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Emma’s “Summer Bowl” Recipe – Peach & Beet Salad

July 12, 2017 by 4dancers

salad
Peach and beet salad. Photo by Emma Love Suddarth

by Emma Love Suddarth

Summer… a break… rest. For almost every professional dancer in the United States, summertime means layoff—a time to trade in the pointe shoes for flip-flops (or sneakers, if you’re smart) and let the body rest, recuperate, and repair. How dancers choose to fill this time varies greatly. For some, it is an opportunity to travel the world—hike the trails, bike the cities, or seek out the foreign places that the scattered weeks here or there throughout the season wouldn’t allow for. For others, it’s a special time to visit family—having missed so many holidays (must The Nutcracker fall on Christmas every year?), the annual summertime family vacation may be the one tradition a dancer is able to attend consistently. Or, maybe it is the rare chance to sit on the couch, lay back with feet up, and set Netflix on play. Regardless of how, it’s an opportunity to indulge where one can and enjoy what one might.

For Price and me, family and food are two things we feel strongly about. Our kitchen is the most frequented space in the house, and the refrigerator is covered entirely by pictures of Suddarths and Loves. Put the two together, and you’ll find us trying to decide what to cook or where to eat when visiting those we love. Last summer, while in Indiana with our Suddarth side, we discovered a fresh spot to test out—a new pizza place, Napolese Pizzeria, marked by local ingredients and seasonal varieties. The menu was distinctive and delectable—one pizza contained squash, feta, brussels sprouts, and a balsamic drizzle, and another with kale, pineapple, roasted peppers, and provolone. As avid cooks ourselves, we often love to recreate our favorite meals that we happen upon when dining out, occasionally adding little tidbits of our own “flavor.” That evening, leaving Napolese both satiated and satisfied, we had a handful of new projects for our kitchen. There was one course in particular that topped the list—a salad that seemed to capture summer in a bowl. Sweet, slightly charred yellow corn. Vibrant, impeccably roasted purple beets. Juicy, perfectly ripened fuzzy peaches. Can’t you just feel the warmth of the summer sunshine already?

This recipe has traveled the country. It’s been family-and-friend-tested, and earned a spot on our regular rotation whenever peach season strikes. And, lucky for us, it seems it’s just about that time.

Prepping the peaches. Photo by Emma Love Suddarth

Beet, Peach, and Corn Salad with a Smoky Tomato Vinaigrette

(serves approximately 2)

Ingredients

Smoky tomato vinaigrette (makes enough for multiple salads):

  • 10 oz cherry/grape tomatoes
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 2 tbs balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tbs water
  • salt and pepper

5 oz greens (such as butter, boston, or bibb lettuce) or shredded cabbage

2 peaches, sliced

2 beets, sliced

1 ear sweet corn

feta, crumbled

Instructions

To make the vinaigrette:

  1. Preheat a large pan or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Once heated through, drizzle a little olive oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add tomatoes. Cover and let cook for 10 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Leaving the pan covered, remove from heat and let sit for 30 minutes.
  2. Into a large food processor, add tomatoes, garlic, Dijon, Worcestershire, olive oil, vinegar, and water. Blend to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Can be refrigerated. Set out and let it come to room temperature to serve.

For the salad:

  1. Preheat oven to 400° Cut any top off beets and scrub thoroughly. Wrap beets loosely in tin foil and roast in the oven for 50-60 minutes, or until easily pierced with a fork or skewer. Remove from the oven, let cool, and remove skin (should be easily rubbed off using a paper towel).
  2. Preheat grill or grill pan on medium-high heat. Remove corn from husk and place directly onto grill. Rotate ear of corn every 2-3 minutes, until each side is slightly charred and evenly grilled. Remove corn from cob.
  3. To assemble, toss greens/cabbage with smoky tomato vinaigrette until evenly distributed. Then add peaches, beets, corn, and feta. Add additional dressing as needed. Serve.

You can bet we’ll be back to Napolese again this year, doubtless departing with both stomachs and minds filled with scrumptious new ideas…


Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Emma Love Suddarth

Contributor Emma Love Suddarth is from Wichita, Kansas. She studied with Sharon Rogers and on scholarship at Pacific Northwest Ballet School, and attended summer courses at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Ballet Academy East, and Pacific Northwest Ballet School. She was first recipient of the Flemming Halby Exchange with the Royal Danish Ballet School and was also a 2004 and 2005 recipient of a Kansas Cultural Trust Grant. She joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as an apprentice in 2008 and was promoted to corps de ballet in 2009.

While at PNB, she has performed featured roles in works by George Balanchine, Peter Boal, David Dawson, Ulysses Dove, William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian, Mark Morris, Margaret Mullin, Crystal Pite, Alexei Ratmansky, Kent Stowell, Susan Stroman, and Price Suddarth. Some of her favorites include the Siren in Balanchine’s The Prodigal Son, Jiri Kylian’s Petit Mort, David Dawson’s A Million Kisses to My Skin, William Forsythe’s New Suite, and Price Suddarth’s Signature.

She is a contributor to Pacific Northwest Ballet’s blog. She is married to fellow PNB dancer Price Suddarth.

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Filed Under: 4dancers, Recipes/Snacks Tagged With: adult dancers, Dancers summer break, Emma Love Suddarth, pacific northwest ballet, Recipe, Recipe by dancer, summer salad

Product Review: The Royal Ballet “Ballet Magic” Tote Bag

June 26, 2017 by Rachel Hellwig

by Rachel Hellwig

No matter which side of the pond you’re on, just about anything associated with the Royal Ballet just has a certain magic to it…

Cocorose London has created a series of leather and canvas tote bags featuring digitally-printed photos of the company. Here are my thoughts on the “Ballet Magic” model:

    • Beautiful design – black-and-white image of dancers in the wings of the Royal Opera House during La Sylphide
    • Durable, well made
    • Not for sweaty pointe shoes! Or depositing on a rosin-dusted corner of a dance studio…
    • Good for just about anything else (I’m actually using it as a purse now!)
    • Downside: cost. The price tag of £50 translates to about $64 plus taxes.
Photo by Rachel Hellwig.

 

Filed Under: 4dancers, Reviews Tagged With: Cocorose London, Product review, royal ballet, The Royal Ballet Ballet Magic, The Royal Ballet Ballet Magic Tote Bag

The Dance COLEctive Switches Gears

May 22, 2017 by 4dancers

Margi Cole
Margi Cole. Photo by Lisa DeShantz-Cook

Finding just the right model for a dance company is important, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution for every company out there. Margi Cole has been at the helm of The Dance COLEctive, a Chicago-based dance company, for two decades–and recently decided to change the model she had been using to something that will allow her to expand her work, while shifting the format around a bit.

We sent Margi some questions about this change so readers can take a look at what she’s doing, and why. She has some interesting thoughts to share…


Would you summarize the recent announcement about your company, The Dance COLEctive for our readers?

Basically, The Dance COLEctive (TDC) is transitioning to a new model. After 20 years, we will no longer maintain and work with a company of dancers on a continuous basis but will “pick up” dancers as needed for specific projects. While this is not a new idea, it is a new way to work for me and for TDC.

To be clear, the organization is not folding and I am not quitting. TDC’s new model will enable me to expand my work in several different ways:

  1. Developing a solo-focused initiative: creating, commissioning and highlighting solo work
  2. Creating new works to perform under the TDC banner, with other companies or in collaboration with other artists
  3.  Increasing national and international teaching and creative residencies
Margi Cole
Margi. Photo by Eric Olson

I guess the biggest question that comes to mind is, why is the shift happening now? After all this time, all these years, what was it that was going on under the surface that moved you in this direction at this particular time?

I am responding to changes in the field, the shifting economic and political climate and my own interests and needs as a mid-career artist and adapting to create sustainability for my organization. I want to shift my accountability from that of an organizational structure to the creative process, which was my basis for starting the company.  Without an ongoing group of dancers, I’ll more time and space to be more fluid with the projects I am working toward completing.

Is this a “fluid” shift in focus? Meaning, will you decide as you go along how much time and focus each area will receive? Or do you have an idea of how you might like to structure your efforts moving forward?

My new focus means that I am looking in places for opportunities and resources. Right now, I am working toward immersing myself in the creative process, so I’m focusing my efforts on researching funding and residency opportunities and strategizing artistic collaborations and projects. My primary focus at the moment is the Solo Swap Project, which will provide me with more flexibility if something comes up and allow me more time for research and development.

Margi Dancing
Margi dancing. Photo by William Frederking

You have always valued mentoring. How do you see your role as a mentor evolving in this new format?

Yes, mentorship has turned into a central focus for me, and it continues to be important and valuable to my plans. First, I have formalized something that I have always done: How to make it work or at least give it a try. I have always talked with people informally about the field and sometimes offered advice, feedback and resources. Not only does formalizing these conversations add value to what I am doing, it is generating revenue for TDC. I also discovered that I need administrative support. I have engaged a former company member to help me with some tasks as a way for me to provide guidance through arts administration. I am seeking opportunities to mentor choreographers in the studio. Thodos Dance Chicago invited me back to participate as a mentor in its New Dances Project as a resource giving feedback during their rehearsal process. I expect that opportunities will continue to present themselves and evolve. Mentorship remains a key element of the organization and a core value for me as an artist.

Can you talk a bit about the idea behind the Solo Swap Project, and how that idea came to pass?

I have always been committed to my solo work. It has been a way for me to put my money where my mouth is in terms of my expectations of others and my own work as a director. I want to continue this work and make it more of a central focus. The Solo Swap provides a framework for collaborative development and aims to develop scaleable work while expanding, exploring and deepening the participants’ work as artists. In short, this idea embodies all the elements that seem practical in our shifting economic climate and gives the participants the opportunity to customize work while simultaneously challenging themselves. As it turns out, this will enable me to do all of the things I am interested in: be collaborative, portable, mobile, a dancer and a choreographer.

For you personally, what do you see as your biggest hope moving forward in this new format, and in these new endeavors?

To find a renewed sense of creativity and spirit, to work toward creating a more sustainable business model, to be a role model in terms of change and to support my ongoing curiosity about the field of dance inside and outside of the studio. I hope this will enable me to teach more, perform more, make more dances and be a more viable contributing artist to my own community and beyond.

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Filed Under: 4dancers Tagged With: dance mentor, dance mentorship, margi cole, Solo Swap Project, TDC, the dance colective

Dance Voyages

May 15, 2017 by 4dancers

Alessa dancing Esmerelda
Esmeralda and Kilroy’s Pas. Photo by Charlie McCullers

by Alessa Ashley Rogers

Looking forward, looking back.

Helen Pickett
Choreographer Helen Pickett. Photo: Tatiana Willis

On October 7, 2014, 27 dancers waited expectantly in Atlanta Ballet’s sun-dappled studio 1. What we knew: Our resident choreographer, Helen Pickett. And the play, Tennessee Williams’ Camino Real which we had been expected to read.

What we didn’t know was how Helen would transform an obscure, largely unsuccessful play into a full-length world premiere ballet with original costumes, sets and score which would be critically acclaimed for its “sheer magic.”

Flash forward 30-some months later and Camino Real is being re-staged at Atlanta Ballet for the second time. Many things are different in our world of the studio and in the larger world. A new president has taken office. At Atlanta Ballet, change is heavy on our minds as thirteen dancers prepare to depart the company at the end of this season. [Read more…]

Filed Under: 4dancers Tagged With: Alessa Ashley Rogers, atlanta ballet, Camino Real, choreographer, David Finn, Emma Kingsbury, Esmerelda, helen pickett, Peter Salem, Tennessee Williams

Atlanta Ballet to Finish Season with “Camino Real”

May 6, 2017 by Rachel Hellwig

Atlanta Ballet’s “Camino Real.” (2015) Photo by Kim Kenney. Courtesy of Atlanta Ballet.

by Rachel Hellwig

Atlanta Ballet’s original production of Camino Real will return to the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre from May 12-14. Created on the company in 2015 by choreographer in residence Helen Pickett, the work incorporates dance, spoken text, and Atlanta Ballet Orchestra’s live performance of a score by Peter Salem.

Inspired by Tennessee Williams’ 1953 play of the same name, the ballet follows the journey of the fictional former boxing champion Kilroy as he encounters love, desperation, and an eclectic mix of literary and historical characters in Camino Real, a surreal town controlled by a cruel hotelier named Gutman.

Atlanta Ballet’s “Camino Real.” Photo by Charlie McCullers. Courtesy of Atlanta Ballet.

“Kilroy is a strong, humble, and loving character,” says Alexandre Barros, who is taking on the role. “He becomes everyone’s hope for a better life. From the very beginning, however, he is hated by Gutman, who wants the Camino Real to stay the same – hopeless and obedient. Kilroy has this alacrity in his heart and always wants the best for others, which Gutman completely despises.”

Barros says he loves what Pickett did with the ballet: “The play is very complicated to understand and yet Helen found a way to narrate the story so beautifully.”

Tara Lee will conclude her 21-season career with the company in the role of Esmeralda, a character derived from Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. “She’s a gypsy, trapped in the Camino like everyone else, but recognizes freedom when she meets Kilroy,” Lee says. “To me, she represents truth. In Helen’s production, reality is constantly shifting for the characters. A tragic scene can suddenly turn a switch and become a Vaudeville-like dance extravaganza. Beauty and poetry live beside ugliness and hopelessness. The audience decides which world they want to see.”


From Atlanta Ballet’s website: “Recommended for ages 12 and up.”

Tickets start at $25. Purchase here.


Filed Under: 4dancers Tagged With: Alexandre Barros, atlanta ballet, Atlanta Ballet 2016-2017 season, Camino Real, Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, helen pickett, tara lee

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