Studios – Page 10

Post Curtain Chat with Sean Stewart

October 15, 2010 by Matthew Powell

This month on Post Curtain Chat we have Sean Stewart, dancer with American Ballet Theatre. Sean’s casual, “tell-it-like-it-is” mentality and heart of gold make him a refreshing guy to be around, and on a personal note, he is a wonderful friend of mine! He has led a remarkably diverse career – from his beginnings as a competition dancer, to training at the Paris Opera Ballet School and dancing a varied rep with ABT, this seasoned dancer has seemingly seen and done it all. In this edition of Post Curtain Chat, Sean talks of life in New York City, and schools me on the importance of not throwing around the word “Vegan” too casually!

1. ABT has a quite a lengthy break in the summer after finishing their season at the Met. I know you did some guest work and traveling with your time. What were you up to?

Yeah, this year we had 3 months off and I decided to take full advantage. First, I did a show with John Mark Owen at Jacob’s Pillow. We stayed in this gorgeous log cabin in the mountains, so that’s where I kicked off my vacay. After that, I went to stay at a friend’s lakehouse in Virginia. Then I used some miles to fly to Mount Shasta in Northern California and then to Hawaii. It was a good summer… And thank God for frequent flyer miles!

2. What was your most memorable spot in Hawaii?

I really got into the town of Hale’iwa…SO cute! I also went to this waterfall in Wameia where I was able to swim up and go underneath…incredible!

Want to visit Hale’iwa? Click here!

3. You were a vegan before veganism became popular. Since you’re a pro on the subject, can you tell us a few of your favorite vegan spots in New York?

You have to be careful when throwing around the “Vegan” title, as some people take it very seriously, which I completely respect. I’m not really a Vegan. I just follow a diet comprised of mostly raw plant foods, which excludes animal foods. I do drink wine, which can use animal products in the refining and clarifying process. With that said, I really like the restaurant Counter in the East Village. Angelica’s Kitchen has a few really good items. Peace Food in the Upper East Side is also pretty yummy. Apparently, S’MAC has a Vegan mac and cheese that I’ve never tried. Pure Food and Wine and Quintessence are two “raw food” restaurants that I have frequented as well. There are so many now! I kind of live in the Mecca of Vegan/Vegetarian dining, which I love!

Click here to check out Angelica’s Kitchen in the East Village!

4. I’ve heard from many ABT dancers that the Met Season can be exhausting because of it’s numerous performances over a small period of time. Once a show is finished do you like to go out to unwind? Or would you rather go straight home to your bed?

Toward the beginning of the season, I try to be very responsible because I have to make it through 8 weeks of performing 6 days a week, while rehearsing all day long (after taking daily ballet class). I’ll usually take a taxi straight home after the show and go to bed. Toward the end, I loosen up a bit, especially if I don’t have anything too taxing to dance.

5. You’ve now lived in New York City for 17 years. As I’m sure you know, it can be a challenging place to live for a number of reasons. Can you offer any advice for those who sometimes feel they are being eaten alive by the big city?

I had a very hard time adjusting to the city when I first came here. It’s an amazing city, with everything to offer. I knew that from the moment I got here. I was overwhelmed and exhausted though, as I was going to high school as well as working with a ballet company. Eventually, I found “my” NYC. I like to stay in the village mostly. It it feels more calm to me, but it still retains the youthful energy of the city. When I’m uptown, I’ll take a moment to head into Central Park and recharge my battery. Also, get plenty of sleep! You don’t have to do everything that NYC has to offer!

6. The East Village is one of the hottest neighborhoods in New York right now. As an East Villager yourself, do you have any favorite places to hang down there?

I grew up mostly in the east village, so it really feels like home to me. I never know where anyone goes out there. Lately, I’ve been dropping into Shoolbred’s and Ninth Ward, both have very cool vibes.

Click here to check out Shoolbred’s in the East Village!

7. Finally, give us three words that describe who you are as a dancer, and three words that describe who you are once the curtain has closed.

I’m giving you six words that describe me both in dance and in life: analytical, cerebral, ironic, intuitive, controlled, unpredictable.

Born in Mt. Holly, New Jersey and raised in Vacaville, California, Sean Stewart joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in 1997. He began dancing at the age of 10 with Lisa Clark, started ballet at 12 with Yanina Cywinska, and went on to study at Joffrey II and the Paris Opera Ballet School. He participated in summer programs for The Joffrey Ballet in San Antonio and the Bolshoi Ballet at Vail.

Stewart left ABT in 2002. He has performed as a guest artist with the Washington Ballet, Ballet NY, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Atlanta Ballet and Chamber Dance Project. Stewart was an original cast member in the Old Globe’s production of Twyla Tharp’s The Times, They Are A Changin’.

Stewart rejoined American Ballet Theatre in January 2008.

In addition to various corps roles in all of ABT’s full-length ballets, Stewart’s roles with the Company include Lankendem in Le Corsaire, the Nutcracker-Prince in The Nutcracker, Benno in Swan Lake and roles in Airs, Black Tuesday, Citizen, Cruel World, The Elements, Marimba, One of Three, Sinfoniettaand Stepping Stones. Stewart created roles in Everything Doesn’t Happen at Once, Gong and Known by Heart.

To see Sean and the rest of ABT perform, visit www.abt.org.

Also, look for ABT’s brand new Nutcracker by Alexei Ratmansky this holiday season at the Brooklyn Academy of Music!

Dance Slam Competition Comes To Chicago

October 14, 2010 by 4dancers

Photo: Maureen Schulman The Happiness Club

This is a courtesy post…

What is Dance Slam?

Dance Slam is an interactive dance competition that will feature over 550 dancers from 35 different Chicago-area companies. Many dance styles are included, such as hip-hop, ballet, breaking, street, jazz and contemporary. Each piece is five minutes or less and the audience votes for the winners.

When is Dance Slam?

October 22^nd at 7:30 p.m.

Where does it take place and what is the cost to attend?

University of Chicago Campus at Mandel Hall in Hyde Park. Tickets are $25.

Where can I find out more information, such as who will be participating?

More information is available at Dance Chicago.

Teaching Tip: When Students Are Late

October 13, 2010 by 4dancers

Being late to dance class is actually kind of a big deal. Since warm-up exercises are designed to help the dancer’s muscles (and tendons/ligaments) prepare for the demands of class, late students should know what you expect of them when they arrive in the classroom so that they are not risking injury.

How you handle being tardy is up to you. Perhaps you just tell the student to do some plies and tendus before joining the class if it isn’t too far into the barre. If the student is more than a few minutes late, many teachers ask that they just sit and watch the class instead of trying to catch up.

If you have students who are late on a regular basis, it may be helpful to speak with the parents. As for deciding on make-up classes, it’s really a matter of what you are comfortable with. Do students just lose that class if they are too late to join? Or can they come to another class and substitute it for the one they miss? The important thing is to have a policy that you consistently enforce so that everyone gets the same treatement.

What are your rules? How do you handle a student coming late to class? I’d love to hear what various teachers are doing out there…

10 Questions With…Emily Long

October 12, 2010 by 4dancers

I met Emily Long on Twitter and found her interesting…thought I’d ask her to do the “10 Questions With…” to get to know her a little better–and I’m glad I did! I’m sure you’ll enjoy her interview as well…

1. How did you become involved with dance?

I began dancing because a friend of mine in grade school did it. My favorite part of my first year of ballet was the flashcards; we sat in a circle and had to demonstrate steps one at a time as we were each flashed a card. But I was pretty theatrical as a kid—putting on Broadway shows in my basement with the neighbor kids, folk dancing in the backyard, improvising to a Putumayo CD of Latin music my dad had—I think it was inevitable for me to come to dance one way or another.

2. What are you currently doing in the field?

I am beginning my second season as a dancer with Ballet Quad Cities. In two weeks we premiere the ballet “I, Vampire,” in which I am killed no fewer than four separate times under various character guises. It’s all very dramatic.

Emily Long

3. Would you share a special moment or two from your career?

Special moments for me have been times of being aware of connectedness—sometimes they happen onstage with the audience or a partner, sometimes in the studio, sometimes in discussion outside of rehearsal.

4. What is the best advice you have ever received regarding dance?

The best advice I’ve ever received was from a very, very dear teacher I had, Kimmary Williams, who told me that as long as I wanted to dance, there would be some way to do it. The corollary to that, I infer, is that if I can’t find a way to dance, it must mean I don’t want it enough and should probably stop. Sometimes I wonder if that’s an oversimplified way of looking at things, but it’s worked for me so far.

5. Do you have any advice for those who would like to dance professionally?

Find what works for you. Realize that the only factor in the equation of personal or professional success that you can know and control is yourself, and knowing yourself is an ever-changing, ongoing process.

6. What has been your biggest challenge in dance?

My biggest challenge physically has been my tendency to overwork. I’ve been called “bulldog” by more teachers than I’d like to count! A manifestation of my reluctance to trust my body’s natural tendency toward balance and efficiency, I think. But I believe self trust is one of the great human challenges, so I’ve begun to grow out of the overwork as I’ve begun to grow up.

7. What is it that you love so much about ballet?

I love that there is so much to study: different techniques and frameworks of movement in the broadest, most absolute sense; the movement philosophies of individual choreographers; and on the most personal level the emotions or ideas one can inject into one’s own dancing. I love the process of finding the appropriate vehicle to convey a particular thought or feeling.

8. Do you have a special routine that you go through before a performance, or is each one different?

I make sure I have time onstage before curtain to go through any bits of choreography I find scary or inconsistent…usually that also involves a lot of pep talks and/or lectures under my breath, too! I eat some small complex carbohydrate three or four hours before the show. Basically make my body as ready as possible, whatever happens to mean for a given show. I also usually put my eyelashes on before class to get used to having to focus through that filter.

9. Where you do think dance is headed?

That’s a big question. To the extent that the state of art reflects the state of society, I think it will become increasingly plural and increasingly relativistic—what’s considered innovative, classical, or deviant changes so quickly. Dance is also increasingly trans-generic; all the styles are informing one another. And one can’t even begin to address the impact technology is having on dance in terms of access and the exchange of information. Those are probably all pretty obvious statements.

10. What is next for you?

Next for me is, of course, the rest of the season: “Nutcracker;” a mixed bill, “The Ugly Duckling;” and “Cinderella.” Many more years of dancing following that, I hope.

BIO: Emily Kate Long began her dance education in South Bend, Indiana, with Kimmary Williams and Jacob Rice and graduated in 2007 from Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School’s Schenley Program. Ms Long attended Milwaukee Ballet School’s Summer Intensive on scholarship before being invited to join Milwaukee Ballet II in 2007. She also has spent summers studying at Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive, Miami City Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, and Ballet Chicago.

Ms Long has been a member of Ballet Quad Cities since 2009, during which time she has danced featured roles in Deanna Carter’s Ash to Glass and Dracula, and participated in the company’s 2010 performances at Ballet Builders in New York City. Prior to joining Ballet Quad Cities Ms Long performed with Milwaukee Ballet and MBII in Michael Pink’s The Nutcracker and Candide Overture, Petipa’s The Sleeping Beauty and La Bayadére, Balanchine’s Who Cares?, Bournonville’s Flower Festival in Genzano and Napoli, and contemporary and neoclassical works by Tom Teague, Denis Malinkine, and Rolando Yanes. She also collaborated extensively with the Milwaukee Ballet Education Department to create Maria and the Magic Doll Shoppe, which toured to over 20 venues throughout southeastern Wisconsin. Favorite roles danced to date include Simone Ferro’s EVOL and Deanna Carter’s Ash To Glass with Ballet Quad Cities, and Petr Zahradnicek’s Dessert Pas De Trois with Milwaukee Ballet II.

Review: The Balletband

October 11, 2010 by 4dancers

Product Name: Balletband

Product review: The Balletband is a resistance band that has been created specifically for dancers–by dancer Todd Fox. He began producing them when he was dancing at Cleveland Ballet in 1998 and has been selling them ever since.

Made out of a very sturdy, green latex, the band is a great tool to use for stretching. I just finished playing around with it and I found it very easy to work with. It comes with an instruction sheet to show several different ways to use the band, and I came up with a few more that were tailored to my own specific needs.

I think this product would be a terrific thing to bring on the road, as it is compact and lightweight. You could easily tuck it in your dance bag or luggage without it taking up too much space. Also, at least for me, it made stretching more fun. I have never enjoyed that part of the workout routine, and to have a tool to help make it more interesting was very helpful.

I’ve used many resistance bands before and the thing I liked the most about this one was the fact that it is so durable. When I’ve worked with other bands I’ve always felt as though they might snap with enough pressure. Balletband was thick and it gave me a secure feeling, even when I did the stretch pictured to the left.

The learning curve is low with Balletband, and it doesn’t require any specialized knowledge to use, which is nice. I don’t think it would be the right tool for younger dancers, but those who are experienced at stretching would probably enjoy changing things up by using it.

This product would make a great gift, or an investment for your dance studio. I could see it being used in class–or offered for students to use in-between rehursals.

Want to learn more? Check out the FAQ section on the site.

Interested in purchasing a Balletband? View this page for pricing information or to place an order.

This is a sponsored post. Please read our disclosure.

« Previous Page
1
…
8
9
10
11
12
…
31
Next Page »

Disclosure – Affiliate & Ad Info

Copyright Notice