Editorial – Page 31

Dancer Health Day

July 19, 2012 by 4dancers

by Emily Kate Long

I had the privilege last week of attending Dancer Health Day 2012, held July 9 at the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs, New York. The event featured a panel of presenters who addressed a wide range of health issues for dancers: psychology, nutrition, foot health, injury rehab, and cross training, to name a few. The speakers present were Dr Linda Hamilton, Ph.D.; Eliza Minden, creator of Gaynor-Minden pointe shoes; Julia Erickson, co-owner/co-developer of Barre—a real food barre; Meghan Del Prete, a Pilates studio owner and Skidmore College dance faculty member; and Kim Teter, a physical therapist and former member of American Ballet Theatre. These women’s stories were spot on—they’ve been through all the struggles of a life in dance and are now focusing their talents to alleviate some of those difficulties for future generations of dancers. [Read more…]

The Impact Of A Dance Teacher

July 16, 2012 by 4dancers

by Catherine L. Tully

As I reflect back on my time in the dance classroom, my thoughts often turn to those who taught me. I was lucky to have had some pretty incredible instructors–there actually weren’t any that I think of in a negative light. Each and every one of them shaped me as a dancer; gave me a piece of themselves really, when it comes right down to it.

Every teacher emphasizes different things. Some work you when it comes to technique while others hone your lyric ability. If you’re fortunate, you get a range of these teachers and become a well-rounded dancer with mad skills. Today, I just wanted to take a minute to write a little bit about what each of my instructors did to shape me as a dancer…

Mrs. Engstrom – Typically, your first teacher is pretty much the luck of the draw. Most people don’t know much about choosing a ballet teacher when they enroll their child in class, and I got so lucky with Mrs. E. She gave me a great foundation of technique, concentrated on proper placement and age-appropriate movements, and from that, I had a terrific base from which to grow as a dancer. She made sure our feet were ready before putting us in pointe shoes, let our turnout develop slowly, and really enforced basics. Hats off to her for a great start!

Iosif Isrealiov – (think I’ve got the spelling right there) Iosif was my character dance instructor when I studied at Chicago City Ballet in the 80’s. From him I learned stamina. He used to have us do this mazurka step in a circle until we would literally drop from exhaustion, one-by-one. I always strove to be the last one standing; and I often was. He pushed us very hard physically, and I found out I could reach deeper than I believed possible in terms of what my body could do.

Homer Hans Bryant – Homer wasn’t actually my own teacher–he taught another level (and I think it was a boys class?). Even so, his class was often right before mine, and when I’d watch I saw things I’d never seen before in a ballet classroom…he had them doing pushups and other exercises that were not exactly traditional. I found it exciting! From him I learned that sometimes you can step outside of the typical class structure and infuse the training with something practical and interesting. I also discovered that you can learn from observing a class–you don’t always have to take it.

Marjorie Tallchief – Soon I’m going to post something about Marjorie, so I won’t say too much here now and spoil it. But as for what she gave me, it was a more advanced understanding of ballet technique, coupled with the ability to execute combinations at a level that I never dreamed.

Inesse Alexandrovich – Ahhh. Inessa. This woman really developed my upper body–specifically the movement of my arms and my épaulement. Bolshoi trained, she knew how to tweak my movements perfectly to draw out the beauty in my port de bras, and she would help me understand what it meant to lose myself in the music. We had a special relationship. Even though she spoke little English, she knew just how to show me what I needed to do.

Rick Hilsabeck – Rick has always been a favorite teacher of mine. When I was just starting jazz at Lou Conte Dance Studio after many, many years of ballet training, it was Rick who worked with me patiently – trying to get me to let go a bit. It took a long time. He was great every step of the way.

Claire Bataille – Claire was a technique machine, but in a different way than I’d experienced before. She was confident and strong both inside and out, and although I found it intimidating to be in her classroom, it was also an adventure.

Maria Tallchief – What do you say about taking class from this woman? If I was intimidated by Claire, it was tenfold for Ms. Tallchief. She had a presence that can not be described unless you’ve been in a room with her, and learning directly from someone of her stature was extraordinary. You felt as if everything she said was something that could change you forever as a dancer.

Now that I’ve had the chance to talk about a few of my teachers…would you share something about one who shaped you as a dancer?

Opus 2: Why Can’t We All Get Along? (Dancer’s and Musician’s Edition)

July 13, 2012 by Allan Greene

by Allan Greene

I was thinking of starting this series by getting a few things off my chest that have been weighing me down for a while. Not a list of grievances (I can wait ’til Festivus for that), but instead a few lectures that I was going to give at an unnamed professional training program which, as happens, got lost in an administrative power play. I have decided that these would be no match for summer’s long days and their journey into, uh, serious refreshments, so I came up with something else.

Conductors. Tempi. The irrational fraction expressed by dividing the musician’s meter and the dancer’s meter.

Let me start with a story the late conductor/rehearsal pianist Harry Fuchs told me. Harry was working at the New York City Opera in the mid-seventies when they were producing Sarah Caldwell’s celebrated production of The Barber of Seville. As a conductor, Harry was curious as to how Ms. Caldwell would be beating time in the finale of the overture, at the point at which the tempo accelerates suddenly and concludes the piece in a breathless finish.

Now, this is the principle: the faster the musical pulse, the fewer beats the conductor can make per measure. In very slow music a conductor may indicate eight separate beats in a measure that is written in 4/4, four quarter notes to the bar. For a more moderate tempo (think “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”), a four beat pattern is best. “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” or most Sousa marches would be conducted two beats to the bar, as are most of the famous Rodgers & Hammerstein songs, like “Getting to Know You”, “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” and “Surrey with the Fringe on Top”. [Read more…]

A Different Kind Of Dance Team: Nel Shelby & Christopher Duggan

July 6, 2012 by 4dancers

Most of you know Christopher Duggan from his dance photography column here at 4dancers which runs the last day of the month here and is titled “Finis”. What many of you may not know is that Christopher is part of a team–his wife, Nel Shelby–is a dance videographer. Today we thought we’d share a bit more about what life is like for this talented couple in the dance world…

This is Nel’s tenth season at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. She spent the summer of 2001 as a videography intern and now serves as Festival Videographer, supervising two interns and an apprentice each season. Christopher has been Festival Photographer at the Pillow since 2006. He acts as mentor for an intern during each summer festival, and this year he will participate on the faculty in a 5-day dance photography workshop led by his esteemed colleague Rose Eichenbaum.

Deeply dedicated to the preservation and promotion of dance through documentation of live performances, Nel and Christopher often team up to provide artists with the complete package for their upcoming productions. They enjoy brainstorming with artists from the inception of a work, creating behind the scenes photographs of rehearsal and generating excitement through promos, to the final production, filming performances and providing photography for press and preservation. Based in New York City, they have worked with countless emerging, established, uptown and downtown choreographers, dance venues and presenting festivals.

Both Nel and Christopher had personal relationships with dance prior to filming and photographing the art form. Nel danced from age 2 through 22 and has a bachelor’s degree in dance. She is also a certified Pilates instructor. Movement is an incredibly important part of her routine, and because she feels kinesthetically connected to the performers she films, she finds that most of her choices are instinctual and gracefully-aligned with the choreography. Christopher has developed an aesthetic that seeks to capture the heart and integrity of each choreographer’s voice within an image. He was first attracted to dance when working on the wardrobe crew for performances in college and has felt a magnetic pull from dancers ever since. He played the doundoun in a West African group Magbana and made several trips to West Africa to study drumming and dance.

Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival offers a bustling season for Christopher and Nel because of its vast variety of dance and large quantity of work – each season, their responsibilities include documenting aspects of festival culture in addition to its 20 mainstage dance performances, filming, photographing and overseeing documentation of more than 100 free performances and events, and educating students about the technical and philosophical aspects of photographing and filming dance. But its the festival’s sense of magic that keeps both artists clamoring for more each year. Situated on the beautiful Berkshires hills, nestled in majestic trees and rooted in the history of founder and modern dance visionary Ted Shawn, the Pillow is steeped in tradition but forward-thinking in its worldly and contemporary curation. It’s a place to grow, learn and find inspiration. And for Nel and Christopher, it’s home. They now own a cabin on the same road as the Pillow and cherish the thought that their daughter is growing up at the festival each summer.

4dancers talked with both of them a bit about their lives and their work with one another… [Read more…]

Ballet Dancers: Special, But Expendable….

July 3, 2012 by Kimberly Peterson

by Kimberly Peterson

In the new series “Breaking Pointe”, a documentary style show highlighting the world of professional ballet inside Ballet West from the CW network, there are several brilliant things which happen here: 1) – a no holds barred look at life as a professional dancer, the ups and downs of this on their professional and personal lives, their own development as artists and people; 2) – it brings into sharp relief the nature of the competitive atmosphere of professional ballet and the ramifications of this atmosphere on the work ballet produces.

In the first episode, we are introduced to several of the dancers in differing points in their careers, who are getting ready for their annual contract renewals, or conversely, their pink slips. The Artistic Director, Adam Sklute, in speaking about how he must make difficult decisions for the good of the company, states: “The best recipe for creating a hardworking and well-functioning dancer and artist is if all the dancers know that they are special, but also that they are expendable.” This statement resonated with me and instinctually. I found myself bumping up against it as I watch these people struggle for an unattainable perfection, while knowing and accepting that they will never truly find it, never really have security or rest. There is only the constant pursuit of perfection.

While this may be the way in which ballet chooses to conduct itself, the manner in which they operate their business, I seriously doubt the efficacy of this kind of an environment not only on the people who work there, but also the work that is eventually produced. [Read more…]

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