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10 Questions With…Lucas Segovia

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 Today on 10 Questions With… we have Lucas Segovia from the Joffrey…

Lucas Segovia

1.  How did you become involved with dance?

I took my first ballet class when I was 16, after a friend of mine invited me to one of her dance shows. I liked it very much, and I gave it a try. I never stopped since then.

 2.  What are you currently doing in the field?

I am currently dancing with The Joffrey Ballet, where we just finished a new production of Don Quixote and we are about to start working on Nutcracker, among other pieces in the season. The company has a wide repertoire, so we are always working on different things.

3.  Would you share a special moment from your career with readers?

One of the most special moments so far for me was receiving an award in Buenos Aires, my hometown. The “Premio Clarin” is a very important award and it was a dream for me to get it.

4. What is the best advice you have received from a teacher or mentor?

The best advice I got was from my mentor. I was about to leave the country into the unknown and he told me “live and work like there is no tomorrow and have the strength to accept your decisions.” I’ve been trying to follow that path ever since. [Read more…]

10 Questions With…Melanie Doskocil

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Today on 10 Questions With… we welcome Melanie Doskocil …

Melanie Doskocil
1. How did you become involved with dance?

I think I pretty much begged my mom to put me in ballet classes since I was little. I used to have this lamp when I was a child that was a Degas dancer painting on glass with a bulb behind it. I used to plug it in and dream of being one of those ballerinas.

2. What are you currently doing in the field?

I retired after a 17 year professional career and now am teaching classical ballet and directing a ballet school.

3. Would you share a special moment from your career with readers?

The last job I took was a European tour as part of Mia Michael’s R.A.W. Her company had disbanded and she hired 10 of us to represent her on this 6 week tour. It was tough! She was mean; brutal in fact. She looks like a pussy cat on SYTYCD, but she unleashed her demons on us through that rehearsal period. Everyone cried, everyone wanted to quit. One dancer actually told me he wished he would break something in rehearsal so he could quit with dignity. Dancers came to me (the old lady) and begged me to let them quit. I did more fast talking through that period than I ever had. I motivated, I cajoled, I cried myself and I wanted to quit, but I couldn’t, wouldn’t, let myself or Mia or the tour company down like that. In the end, we all ended up taking our dancing to a new level. Moving beyond our self imposed limitations. Luckily for us, Mia decided not to go on the tour. So we went to Europe without her, danced to packed houses, standing ovations, and shouts for encore! and never had to hear her belittle us again. For some reason I actually remember this time as one of the greatest things I ever did with dance. I feel like I over came major obstacles with that project.

4. What is the best advice you have ever received from a teacher or mentor regarding dance? [Read more…]

10 Questions With…Ryan Wenzel

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Today on 10 Questions With… we welcome dance blogger Ryan Wenzel…

Ryan Wenzel

1.     How did you become involved with dance?

Completely by accident. I never danced or saw any professional dance when I was growing up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. A friend of mine in New York has been a fan of New York City Ballet for years and convinced me last year to join him at a weekend matinee. It was an all-Robins program: Dances at a Gathering and West Side Story Suite. I didn’t love it at the time – I was intimidated by it – but I was intrigued, so I bought books about Robbins and George Balanchine and devoured them. By the end of New York City Ballet’s next season, I was hooked, and I started seeing other types of dance as well.

2.    What are you currently doing in the field?

I write Bodies Never Lie, a blog mostly about the New York dance performances I see. I also work full-time as the online communications manager for Henry Street Settlement, a nonprofit organization on Manhattan’s Lower East Side that includes the Abrons Arts Center.

3.    Would you share your thoughts about where you think dance is headed as an art form?

I have no idea. At this point I’m working overtime just to figure out where dance has been!

4.    What gave you the idea for your blog? [Read more…]

10 Questions With…Michelle Kranicke

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Today on 10 Questions With… we feature a Chicago-area dance professional, Michelle Kranicke…

Michelle Kranicke

My mother was an enormous ballet fan, and as a child she took me to see many performances.  Although it wasn’t love at first sight, it took me awhile to develop a love for dance.  I actually did not begin taking ballet class until I was 13.  But once I fell, I fell hard. I grew up in Chicago and there were always ballet companies touring and performing in the city, so I was fortunate to see many of the classics.

2.      What has your dance career been like?

It has definitely a lot of work, but it has also been extremely rewarding.  It’s a gift to be able to grapple with aesthetic ideas all day.  I have had the privilege of working with so many talented dancers.  For some dancemakers the performance is the best part, but for me I love the rehearsal process.  I love watching ideas unfold and then really honing and developing those ideas.

3.      What are you doing currently in the field?

I am actually stepping back and taking a good hard look at my dancemaking process.  I am going back to the fundamentals of my own creative process and trying to take those fundamentals apart.  I am really looking to extend the art form, to push against the boundaries of dance and extend ideas about movement as far as possible.  I am using proximity and stillness, and trying to move dance from a predominantly visual experience for the viewer into  an aural or kinesthetic experience as well.

4.      If you had to describe Zephyr Dance to someone, what would you say? [Read more…]

10 Questions With…Pam Zeidman

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Today on 10 Questions With… we have Pam Zeidman…

Pam Zeidman with Debbie Allen

1. How did you become involved with dance?

I started dancing at age 9 because I kept waking up with dance moves running through my head and needed an outlet.  My mom enrolled me in jazz and tap – a perfect fit for me.  I started choreographing and teaching the neighborhood kids at age 12 – putting on dance recitals in my garage with the parents sitting in lawn chairs on the drive

2. What are you currently doing in the field?

Currently I am the Midwest Program Director for American Dance Training Camps, an instructor for Trilogy Performing Arts (Lake Zurich, IL) and Christian Youth Theatre (CYT).  I am also an adjudicator with Spotlight Events.

3. Would you share a special moment from your career with readers?

I’ve had many “special moments” in my dance career, but probably the most memorable was when I got to meet Debbie Allen after I choreographed “Fame – The Musical.”  I’ve always admired her rise to “fame” and respected her passion for dance.

4. What is the best advice you have ever received from a teacher or mentor regarding dance?

Mme. Peff Modelski, a wonderful fount of knowledge, has imparted some simple truths to me:  “Don’t tell the brain you can’t do something.” “Fear and dance don’t live in the same house.” “Use your body parts for what they are made for.”

5. What has been your greatest challenge? [Read more…]

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