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The Fit Dancer: Fueling your fouettes with fabulous fruit smoothies

Lauren Warnecke — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:06:32 +0000

Dancers are athletes.

Just like any other athlete, it’s important that we be conscious about how we are fueling our bodies. The stereotype of the stick-thin waif who dines on lettuce leaves and cigarettes is long gone, and as our field becomes increasingly physical, so too must our fitness and nutrition.

Here begins the start of a brand new series for Art Intercepts. In The Fit Dancer, I’ll discuss principles of exercise physiology, fitness, and nutrition to help you on your journey toward maximum health and longevity in your dance career. To kick the series off, I’m going to let you in on a little secret:

I can be quite crafty in the kitchen!

While you might ordinarily associate my column with dance injuries, pedagogy and miscellaneous ramblings about technique, one of my favorite hobbies is cooking. Dancers are constantly on the go, so we need quick and nutritious meals that can be prepared fast, and/or ahead of time. Since it’s important to begin your long days of class and rehearsals with a good breakfast (and since strawberries are in season right now), it’s only appropriate that I share with you my favorite smoothie recipe. I drink one of these beauties every morning, and should you choose to do the same you’ll never go back to a bowl of cereal.

Lauren’s Fruit Smoothie

1 banana
1 cup frozen strawberries*
1/2 cup frozen other berries (I use blueberries and raspberries)*
1/4-1/2 cup plain yogurt (regular or greek)
juice of 2-3 oranges
spoonful of honey (optional)

Place all ingredients in the blender and puree until smooth. Pour into a glass or travel cup and sip through a straw!

* You can use fresh fruit, but if you do plan on adding a few ice cubes to make it cold and smooth. Better yet, buy fresh fruit in season, wash it, and freeze it yourself!

What’s your go-to quick and easy breakfast?

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Nutrition On The Move: Veggie Muffins

Joanie Johnson — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:00:38 +0000

Veggie muffins are a delicious, portable snack! || Photo by Kelly Wright of sassandveracity.com

You heard me right- veggie muffins.

Get your daily dose of vegetable rich vitamins and minerals in the convenience of a muffin. They are great dance bag travelers!

Veggie Muffins

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 6 muffins

Ingredients:(...)

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Is The Snap, Crackle, or Pop of Your Hips Cause For Alarm?

Lauren Warnecke — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:30:21 +0000

Snapping Hip (also called Clicking Hip) is a relatively common problem among dancers.

Generally, snapping hip is characterized by a pop or cracking sound (not dissimilar to “cracking” the knuckles of the hand) as you move from hip flexion to extension - in other words, when going from a position with the knee bent and pulled up towards the torso to the knee extended down toward the other leg.

I first noticed that I had snapping hip when I was about 16 and tried my first Pilates class. Every time one or both legs were extended out a few inches from the floor (while lying on my back), I’d hear a pop in my hip joint. Snapping hip is often a result of a tight tendon rolling over protrusions of the femur or pelvis.

While it can be annoying and a little disconcerting to hear that popping sound, there is not necessarily any cause for alarm.

In an article by Joseph P Garry, MD, he points out that nearly half of the female ballet dancers seeking treatment for hip complaints were experiencing snapping hip, but only one third of those were experiencing pain. A 2008 article in Current Sports Medicine Reports found that (...)

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Nutrition On The Move: Fast Snacking Hummus

Joanie Johnson — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:30:03 +0000

Homemade hummus is great for dipping vegetables or using as a spread on sandwiches.

Garbanzo beans, or chickpeas as you may know them, are the main ingredient in this easy to pack and carry snack.   Many dancers keep fresh cut veggies in their bag to munch on as a quick, hunger buster throughout the day. Having some hummus on hand to use as a dip, will help keep you fuller longer and give your body an additional dose of protein and fiber.

Hummus

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes

Cooking Time: 0 minutes

Yield: 3 cups

Ingredients:(...)

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How Leon Got His Groove Back (and how you can, too)

Nichelle (admin) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:50:35 +0000

Today, ballroom dancer and Boston area instructor, Leon Turetsky is our guest. A former Dancesport competitor, Leon has placed in the top 3 in all major IDSF competitions and appeared in the movie, Take The Lead with Antonio Banderas. Now an independent dance instructor, his students regularly compete all over America, placing 1st in some of the most prestigious events.

Leon knows all about burnout but has been able to stay inspired to dance all these years and wants to share what he’s discovered with you.

Photo by prayitno

Most of the time you enjoy the music, the movement and the freedom you feel when dancing.

However, there are times when you just do not feel like dancing. For one reason or another, you are mentally and physically drained.

For me personally, this used to happen after dance competitions when I did not place as well as I had wanted. I felt frustrated that all of my hard work did not bring me good results. There were times when I even questioned my dancing ability and whether I should continue dancing at all…

This pattern kept repeating itself until one day I realized that these feelings occurred because I CARED about my dancing. Not because I needed to quit.

After a while, I figured out that what I really needed was a boost of inspiration to get back my “dancing groove”.

I came up with the following 5 ways to re-energize myself and help me look forward to new possibilities. I hope they will help you as much as they helped me.

1. Review your dancing goals

To stay motivated most of us need to have a goal to work towards. It is not important what the goal is, as long as you have one.

It can be (...)

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The Ballet Concept That Tap Teachers Should Steal

Tristan Bruns — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 14:30:37 +0000

What Tap Teachers Can Learn From Ballet Class

When it comes to dance training, ballet is second to none. Let’s face it, ballet is hard.

Ballet’s uncompromising focus on technique is the reason that it is considered the root of contemporary dance.

Turnout, one of the most basic techniques taught in the first year, can become something that even seasoned dancers obsess about their entire lives. Ballet’s reputation is held to such lofty regard that for a dancer to claim proficiency in any ballet style (Cecchetti, Vaganova, RAD) they must submit themselves to a strict certification program.

Less popular than "Cecchetti" is the "Horrible Nightmare Creature" method.

Ballet training produces results, and it’s time that tap dancers should be asking what they can learn from ballet class.

What I love the most about taking a ballet class is the emphasis on basic technique. If your knees move forward during a plié then you will hear about it. If your center (abdominals, obliques, lower back) isn’t tight expect a quick poke in the tummy from the teacher. Take a class from Joel Hall at Chicago’s Joel Hall Dance Center and get poked in the gut repeatedly while having the words “tight tummy” burned into your memory.

Her teachers have some 'splaining to do.

Having strong basic technique is accomplished by sheer force of will, and means having integrity and respect for your dance. Unfortunately, it is something that is often skipped in many tap dance curriculums. I have taught teenage students who boast about having studied tap since they were three years old yet have flaps that look like jetés and instead of weight change I get wait…change.

The good news is that it is never too late to work on the basics. That is why I have taken four technique issues that have become highly developed in ballet curriculum – position of the feet, tension in the knees and ankles and proper posture – and have modified those issues for tap dance.

(These basics are also illustrated in the accompanying video found below.)

A good place to start is from the ground up. More specifically…

1. Train Feet to Stay in Parallel Position

For tap dance the optimum position for a dancer’s feet is in parallel. In ballet, parallel is known as sixth position and is generally reserved for low level classes. There is a good reason for this.

Any and all possible movement occurs on three planes: the sagittal plane (front and back), the frontal plane (to the side), and the transverse plane (rotation). When the feet and legs are in a parallel position, they are operating on the sagittal plane, which is the most efficient plane to use.

To test this theory try walking up a flight of stairs sideways.

Most of our important day-to-day activities occur on the sagittal plane, including walking, running, opening doors, kicking a football, etc. That is because the sagittal plane is incredibly sturdy, and movement on the other planes is generally more difficult (go ahead, try the sideways stair climbing).

Mike - "Hey, Bill, remember the other night when you asked me for the definition of the sagittal plane?" Bill- "Leave me alone, Mike."

Students of dance that are taking tap concurrently with ballet have a high tendency of turning out their feet during tap. This leads to imbalances of swinging the body back and forth during basic exercises such as flaps across the floor or stationary rolling shuffles. Even in a step like wings, where the legs move out to the side, the feet should stay parallel to hit the scrape on the side of the front tap.

Checklist:

Make sure that feet are both pointed to the front and are shoulder-width apart.

Maintain this parallel position, even when doing a step out to the side or behind the other foot (like doing a shuffle behind the supporting leg).

Use the mirror. During an alternating step like rolling shuffles (shuffles that alternate from one side to the next using a step/weight change) the head should remain stationary and not move from side to side.

2. Keep Your Ankles Loose

From day one of ballet class, the student is taught to engage their ankle. Point your foot, roll it down into the ground, press your heel down, etc. It’s not only ballet; jazz and contemporary also stress this technique. Sloppy pointed feet are a real deal breaker when it comes to a dance performance, and strong ankles are reinforced for good reason. However, this constant reinforcement causes a lot of difficulties for the tap dancer.

Dancers with tension in the ankles will find that their shuffles and flaps make unpleasant scraping noises, that their feet don’t leave the ground on aerial steps like pullbacks and that wings are not only impossible, but painful as well. All these problems stem from the habit of constantly pointing the feet any time the leg muscles become engaged. Ballet puts a strong emphasis on how clean a dancer’s “lines” are, and after years of ballet training it is easy to consider the foot, ankle, and the rest of the leg as one as one rigid structure.

Tap dance rarely considers the ankle, and when we do it is usually about how to NOT use it. The majority of the actions that a tap dancer performs originates at the knee and hips. A back brush of the toe doesn’t come from depressing the ankle down, but by swinging the whole section of leg under the knee backwards. The first scraping sound of a wing isn’t produced by the foot scraping the toe, but by a loose ankle rolling over from the outward force originating from the hip.

Checklist:

Take a deep breath and focus on relaxing the ankles specifically.

Stretch the ankles by pointing, flexing, and rotating the foot, though no more than you would for any other dance form. Ankles are naturally flexible, unrestricted by bones and muscles, and can be damaged by superfluous stretching.

Use imagery: Picture the mechanics of the knee and/or hips during a step. By diverting your focus, you may “forget” about the ankles, thus relieving tension.

3. Bend Your Knees

In every dance class you hear the same thing: “Don’t forget to bend your knees.” In tap dance, this takes on a whole different meaning.

The position of your knees has a dramatic affect on your feet and, in particular, the heel. When recovering from a plié, the ballet student is taught to straighten the legs and press the heels into the floor. This is a very important point and can mean the difference between great technique and sloppy technique. Unfortunately, tap dance is almost the direct opposite.

"I know I said to BEND your knee but... Look, maybe tap dance just isn't your thing."

The rule for the knee in tap dance is to get it over the toes. Providing that your ankles are left loose and relaxed, a cool thing should happen: your heels will lift up. While maintaining that stance press a heel into the floor and then release it. The heel will pop back up thanks to the natural elasticity of your body. Not only are your tendons doing 50% of the work, but now that heel is prepared for whatever is coming next.

Now try very lightly dropping a heel with a straight leg. Not only is dropping onto a straight leg bad for your knees, but think of all the muscles that had to be used to accomplish one heel drop.

Checklist:

Bend the knees over the toes until the heels raise slightly off of the floor.

Practice pressing and then disengaging the heels. Now try right to left. How quickly can you alternate your heels?

Use the mirror. The head should remain stationary. If the head is bobbing up and down during the exercise then you are going into relevé. Keeps those knees bent and ankles loose!

4. Posture

Imagery has always been helpful to me, particularly in regard to posture. For ballet I picture an imaginary pole entering the top of my head, moving straight down my spine and exiting parallel to my legs. As I have a tendency to round my shoulders, a quick “pole” check in the mirror is a great help.

For tap dance the same model can be used.

Begin with the imaginary pole running parallel inside your body. While maintaining good posture (shoulders back, pulled in center, etc.) bend the knees, move the hips back and the chest forward. The final position should be imagined as the pole entering your back at the knob found atop the spine and below the neck (the 7th vertebrae of the cervical curve of the spine) and exiting the sternum, the concave “dip” above your abdominals and between the pectoral muscles.

Hitting good tap posture can be harder than it sounds and leaning forward does not translate to round shoulders and a soft center. Though the center of gravity changes, all other rules regarding good posture still apply. Another useful practice in imagery is to think about sitting in a chair. Bring a chair onto the dance floor and face it to the side. Note in the mirror how your body looks during the process of sitting before you are about to relinquish control to gravity. That’s good tap posture. (Tip courtesy of Ted Louis Levy.)

Yet ANOTHER good practice in imagery is perhaps my favorite (because it rhymes): Keep your nose over your toes.

Tap dance more closely follows the natural movement patterns of the body. When we walk, we anticipate our next step. If you freeze mid walk when your weight changes to the front foot from the back, you will notice that your head is past your foot. Without this natural change in the center of gravity the weight change would not be quick enough, and as soon as that back foot comes up, the body would not have sufficient weight forward to support a vertical position.

Some imagery is less imaginative than others.

Take for example the difference between normal walking and military marching movement patterns. When marching, the knees and legs first move up and then down, whereas a normal walking gait moves straight down and into the floor. When doing flaps across the floor, it is common to see students who extend the non-supporting leg (the one doing the flap) up and out, similar to a battement, tendu, or jeté, before bringing it down to the floor, giving the dancer the appearance of marching.

Flaps should mimic walking by going down into the floor.

Checklist:

For good tap dance posture, bend your knees and move your torso forward and your hips back while maintaining a strong center.

Use imagery like the imaginary pole, nose over your toes, or almost sitting in a chair.

Use the mirror: Try walking normally for eight counts and then doing flaps for 8 counts. The head, back, and knees should all function similarly to your normal gait.

Use your ears: Generally a flap has the accent on the second sound of a flap; be sure you are doing a “fl-AP,” as opposed to “FL-ap,” unless otherwise instructed by a teacher or choreographer.

Get it Right the First Time

In tap class, both the teacher and the student can become so overly focused on the steps that it is easy to overlook the key principle that guides most dance curriculums.

A strong foundation with universal rules that apply to all aspects of the dance are often left out of tap class. In their place we have a lot of repetition that reinforces bad habits. Here is where we can take a lesson from ballet class to quash bad habits before they even begin.

Finding these concepts hard to imagine just by reading? Here is my corresponding video that illustrates the points discussed in the article. Thanks for watching!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI_OmhzHKQc

© Tristan Bruns for Dance Advantage, 2012. | Permalink | Category: Blog, Dance Styles, Dancing, Tap, Teaching, Technique | Who's talking about this article?

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Nutrition On The Move: Power Bar Junkies

Joanie Johnson — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:00:51 +0000

If you are a power bar junkie, this recipe is for you.

There are many options for nutritional bars on the market, but the bottom line is that most are still processed food. They are also incredibly expensive!

Give your body the whole food nutrition it needs by following this easy protein and fiber rich recipe.

Homemade crunch bars are healthier for your body, more nutritious and less expensive than store bought power bars. || Photo by Iriskh

Wheat-Free Sunflower Crunches

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Yield: 10-15 servings

Ingredients:(...)

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Developed By Dancers, Barre Makes Healthy Snacks

Nichelle (admin) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:00:49 +0000

www.realfoodbarre.com

Barre makes healthy snacks for dancers and anyone who wants to perform their best!

In the spring of 2010 Julia Erickson, Principal Dancer with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, was rehearsing for the lead role in Swan Lake, Odette/Odile, and needed a convenient, healthy snack to power her through tough swan rehearsals.

Julia and her partner, Aaron (formerly with PBT) had both given up on eating “energy bars” many years prior due to the fact that most of them were glorified candy bars. So Julia pulled out her Cuisinart and some ingredients from the cupboard and set about making her own nutritious snack designed specifically for the needs of a dancer.

Julia took her concoction to work at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and ate it before class and rehearsals. Her colleagues at PBT and the students at PBT School tried it and liked it —can you say light bulb moment? Shortly thereafter Barre began supplying dancers all across the country with healthy snacks.

Barre donates a portion of its profits to arts education and currently offers their real food bars in two delicious flavors, Black Swan Chocolate Berry and Pirouette Cinnamon Pecan. Keep a look out for their next flavor, White Swan, coming soon!

Read more of the Barre story in our review here.

The Giveaway

Barre would like to give away a box of 12 bars to THREE Dance Advantage readers.

Barre real food bars are made from all natural, whole food ingredients. Unlike some other bars, you can pronounce all of the ingredients that make up Barre. Barres real food bars are specifically designed for dancers as a pre-class or rehearsal snack.

A box of 12 Barres retails for $27.48. Winners will receive 6 Black Swan Chocolate Berry and 6 Pirouette Cinnamon Pecan bars.

The Barre giveaway is open to U.S. residents (including Hawaii and Alaska) to those 18 and up and closes at Midnight EST on Monday, February 20.

How To Enter

This giveaway is closed but learn how and where to purchase these healthy and tasty snacks at www.RealFoodBarre.com

(...)

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The Pros and Cons of Dance Crossover

Roger Lee — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:28:28 +0000

A crossover dance artist is a dancer that works in multiple genres or in both the commercial and concert worlds.

Classically trained ballerinas are trying their hand at music videos while break dancers are experimenting with modern dance companies. Crossover is common for dancers, especially in a rough economy!

If you are considering a career as a crossover dance artist, here are some pros and cons to consider:

PRO: Heightened Exposure

One of the perks of being a crossover dance artist is the heightened exposure that comes with the territory. Dancers who crossover into the worlds of commercial and concert dance are seen by a wide range of diverse audiences. They are also seen by influential choreographers, directors, producers, and agents who can grant them their “next big break!” This heightened exposure grants crossover dance artists with larger fan bases and professional networks.

What dancer couldn’t benefit from more visibility?

Photo by Kat Baulu

PRO: Diversified Income

Crossover dance artists benefit from having multiple income sources.

It is common for professional dancers to supplement their primary income by taking side jobs(...)

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Nutrition On The Move: Germ Fighting Greens

Joanie Johnson — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:00:44 +0000

“]
Pack a daily dose of Vitamin C filled greens to go. [Photo ©Rachel Blumenthal
You are gone from morning to night with your jam-packed schedule. How in the world are you supposed to get your daily dose of greens without having to spend a fortune on purchasing food to go?

Greens that have been cooked the night before are surprisingly still tasty as leftovers. (Don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it!)

Broccoli Rabe (pronounced rahb) gives you half of your daily requirement of vitamin C. This powerful antioxidant is going to help your body fight off dangerous free radicals – a defense you are going to need when your ballet partner comes down with a cold!

Broccoli Rabe(...)

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Tap Classics: In-The-Trenches and Over-The-Tops

Tristan Bruns — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:45:00 +0000

Toots Davis is one of the unsung innovators of tap dance flash steps, and his contribution of the in-the-trenches step is testament to that fact.

He was a chorus member of the Darktown Follies and by 1916 worked his way up to a solo spot, where he began to develop his dancing amongst an atmosphere of competitive camaraderie. Each evening’s performance found cast members inventing new steps and embellishing on old ones.

In-the-trenches may be the most universally known flash step.

Created by Toots Davis, in-the-trenches is not limited to tap dance; jazz dancers aren’t afraid to throw down this traditional dance step.

A dancer, bent ninety degrees at the waist, alternates extending straight arms and legs, giving the performer the appearance of a full-on sprint, while at the same time being unaffected by gravity as the dancer’s staccato toe tips glide frictionless across the floor.

In-the-trenches has remained intact for just about one hundred years! When performed correctly, it matches descriptions of the original, described as a bent over version of the popular circle dance, the cakewalk.

The origin of the step’s name has to do with a little something called (...)

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Protecting Your Toesies For Pointe

Lauren Warnecke — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:22:17 +0000

I started pointe at age 9 –

(too young by some teachers’ opinions, but that’s another article), and my teacher was thoroughly set on having all of her students wear pointe shoes without padding. Her philosophy was that if shoe fit correctly then there wasn’t any need for padding.

That’s a nice theory but, unless you have a custom-made shoe, it’s unlikely that you’ll find a shoe out there that will mold exactly to your foot. The other problem with this particular teacher’s point of view is that she required all of her students to wear Capezio brand pointe shoes. There’s nothing wrong with Capezio shoes, it’s just that if you’re going to make dancers dance on pointe without padding and request a “perfect fit”, then you had better give her as many options as possible!

Still, I walked out with my shiny new size 3 Capezios and a year later I had ingrown toenails, the beginning of bunions and bunionettes, and nearly constant abrasions and blisters. There just wasn’t a Capezio shoe that fit my foot with enough efficacy to wear it without padding.

I eventually changed studios and, at age 14, I essentially started over. I was asked to go to a professional pointe shoe fitting by a woman named Sylvia.

Sylvia, a purest in her own right, always started with Grishko and very rarely strayed to other brands, only allowing lamb’s wool as padding. This time, however, I got a bit lucky and wound up with the Grishko Elite, which happens to be the best shoe out there for my foot.  I haven’t bought another shoe since.

I’ve recently been working on developing an e-course about pointe preparation and came across Nichelle’s great article on pointe readiness during my research.  I found all the comments and differing opinions about shoe types, brands, construction, and padding options really interesting.

Even when I found “my perfect shoe”, I still needed padding.

So, the focus of this post is to break down your options and help you get to the bottom of the pointe shoe padding conundrum.

I’ve tried pretty much everything in my shoes, including:(...)

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Nutrition On The Move: A Nerve Calming Salad

Joanie Johnson — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:15:07 +0000

Soothe those pre-performance jitters with this cooling and calming salad. // Photo by Janet Hudson

Its opening night and the butterflies are about to explode out of your stomach!

You know you should eat something but can’t handle anything too heavy. Before you grab a packaged, processed food, remind yourself that your body won’t recognize that as real food and it’s going to consume more energy to break it down and figure out where in the world to store it. This salad is light, fresh and the mint will help settle those pre-show jitters.

Break a leg!(...)

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What To Do When It’s Clear A Career Isn’t In Your Future

Guest Contributors — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:42:39 +0000

A performance career is not for everyone, no matter how long you’ve planned for it.

But after you’ve come to this conclusion, what happens next? Jessica Shoop Williams has been there… and back again and, in today’s guest post, shares her advice with you.

Most great journeys begin with a goal in mind. For many young dancers that goal is the same, simply “I want to be a ballerina.”

photo by bibols19

As they age and dance, exploring the art form, this dream becomes clearer and more specialized, and goals are created to help them attain this vision. Whether it is “I want to be on Broadway”, “I want to dance in music videos”, or “I want to be part of a ballet company”, as they continue their dance training many dancers decide that a dance career is ahead of them.

In preparation for that dance career there are an unlimited number of paths you can take, but almost all of them involve intensive training and great commitments of time, energy, and emotion. As the training stage comes closer to a “real dance career”, the vision of what it actually takes to make it in the dance world becomes clearer.

For many dancers this makes their career choice that much more real and exciting, but for others the clarity can be jarring.

Along with the amazing and personally fulfilling qualities a dance career may offer, there are certain negatives, too. Even if you grew up loving dance and fantasizing about the idea of a career in the field, things can change when you really start to process what this career would mean to you.

Such was my clarity of vision.

Like many serious dancers, by the time I was 11 years old I was dancing 5 nights a week and dutifully attending hours of rehearsals on the weekends. My dance friends and I all had the same goal and that’s why we trained the way we did at the best studio in our area.

I became an accomplished young dancer, scoring well in competition, surviving mock auditions just fine, and (...)

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What The Ailey School’s Melanie Person Knew When She Was Twelve

Nichelle (admin) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:28:02 +0000

In 1977, Ebony Jr. featured a photograph of a young girl at the ballet barre.

The caption reads, “Dancing means everything to twelve-year-old Melanie Person, who wants to become a prima ballerina.”

By this time, Melanie Person had already been training for about 6 years, starting first in Jackson, Mississippi and later in Columbia, South Carolina. But in the winter of 1976 she auditioned for the Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) Summer Intensive. She was offered a full scholarship, went on to an apprenticeship and, after graduating from Professional Children’s School, became a full member of the company. For twelve years Ms. Person was a ballerina with DTH. She later earned her B.A. from SUNY Empire State College.

Then in 1999, Denise Jefferson invited her to join the PPAS ballet faculty at The Ailey School, appointing her a year later as Co-Director of the Junior Division beside Tracy Inman. Fast forward 11 years, and Ms. Person is again serving with Inman, but this time as Co-Director of The Ailey School, a position she’s held since Ms. Jefferson’s passing in 2010.

Ms. Person is Chair of the ballet department as well as Co-Chair of The Ailey/Fordham B.F.A program, and has served as a judge for Seoul International Dance competition and Japan’s Grand Prix.

Of course, I had quite a few questions for this teacher and administrator but first, I couldn’t resist a quick look back at the young dancer in that photograph.

Dance Advantage: What’s one thing you know now about a dance career that may have surprised this young lady?(...)

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© Nichelle Strzepek for Dance Advantage, 2011. | Permalink | Category: Ballet/Pointe, Beyond the Bubble, Blog, Career, College, Community, Dance Styles, Dancethropology, Dancing, Interviews, Training | Who's talking about this article?

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