Dance Advantage » Dancing

Careers To Consider: Teaching Americans to Love Dance in K-12

Heather Vaughan-Southard — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:49:35 +0000

Where do you fit in dance education?

The dance world consists of many different scenes and contexts for learning. There are also a great many variations of philosophies, standards, and expectations.

Photo courtesy isafmedia

If you think teaching in public classrooms may be right for you, read on…

The Generalist

Dance teachers everywhere need to be able to communicate well with their students and think fast on their feet. Teachers in the public school, however, tend to have more bodies and more learning styles in a single class.

The class dynamic reflects students with varied interests in the subject, varied experiences and skills levels within a single group, varied expectations of what a dance class should include, and then there are the social dynamics, otherwise known as the “drama”.

Public classrooms represent a cross-section of a community and not just those that are able or willing to pay for dance classes.

For these reasons, teaching in the public schools can be a great fit for (...)

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Careers To Consider: Dance/Movement Therapy

Nichelle (admin) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:25:52 +0000

Some of us are called to be performers, some to be teachers, but if you think the options for a career in dance end there, you are mistaken!

Over time, Dance Advantage plans to cover these alternative callings in depth, with guest posts and interviews by those with first-hand experience. For today, the Career To Consider is Dance/Movement Therapy, which we are presenting with the help of Susan Rizzo Vincent.

Susan established the Andréa Rizzo Foundation in memory of her daughter, who, after surviving childhood cancer, was tragically killed at the age of 24 by a drunk driver. Andréa’s dream was to become a dance therapist and give children with cancer and disabilities the gift of dance. Susan founded Drea’s Dream, a nonprofit organization that raises funds to provide dance therapy to children with cancer and special education needs.

Susan has been kind enough to prepare some frequently asked questions and will introduce you to two dance/movement therapists working in the field.

As President of The Andréa Rizzo Foundation, we fund Dréa’s Dream pediatric dance/movement therapy program for children with cancer and special needs in schools and hospitals nationwide. I have personally had the honor to observe the transformation and healing that takes place within these children – psychologically, emotionally and physically.

What is dance/movement therapy?

Based on the assumption that the body and mind are interrelated, the American Dance Therapy Association defines dance/movement therapy as “the psychotherapeutic use of movement to further the emotional, cognitive, physical, and social integration of the individual.”

They further explain that dance/movement therapy(...)

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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

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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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10 Tips To Make It Your Best Ballet Summer Yet

Guest Contributors — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:41:13 +0000

I consider Juliette Clark a Summer Intensive specialist. She’s been through it and knows her stuff, dispensing article after article on her blog, BalletScoop about the entire process. Though it may be cold and wintery where you are right now, it’s a perfect time to be strategizing for your summer ballet intensives, so enjoy her valuable advice!

Photo by Karli Cadel courtesy Jacob's Pillow Dance

Goodbye Nutcracker… Hello, audition season!

Yes, the season of Sugar Plums and Cavaliers are over, just in time for you to start focusing on the summer intensive audition season.

And there are more programs than ever before to choose from. Whether you’re just getting started in thinking about auditions or have been planning since November, I’ve got tips to help you make this your best audition season yet!

1. It’s all for you.

Say the word “audition”, and most performing artists will instantly feel a little pang of stress. And there is no question that you are going to be evaluated and judged during the audition.

Don’t forget this season that the point of all this auditioning is for you to get acclimated to the audition process and, ultimately, enjoy an excellent training program that will improve you as both a technician and an artist.

Next time you find yourself with a number pinned to your leotard while you attempt to nonchalantly measure up your competition or hide behind a classmate, redirect those stressful, negative thoughts and focus on what you can glean about the program from the experience.(...)

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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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Some Dreams Are Worth Fighting For

Guest Contributors — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:32:10 +0000

…even when the going gets really rough. And Melanie Doskocil is definitely one of the tough that gets going, as you’ll see in this installment of Ballet’s Un-X-pected Lesson Files. Her story about a very unique work experience will have you asking “What am I willing to fight for?”

I was really fortunate that the last dance work I did was as a dancer for Mia Michaels’ RAW.

I had been dancing for Odyssey Dance Theatre in Utah and Mia had come to choreograph a few works for us. This was before SYTYCD. She was a quickly rising star in the contemporary dance world, was very talented and gaining fame as a choreographer. Her company had recently disbanded and she needed a group of dancers to represent her on a European tour.

From my earlier experience with her, I knew she was a tough customer.

Her vision for the dances she created was brilliant and she knew with absolute clarity what she wanted her dancers to do. Sometimes what she wanted was nigh on impossible to produce; sometimes it forced us dancers to push through our self-imposed limitations. I knew she would replace a dancer in a choreographic work faster than a petit battement if she didn’t see a dancer breaking through their own boundaries. But even when what she saw in her choreographic mind was impossible to achieve in reality, she would give you a chance, if you asked for it. She was brutally honest about what she saw or didn’t see in a dancer, and if a dancer thought too highly of their abilities, she would quickly challenge the ego with a series of intricate complicated movements that she could execute flawlessly.

I knew that I had done some of my best work under her critical eye and sharp tongue. The 10 of us newly recruited dancers had all worked with her before and thought we could handle her ecentricty, her intensity, and the brutal harshness of her wit.

What I did not know was that my limits for just about everything were about to be tested.(...)

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Nutrition On The Move: Breakfast Of Champions…Or Dancers!

Joanie Johnson — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 14:00:55 +0000

A bowl of sugary, processed cereal is not going to energize you for the day. Start your morning off right with a whole grain like kasha.

We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It’s not all that effective though when we are scarfing down a bowl of sugary or processed cereal before we run out the door. Mix up your morning routine with a whole grain. The complex carbohydrates will slowly feed your body energy and keep you fuller for longer.(...)

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Tap Classics: Frank Condos and 5-Count Wings

Tristan Bruns — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:30:57 +0000

Many steps straddle the line between “flash” and “rhythm” steps, but unique amongst the aerial steps are wings. To quote Marshal and Jean Stearns in Jazz Dance, “The Wing, with its combination of taps with an upward spring, holds two opposing impulses in balance, creating a dramatic fusion which can be thrilling.”

In the 1920s, wings were all the rage, and many variations existed. The Pump, the Pendulum, the Saw, the Double Back… like time steps, most dancers had a signature wing variation.

Gibson's New Standard Theater, Philadelphia, PA, circa 1919

But there was one variation in particular that caught the public’s attention, and it was the 5-count wing, created by Frank Condos.

The step gave him and his partner Mateo Olvera, billed as the more memorable moniker of King and King, that earned them the title as “the greatest of all Wing teams.”

Basically, the 5-count wing is a shuffle and a wing done without any break in the rhythm and can be enunciated as shuh-full-and-a-wing. This may seem like no great feat, but at the time, tap dance was just getting off of flat feet and up onto the toes. While a respectable wing usually had dancers getting three inches off of the ground, Condos and Olvera were getting five or six inches of lift.

“There wasn’t many teams copying Mattie and me,” says Condos, “because we did those Wings faster than anybody else.”

Frank Condos grew up working in his father’s restaurant, the Standard Restaurant, across the street from the Standard Theatre in Philadelphia. It was while running orders to the theatre that Frank was exposed to the best Negro acts in Vaudeville, class acts like Covan and Ruffin and Buck and Bubbles. It wasn’t until he saw The Three Eddies, which featured dancer Chick Horsey, whose specialty was the wing, that Frank got the idea for what would become the act of King and King.

After his split with Olvera, Condos formed the team of The Condos Brothers with his brother Nick, whom he trained in his trademark step. Later, he would train his other brother Steve, who would take his place in the group after Frank Condos’ retirement from performing in 1937.

Nick and Steve Condos went on to have illustrious careers, stars of both stage and screen. But it all started with Frank Condos, whose daring and innovative spirit is felt even today as tap dancers continue his legacy of pushing the art form to its creative and physical limits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5clBG8-elU

(The Condos Brothers, Nick and Steve Condos. See Steve hitting their signature 5 count wings at 2:15.)

More Tap Classics:

Tap Classic: Jimmy Slyde and his Signature Sliding

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Tap Classic: Jimmy Slyde and his Signature Sliding

Tristan Bruns — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:25:48 +0000

Sliding has long been a very popular move as it gives the impression that the dancer is off-balance and could fall at any minute, like a juggler trying not to drop his pins.

The ease at which this step garners “ooos” and “ahhhs” makes sliding an appealing step for tap dancers, but few tap dancers have as broad an appeal as Dr. Jimmy Slyde, whose popularity is in part due to his signature move: his slides.

While no two slides were ever exactly the same, his technique, grace, and laid back composure made his brand of sliding unmistakable.

The novelty of the slide comes from the illusion that the floor has somehow slicked, replaced with an invisible, icy layer. This is accomplished by jumping in the air and sliding one or both feet, usually flattened by pressing the heel into the floor. The tricky part is adjusting to the disorientation of momentary weightlessness.

Especially difficult is sliding a single leg inward, towards the center of the body, or outward, to the side. It is difficult because (...)

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Nutrition On The Move: Ball-O-Energy

Joanie Johnson — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 13:00:58 +0000

These little snacks travel well in your dance bag and give you the perfect combination of nutritional energy to help you last until dinner.

Ball of energy. That is probably is how most of your friends and family describe you. They can’t imagine having the amount of energy that you do in order to make it through your day as a dancer. Little do they know, you are armed with secret dancer, nutritional advice.

Pack these and eat them when you need something that is going to hold you another hour or so until your next meal. The sugar in the apple juice will give you a quick boost of energy while the combo of complex carbs, fats and proteins will go to work to help stabilize blood sugar, release sustained energy.

Ball-O-Nuts

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Yield: 10-15 balls

Ingredients:(...)

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