Dance Magazine articles from July 2006

Dance Magazine archives from July 2006

Curtain up.(dancing performance)
July 1, 2006... As dancers, our most intimate relationship is with our own bodies. We take class, rehearse, and perform, all dependent on how every cubic inch of our bodies look and function. But it's more than that. It's also how we feel about our bodies,...

Teach the class, not the problem.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2006... Allie Spector gave spot-on advice in "Pay Attention!" by Janet Weeks (May, "Teach-Learn Connection"). She recommends focusing on ways to help "problem" students have a successful class. As with all of us, success includes: * Having...

On thin ice.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2006... I'm nearly 13, naturally slim, and love to dance, but I find myself obsessing over my weight. My mom has threatened to take me out of ballet if I don't stop. I have tried diets and even stopped eating for a day or two, which I know is a bad...

Shoe savvy.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2006... We have a dancer with hyperextended calves and arches who is about to go on pointe. Do we need to tell her to get an extra hard shank? Do you recommend a higher vamp for her high arch? Please give us your advice! La Studio Academy of DANCE...

Turn out and tan.(VITAL SIGNS....)(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2006... Pack the pointe shoes and Pilates mat, but don't forget the suntan lotion. The Florida Dance Festival takes place this month at the New World School of the Arts in Miami. Students can take a wide range of classes from American Percussive Dance...

Despair in full view.(VITAL SIGNS....)(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2006... As part of the Martha Graham Dance Company's 80th anniversary in April, Graham's quintessential solo Lamentation (1930) was performed in the window of the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts during lunch hours. The solo, performed by...

Super heroes of anti-gravity.(VITAL SIGNS....)
July 1, 2006... Elizabeth Streb and her beautiful, brave, and strong action specialists fly into the Lincoln Center Festival this month with STREB vs. GRAVITY. In this premiere, STREB continues their ongoing battle between humans and the laws of physics. The...

Colors of movement.(VITAL SIGNS....)
July 1, 2006... Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers got to stretch their choreographic muscle in the third annual PNB Choreographer's Showcase. "It's a great opportunity to explore," says principal dancer Olivier Wevers, who made the pieces Xstasis and Pigmentand...

Capturing the moment.(VITAL SIGNS....)
July 1, 2006... Photographer Basil Childers got his start hitchhiking around Colorado and shooting rock bands and live shows. A friendship with choreographer Trey McIntyre ignited his passion for photographing dance. He now shoots dramatic colorful photos of...

March to Marfa.(VITAL SIGNS....)
July 1, 2006... The dusty ranch town of Marfa, TX, has long been a destination for James Dean fans (the movie Giant was shot there) and nature lovers exploring Big Bend National Park. But recently, Marfa's popularity has skyrocketed. Artists and art...

48 hours in heaven.(VITAL SIGNS....)
July 1, 2006... Inspired by Philadelphia's 48-hour film festival, Susan Hess Modern Dance Studio started a series of choreographic projects with the same time restriction. In the first installment, Dare to Duet, three choreographers gave each other...

Tulsa honors its star.(VITAL SIGNS....)
July 1, 2006... As the curtain went down on her final bow, Daniella Buson's illustrious 26-year ballet career came to an end. If the number of curtain calls, thunderous applause, or audience tears were any indication, Tulsa Ballet lovers weren't eager to let...

S'wonderful....(VITAL SIGNS....)
July 1, 2006... Cinderella never got a suaver prince than Marcelo Gomes, here with a glamorous Julie Kent in James Kudelka's quirky, revisionist version of the ballet. The production entered American Ballet Theatre's repertoire this spring, and Fabrizio...

Running away with the circus.(VITAL SIGNS....)
July 1, 2006... Shando Sawyer, choreographer and director of the new Ringling Bros. circus show, has worked her way up from the sidewalk to the big top. The former teenage street performer has done just about everything, including performing in punk bars,...

Quick Q & A: Joseph Gorak.(VITAL SIGNS....)(Interview)
July 1, 2006... At the latest Youth American Grand Prix finals in April, Joseph Gorak, 16, won an Honorary Grand Prix. Like the regular Grand Prix, this award (created for the occasion) came with an offer of a contract to join American Ballet Theater's Studio...

It pays to be modern.(VITAL SIGNS....)
July 1, 2006... "Isadora Duncan rode the wave of revolt against Puritanism; she rode it, and with her fame and Dionysian raptures, drove it on."--Max Eastman, quoted in Cosmos and Psyche by Richard Tarnas (Viking 2006) In case you thought the grandmother...

Happy birthday!!(VITAL SIGNS....)
July 1, 2006... * Wendy Osserman Dance Company, 30 * Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company, 15 * Peggy Spina Tap Company, 25 * SUMMERDANCE Santa Barbara, 10 * Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, 20 * Annabella Gonzales Dance Theater, 30 * Nancy...

The hoofin' is cookin.'.
July 1, 2006... The smooth tones of live jazz piano, snare drum, and symbols permeate the sweaty air of the rehearsal studio. Add random staccato fragments as dancers practice a tricky sequence. The cast of Imagine Tap is taking a break from a rehearsal in...

Preljocaj meets Grendel.(Angelin Preljocaj )
July 1, 2006... Angelin Preljocaj is the latest in a growing roster of major choreographers to spread their wings in the world of opera. Although a newcomer to the American opera scene, he's loving every minute of it. "It's a fascinating process. This...

Discover Israel.(Batsheva Dance Company at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Three of Israel's most enthralling dance troupes appear at Lincoln Center Festival this month. Emanuel Cat, whose work was called "utterly spellbinding" in these pages, takes on Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring--with the help of a little salsa....

West Coast visit.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Absent from Manhattan for four years, the San Francisco Ballet bows at the Lincoln Center Festival with four New York premieres, three of them commissioned by the mighty company from the West. Mark Morris' full-evening Sylvia is the modernist's...

Somatics 101.(Somatic therapy)
July 1, 2006... Why do some dancers fully inhabit their bodies, creating a seamless whole between the dancer and the dance? Can we attribute this to a kind of somatic intelligence? Dancers have heard the term somatics tossed around for three decades, but few...

Advice for dancers.
July 1, 2006... Lately I can't seem to handle any more stress. I'm taking 16 classes a week in my dance program, working a night job, and getting six hours of sleep. I thought I could make it through the semester but I can barely dance. I've tried to cut back,...

The myth of the perfect body: seven gorgeous dancers talk about why they are far from perfect.
July 1, 2006... Renaissance painter Peter Paul Rubens' ideal woman was bountifully curvaceous--but you can bet most females circa 1600 didn't feel rounded or fleshy enough. Sixties cult figures Edie Sedgwick and Twiggy ushered in the age of super-thin, but...

The mirror has two faces: dancers have a special vulnerability to eating disorders, particularly anorexia. Schools and companies now take a more proactive role in helping them fight these inner demons, but some still fall prey to self-destructive behavior. Here is a special report on what the dance world is doing to help them, how to spot early warning signs, and what it takes to overcome the illness.
July 1, 2006... Anorexia. The word is charged with electricity in our culture and in the world of ballet. It is a feared and potentially life-threatening condition. Any dancer who slides down the slippery slope of anorexia is at risk of losing the physical...

When your body becomes your enemy.(Eda Holmes)
July 1, 2006... Eda Holmes danced professionally with SFB then continued her career in Europe, first with the Dutch National Ballet and then with Ballett Frankfurt. She ultimately stopped dancing due to a knee injury. Eda is now an acclaimed theater director...

Body and soul: if your body becomes your sole focus, you don't learn how to be an artist. The deepest dancing is nourished by the spirit within you.
July 1, 2006... One of the truths of art and life is that what we see with our eyes is not the whole story. I believe this same truth applies to eating disorders and the obsession with the body. I am not a doctor of anything, but I can offer my perspective on...

In for the long haul 8 dancers share their injury-prevention tips.
July 1, 2006... LET'S BE HONEST. NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU LOVE DANCING, YOUR BODY FINDS WAYS TO DISAGREE. SPRAINED ANKLES, MUSCLE TEARS, STRESS FRACTURES, BACK PAINS--WE'VE ALL BEEN THERE. SO HOW DO PROFESSIONALS TALK THEIR BODIES INTO STICKING AROUND THROUGH...

Black-a-Rina: body of mind.(Theresa Ruth Howard )
July 1, 2006... Theresa Ruth Howard started training at a young age. Prompted by Marion Cuyjet of Philadanco, her father sent her to Pennsylvania Ballet, where she studied with Lupe Serrano and Marion Tonner. At 12, she joined the Philadelphia Civic Ballet...

Tough love: Mihailo Djuric is taking Festival Ballet Providence to center stage.
July 1, 2006... "What is the problem?" the small, reddish-haired man with the horn-rims balancing precariously on his nose wanted to know. Springing into the middle of a half-dozen rehearsing dancers, he added, "You look very uncomfortable. Why? Why?" The...

In a tight spot.(costume for dancers)
July 1, 2006... Try to imagine life without tights. It's unthinkable. A good pair shows your legs to advantage. Tricia Matz, an apprentice with New York's Push Factor Dance Company, knows exactly what she needs in legwear. She won't audition without a pair of...

The woman who changed everything: Yvonne Rainer tells her story.(Book review)
July 1, 2006... Feelings Are facts By Yvonne Rainer. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006. 504 pages. Illustrated. Cloth, $37.95. For generations of dancers, Yvonne Rainer is an avant-garde icon. In the 1960s she was a moving force behind Judson Dance Theater,...

A fine line: when (and why) to talk with students about "the dancer" body.
July 1, 2006... Your legs are too short. Your feet don't arch. You're way too tall. Your head is too big for your body. You'll never get a job with those thighs. Why don't your knees straighten? Guys can't partner fat ballerinas. Your torso is too short--no,...

Stephen Koester in motion.(University of Utah's )(Biography)
July 1, 2006... Sometimes the most important thing to know about a job is when to leave it. Stephen Koester not only understands that concept, but he also knows when to return. Faculty member and director of graduate studies in the Department of Modern...

Stephanie Saland teacher's wisdom.(Interview)
July 1, 2006... Stephanie Saland is a former star of the New York City Ballet, where she danced from the Stravinsky Festival of 1972 to the Balanchine Festival of 1993. In addition to taking NYCB company class, Saland studied outside the School of American...

Cyrus Brooks: Boston's very own hoofer-tapper hits hard as dancer and choreographer.(Cyrus Akeem Brooks )(Biography)
July 1, 2006... Cyrus Akeem Brooks was 12 years old When Savion Glover came to Boston's Wang Theatre with the touring company of Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk. The starstruck kid, carrying his tap shoes, convinced the security guard at the stage door...

Comedy Central: taking on "something stupid" in Tharp's Nine Sinatra Songs.(Garrie Imler, Jonathan Poretta )
July 1, 2006... By the time Garrie Imler, principal dancer with Pacific Northwest Ballet, makes her entrance with Jonathan Poretta in Twyla Tharp's Nine Sinatra Songs, the audience is ready to laugh. We've already seen the tipsy antics in "One For My Baby," so...

Advice to casting agents: the camera loves dancers--tomorrow's screen idol may be in a Broadway ensemble right now.(James Cagney, George M. Cohan)
July 1, 2006... Idly flipping through the cable channels the other night, I found myself lingering at the sweetly sentimental image of James Cagney proposing marriage to Joan Leslie in Yankee Doodle Dandy. It's a movie I've loved since I was a girl, before I...

Oregon Ballet Theatre.(Mad for Mozart)(Opera review)
July 1, 2006... Oregon Ballet Theatre Keller Auditorium, Portland, OR APRIL 22-29, 2006 Mad for Mozart--that describes Portland in April and May as it honored the composer's 250th birthday. The symphony played his music; the opera sang Don Giovanni; and...

Akram Khan Company.(Ma)(Dance review)
July 1, 2006... Akram Khan Company Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, NYC April 26-29, 2006 In Akram Khan's 2004 work, ma (meaning "Earth"), the lighting, music, sound, and text play parts nearly equal to the dance. This is no surprise given the time...

Stephen Petronio Company.(The Rite Part)(Dance review)
July 1, 2006... Stephen Petronio Company The Joyce Theater, NYC April 18-23, 2006 Stephen Petronio's choreography braids together awkward and sophisticated movement. It can be kinetically exciting or only puzzling. This concert went from good to better to...

Elisa Monte Dance.(Dreamtime)(Shattered)(Dance review)
July 1, 2006... Elisa Monte Dance Arts and Culture Center Hollywood, Hollywood, FL March 31-April 1, 2006 Perez, Guillermo Whether an Elisa Monte dance lurches in fast-forward or lingers on a juncture for precarious poses, it quickens the pulse. The rush...

James Sewell Ballet.(Guy Noir: The Ballet)(Dance review)
July 1, 2006... James Sewell Ballet Joyce Theater, NYC April 4-9, 2006 Yung, Susan Power tools may not come to mind immediately when Garrison Keillor's name is mentioned, but James Sewell has done his best to correct that. Sewell recruited fellow...

Preview: Keigwin + Company at ADF.(Larry Keigwin )(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... PREVIEW: KEIGWIN + COMPANY AT ADF Larry Keigwin is not afraid to mix art with entertainment. One of DM's "25 to Watch" in January 2004, Keigwin brings his wit to the American Dance Festival this July for two world premieres by Keigwin +...

Preview: Goose Route Dance Festival.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... PREVIEW: GOOSE ROUTE DANCE FESTIVAL Named for the path of the Canada goose, the Goose Route Dance Festival knits urban and rural communities together through contemporary dance. In its sixth year, the West Virginia-based festival, directed...

Preview: Northwest Professional Dance Project.(Sarah Slipper, Steve Gonzalez)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... PREVIEW: NORTHWEST PROFESSIONAL DANCE PROJECT The only thing cooler than taking summer classes with interesting choreographers is dancing in their newest works. At the Northwest Professional Dance Project, dancers ages 16 to 25 study with...

Meehan moves to Hong Kong Ballet.(John Meehan appointed)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... John Meehan is a natural ambassador of ballet: tall, charismatic, and an articulate spokesperson. As artistic director of education and training for American Ballet Theatre, a position he stepped down from last October, he nurtured a generation...

Changing gears.(Peter Brandenhoff resigns from SFB)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Danish born Peter Brandenhoff, who danced as a soloist with SFB for 13 years, as well as with the Hamburg Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, and Boston Ballet II, said goodbye to the company. Brandenhoff, who just finished setting Bournonville's...

San Francisco Ballet.(Megan Low retires)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Megan Low, who was plucked from the corps of San Francisco Ballet by Mark Morris in 2004 to learn the lead in his production of Sylvia with SFB, retired in May. A graduate of the LEAP Program at St. Mary's College, Low plans to attend UC...

Ballet Florida.(Jerry Opdenaker retires )(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Jerry Opdenaker, a dancer with Ballet Florida, is retiring to focus on his career as a choreographer. Opdenaker performed with the Kansas City Ballet as a soloist and joined BE in 1992. He served as the director of Step Ahead, BF's...

Doris Jones (1913-2006).(Obituary)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Doris Jones (1913-2006) Doris Jones, who died in March, was a pioneer in teaching classical ballet to black students; she then went on to found the Capitol Ballet Company to show their accomplishment. Sixty-five years ago she started the...

Norman Cohen.(Baum Dancewear Inc.)(Brief article)(Biography)
July 1, 2006... Former CEO of Baum's Dancewear, Inc., Norman Cohen, died in March at the age of 87. Cohen led the company for 50 years until his retirement in 2001.

Dance finder: schools, studios, colleges, universities, companies, teachers, choreographers, dancers, somatic practices, movement arts, dance medicine, yoga, pilates.(Directory)
July 1, 2006... United States ALABAMA ALABAMA BALLET Wes Chapman, Artistic Director Alice Cox, Director of External Affairs 2726 1st Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35233 (205) 322-4300; Fax (205) 322-4444 www.alabamaballet.org ...

California dreamin'.(Run De Jesus, Graham Lustig, Charles Moulton, and Gina Patterson at Irvine Barclay Theatre)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... If you're not at the Irvine Barclay Theatre on July 22 to see the newest choreography of Run De Jesus, Graham Lustig, Charles Moulton, and Gina Patterson, it's a safe bet you'll get another chance. The choreographers are in Southern California...

Attitudes.(20th century dance)
July 1, 2006... The 20th century could--at least in the Western world-be called the Century of the Woman. It was a century of emancipation and universal suffrage, women's rights, feminism, and, at least on paper, equal opportunity, if not equal wages. But...

First year lessons: Rebecca Massey learned from her mistakes--fast.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Like the Grateful Dead used to sing, the first days are the hardest days. When former American Ballet Theatre dancer Rebecca Massey moved to Kannapolis, NC, nearly four years ago to open a dance studio, she had big dreams and little experience....

Get organized--click here: studio software brings scheduling chaos under control.(Toni Ebell Carrion)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Toni Ebell Carrion, of Village Dance Arts in Claremont, CA, keeps track of 200 students with DanceSOFT by Get Physical [www.getphysicalsoftware.com], a studio management program. "It lists classes taken and tracks each student's attendance and...

Studio owners share their smartest moves.(SUCCESS SECRETS)
July 1, 2006... Getting your studio to work as a business and a creative environment takes time, flexibility, and some basic investments. Here four studio owners talk about what they feel they did right, and why their work means so much to them. Deborah...

Raising the barre: choose the right one for your studio.
July 1, 2006... Your dancers grip it, check their balance against it, and slide their legs along it. If it wobbles, they may feel unstable and distracted. If it stands firm, their concentration soars. Whether it's made of wood, metal, or high-grade aluminum,...

A perfect position $3,000: students and parents give raves to Jones Academy's look.(Kim Jones)
July 1, 2006... Fresh and fun: "I wanted people to walk in and say, 'Wow!' "remembers Kim Jones, who opened her Youngstown, Ohio, dance academy a year ago. "I've worked at a lot of studios and they all looked the same." She rented an 1,800-square-foot space...

Floor work: seven questions to ask when you go shopping.(Interview)
July 1, 2006... Choosing a floor for your studio isn't simply a price decision. Or a maintenance decision. Or even an aesthetic decision. You need to factor in how long you'll be in the space, what you teach, and even what kind of subfloor--if any--is there...

In the picture: the right image can build a studio's business. Five studios talk about their choices.
July 1, 2006... Marketing, like dance, is a visual art. How do you catch the eye of potential students, parents, and audiences? Dance Magazine asked studios around the country for their insights. Here they share an element of their visual promotion and why it...

Lights! Cameras! Studio makeover!: when ABC's hit reality show decided to make over Carol Crawford Smith's home, they didn't stop there.
July 1, 2006... ABC-TV's Extreme Makeover Home Edition grants house-sized wishes to deserving families, recruiting local business and communities to help their neighbors. When the construction team picked Carol Crawford Smith, a former Dance Theatre of Harlem...