Dance & ballet news

• October 2016 | 2 Tips for Hip-Hop Teachers | Sitting in the Pocket

  01-10-2016 21:42
  Tip 1Teaching musicality can be harder than teaching moves. An especially difficult skill is “sitting in the pocket,” stretching a move to fill the space (or pocket) between counts. Mastering this skill (also called “finding the groove” or “riding out the beat”) is important to hip-hop’s style, flow, and execution.Tip 2To help students learn this skill, vary your intonation when counting, drawn out where students should sit in the pocket and sharp where
  
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• October 2016 | 2 Tips for Modern & Contemporary Teachers | Landing Jumps and Trusting Partners

  01-10-2016 21:40
  Tip 1We want students to jump high and give the illusion of being suspended in midair. But what about landings? Do your students make a lot of noise when they land? Are they able to bounce high in the air but unable to put their heels down when landing? Landing carelessly is likely to lead to injuries. To develop a strong, sustainable, and healthy jump, a young dancer must develop a pliant landing with a generous plié. Here are two helpful directions that are easy for students to remember
  
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• October 2016 | Bulletin Board

  01-10-2016 21:39
  Dance in Time: OctoberQuotable: About Dance Continue reading
  
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• October 2016 | EditorSpeak

  01-10-2016 21:33
  "Recital Memories": The recitals of my childhood blur together."Offense, Not Defense": A teacher’s life is one of lessons learned. Forgive me that cliché, but it’s true. Most of these lessons hit hard, but as you get older—if you are supple and reflective—you might find a trick or two among the bruises. Continue reading
  
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• October 2016 | 2 Tips for Tap Teachers | Building a Foundation

  01-10-2016 21:29
  Tip 1
  Building a strong foundation in tap basics enables your dancers to make steady progress in acquiring new skills. Begin with mastering the single sounds of tap, heel dig, toe dig, step, brush, spank, tip, toe drop, heel drop, and heel stand. Whether beginning or advanced, all students will benefit from combining these single sounds into various quarter-note phrases.Tip 2
  Once they’ve mastered single sounds, students can progress to playing eighth notes, both straight and swinging (1&a
  
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• October 2016 | On My Mind

  01-10-2016 21:23
  After months of attending conferences and giving speeches across the United States and Canada, I’ve discovered that there is always more to appreciate about our dance education community.We are witnessing a time in dance history when many school owners have become smart small business owners who offer quality dance education to every child—and they are being rewarded with financial success. For dance teachers, there have never been more opportunities to teach, not only at these schoo
  
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• October 2016 | Repetition Through Play

  01-10-2016 21:10
  A child’s work is play, and classroom games can make learning more fun. We teach technique through repetition, and creative play helps mask that repetition so that students stay engaged. (See “From the Top—Again.”) Supplies for most of the following games cost little or can be found at your home or studio. Continue reading
  
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• October 2016 | Re-Mastering Modern Dance

  01-10-2016 20:47
  Hannah Wiley has been educating Seattle dance audiences for more than 25 years, and she’s doing it in a way unlike anyone else in U.S. academia. As the director of the University of Washington’s MFA program in dance, and its associated Chamber Dance Company (CDC), Wiley, a former ballet dancer, has made it her mission to present, record, and archive works of historical and artistic significance. The current trend in the modern dance world is to pay homage to the past. Since 1990, Wil
  
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• October 2016 | Thinking Out Loud | Ballet? Bring It On!

  01-10-2016 20:42
  Sometimes, ballet and recitals don’t mix. Except at ballet-only schools, including ballet numbers in a dance recital can be difficult, especially when they’re part of a parade of dances, all tied to a loose theme, in which dancers enter and exit the stage with military precision. And ballet pieces that are excerpted from longer works can be bland and difficult to comprehend, even if they’re danced well. If you offer ballet at your school, or if you teach ballet, the last thing
  
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• October 2016 | Skin Is In

  01-10-2016 20:22
  “They don’t make tights for ugly people.”That’s what Robin Gamble-Maddrey’s daughter, a student at Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH), said to her mother. And Gamble-Maddrey, who is African American, was brokenhearted to hear those words. “I saw the pain and the hurt,” she says. “She didn’t like to look at her body, and she would tell people, ‘I’m too dark.’ As a woman and a mother, that’s something you never want to hear f
  
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• October 2016 | FYI

  01-10-2016 20:02
  What’s up in the dance communityTwo Minutes to Better BalletNew Center for ChoreographyZombies Live in Lexington Halloween EventAiley Education Center Expands Continue reading
  
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• October 2016 | Moving Images

  01-10-2016 19:58
  Videos of note (new and not)1.Ballet2.The Fits3.Margot Fonteyn: A Portrait4.Napoli Continue reading
  
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• October 2016 | Page Turners

  01-10-2016 19:49
  Books of note (new and not)1. The Night Before My Dance Recital2.Bolshoi Confidential: Secrets of the Russian Ballet From the Rule of the Tsars to Today3.Changing the Conversation: The 17 Principles of Conflict Resolution4.The Ballet Lover’s Companion Continue reading
  
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• October 2016 | Ballet Scene | Popular Balanchine

  01-10-2016 19:40
  For most ballet fans, the name George Balanchine is synonymous with American neoclassicism. It’s true that this great ballet icon is famous for revitalizing classical ballet in the 20th century—think Serenade, Agon, and Stravinsky Violin Concerto—but Balanchine also found inspiration in other dance styles, including popular entertainment.After immigrating to the United States in 1933, Balanchine continued working in revues, variety shows, and the like for the next two decades,
  
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• October 2016 | Talking Tap

  01-10-2016 18:35
  There are two major streams of tap dance from which all other styles have evolved. One is rhythm tap (or jazz tap), which derives from the musical qualities of jazz music and includes core elements of rhythm, call-and-response, and improvisation.The other is a more theater-derived style that can be called musical theater tap, a full-bodied style of percussive dance that incorporates elements of soft shoe (an early form of stage dancing derived from the jig and clog, performed in slow 4/4 time wi
  
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• October 2016 | Mindful Marketing | From the Heart

  01-10-2016 17:20
  “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Please take a moment to turn off all cellphones, and for our dancers’ safety . . .” All of us hear words to that effect at every show we attend, including recitals. For studio owners, that little recital speech is a perfect marketing opportunity. Where else can you address your entire clientele, plus potential new clients, all at once, in an atmosphere of excitement? It’s a time when your students and their families feel most invested in yo
  
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• Grand Rapids Ballet hosts Halloween costume sale - WZZM13.com

  01-10-2016 13:15 via wzzm13.com
  
  WZZM13.com
  Grand Rapids Ballet hosts Halloween costume sale
  WZZM13.com
  GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. - October is officially upon us, and it's time to start thinking about your Halloween costume! The Grand Rapids Ballet Company is offering a unique opportunity for you to get your hands on a one-of-a-kind, hand-made outfit. They're ...
  
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• Briefs encounter: Rambert at 90

  01-10-2016 11:00
  
  Words: Morwenna Ferrier. Photography: Rick Guest. Styling: Helen Seamons and Melanie WilkinsonKym Sojourna stands in front of the camera, waiting for instruction. Tall and long-legged, she is wearing a tight pink leotard, with her hair scraped back from her face and a flick of gold liner framing her eyes. “Try this,” says rehearsal director Angela Towler, circling the air with her finger. Sojourna nods and tips forward, cantilever-like, on one leg. Three dancers surround her in a sem
  
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• October 2016 | Performance Corner

  01-10-2016 10:49
  Our sneak peek at dance shows we’d love to see Continue reading
  
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• October 2016 | From the Top—Again

  01-10-2016 10:39
  It’s been one of those days. The energy in the studio is off, and your students look more bored with each brush of the foot in a tendu exercise. You saw an eye roll, maybe two. And in a ballet/tap combo class, the little ones were more interested in playing with each other’s hair than working on their shuffles. You love teaching, but days like these make you feel tired. You’re repeating the fundamentals over—and over, and over—again. If this scenario sounds familiar
  
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• Odyssey showing opera, ballet - Marietta Times

  01-10-2016 06:45 via mariettatimes.com
  
  Marietta Times
  Odyssey showing opera, ballet
  Marietta Times
  BRECKIN WELLS The Marietta Times From left to right, Blake Borling, 9, of Newport, Kara Ramsey, 12, of Newport, Katlen Bush of Newport, and TaiAnna Vandale, 11, of Marietta gather together before seeing their movie on Friday at the Odyssey 7 Theater in ...
  
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