Co-Director of The Ailey School, Co-Chair of The Ailey/Fordham B.F.A. program, and former Dance Theatre of Harlem ballerina, Melanie Person answers ten questions: on leg extension, encouraging ballet students, what studios could do to better prepare students for college, and what she knew when she was twelve.
Training
Talking About College Dance With K-12 Students
Not all dancers become professionals. However, the arts produce creative thinkers, able to connect pathways that standard students may not initially consider and dancers tend to be successful in many other aspects of education and life. So, starting as early as Kindergarten, dance can be used as a gateway to discuss college with students. Here’s how one educator begins the conversation at different ages and includes families in the dialogue.
The Successful SI: Class Placement and Coping With Problems
Summers away from home can be stressful. In a second installment on surviving summer intensives, Alison offers advice for dealing with complications like dance divas and messy roommates, and how to handle yourself professionally and with grace when receiving placement in a class level.
The Successful SI: Home Away From Home
Away from home for her second summer, Alison is attending two ballet intensives, one in Connecticut, the other in New York City. As she shares some of the things she’s learned about summer intensives along the way, including how to prepare, handle fears, make friends, and practice respect, she is living the summer dance experience.
Dance Training in New York vs. Los Angeles
If you were looking to train professionally in modern dance and wanted to relocate to the big city, would you choose Los Angeles or New York? With a little help from a friend who knows both cities well we compare the dance personalities of each and discuss the importance of setting goals to get you where you want to go.
Where To Dance in New York
f you have dreams of dancing in New York, one of your big questions about the Big Apple is likely “Where do I take class once I get there?” Dance in New York is a practical, DVD guide for dancers and dance students from all over the world featuring 12 of the city’s top schools and studios. It’s not a brand new resource but it is a unique and valuable one, and Dance Advantage has the latest on an upcoming second volume.
