guides the Fellows] on the floor just so carefully shaping a child’s foot, seeing the pedagogical through-line from Level I to the most advanced, and to the company—it gave me so much respect for the organization. I’d also been worried about how welcome I’d feel, but everyone was so nice to me. 

I stayed in touch with the school when I returned to New York to rejoin DTH the following year, but I was still shocked when Jon [Stafford] called to offer me the teaching apprentice position. He had asked Virginia [Johnson, then DTH artistic director] for permission first because I’d still be dancing for her. That showed respect for DTH and the character of someone I wanted to work for. 

It was good timing that I was ready to retire from DTH when a permanent position opened at SAB. I’d learned so much during my two years as an apprentice, I felt blessed to be able to keep going. 

How do you bring your background into your teaching?

I’m very proud of my career and I love sharing it with the students. Growing up a churchgoer taught me that people are moved by your testimony. Mr. Mitchell used to tell stories about his career, including Balanchine. Talking about NYCB will never be what I have to give, but I have another story to tell them. Sharing my experience with DTH and Mr. Mitchell, and other companies, expands their view of what a career can be. 

What’s most enjoyable to you about teaching at SAB?

It’s a team effort. We talk to each other about where we are in the syllabus; if the students needed more time on a certain thing and I didn’t get to something else, I can pass that on to the next teacher, and we get the kids there together. 

What does the state of diversity efforts in ballet look like to you?

I’m very proud to be Black, but I’ve certainly faced racism in my career outside DTH—just as Mr. Mitchell warned me. So I’m proud to show that programs with diversity in mind are successful and important. If SAB wasn’t living its diversity commitment, I wouldn’t be here. I talk a lot at the school about my ideas for outreach and relating to students with backgrounds like mine. Change can take time, but it’s coming. Look where I am! God is good. The future is bright. 

The post Christopher Charles McDaniel Blazes His Own Path at SAB appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Likes included musings on the profession, such as “the girl who learns to lead as well as follow” (ballroom dancer and teacher Arthur Murray) and “dancers who make it their business to know the history and background of the dance” (ballet dancer and teacher Leon Fokine, nephew of Michel), and tongue-in-cheek commentary, like “a place to spot while doing a set of pirouettes in performance” (American ballerina Karen Conrad) and “audiences of any kind anywhere—they’re the customers so they must be right!” (musical theater duo Grace and Paul Hartman).

As to dislikes: “people who apologize for their dancing and do nothing to correct it” (Murray), “posing for pictures” (Conrad), “American choreography!—except Catherine Littlefield’s” (Fokine), and “people who don’t like dogs” and “gowns that tear and the guy who invented hoop skirts” (the Hartmans).

But perhaps most striking were modern dance matriarch Martha Graham’s responses. She gave thumbs-up to “a dance form which has its roots in the lives, customs, traditions and interests of one’s own people,” “good theatre,” “expert dancing of any type,” “cleanness of line and economy of movement,” and “dancers who have an awareness of today.” On the thumbs-down side: “pretentiousness and artiness,” “any attempt to justify poor dancing by an idea, no matter how good the idea might be,” “those who do not recognize the need of a good technical base for the dancer,” “the dancing of slogans which might be displayed to better effect on banners!” and “self-expressionism.” 

The post TBT: Martha Graham, Arthur Murray, and More Share Their Pet Peeves, 1939 appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Bachelor of fine arts dance programs, whether housed in a conservatory or larger university setting, tend to give out letter grades like any other academic degree. But rather than exams and essays, the studio classes that make up the bulk of BFA programs are evaluating students on less tangible benchmarks like artistry, technique, and performance. How much weight are BFA programs really putting on grading—and how much do students’ grades matter during, and after, their time in college?

Progress Over Perfection

Individual dance programs and teachers all have different approaches to grading. Some schools use a pass/fail system, but most employ traditional letter grades. At Florida State University, the rubric for a technique class “can include everything from attendance to looking for improvement, how they are engaging with their artistry, and their technical skills and risk-taking,” says Anjali Austin, the department chair of FSU’s School of Dance. “Everybody improves, but they may be improving at a different rate.”

This holistic view of a dancer’s growth is common in BFA programs, and is a welcome change for some students. “My arts high school had a giant spreadsheet, and they would rate us one through four for turnout and feet,” says Lauren Ciccolini, a senior in George Mason University’s dance BFA program who is minoring in public policy and management. “Coming here, it’s like everyone has a different starting point and a different ending point, and is graded on it. I super appreciate that.”

With less work expected outside of class, attendance tends to play an outsized role in dance grading. “At Juilliard, if I had more than three absences, then my grade would go down a letter,” says Hicks. With so much focus on participation, schools try to accommodate injuries. At FSU, injured dancers spend some or all of the class period in the department’s conditioning studio, rehabbing with a trainer. “It’s almost like we have to switch the course to support the student during the injury period,” adds Austin.

Grades After Graduation

Despite dance departments’ attempts to make their grading policies fair, many students who plan to pursue a performance career enter college with the attitude that their grades don’t matter, especially when it comes to required classes outside of the studio. “I am the definition of someone who was just trying to coast in academics and thrive in dance,” says Hicks. “I didn’t understand why I had to be graded hard on things that I wasn’t going to use in life.”

One answer to that question is scholarships. At FSU, Austin says, eligibility for funding opportunities for students depends on their academic standing. “I love to learn, and I love doing my schoolwork, and then I also need these good grades and a good GPA so I can get more money to go to school,” says Ciccolini, who purposely included schools that offered both dance and academic scholarships in her college search.

Students should also consider their career goals for immediately­ after graduation and down the road. “If they’re thinking about an MFA or other graduate school, then grades are important,” says Austin. FSU offers dance students in their junior year an option to apply into an accelerated master’s program, which grants them both a BFA and an MA in just five years. “By the time they’re sophomores, if that’s in the back of their mind, they’re already thinking about their grades needing to be at a certain level to be accepted,” says Austin. Ciccolini hopes to join a company after graduation, but is still conscious of her transcript, knowing that she might someday want to go back to school for public policy.

Hicks, who holds an MFA in choreography from California Institute of the Arts, doesn’t believe that her undergraduate transcript played much of a role in the admissions process. “It’s a very, very creative school, so it’s an extreme situation,” she says. “But they were focused on an essay about my work and videos of my pieces.” CalArts’ MFA program is entirely pass/fail, which freed Hicks up to focus solely on her creative development. Now that she has guest-taught in university programs—and dreaded being on the other side of the grading process—she wishes all dance programs would consider pass/fail for some classes. “We should only grade on work ethic, and take out the talent aspect of it,” she says. “For me as a learner, and an educator, taking out grades feels more inclusive and open and inspiring. Which are all the things I think art school should be.”

The post Do Grades in BFA Programs Really Matter? appeared first on Dance Magazine.

At first glance, the trend seems too good to be true. Thousands of new or renovated square feet, at a price a nonprofit dance organization can afford?

It is true that developers’ motives are rarely altruistic: Many have found tax and other benefits to pairing up with dance companies. And not all of these unusual developer–company marriages have been entirely happy. Still, participants in four recent partnerships say their deals have offered remarkably good solutions to longstanding problems—and deepened their understanding of the business side of dance.

Space That Supports the Art

Nimbus Dance began in 2005 as a pickup group rehearsing at a church in Jersey City, New Jersey. By 2017, it had evolved into a large organization supporting professional and second companies, a school, and community-engagement programs. Artistic director Samuel Pott knew that it needed more, and better, space.

“We had conversations with the local government about the need for arts spaces in Jersey City,” Pott says. “Although it’s right across the river from Manhattan, it’s been ignored by arts funding or long-term institutional arts planning.”

The developer Quarterra approached the company in 2017, just as construction was ticking upward in rapidly gentrifying Jersey City. By partnering with a nonprofit arts organization, an earlier developer had been able to secure permission from the city to build what would become Quarterra’s Lively apartment complex six stories higher than originally planned.

Nimbus’ side of the deal? A 14,900-square-foot arts center at The Lively, containing four studios, administrative offices, and a 150-seat black-box theater. The company’s tiered, 30-year lease is highly subsidized, with progressive increases over time, especially at the five-year mark. Nimbus draws additional income from renting the studios and theater to other companies.

Pott says negotiating the deal and becoming a property manager required a steep learning curve, but so far, there haven’t been many downsides. “It puts us into a different category as an arts organization,” he says. “We can keep our sets and props on hand. We can hold company class. Those kinds of basic elements really allow us to take the artmaking to another level.”

A Symbiotic Relationship

City Ballet San Francisco executive director Ken Patsel estimates the organization saved the developer of its new studios millions.

In 2018, investors were looking to buy and redevelop five buildings in the city’s Mid-Market area, including one that housed the studios CBSF had occupied for 15 years. Patsel—who runs CBSF with his wife, former Bolshoi Ballet and San Francisco Ballet dancer Galina Alexandrova—appealed to city planners, bringing their students into City Hall as part of a lobbying effort that effectively expedited construction by months, if not years.

“They melted,” Patsel says of the planning commission. “I had one of the members of the planning department in tears when one of the little girls had to stand on her tippy toes to talk about the virtues of having a new school.”

CBSF got an impressive facility inside the developer’s new 28-story building, the Chorus. The company now has a 10,000-square-foot school and quarterly access to the on-site theater that Patsel designed.

“The theater they built was to the nines,” Patsel says. “I presented them with the best, most expensive option on every front—and I’ll be darned if they didn’t say yes to every one of them.”

Patsel reminds the property owners of CBSF’s crucial support regularly—when the rent comes due. He negotiated their agreement before the pandemic, which hit CBSF especially hard. Enrollment dropped as they moved into a temporary space across town while the new high-rise was being built. The organization has had to get creative, recruiting international students for summer intensives, for example, and forging partnerships overseas. One promising new income stream: As word has spread about CBSF’s facilities, other companies and touring productions have begun approaching them about studio rentals.

High Ceilings, No Columns

Even with the financial perks, dance spaces have specific needs that complicate construction and drive up costs in mid- and high-rise buildings—most notably the need for wide-open, column-free spaces with high ceilings. Those are key priorities in the Paul Taylor Dance Company’s planned expansion, which will triple their studio space and establish a presence for the company and school in midtown Manhattan.

Executive director John Tomlinson had been looking for more space even before the pandemic. “Our school was busting at the seams,” Tomlinson says. “Our current landlord was desperately working with me to find solutions, but we were not finding any.”

Working with broker Jeffrey Rosenblatt, they finally located­ a column-free space and an amenable landlord in midtown. But the building presented another challenge: 10-foot ceilings. The commercial real estate management company George Comfort & Sons was willing to shoulder the additional­ cost of breaking through ceilings and floors in the jointly financed renovation, doubling the headspace in four of what will be six new studios. The 31,000-square-foot facility will also house Taylor’s administrative offices, with the company effectively owning two floors of the tower on West 38th Street for a period of 30 years.

The contractual arrangements will allow George Comfort & Sons to transfer the tax liability for those floors to the nonprofit Paul Taylor Dance Foundation. It’s a good deal for Taylor, too: “During those 30 years, because [we are] the exclusive owner, [our] tax-exempt status kicks in and no real estate taxes need to be paid,” Tomlinson says.

It’s still a big risk—the renovation is expected to cost $6 million to $8 million—but Tomlinson says the potential rewards of having a large footprint in the heart of New York City are more than financial.

“I look at this not as an indicator of power of the brand, but power of the art form,” Tomlinson says. “I don’t see the Taylor company existing in a silo within the dance world. I see the Taylor company being an integral part of the dance industry in New York City.”

Getting Creative at the Mall

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s new studio and office space —a 13,000-square-foot modular buildout financed by the Pritzker Foundation—is a former Adidas Store.

In 2019, faced with $5 million of necessary renovations for its longtime home on West Jackson Boulevard, Hubbard Street instead sold the building for twice that amount. During the pandemic, they moved into a temporary rehearsal space in a warehouse district while searching for a more permanent solution.

“We were open to any ideas,” says executive director David McDermott. “One of the most visible places where retail was struggling was North Michigan Avenue.”

The mayor’s office connected McDermott to the property managers at Water Tower Place, once a high-end retail mall on the Magnificent Mile. Hubbard Street’s landlords don’t get the same tax benefit as the Taylor company, but were all in for bringing life to the struggling mall.

“There are lots of opportunities for creative deal making with real estate developers,” McDermott says. “While we sometimes see the creative sector as one thing and the business sector as another, these are creative people, and they’re willing to work with arts organizations to make their spaces and their cities better places.”

The Parking Lot That Saved the Ruth Page School of Dance

The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, home of the Ruth Page School of Dance, has owned a building with five studios, office space, and a 200-seat theater in the heart of Chicago’s Gold Coast since 1971. But the 2008 recession hit the Center hard—and it had already been struggling following the death, in 1991, of Page, who had been personally subsidizing the organization as needed.

“We weren’t well invested,” says acting executive director Sara Schumann, who has served on the board of directors for decades. Searching for solutions, they looked next door at their parking lot, which could Tetris about 30 cars into its haphazard rows.

“It suddenly became very obvious that we have this land,” says Schumann. “There is no land in the Gold Coast except this parking lot and maybe two other lots.”

In 2016, they sold the lot for a cool $16.6 million to Lexington Homes, a real estate developer that plans to build nearly 30 stories of luxury condominiums. The lot remains undeveloped and fenced off. But the check cleared—saving the Center’s dwindling endowment, and providing much-needed cash to improve its building.

The post Dance Companies and Real Estate Developers Partner on New Spaces appeared first on Dance Magazine.

How did you decide to bring this group of guests onboard?

Alan Cumming has been a longtime friend of the company, and of Paul, as well. I asked him if he’d be willing to play Paul Taylor, and he jumped at the opportunity. He’s going to make Paul’s voice come alive.

In 1957, Paul had just graduated from Juilliard, and then in 1959, he was a guest artist at New York City Ballet. We’re bringing back these excerpts that are very of a specific moment, so we wanted to acknowledge the community of artists that were all collaborating together at that time. Adrian represents New York City Ballet, and Damian and Alicia represent Juilliard. They’re all great friends in the industry, and it’s an acknowledgement that these institutions still do have close relationships.

Why is it important to you to revive Seven New Dances?

It’s really important that audiences understand that artists are multifaceted, and they grow and evolve and try things. And there’s an investment that needs to be made in an artist’s life and in their career and where they’re going. It’s beautiful to see this process of all the drafts that have to get created for a genius to truly emerge and find themselves. I hope audiences of all ages get to ask themselves questions about what dance is, and where dance is going now.

When Seven New Dances premiered, some asked whether it could even be considered dance. Having spent time reconstructing this work, do you consider it to be dance?

They’re one hundred percent dance. Watching them in the studio feels rebellious even now. The boldness that it took for Paul to create the duet Alicia and Damian are going to perform, that was inspired by John Cage’s 4’33”: The curtain goes up, two dancers are onstage in a pose, nothing happens, and then the curtain comes down. The only thing that happens is that we as viewers are confronted with myriad thoughts, feelings, ideas, questions. It feels very radical to me. What makes it all the more powerful, if my plan works, is that when you see those same [pedestrian] movements to Bach music in Esplanade, it will hopefully make people see Paul’s work in a new way.

The post The Paul Taylor Dance Company Revisits Its Radical Roots in a One-Night-Only Performance appeared first on Dance Magazine.

It’s in dancing moments like this that the protagonists of Netflix’s wildly successful Regency­ romance adaptation fall in love and find their way to happiness. The man who crafted the steps and guided the actors through them is Jack Murphy, a London-based choreographer and movement director who has worked on all three seasons of “Bridgerton”—including the highly anticipated Season 3, which premieres in two parts on May 16 and June 13—as well as the “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” spinoff.

Murphy points to Anthony and Kate’s final dance as one of the most memorable he’s worked on thus far (along with Daphne Bridgerton and the Duke of Hastings’ dance among fireworks early in Season 1; and the moment in “Queen Charlotte” when Brimsley and Reynolds, two men, dance together atop a hill, away from society’s watchful gaze).

But don’t ask Murphy to pick his favorite. “Every dance has been special because they’re my babies,” he says. And that includes several he can’t wait to see and share in the upcoming season.

My parents met at a dance hall. I knew from a very young age about coming together through dance under extraordinary circumstances. I was born in London of Irish parents. They are a mixed marriage, Protestant and Catholic. My father joined the Royal Air Force and was stationed in Northern Ireland. He took all the men to a dance hall and met my mother. So my association with dance started with my parents. It’s always been in my blood.

The first time I ever went dancing was socially at 16. It was one of the most extraordinary moments­ of my life. I fell in love with being able to be free in my body in front of all these other people that wanted to be free in their bodies.

When I was interviewed for “Bridgerton,” I had already spent 30 years working—the first five years I worked as an actor, and then I retrained as a movement director and choreographer specifically to work with actors. My first job as an assistant was on the BBC’s Colin Firth “Pride and Prejudice.”

I had an extraordinary interview, chaired by [“Bridgerton” executive producer] Betsy Beers, that included me inviting [director] Julie Anne Robinson to the floor to dance to explain a quadrille. She said, “How would you teach it?” And I said, “Well, the easiest way is to get up and do it.”

When working with actors, I’m not talking about jetés. To be romantic and to be open about it, you have to be fantastically brave. I’d rather take people to a place where they have to be very brave through a terminology that they’re used to, rather than a terminology that scares the pants off them. I would ask them what would they like to nonverbally portray to the audience. I encourage them to stay rooted in the story.

The dancing there is to display the etiquette, the rituals, in order to belong. If you watch “Bridgerton” choreography, everyone’s doing the same thing at the same time, so you get a tremendous sense of belonging.

I will not let the actors move for movement’s sake. They have to move out of intent: “I want to woo you. I want to guide you. I want to seduce you. I want to impress you.”

There’s something you will see in Season 3, in Episode 4, that is extraordinary. The writers have given us this wonderful present. You’ll see a piece of storytelling in dance that is not social, but very much show dance.

We’re not just brains, we are bodies. We need to touch. And that is why I think “Bridgerton” is appealing to so many people, because there is very little social dance now. I believe fans are seeing these people being easy with each other through movement. They’re having an experience that we’re not having. You can’t get that on an app.

It’s the greatest gift in my career. There won’t be another “Bridgerton” for me. I know this is my legacy.

The post How Jack Murphy Helps Actors Move with Intention on “Bridgerton” appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Jennings, who had moved from Memphis, Tennessee, to Los Angeles at 19, had rarely traveled abroad. The culture shock began on Aegean Airlines, where the in-flight entertainment included clips from the Eurovision Song Contest. Since 1956, the annual song competition, a sequined spectacle of original songs from member countries of the Euro­pean Broadcasting Union, has launched Abba, Celine Dion, and Riverdance, among other memorable acts. While Eurovision has long been immensely popular in Europe, until recently it has been much less widely known in the U.S.

Jennings quickly grew to love both Athens, with its over-the-top, Vegas-style music revues, and Eurovision, which she attended for the first time in 2012 when it was held in Baku, Azerbaijan. “I used to think it was ridiculous,” Jennings says, laughing. “Now I think I’m the biggest Eurovision fan in the entire world.”

She’s made four trips to the competition so far, collaborating with teams from Cyprus, Greece, and Sweden, and taking on different roles for all three countries: dancer, choreographer, dance coach, and creative director. “Even the singers who perform without backup dancers have to learn how to use their bodies in a kinetic way,” Jennings says. “There is no Eurovision without dance.”

In 2021, Jennings spent four months preparing singer Elena Tsagrinou to represent Cyprus with her catchy electro-pop hit “El Diablo.” Although Tsagrinou had “minimal” experience as a dancer, Jennings turned her into one of the show’s best movers. “Our training pushed her to the next level,” Jennings says. While Tsagrinou finished a disappointing 16th, that score didn’t reflect the career-topping accomplishment that Jennings considers her 2021 performance to be. Jennings, now 42, served as one of Tsagrinou’s four backup dancers.

2021 also marked the first year that Eurovision was available to stream on Peacock. Jennings had never encountered an American at the contest before, but that year more Americans watched. For the 2022 edition, choreographer Kyle Hanagami booked a gig with Spanish singer Chanel.

For Eurovision Song Contest 2024, which runs May 7–11, at least two more Americans are involved: Los Angeles–based choreographers Guy Groove and Kelly Sweeney. “I honestly didn’t know much about Eurovision,” Sweeney admits. But for her friend and student Silia Kapsis, she was willing to learn.

Kapsis and her mother travel to Los Angeles each summer to network and train, including taking classes with Sweeney at Millennium Dance Complex. The daughter of a Cypriot singer and a Greek lawyer with a dance background, Kapsis grew up performing with the Australian Youth Performing Arts Company and on Nickelodeon Australia. Rather than hold a public contest to choose a Eurovision performer, Cyprus’ public broadcaster tapped Kapsis to represent the island nation for Eurovision 2024, and Kapsis, in turn, tapped Sweeney and Guy Groove to choreograph for her song “Liar.”

“I did my research,” Sweeney says, noting that she was particularly inspired by “Unicorn,” Israel’s clever, bouncy third-place entry from 2023. Sweeney described her choreography for Kapsis as “cool, feminine, and super-powerful.”

When she hit the studio with Kapsis in January, Sweeney was fresh off performing in Jennifer Lopez’s new “This Is Me…Now” Apple Music Live concert, and brought that “girl boss” energy to her Eurovision gig. Even so, creating a dance for a large thrust stage and thinking so much about camera angles “brought me out of my comfort zone,” Sweeney says. She’s excited­ to see the final result but can’t travel to this year’s host city, Malmö, Sweden, herself because she’s busy with other projects, including a music video.

Jennings is sitting out Eurovision 2024 while making a major life transition: taking over Christie McNeill Dance Studio in Jonesboro, Arkansas, where she grew up dancing. But the Dance Cartel, a creative agency she founded in Athens, is still going strong. She plans to continue spending a few months in Greece each year, choreographing for television shows and live performances. And, yes, she wants to return to Eurovision someday. “I still want to go back and get the crown,” Jennings says. “I want to win.”

The post What It’s Like to Choreograph for Eurovision appeared first on Dance Magazine.

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“I have my routine to get ready for the show: I do my own makeup, I listen to music, and I return some texts. I have to be very quiet before I go onstage. So what I did was exactly the same. I told myself, ‘It’s okay, just enjoy every single moment.’ ”

“I was getting lots of flowers and notes and texts, and just nonstop congratulations and happy birthday. I thought I would be very nervous. It was surprising, because I usually get little butterflies in my stomach before the stage, but I didn’t that night.”

“I dedicated my entire life to this company. I don’t miss class. I don’t miss any rehearsals. I don’t want to miss a show. The young girls go, ‘YY, do you ever get injured?’ I’m like, ‘Hell, yeah.’ And a lot. Both labrum tears, I have fractures, and my vertebra was injured right before The Little Mermaid filming. I did cortisone and I went on. I’m not suggesting to do so. But I have a very strong will to push to the limit.”

“I have danced so many dramatic roles. [John Neumeier’s] The Little Mermaid, [Yuri Possokhov’s] RAkU, and [Lar Lubovitch’s] Othello were all highlights.”

“I was thinking back on a lot of things. Here at SFB, I saw the glory days. I really love the dancers here. It’s like my family.”

“Sometimes you don’t realize how good you [are]. Because dancers grow up being criticized by the teacher, schoolmates, colleagues, and then, when you get onstage, by critics, and rehearsal directors, and the artistic director. Sometimes it can get in the way; you believe what you hear. But now, when I look back, I say, ‘Wow, I did pretty good.’ ”

“Marguerite and Armand is new for me. It’s a very unique piece, created for Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev.”

“It was very unique and very touching that Helgi did a speech onstage after my final bow. In front of all the company, he said, ‘Can you please come back? You are needed to pass down your legacy and your knowledge to the young dancers.’ ”

“I’m still taking class with the company—and I feel good. My body still functions and I have the flexibility. I still do the big jumps. So I say goodbye to SFB, and then it’s my choice to still keep dancing. Saying bye to SFB on my birthday and Valentine’s Day, it was also my choice. I chose that day because I think I will be reborn.”

The post Inside Yuan Yuan Tan’s Final Performance with San Francisco Ballet appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Dance productions scheduled for April and May by James Sewell Ballet and Ragamala Dance Company were left searching for new venues. BRKFST Dance Company, which was to premiere a new work co-commissioned by the Cowles and Northrop at the end of April, will instead be presented at the Walker Art Center as a joint production with Northrop in June. Programs under the Cowles umbrella, including the Generating Room (an eight-month studio residency for Minnesota choreographers) and its Teaching Artists program, will continue through the end of May. 

Reasons for the closure, according to Cowles co-director Joseph Bingham, include the lingering financial effects of the pandemic shutdown, lower ticket sales since 2020, and changes­ in funding priorities from both individual philanthropy and the education world. But the biggest factor? The owner of the building, Artspace, a Minneapolis-based national nonprofit developer of artist live-work spaces, has ended its $500,000 annual contribution to support The Cowles Center. 

The Cowles’ 2022 990 tax return sheds further light, according to Gary Peterson, a 40-year veteran of the area’s dance community who has served as managing director of Ananya Dance Theatre and executive director of James Sewell Ballet, Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theatre, Zenon Dance Company, and the Southern Theater. The Center’s 2022 program-service revenue (which encompasses income from ticket sales, rentals, and educational services) was less than 20 percent of its total revenue—a decrease of more than one-third since 2019—while ticket sales only covered 11 percent of total expenses. “The Cowles Center, under the aegis of Artspace, raised the rest,” says Peterson. “It has not been enough, and Artspace has stated that it is no longer in a position to fund the difference.” In a Star Tribune article, Bingham said Artspace’s “main business and nonprofit housing development has changed so much. It’s not that they’re pulling the plug needlessly, it’s that their business model has changed.” Anonymous donors, Bingham added, kept the Cowles operational through March and provided financial payouts to companies whose shows were canceled.

The Cowles’ theater arrived at its current location when Artspace moved the historic Shubert Theater through downtown Minneapolis to a vacant lot next to the Hennepin Center for the Arts in February 1999. At 5.8 million pounds, the theater was the heaviest building ever moved on rubber tires. It was then renovated into the Goodale Theater and ancillary spaces.The total cost of the project was $42 million. The project received $1 million in planning funds from the Minnesota State Legislature in 2005 and $11 million in state bonding money in 2006. Donors contributed the rest. After the Cowles closes, the City of Minneapolis and its Community Planning & Economic Development Department will steward the building, and have contracted with Artspace for management and operation. “The legal entity of the Cowles will remain in place in the hopes that someone will step into an operational role in the future,” Tio Aiken, Artspace vice president of communications and community engagement, said in a press release. 

“We are genuinely devastated,” says Cowles co-director Jessi Fett, “for the dance community, the artists, and all of the careers created here. In the last three years, we re-created a strategic plan and put in place many things we were excited to push forward, including an emphasis on BIPOC programming. It’s hard to see that ending so abruptly.” 

Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theatre is one company that performed prior to the closing. “We got in under the wire,” says founder and artistic director Susana di Palma of The Conference of the Birds, which premiered at the Cowles in February. “It’s a tremendous loss to the dance and arts communities, but it’s family, it’s personal, and it’s professional, of course.” 

The post The Cowles Center in Minneapolis Is Closing After Ending Its Presenting Season Early. What Happened? appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Comings & Goings

Claire Kretzschmar has been named artistic director of Ballet Hartford, beginning in August. She succeeds co-founder Leyna Doran, who will become executive director.

Daniela Cardim will succeed Ib Andersen as artistic director of Ballet Arizona on July 1. Andersen will be artistic director emeritus.

Mary Jennings has been appointed executive director of Grand Rapids Ballet, succeeding Glenn Del Vecchio in June.

Melanie Paglia has joined Pittsburgh’s Kelly Strayhorn Theater as co-executive director, joining current executive director Joseph Hall as the theater moves to a co-leadership model.

At Ballet West, David Huffmire has been promoted to principal artist, Lillian Casscells and Rylee Rogers to demi-soloist, effective with the start of the 2024–25 season. First soloist Chelsea Keefer and demi-soloist Olivia Gusti will retire at the conclusion of the current season.

At San Francisco Ballet, effective in July, Kamryn Baldwin, Carmela Mayo, and Joshua Jack Price have been promoted to soloist. Dores André and Max Cauthorn will return to the company as principals. Fernando Carratalá Coloma and Victor Prigent join from English National Ballet as soloists.

At Alberta Ballet, Aaron Anker and Alexandra Hughes have been promoted to principal, Scotto Hamed-Ramos and Allison Perhach to soloist.

At Birmingham Royal Ballet, Beatrice Parma has been promoted to principal, effective at the start of the 2024–25 season.

At Staatsballett Berlin, beginning with the 2024–25 season, Weronika Frodyma, Martin ten Kortenaar, and Haruka Sassa have been promoted to principal; Danielle Muir and Kalle Wigle to soloist; and Marina Duarte, Gregor Glocke, Leroy Mokgatle, and Clotide Tran to demi-soloist.

At Miami City Ballet, Francisco Schilereff has been promoted to soloist.

New York City Ballet principal Andrew Veyette will retire from the company at the end of the 2024–25 season. His final performance is scheduled for May 25, 2025.

Pacific Northwest Ballet rehearsal director Otto Neubert will retire at the end of the current season.

Yanis Pikieris has stepped down as co-artistic director of the Miami International Ballet Competition.

Awards & Honors

Shamel Pitts and Acosia Red Elk are among the recipients of 2024 Doris Duke Artist Awards, which includes a $525,000 unrestricted grant and an additional $25,000 in retirement funds.

2024 Guggenheim Fellows include Rosie Herrera, Ryan K. Johnson, Hari Krishnan, Rebecca Lazier, Victor Quijada, amara tabor-smith, and Abby Zbikowski in the field of choreography, and Emily Wilcox in the field of dance studies.

Antoine Hunter PurpleFireCrow has been named a 2024 Rainin Arts Fellow, which includes a $100,000 unrestricted award.

Jake Roxander and Frances Lorraine Samson are among the winners of the 2024 Clive Barnes Award for Dance and Theatre, which includes a $5,000 award.

Winners at the 2024 Olivier Awards included Isabela Coracy (Outstanding Achievement in Dance, Mthuthuzeli November’s NINA: By Whatever Means at Ballet Black), Gabriela Carrizo (Best New Dance Production, La Ruta for Nederlands Dans Theater), and Arlene Phillips with James Cousins (Gillian Lynne Award for Best Theatre Choreographer, Guys & Dolls).

Bernadette Peters will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2024 Chita Rivera Awards, which will be presented May 20.

The post News of Note: What You Might Have Missed in April 2024 appeared first on Dance Magazine.

New to NYCB

NEW YORK CITY  In-demand choreographer Amy Hall Garner continues to gain momentum, with her latest commission premiering at New York City Ballet’s Spring Gala on May 2 alongside a new work from resident choreographer Justin Peck and George Balanchine’s “Rubies.” All three pieces repeat alongside Balanchine’s Le Tombeau de Couperin May 3, 4, 7, and 16 for the Classic NYCB I program. nycballet.com. —Courtney Escoyne

Rituals and Relationships

NEW YORK CITY  Kyle Abraham curates this year’s iteration of Danspace Project’s signature Platform program. Subtitled “A Delicate Ritual,” this year’s platform centers questions about the participating artists’ relationships with nature, ritual, prayer, love, and change. Sharing performance evenings are Shamel Pitts and Nicholas Ryan Gant (May 2–4), David Roussève and taisha paggett (May 23–25), and Vinson Fraley and Bebe Miller (June 6–8), while additional activities will include a memorial for the late Kevin Wynn, classes, conversations, and more. danspaceproject.org. —CE

Editor’s note: This item has been updated to reflect programming changes made after this story went to print.

Atlanta Gets Jazzy

ATLANTA  Claudia Schreier teams up with legendary jazz musician Wynton Marsalis for her latest premiere for Atlanta Ballet, where she’s choreographer in residence. The work will be set to “The Jungle” (Symphony No. 4). And sought-after dancemaker Juliano Nuñes returns to the company for another new work to round out the Liquid Motion program. May 10–12. atlantaballet.com. —CE

Sounding Off

NEW YORK CITY  In the “performance-presentation” This Is The Part When You Go Woo, Caleb Teicher and their collaborators play with the various relationships that might exist between artists and their audiences. Guest performers take Michael Benjamin Washington’s script and fill in the blanks, accompanied by visuals from interdisciplinary artist Ameya Marie Okamoto, for the new work, premiering at Works & Process May 12–13. worksandprocess.org. —CE

Crossing the Pond

LONDON  The Sarasota Ballet’s first international engagement will be a particularly meaningful one as the company alights at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre for a weeklong residency. The occasion? Helping kick off Ashton Worldwide, a five-year celebration of Sir Frederick Ashton, whose works have become a specialty of the Florida-based company under Iain Webb’s leadership. They’ll perform Valses nobles et sentimentales, Dante Sonata, Sinfonietta, Varii Capricci, Façade, and a selection of divertissements across two programs and a gala, June 4–9, and will join The Royal Ballet on the main stage June 7–22 to perform The Walk to the Paradise Garden. The Royal’s own Ashton programming will include The Dream, Rhapsody, and Les Rendezvous. roh.org.uk. —CE

Many Happy Returns

NEW YORK CITY  Ashley R.T. Yergens continues his work exploring transgender identity in American popular culture with SURROGATE, drawing on Thomas Beatie’s 2008 interview with Oprah Winfrey about his experiences being pregnant as a trans man. Yergens’ self-described “premature birthday celebration for a frozen embryo” premieres at New York Live Arts June 13–15. newyorklivearts.org. —CE

Then and Now

SEATTLE  The site-responsive the sky is the same color everywhere or on the rapture of being alive sees Alice Gosti and her MALACARNE collaborators celebrating Seattle’s downtown while holding space for its colonized past. The free five-hour performance takes over the 2+U Urban Village on June 27. gostia.com. —CE

Asian Voices

Two ballet festivals center Asian creatives.

Choreographic Festival VI at Ballet West

SALT LAKE CITY  Ballet West’s Choreographic Festival, returning this year for its sixth iteration, presents a program focused on highlighting Asian choreographers. The event will include two new works for Ballet West, one by former BalletX dancer Caili Quan and another by American Ballet Theatre soloist Zhongjing Fang. Phil Chan’s Amber Waves, an improvisation-based work inspired by “America the Beautiful” and set to music by Chinese American composer Huang Ruo, will also be performed by Ballet West. Among the guest companies are BalletMet, which will bring outgoing artistic director Edwaard Liang’s Seasons to the program. After the festival’s run in Salt Lake City, Ballet West will present both new works as part of the Kennedy Center’s 10,000 Dreams: A Celebration of Asian Choreography. June 5–8. balletwest.org. —Sophie Bress

10,000 Dreams: A Celebration of Asian Choreography

WASHINGTON, DC  Co-curated by Phil Chan and the Kennedy Center, 10,000 Dreams: A Celebration of Asian Choreography gets underway at dusk on June 14 with a free outdoor screening of a selection of short dance films by Asian choreographers and creatives as part of the Millennium Stage film series. The festival reaches a crescendo on June 21 with a one-night-only event: Alongside Chan’s Amber Waves, danced by Ballet West, planned performers include Final Bow for Yellowface co-founder Georgina Pazcoguin; Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company, in its artistic director’s A Tribute to Marian Anderson; and Singapore Ballet, Goh Ballet (with dancers from the National Ballet of China), and The Washington Ballet, each performing a work by Choo San Goh. A pioneering Singapore-born­ dancemaker, Goh was TWB’s resident choreographer for nearly a decade before dying of AIDS-related illness in 1987. Two other­ programs during the weeklong festival will feature performances by Pacific Northwest Ballet and Houston Ballet alongside Ballet West and TWB in ballets by Brett Ishida, Edwaard Liang, and Disha Zhang, among others. June 14 and 18–23. kennedy-center.org. —CE

The post 9 Performances to Catch This May and June appeared first on Dance Magazine.

“By no means did it happen overnight,” he says. “It took years and years of hard work.”

That hard work is evident throughout Hanagami’s online presence, but especially on his phenomenally popular YouTube channel. Hanagami has harnessed the platform’s power in a singularly savvy way—and in doing so, has gained not just millions of fans but also a devoted inner circle of colleagues and collaborators.

An Unexpected Beginning

A career in dance wasn’t on Hanagami’s radar growing up. “I didn’t even know what a choreographer was,” he remembers. During his freshman year as a psychology and economics major at the University of California, Berkeley, Hanagami auditioned for the school’s hip-hop team for fun. Thanks to his innate musicality and sense of rhythm, he ended up making the cut. 

What started as a casual commitment soon turned into something more serious: “I fell in love with it,” he says. Hanagami returned to his native Los Angeles in 2010, built up his YouTube channel, and leaned into all opportunities that came his way, including dancing for the Black Eyed Peas and choreographing for “The X Factor.” “There was no roadmap back then,” he says. “I had to learn how to navigate a rapidly changing dance landscape.”

Leveling Up 

Hanagami quickly established himself as a choreographic force. His distinct movement vocabulary, abundant with musical flourishes and syncopation, drew dancers in droves to his classes at Millennium Dance Complex and Movement Lifestyle in Los Angeles. His sleekly edited YouTube content—which, early on, included not just choreography videos but also a look into the life of a professional dance artist—even caught the eye of a number of directors and actors, many of whom reached out to pursue collaborations. “YouTube has been instrumental to my career and cross-pollinating different parts of my professional life,” Hanagami says. 

Eventually he was choreographing for stars like Jennifer Lopez and productions including “Dancing with the Stars.” While the projects kept coming, Hanagami was eager for a different type of challenge. “I often came in halfway through a musician’s career, so I didn’t have an impact on who they were as an artist,” he says. “I really wanted to be involved from the beginning.”

Enter BLACKPINK, widely considered the most successful girl group in K-pop. BLACKPINK tapped Hanagami as their choreographer in 2016—a time when “they hadn’t even released a song,” he says. He’s worked with the group ever since, choreographing music videos that have been viewed by billions of people around the globe. “It’s been really- gratifying to see how far they’ve come, and also see the impact my choreography has had on shaping their overall vision,” he says.

In 2023, Hanagami signed onto Mean Girls, the movie musical adaptation of the Broadway production, both based on Tina Fey’s hit comedy from 2004. Putting a fresh spin on a beloved classic “really forced me to think outside of the box,” Hanagami says. “It was such a creative challenge and took my career in a direction I didn’t think was possible.” That direction? A credit line as a second unit director (he led a secondary camera and crew during filming)—and, as a result, admission to the Directors Guild of America.

People First, Dancers Second

The throughline in Hanagami’s extensive resumé is his ability to understand people. “Even in fast-paced, high-pressure circumstances, I love working with Kyle,” says actress Ashley Park, who originated the role of Gretchen in Mean Girls on Broadway and has worked with Hanagami on a Skechers campaign, as well as one of his viral videos. “He is a natural director and visionary when it comes to prioritizing storytelling, while elevating the spirits of everyone involved.”

Before exploring the choreography, Hanagami likes to explore the artist’s personality. “I want to know their strengths and their weaknesses,” he says. “All of this helps me make a connection before we work together in a professional setting.”

A Potential Pivot

As his career continues to boom, Hanagami has his sights set on a future in the director’s chair. “Directing feels like the next frontier for me,” he says. As an experienced video editor (thanks to all those years on YouTube), a newly minted member of the DGA, and a mentee of the choreographer-directors Adam Shankman and Kenny Ortega, Hanagami is well positioned to make a splash in the film industry.

But choreography won’t necessarily take a backseat. “I’ll still work on projects that touch dance in some way,” he says. That includes choreographing for the current season of “So You Think You Can Dance.” 

“Everything I’ve done up until this point—from my video-editing experience to my love for psychology—has prepared me for this,” Hanagami says. “I feel more than ready.”

The Company He Keeps

“If I were to give one piece of advice to someone in the entertainment industry, it’d be to surround yourself with good people,” Hanagami says. Charlize Glass, a professional dancer who worked with Hanagami on Mean Girls and has taken his classes for 13 years, says he lives by that advice himself. “Kyle creates an environment that is unlike anything else, largely because of the assistants around him,” Glass says. “It makes the work so much more enjoyable.”

One of those people is Hanagami’s close friend and collaborator, Haley Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald first crossed paths with Hanagami more than a decade ago and has been a fixture in his social media content and professional projects. “Collaborating with Kyle is like piecing a puzzle together—the combination of his technical eye and my dancing works really nicely,” she says.

Hanagami refers to Fitzgerald as his “right hand.” “I just like her as a human, and I want to be around her,” he says. “When you gel with someone like that, it makes the work better.”

Always Advocating

A prolific creator, Hanagami is a vocal proponent of choreographic copyright. He has secured copyrights for nearly all of his choreographic work, and recently pursued his own lawsuit against Epic Games and the video game Fortnite, in which he claimed that the company stole his copyrighted moves.

“I’m so passionate about this because choreographers are often women, or come from marginalized communities, or are people of color—systemically, it’s almost a given that they’ll be taken advantage of,” he says. “I’m lucky enough to be in a position where I can hold other parties accountable.”

Hanagami brings that same passion for advocacy to his work as a vice president of the Choreographers Guild, the labor union for choreographers in the entertainment industry. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he remembers Zoom meetings where it became clear that he and his Guild colleagues were all facing similar problems within the industry. “As choreographers, we rarely work on projects together. We’re usually on our own island,” he says. “But through our conversations, we’ve been able to establish what choreographers want and deserve, and how to get there.”

The post Kyle Hanagami, A Viral Sensation Across Multiple Forms of Media, Has Built a Dance Empire From the Ground Up appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Company: Pacific Northwest Ballet

Age: 20

Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia

Training: Debbie Allen Dance Academy, Colburn School, Pacific Northwest Ballet Professional Division

On her own: At 9, Wimpye relocated to Los Angeles, with mom in tow, to train at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. By 13, she was on her own at the Colburn School. “I think that helped me to mature, both mentally and emotionally. I gained the independence and strength that I need to succeed in this industry,” she says.

Connecting with audiences: Wimpye has carved out time for high-profile gigs, appearing as a solo dancer on TV for a Mariah Carey holiday special, dancing for Michelle Obama at the White House, starring in an Hourglass Cosmetics campaign opposite Twyla Tharp, and acting in a principal role on the hit show “This Is Us.” The professional credits add to her artistry. “For me, a huge part of dance is telling a story, not just with your body but also emoting with your face—acting’s helped with that,” she says. “But onstage, I just let loose and enjoy myself.”

Growth and giving back: “I’ve been through big ups and downs in my life, but my mom has made sure that I was surrounded by great mentors.” Joining Brown Girls Do Ballet gave Wimpye support. “For 10 years, it’s allowed me to have Black and brown professional ballerinas as mentors—ballerinas that looked like me. Now, I’m a mentor myself­ and it’s still just as rewarding.”

What her director is saying: Still in her first season as a full company member, “Destiny can easily be picked out of the corps de ballet for her singular presence and clean technique,” says PNB artistic director Peter Boal, “and she’s starting to take on more featured roles,” including Swan Lake’s Neapolitan Dance in February. “I often refer to ‘that thing you can’t teach,’ and Destiny has it. It’s engagement, presence, and joy that jumps over the footlights. It’s evident the moment she steps onstage.”

Memorable performance: Dancing with PNB in the finale of Balanchine’s “Diamonds” as a student in the Professional Division. “I had learned a few months earlier that I was being hired,” she says. “I got thrown in at the last minute for that performance. It felt like the start of my career and I had the realization that I was living out my dream!”

Free time: “I love to have relaxing days at home with my puppy, and traveling and exploring Washington,” says Wimpye. Her favorite TV show? “The Office.”

Career goals: “I feel really grateful because I can see the efforts being made to make the organization more diverse and inclusive,” says Wimpye, whose goals include dancing in the works of Balanchine, William Forsythe, and Crystal Pite, and even on Broadway—“I’m a huge fan of musicals,” she says. “But my biggest goal is becoming a principal dancer.”

The post Meet Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Destiny Wimpye appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Originally, the cast also included Maria Khoreva and Kimin Kim of Russia’s state-run Mariinsky Ballet, which drew objections from local leaders and the Ukrainian consulate due to the war in Ukraine. After being informed about possible protests on Thursday, YAGP leaders consulted with New York City Ballet, which manages Lincoln Center’s Koch Theater, and decided to cancel the dancers’ performances shortly before the show. (Protests by pro-Ukrainian activists went on as planned.) “It is a decision that gives us great pain,” YAGP said in a statement. “Art should unite us, not divide us.”

“We are very sorry that our reunion did not take place,” Khoreva wrote in an Instagram post, “but art will always find a way to human soul.”

The Awards

Over the course of the competition, 120 finalists—out of 2,000 dancers—were selected to participate in Wednesday night’s Final Round. The winners were announced at Saturday’s awards ceremony, along with many other dancers who received summer intensive scholarships, invitations to pre-professional training programs, and company contracts.

Going forward, Saveliev said, YAGP plans to create more opportunities for dancers outside of competition, as well as expand its Nervi Festival Summer Workshop (a one-week “company experience” program held each summer in Italy) to more cities in Europe. “We want to give young dancers opportunities to perform, not just compete,” she says.

If you missed the livestreamed awards ceremony, you’re in luck—we’ve compiled a list below. Congratulations to all of those who participated in this year’s Final Round, and a special shout-out to all of the hard-working teachers and parents who made these dancers’ dreams possible.

Senior Division

Grand Prix 

GeonHee Park, 18, Korea National University of the Arts, South Korea

Senior Women

1st place: Ivana Radan, 15, Ellison Ballet Professional Training Program, USA

2nd place: Crystal Huang, 15, Bayer Ballet Academy & The Rock Center for Dance, USA

3rd place:  MinJi Son, 18, Korea National University of the Arts, South Korea

Senior Men

1st place: Martinho Lima Santos, 18, Princess Grace Academy, Monaco/Portugal

2nd place: Joao Pedro Silva, 15, Balé do teatro Basileu Franca, Brazil

3rd place (tie): Hang Li, 20, Beijing Dance Academy, China 

3rd place (tie): Carson Willey, 17, The Rock School for Dance, USA

Junior Division

Junior Women

1st place:  Tamison Soppet, 13, Convergence Dance Studios, New Zealand

2nd place: Annie Webb, 13, Moga Conservatory of Dance, USA

3rd place: Jolie Lavaux, 13, Boca Ballet Theatre, USA

Junior Men

1st place: Keenan Mentzos, 14, Ballet Bloch Canada, Canada

2nd place: Eric Poor, 14, Cary Ballet Conservatory, USA

3rd place: Eita Akita, 14, Wakui Ballet School, Japan

Pre-Competitive Division

Hope Award

Owen Simmons, 11, The School of Cadence Ballet, Canada

Women, Classical

1st place: Yuna Yamada, 11, Kinue Kobayashi Ballet Studio, Japan

2nd place: SaRang Jang, 11, Maeen Ballet, South Korea

3rd place: Anne Takahashi, 11, Flora Ballet, Japan

Men, Classical

1st place:  Spencer Collins, 10, Westside School of Ballet, USA

2nd place:  Victor Rega Mas, 11, Synopsis Danse, France

3rd place: Yuto Teranishi, 10, Panda Ballet School (Takako Mori Ballet School), Japan

Women, Contemporary

1st place: Lior Wieder, 11, DanceWorks, Israel

2nd place: Ellary Day Szyndlar, 11, Master Ballet Academy, USA

3rd place: Anne Takahashi, 11, Flora Ballet, Japan

Men, Contemporary

1st place: Spencer Collins, 10, Westside School of Ballet, USA

2nd place: Kohaku Kihara, 11, Skhole Ballet Art, Japan

3rd place: Bogdan Eduard, 10, Dance Planet, Romania

Ensemble Division

Classical Pas de Deux

1st place: Minji Son, 18, and Seungmin Lee, 19, Korea National University of the Arts, South Korea

2nd place (tie): Núria Fernandes, 16, and Darius-Oriol Tamosi, 17, Conservatório Internacional de Ballet e Dança Annarella Sanchez, Portugal 

2nd place (tie): Yasmin Sabag, 15, and Joao Pedro Silva, 15, Bale do teatro Basileu Franca, Brazil

3rd place: Sophia Jones, 17, and Colton Heath, 16, Feijóo Ballet School, USA

Contemporary Pas de Deux

1st place: Núria Fernandes, 16, and Darius-Oriol Tamosi, 17, Conservatório Internacional de Ballet e Dança Annarella Sanchez, Portugal

2nd place: Sachi Oza, 13, and Eric Poor, 14, Cary Ballet Conservatory, USA

3rd place: Yasmin Sabag, 15, and Marcus Rufino, 15, Bale do teatro Basileu Franca, Brazil

Classical Ensembles

1st place: Bayer Ballet Academy, USA

2nd place: The Rock School for Dance, USA

3rd place: Colorado Ballet Academy, USA

Contemporary Ensembles

1st place: Professione Danza Pescara, Italy

2nd place: Cary Ballet Conservatory, USA

3rd place (tie): Jun Lu Performing Arts, USA

3rd place (tie): The School of Cadence Ballet, Canada

Character Ensembles

1st place: OAEC, USA

2nd place: Ellison Ballet Professional Training Program, USA

3rd place: Jun Lu Performing Arts, USA

Duet/Trio

1st place:  DanceWorks, Israel

2nd place: Amirian Ballet Academy, USA

3rd place: The Rock School West, USA

Special Awards

Makarova Award for Artistry: Viktoria Papakalodouka

Shelly King Award for Excellence: Chloe Helimets

Outstanding Choreographer Award: Krista King-Doherty; Andrea Astuto

Outstanding School: Korean National University of the Arts, South Korea

The post 2024 YAGP Winners Announced, Capping 25th-Anniversary Celebration appeared first on Dance Magazine.

After her boyfriend’s death several years later, she wasn’t able to find the same catharsis in dance, however. Landreau decided to leave the company and make a cross-country move to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where she currently teaches at Dancers’ Workshop and dances in its ensemble. “I’m still dancing, but unfortunately that loss has hurt me so much that my priorities have completely changed,” she says.

Moving Through Grief

Navigating the death of a friend, relative, or partner is a profoundly emotional experience. Because grief also impacts the body on a physical level, the unique demands of a dance career can add additional challenges. “The way the body responds is such a huge part of dancers’ jobs,” says Olga Gonithellis, the founder of Creativity Mental Health Counseling, a New York City–based mental health practice that works with artists, performers, and other creatives. “Grief has physical symptoms that are wide-ranging.”

Gonithellis explains that grief can result in feelings of increased fatigue or flu-like symptoms and can also impact motiva­tion, concentration, and memory. Loss that is unexpected and/or involves some form of trauma can result in an additional set of symptoms, such as dissociation, in which the “body and brain may feel kind of fragmented,” says Gonithellis. Feelings of anxiety, depression, and panic may also arise.

For dancers, the mental, emotional, and physical toll that grief takes on the body can present challenges in the studio and onstage. “You expect your body to be able to do certain things,” says Gonithellis. “After years and years of training, the body is supposed to know how to move a certain way and perform under pressure. That can be disrupted in the brain, particularly when it’s forced to have a fight-or-flight response to traumatic loss.”

For some artists, grief can provide a surge of creativity, offering­ an outlet for expressing challenging and complex emotions. After losing her mother to cancer, Lucy Jane Doherty, an Australi­a-­based­ dance artist, channeled the experience into her Dancing for Jane project, a series of four dance films made in her mother’s memory. “Right after losing my mom, I actually felt a surge of energy,” Doherty remembers. “That was creative energy—that’s where I channeled it.”

Coping and Healing

Grieving is a deeply personal experience that impacts everyone differently, which means that the most effective tools for coping and healing are also very individual. Gonithellis suggests seeking a grief therapist with experience treating dancers or athletes, as they are often better able to understand the intricacies of navigating grief in conjunction with a dance career. She also encourages dancers to expand their network, possibly through joining a grief support group in the local community. If dancing or choreographing aren’t providing an effective creative outlet, Gonithellis encourages dancers to explore a different medium. Writing can be particularly helpful, she says, adding that keeping a journal is a great place to start.

Both Landreau and Doherty emphasize the importance of allowing ample time and space for grief and prioritizing self-care in the aftermath of a loss. Landreau treated her body as though she were nursing an injury, and focused on basic needs, like food, water, and sleep. “Those very simple things really helped my mental health to rebuild itself and my body to heal, so that I could stretch, get stronger and eventually dance again,” she says.

Doherty agrees that, when grappling with a loss, taking a step back from dance, work, and other responsibilities can also be an important step for healing. “It’s okay to just stop and do small things that nurture you,” she says. “Don’t have any big goals, you don’t have to do anything drastic. Just be in that stillness and be with that grief.”

Resources

Olga Gonithellis, Charlotte Landreau, and Lucy Jane Doherty recommend the following resources for dancers who are grieving:

Online

• Vitas Healthcare grief support groups: Choose from a variety of virtual, specialized grief support groups.
• Pathways Center for Grief and Loss Adult Support: Through this Pennsylvania-based facility, get information about a variety of virtual and in-person grief resources and support groups, plus connect with a grief counselor.
• Good Mourning: A podcast about grief

Books

• Bearing the Unbearable: Love, Loss, and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief, by Joanne Cacciatore, PhD
• Resilient Grieving: How to Find Your Way Through a Devastating Loss, by Lucy Hone, PhD

The post How to Navigate a Performing Career While Grieving appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Again, Please

As with most things in dance (and life), investing time in your turns is essential to maintaining them. Koelliker, who is the co-creator of the program AKA Turns Technique, says repetition is the key to turning success.

But for professionals juggling class, rehearsals, auditions, and day jobs, that’s easier said than done. Consider swapping out your next musical theater or contemporary class for a leaps-and-turns class, or taking a few minutes between combinations in ballet or after rehearsal to practice.

Troubleshooting

That said, practicing won’t pay off if you’re not training correctly. “I’ll have students say, ‘I’m 18, I’ve been turning my whole life and it’s never come easy to me,’ Koelliker says. “And I’m like, ‘Well, yeah, your relevé is really low, and that’s really hard to sustain a turn on.’ Or, ‘Your ankles are super-wobbly, and that’s why you’re moving around.’ ”

If you’re in the middle of a turn regression, it can be difficult to diagnose the problem on your own. Getting a second pair of eyes to point out your current weaknesses is essential. Once you have a clear idea of what you need to work on, you can begin targeting those areas of weakness in your workout routines.

Let’s Get Physical

Whatever your experience level, strength and stability are key to solid, reliable turns. For general improvements, Koelliker recommends the following exercises.

Core Work

These three routines “engage that deep core and help dancers lift their passé higher,” Koelliker says, which will steady their turns.

• Lie on your back, bend your knees so you’re in a turned-out grand plié with your heels off the ground, and place a yoga block or Pilates ball between your heels. Straighten your knees, pushing away from your head, so your legs hover just above the ground. Lift your legs up to the ceiling, hinging at the hips to create a 90-degree angle with your legs and torso. Repeat 4 times.

• Lie on your back with your legs straight and raised to the ceiling, creating a right angle with your torso. Place the ball or block between your heels. Maintaining that stretched position, lower the legs until they hover just over the ground, then lift them back to the starting position. Repeat 4 times.

• Lie on your side with your left elbow propped up on a yoga block. Keeping your legs stacked on top of each other, take 4 counts to lift your bottom hip off the ground until you’re hovering over the floor. Draw your top leg up into a turned-out passé position for 4 counts, then draw it back down the leg for 4 counts. Lower your hip back to the floor in 4 counts. Repeat 6 times per side.

Relevés

Relevé exercises “help stabilize the ankles and work the arches so dancers can get into their highest relevé” as they turn, Koelliker says, which promotes better balance. 

• Place a yoga ball on the floor against the wall. Facing away from the wall in parallel, rise onto the balls of the feet, placing both heels on the ball. Either holding onto the wall behind you or placing the arms in first position, plié into a forced-arch position for 2 counts, then stretch the legs for 2 counts. Repeat 8 times.

• Turn to face the wall and take a step back, bringing the ball with you. Rise into a relevé passé, and place the ball under your standing heel. Plié on your standing leg so you are in a forced-arch position, then release the heel into the ball, squishing it down slightly. Return to the previous forced-arch position before stretching back into a fully stretched relevé. Do 4 repetitions on each leg.

Stabilization

“This exercise engages the adductors and helps dancers maintain a connected passé while turning,” Koelliker says, which will better support those multiples.

• Stand in passé on a yoga block. Place a Pilates ball between your working leg’s toes and your standing leg’s knee, squeezing your inner thighs to keep it in place. Plié on your standing leg, and lower your working leg down toward the floor, moving the ball with it. Return to the starting position. Repeat 8 times on each leg.

Arms

Koelliker says the resistance from the band in this exercise will support arm strength, engage the lats, and keep the shoulders down in turns.

• Put a TheraBand underneath a yoga block. Stand on the block in passé, holding one end of the band in each hand. Raise your arms into a wide T position. Keep your arms straight, with the palms down and the shoulders away from the ears. Lower the arms back to your sides. Repeat 8 times. Then, lift the arms into a wide T position, close the arms to first position, return to the wide T position, and lower the arms to your sides. Repeat 8 times.

Mindset Shift

Even after all that work, your turns probably won’t improve without a shift in perspective. “Growing up, my teachers ingrained in our souls that turns are 70 percent confidence and 30 percent ability,” Koelliker says. “Everyone at my studio truly believed they were amazing turners, and I think there is something to be said about just knowing you’re going to hit the turn.”

To encourage your mind to think that way, Koelliker recommends rhythmic mantras—using words or phrases whose syllables match the number of rotations in the turn you need to do. “When you’re trying to get a triple, say something like, ‘Yes I Can,’ and spot on each word,” she says.

My Experience

I took Koelliker’s advice and incorporated these tips and tricks into my training for the better part of a month. The result? Some real improvements in my turns! My ankles are stronger, and I feel more confident in my rotations.

For more of my conversation with Koelliker, and demonstrations of some of these exercises, head to Dance Magazine’s YouTube channel.

The post Dancer Diary: Top Turning Tips appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Balletcore is also a subject of passionate debate among dancers. Many cringe at simplistic representations of the tools of their trade and, especially, at the use of models who appear to lack any ballet experience. Others think it’s a harmless or even potentially beneficial sign of admiration and respect for their art form.

However dancers feel about it, the renewed obsession with balletic fashion has the potential to affect both ballet’s place in today’s culture and the public perception of what ballet is.

A Trend With Deep Roots

Patricia Mears, deputy director at New York City’s The Museum at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) and a lifelong ballet fan, curated the museum’s 2020 exhibit, “Ballerina: Fashion’s Modern Muse.” She says the invigoration of ballet culture in the West during the 1920s and ’30s sparked a fascination with ballet dancers themselves, leading to an early version of balletcore.

“The ballerina became much more respected in society, and, therefore, what she looked like was also more respected,” Mears says. “Women designers in particular began using class and rehearsal wear as a foundation for easy, knitted separates. It was a fascinating phenomenon.”

Something similar may be happening now, thanks in large part to social media. Dancers’ presence on various platforms gives the general public glimpses into the dancers’ offstage (albeit highly curated) lives—including what they wear when not in costume.

Joffrey Ballet dancer Jeraldine Mendoza thinks seeing dancers as individuals this way fuels a sense of intrigue, fascination, and also relatability. “Now that ballet dancers are becoming visible as ‘real people’ online, more people see what we do on a daily basis,” Mendoza says. “And even though it might seem unreachable, they still want to touch it somehow.” Fashion offers an attainable way to emulate an aspirational lifestyle.

Mears agrees, adding that other current fashion trends are also making balletcore a natural fit for the times. “There’s a movement towards more relaxed clothing and individual styles with no rules,” she says. “I also see an undercurrent of interest, especially in young people, of searching for things that are true and beautiful. And ballet is one of those things.”

Ballet Fantasy Versus Ballet Reality

Balletcore is not, of course, supposed to be an exact reproduction of what dancers actually wear to work. Even so, the fashion world’s take on the ballet aesthetic frequently skews generic and somewhat outdated, favoring girlish balletic tropes like pastel colors, tulle, ribbons, and bows. As the ballet world makes strides towards inclusivity, could this disconnect between reality and what’s being sold to the public have negative repercussions for the ballet world, despite the benefits of the popularity boost?

Houston Ballet first soloist Harper Watters sees it both ways. “I have spent the majority of my career trying to shift people’s perception of what a ballet dancer looks like, who they are, and what interests them,” he says. “So when it comes to this cookie-cutter idea of ballet being pink, it’s frustrating since we all know there is so much more complexity and dimension to our world, and to our fashion.”

Watters also points out, though, that the influential fashion industry’s attention could be a very good thing. “I very much believe that visibility is currency, and there’s power in people talking about ballet and popularizing it,” he says. “Ballet has been a marginalized art form, so when fashion houses are tapping into it, I see it as an opportunity for the dance community to respond to it and shift people’s perspectives.”

Touching a Nerve

Dancers tend to have strong reactions to representations of ballet in any mainstream context, from movies to TV shows to books. But fashion’s take on ballet has provoked especially visceral responses.

The risk that balletcore is devaluing the concept of what it means to be a dancer is real, says Katie Malia, who with Suzanne Jolie founded the popular Instagram account @modelsdoingballet. Malia and Jolie post examples of fashion brands featuring nondancers modeling ballet-inspired outfits (often including pointe shoes), resulting in ads that can be both hilarious and horrifying.

“I’m not a purist—tutus don’t have to only belong in the theater,” Malia says. “But there’s a lack of education, understanding, and respect of the art form. We need more people to take the craft seriously. Or else ballet becomes satire.”

Others aren’t as worried. While acknowledging that most balletcore pieces are nothing like what she or her colleagues wear, Mendoza still feels positive about the widening interest in a balletic aesthetic. “I think it’s flattering,” she says. “Yes, the clothes are a little stereotypical, but people want to be part of our world, and if wearing the clothes makes you feel good, that’s amazing.”

Fashion trends tend to come and go, but balletcore has proved remarkably durable. “There is a certain energy that putting on the uniform of a dancer gives you,” says Watters. “I wouldn’t be surprised if people feel ready to take on something, ready for a performance, by dressing like a dancer and emulating ballet in their fashion.”

Balletcore Done Right

Not all ballet-inspired fashion trades in stereotypical pink satin and ruffles. Some designers are collaborating with dance artists and companies, helping the consuming public connect the styles they admire with the dancers who inspired them.

➛ In addition to documenting egregious balletcore missteps, Katie Malia and Suzanne Jolie’s Instagram account
@modelsdoingballet highlights good ballet-inspired fashion. Some of their favorite collaborations are Christian Dior’s work with choreographers Imre and Marne van Opstal, J. Crew’s with New York City Ballet, and Chanel’s with the Paris Opéra Ballet. “I’d love to see the obsession with balletcore turn into more students and audiences for ballet,” adds Malia.

➛ Watters, who’s known both inside and outside the dance world for his fashion sense, was tapped to create dance videos while wearing Betsey Johnson pieces for the designer’s Pride Month events. “I’m not going to put on something I don’t feel or look good in, and I felt really good about those pieces—you could definitely wear them for class or a performance opportunity,” he says. “I really appreciate anyone trying to dive into the mind of a dancer. I think it’s a powerful thing to tap into the dancers themselves and ask our opinion.”

The post What Real Dancers Think of Balletcore appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Symptoms of Burnout

According to Marissa Graham, a former professional dancer who is now a fitness and health coach focusing on burnout, dancers are particularly susceptible to burnout thanks to several compounding factors: Many have a perfectionistic, type A personality, they frequently deal with rejection, and they’re under physical stress.

Signs of burnout can be both physical and emotional. “If you’re getting sick or injured consistently, or find yourself saying you’re tired all the time, you’re probably burnt-out,” she explains. “But the less talked-about signs of burnout also include a lack of empathy for the things and people you normally care about, as well as a lack of self-efficacy—feeling like your accomplishments no longer matter.”

Slowing the Cycle

It’s easier to prevent burning out than it is to bounce back from it. Blake Piatczyc, owner of BPM Dance Complex in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, and a national director of In10sity Dance Competition, says team bonding activities and prioritizing personal mentorship can help ease the mental load for competitive students. “We’re also very careful to only schedule the rehearsals and technique classes that our dancers actually need, so they’re getting that conditioning and building stamina for competitions, but they have time to just be kids, too,” he says.

Similarly, Jenna Eberhardt, competition director of Dance Cavise Studios in Mamaroneck, New York, and judge for Journey Dance Competition, prioritizes her own rest during built-in holiday breaks from dance and encourages students to do the same. “As dancers we feel like we need to keep doing more and more, but I’ve actually found that after some time off, everyone comes back refreshed and the routines look cleaner,” she explains.

Finding ways to keep competitive performances from feeling repetitive can also help students and teachers stave off burnout. Piatczyc aims for variety in the approximately 200 dances BPM enters into each competition, “so that dancers aren’t feeling stuck in any one style.” Eberhardt is open to making small choreographic changes, like turning doubles into triples or switching out an acro trick, as the season progresses to keep things fresh for the dancers.

Be Your Own Advocate

As Graham frequently tells clients, “Burnout isn’t your fault, but it’s your responsibility to recognize when it’s happening.” She encourages dancers to speak up for themselves, and for teachers to make space for them to do so. “If you’re feeling signs of burnout, start by doing a quick body scan and noticing what’s actually happening in your body, and what emotions are coming up,” she explains. “Use this information to explain to your teachers that even if you’re not physically injured or sick, you may need to take it easy.”

Another way to cope with burnout symptoms is using what Graham refers to as BAMs, or “bare-ask minimums”—small actions you can take to help manage the stress cycle until you’re able to get a full break. That could mean making sure you’re eating three meals a day, or taking five minutes before bed to do some deep-breathing exercises.

Remember Your Why

One of the keys to preventing and stopping burnout is reminding yourself why you began dancing in the first place. “Recovering from burnout is about finding the joy in movement again, which can be a tricky thing if you’ve only been focusing on training for the next competition,” Graham says. But remember that dance is something you love—and that you want it to be a positive, sustainable part of your life.

The post How to Deal With Mid-Comp-Season Burnout appeared first on Dance Magazine.

As a professional dancer I was fortunate to have a wonderful career filled with highs. I remember the opening night of A New Day… in Las Vegas, dancing beside Celine Dion for thousands of people. I felt like I was flying—I couldn’t believe this was my life.

With the highs there also came lows: injury, sickness, endless auditioning, being a Canadian trying to work in the U.S. But I never gave up. Even during the darkest times, I would go into the studio, turn some music on, and return to the real reason why I danced. I would tap into that “aliveness” that fills my heart and soul, and it always gave me fuel to continue.

As a choreographer and director, I now experience that aliveness through my dancers, through the work I create, and through mentoring the next generation of young artists. This alternate expression of this aliveness is an extension of what I feel inside, a desire to share that connection to the aliveness with others.

Now, as I get older, and the demands on my body through my career have changed how I can dance, I still know why I do it. I do it for the energy that comes alive in my body that doesn’t show up any other time. Filling every cell with pure electricity and allowing me to bask in sensation while everything else melts away. It’s like a secret superpower. And the beautiful thing is it doesn’t need me to be dancing like I did when I was 25. It can also be found in a slower movement, a gentle improvisation, a deep listening. It is an authentic connection to the truest part of me, one that brings me joy and whispers, “Stacey, you are alive.”

The post Choreographer Stacey Tookey Shares How Dance Makes Her Feel Alive appeared first on Dance Magazine.

But after years of activism through their organization Whistle, which focuses on ending gender-based harm and other forms of abuse in dance by offering workshops and resources, Robyn Doty and Frances Chiaverini were finding that this wasn’t the reality of the field. At one Whistle workshop, for instance, the director of a major festival expressed that the impetus was on the dancers to speak up about abusive work environments, recalls Chiaverini.

“The institutions weren’t going to take the responsibility, we heard that,” she says. “We even tried to sell ourselves to different universities, and nobody was interested in what we were doing. It was obvious that the dancers were the ones who were interested in change.” 

So Doty and Chiaverini set out to try to help dancers navigate those abusive and dysfunctional work environments themselves. The result: Disrupting Harm in Dance, a free online curriculum launched earlier this year with resources on topics like racial justice, undoing ableism, and creating nonhierarchical leadership structures.

With the help of funding from the Migros-Kulturprozent in Switzerland and a fellowship at the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU, Whistle recruited other dance-world activists to contribute to the curriculum: Crip Movement Lab founders Kayla Hamilton and Elisabeth Motley created the resource on ableism; The Dance Union included excerpts from one of its town halls on dismantling white supremacy along with an accompanying worksheet; artist and astrologer J. Bouey shared a guide to somatic astrology to help dancers heal from abuse; OFEN Co-Arts Platform made videos on anti-capitalist practices in the studio and related topics; and Chiaverini and Doty contributed their own resources on consent, emotional abuse, talking to journalists, and more.

The tool kit, also available as a printable PDF, contains not just information but also tasks to complete, questions to ask, and worksheets to do. “It’s very easy in these situations to sit around and talk about problems and not have anything happen or feel like nothing’s changing,” says Chiaverini. “So it’s important to have these tools to figure out how we can move forward.” 

Doty and Chiaverini acknowledge that equipping individual dancers with tools to respond to harmful environments isn’t the same as addressing the root cause of those environments. While not an ideal solution, it’s one that’s responsive to the current reality of the field—and that Doty hopes can also be used in community settings, whether as guidance for a group of dancers looking to unionize or in a class of college students learning about working conditions in the industry. “I think that’s where a lot of change happens,” she says.

Chiaverini sees the content as a guide to help dancers “determine how they want to show up in the studio, and how they want to react to abusive situations they might be experiencing,” she says. “I hope that they will come into the studio with boundaries that they find for themselves, and that they have the courage and the confidence to talk about those boundaries. I’m interested to see how institutions and power structures react to that.”

Disrupting Harm in Dance is a swan song for Whistle, which Doty and Chiaverini will be sunsetting this year to focus on other projects. It feels like an appropriate culmination of all the work they’ve done over the years, says Doty, “a beautiful memory archive.”

The post Whistle Launches Disrupting Harm in Dance, an Online Tool Kit to Help Dancers Navigate Dysfunctional Work Cultures appeared first on Dance Magazine.

The choreography steps up to the challenge, of course. Shows like Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (2016), Here Lies Love (2023), and this month’s new revival of Cabaret made avant-garde stages their own.

Letting the Movement Evolve

Choreographer Sam Pinkleton joined the Great Comet creative team during its second off-Broadway iteration, in 2013. That version was performed in a small custom tent—a naturally intimate environment. Its 2015 American Repertory Theater run was in a more traditional space, where it began experimenting with some of the elements featured in the 2016 Broadway production at the Imperial Theatre. Pinkleton found himself with onstage audience members to involve, a series of cascading staircases to navigate, and a cast of 30 (up from 16 in 2013) at his choreographic disposal.

What saved Great Comet from getting lost in its new digs, he says, was the creative team’s focus on its original intention. Scenic designer Mimi Lien “was really fierce about maintaining a level of intimacy,” Pinkleton says. “She wanted every person in the room to have a personalized, specific experience to this show that is only theirs.” The entire creative team, led by director Rachel Chavkin, was aligned on this mission. Pinkleton used the staircases Lien designed to connect the main and upper levels of the theater as tiny stage spaces for individual performers to interact personally with theatergoers.

Julia Cheng, choreographer of the 2021 West End version and current Broadway revival of Cabaret—which eliminates some of the orchestra seating to create a small stage space in the round—met spatial challenges by focusing on choreographic authenticity. Cheng’s movement training is in street styles, like hip hop and waacking, and she wanted to capitalize on the way those genres naturally lend themselves to an up-close audience experience.

“Those styles are about holding space, and that requires a different skill set,” she says. She created what she refers to as the prologue to the show, when arriving audience members encounter a small group of dancers and musicians “already vibing,” as if the theatergoers have walked into a club. “The prologue ended up becoming a show in itself,” she says. She let her dancers’ particular strengths shine, too. “I wanted to draw out their fortes, their specialisms from the underground and subculture—forms not usually represented on the musical theater stage.”

Sometimes choreographers even help shape transformative theater designs. When working with choreographer Annie-B Parson on Here Lies Love, scenic designer David Korins knew there needed to be give-and-take between the show’s unusual, immersive playing space—one long catwalk, with the audience below on either side, plus smaller spaces throughout the theater with room for a performer or two—and its movement vocabulary. “I think Annie is an extraordinary visual storyteller,” he says. “There were tentpole moments we wanted to accomplish, and in those, she really held her ground—‘If we’re going to do this, then we need to do that.’ When she had a sense of that, you listened.”

Rising to the Challenge

In revamped theater spaces, changes that might at first seem like challenges can actually offer opportunities for innovative thinking. Pinkleton found that to be true on Great Comet, where he had to convey a sense of closeness in a large house without a central meeting place where the entire cast could fit. Eventually, he landed on placing dancers throughout the house—on the staircases, in the aisles, on platforms, in an audience member’s lap—and choreographing intentional eye contact. “It was, ‘I am looking at you in the sixth row and waving at you and saying I’m glad you’re here,’ ” he says. “That became more important than asking people to kick their leg on five.”

From Korins’ perspective, the disparate stage spaces of Here Lies Love allowed Parson to create a different kind of Broadway dynamic. “Annie could stage these beautiful, isolated islands of dance and movement,” he says. “You might be looking at two people dancing in unison, but they’re doing it 150 feet away from each other. That tension and connectivity between the bodies in space was really effective.”

For Cheng, the task of choreographing in the round was a welcome one, not a thorn in her side. “When I’m in the club cyphering, that’s my comfort zone: You’re in the circle, there’s a community around you,” she says. “It’s sometimes difficult to get that in a really big space.” She saw typical theater choreographic taboos—turning one’s back to the audience, for example—as a chance to offer unexpected perspectives. “I don’t mind having a back to the audience,” she says. “I think that’s interesting.”

Overhauled theaters, with their myriad challenges, require a special kind of mind-meld between the members of the creative team. When all of a show’s leaders are invested in the same idea, however out-there it might seem—what Pinkleton calls “everybody working on the same show”—that’s when the real magic happens. When it does come together, Pinkleton says, “it doesn’t feel insane. It feels inevitable.”

Broadway Theater Revamps of the Past

Most revolutionary staging choices in Broadway’s history have had the same aim: to get the audience closer to the action than a proscenium stage can.

✦ Before transferring to what’s now known as the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, Man of La Mancha (1965) opened at the ANTA Washington Square Theatre in Greenwich Village, which boasted an experimental stage with the audience seated on three sides. Jazz dance pioneer Jack Cole was nominated for a Tony Award for his Latin-influenced choreography, described as “blistering” and “orgiastic” by one critic.
✦ The 1974 Broadway production of Leonard Bernstein’s often-revised Candide ripped out much of the Broadway Theatre’s orchestra seating. This meant that many audience members had an immersive experience with Patricia Birch’s choreography, which New York Times theater critic Clive Barnes likened to a rocket booster.
✦ For its 1998 revival, Cabaret transformed the former disco nightclub Studio 54 into a Broadway house—but with a small thrust stage surrounded by tables and chairs, to lend an authentic­ Kit Kat Klub vibe. Choreographer and co-director Rob Marshall used the audience’s nearness to highlight his raw, rough-edged choreography.

The post How Three Broadway Choreographers Create in Nontraditional Theater Spaces appeared first on Dance Magazine.

The then-12-year-old Ribeiro, who starred as Willie Sheridan, the titular tap dance kid, told us: “I’m able to get something inside of me out in tap dancing, just really take it all and put it out into the open. Let my feet do the stuff, you know?” Ribeiro shot to stardom in the wake of the role, though today he is better known as Carlton, from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” and as a recent winner and then host of “Dancing with the Stars.”

Battle (who passed away this year at the end of January)­ was already a bona fide star when he took the showstopping role of Dipsy Bates, Sheridan’s uncle and tap teacher: He’d been the original Scarecrow in The Wiz at age 16, danced with Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem,­ and learned to tap and won a Tony for Sophisticated Ladies. “To make yourself part of the particular style is the biggest challenge in working with different choreographers,” Battle said. “I like to dig into what I’m doing, see what the choreographer sees in the step, what gives it that specialness. I think that’s why I was able to pick up tap; it is steps, and there’s a technique, but that’s only half of it. The essence of it is more important.­ I could go out and do steps all night, but it wouldn’t mean anything. It’s that other thing that I always think of as the key. And I really think that’s helped me understand not only tap but other kinds of dancing as well.”

And Weeks, The Tap Dance Kid’s Daddy Bates, was only in his mid-30s but could boast a 27-year career working with the likes of Jerome Robbins, Gower Champion, Michael Bennett, Michael Kidd, and Matt Mattox. “Show business is my life—I just love the business, all facets of it. But Broadway—dancing—is my first love,” he said. “My only goal is to be working. The dreams change, the work is ever present. And if you can stay healthy enough just to work, I think success and all those dreams that people fathom up will automatically come.”

The post TBT: Alfonso Ribeiro, Hinton Battle, and Alan Weeks Star in <i>The Tap Dance Kid</i> appeared first on Dance Magazine.

My dream growing up was to have my own series of fitness DVDs. That was the epitome of fitness for me! What ended up happening was something that I couldn’t even envision.

For my first two years of Peloton, I was still performing six nights a week in Queen of the Night, which meant a lot of naps. When I started, I think Peloton was my 21st 1099 of the year.

Later, I found out I had an autoimmune disease. But at the time I just knew I was really, really tired, so I stopped pursuing outside things because I needed the energy for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

I started with cycling—early Peloton didn’t have anything else. Now, I teach cycling, barre, Pilates, dance cardio, stretching, foam rolling, mobility, and strength. A lot of jobs can feel stagnant. But Peloton’s been that special bird where each year feels like the beginning of something. We’re constantly innovating.

I get a lot of pride from people telling me that their shoulders are back, their chest is lifted, they’re feeling lighter, they’re not feeling full of stress after taking my classes. I think that comes from my dance background.

When I am dancing and moving and celebrating myself in sweat, that’s when my mind is clear, my insides are full of joy. Being able to give that in class is pretty fun. The hope is that that comes across on the other side of the camera, where you can’t help but also feel the joy of movement and the celebration and sweat.

I want to combine this movement on camera with my love of theater. Now that my autoimmune disease is managed, I realized recently that I will regret not doing that because it is still such a love of mine. I will not be leaving Peloton. I’m just adding in some more naps.

It’s been fascinating to be in an audi­­tion room again. At Peloton, I spend a lot of my time talking to a camera, pretending like people are there. I’ve become masterful at envisioning the reaction that I want. If I’m teaching, the joke always lands, whether it was funny or not. It always works because it has to, right? There can’t be that moment of doubt or lack of self-confidence. Learning to trust that has really changed the audition landscape for me. When I was younger,­ it was a lot of “Oh, man, I hope you think I’m awesome.” And now it is entirely “Well, I am spec­tacular. You’ll either see it or you won’t.”

I don’t get nervous about a lot of things, and I’m a little nervous about going back, in a good way. But the Peloton community has been unbelievably supportive. These humans are taking my classes to be the best version of themselves, to make their future selves proud. So I think they understand it more than anyone.

For other dancers who’re chasing that performance career, my advice is to keep saying yes. It leads you to people and places that you maybe couldn’t have predicted but are probably the right place.

The post Star Peloton Instructor Hannah Corbin Returns to the Audition Circuit appeared first on Dance Magazine.

Videos with hashtags related to the UDA Nationals amassed hundreds of millions of views on TikTok, comments sections were flooded with fans from around the world, and dancers young and old attempted to replicate the University of Minnesota’s challenging and precise turn sequences, set to Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” Both Aerosmith and Minnesota governor Tim Walz weighed in on social in support of the team.

The newfound fame and accolades were welcome, particularly as these teams don’t often get much recognition: Dance is not formally recognized as a sport under the National Collegiate Athletic Association. But can this viral moment lead to any meaningful changes for collegiate dance teams?

Amanda Gaines, who coaches University of Minnesota’s dance team, hopes that conditions will improve for college dance teams everywhere. “I’d love to see consistency in the support teams are provided around athletic trainers, mental health support, nutritional support, and academic support,” she says. “My ultimate dream is for these athletes to have the opportunity to be scholarship athletes, and for all dance team coaches to get a seat at the table, so they can advocate for their team the same way other sports do.”

The online attention has reinvigorated­ a major talking point in the community: dance’s status as a collegiate sport. Because college dance teams are not sanctioned by the NCAA, dancers are not guaranteed the same perks student athletes receive, such as scholarships and fixed weekly training hours. Additionally, there isn’t a standardization of scoring, which means organizations like UDA and the National Dance Alliance and the Dance Team Union train judges on their own scoresheets.

Christine Zoffinger, head coach of Rutgers University dance team, asserts that NCAA regulation would bring substantial benefits to student dancers. “If dance is a fully fledged sport, the dancers would be seen as athletes, and they’d be awarded the same perks student athletes receive,” she says. “From the dancers’ perspective, that would be a huge plus.”

Danielle Chabot, the coach of Harvard Crimson Dance Team, agrees that NCAA recognition could bring significant benefits on a team level. “It would be wonderful for the NCAA to acknowledge dance and cheer as sports,” she says. “Spirit programs have been historically under-resourced at college campuses. Something as simple as getting priority space for practice can be a struggle at many institutions.”

The challenges inherent in establishing procedures to assign numerical scores to a dance performance provide an obstacle to NCAA regulation. “Part of the reason the NCAA hasn’t adopted dance is because there is no standard of judging,” explains Jennifer Eustice, dance team coach at the University of Iowa. “Gymnastics, for example, has very clear-cut criteria. We don’t have that in the dance team world. The feelings you get when you see a live performance—how do you judge that?” she wonders. “How do you regulate that?”

Dance team coaches are also hoping to see opportunities for more dancers to land name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals. Different states and schools have varying rules about these deals, which allow athletes to receive monetary compensation from companies for the use of their name, image, and likeness. “It’s amazing that this is happening for the big teams,” says Payton Ibos, director of spirit programs at Washington State University. “I hope NIL deals trickle down to the smaller teams too, because that’s how it works for other sports.”

Whether or not recent social media fame will usher in significant change, coaches are thrilled that dancers are being recognized for their skill and dedication. “So many people see what college dance teams do on the sidelines at university events, but they don’t understand how technical, athletic, and passionate the competitive side of our season is,” says Gaines. Eustice hopes that the influx of interest in dance will inspire the next generation to dance in college. “It shows young dancers that there are opportunities out there for them to continue their love of dance,” she says.

Joyce Winter, head coach of University of Central Florida’s dance team, thinks that with a surge of talent, creativity, and dedication among dancers, college dance is poised for even greater success. “We’re just so excited for what the future holds, and hope that college dance continues to boom.”

The post UDA Nationals Went Viral on TikTok. What’s Next for College Dance Teams?  appeared first on Dance Magazine.