american ballet theatre

The USA International Ballet Competition Reunion Gala

July 10, 2012 by 4dancers

Adrienne.Canterna.Rasta.Thomas.07.12.08.byRichardFinkelstein — Adrienne Canterna & Rasta Thomas, Photo by Richard Finkelstein

Yesterday we heard from Hannah about the USA IBC and their “Reunion Gala” event coming up in mid-July. We also had Executive Director, Sue Lobrano share a little information with us about this special day…along with some photos.

What is the “Reunion Gala”?

The USA International Ballet Competition (USA IBC) presents a Reunion Gala between competitions bringing back former medal winners for a one-night performance. Other events are also planned such as a dinner honoring the dancers, master classes taught by some of the dancers and a gala party following the performance. All are open to the public.

How did the idea for this first come about?

The USA IBC takes place once every four years. The idea of a gala in between competitions came about to keep the USA IBC in the public’s view. It also provides jobs for our dancers.

Brooklyn.Mack.07.18.08.byRichardFinkelstein — Brooklyn Mack, Photo by Richard Finkelstein

What are some of the highlights of the gala?

To me the highlights are what I talked about in question #1. Parties to enjoy and mingle with the dancers , master classes taught by some of the participating dancers, but the real highlight is to see these dancers once again after they have begun their careers.

Every four years the USA IBC brings the dance world to Jackson, MS for two extraordinary weeks of stunning performances by gifted dancers from around the globe. The not to be missed Reunion Gala brings former IBC medalists together for one night of exciting, explosive dance.

4dancers also reached out to Carla Wall, IBC Board Member and long-time volunteer. Carla has been around since 1979, and she shared some of her thoughts on the event:

“For those who have attended IBC performances in the past, it brings back the thrill of seeing these superb dancers perform at the top of their game. For those attending for the first time, the Reunion Gala is a perfect time to experience the artistry of some of the ballet world’s most recognized stars.

One of my favorite dancers of all the IBC competitions is Jose Carreno. He wowed the audience from the first time he stepped onto the stage in 1990 and was the winner of the prestigious Grand Prix award that year. Carreno went on to become principal dancer with American Ballet Theater. He retired from that role last summer. It is a special privilege to see him dance at this year’s Reunion Gala.”

Learn more about the Reunion Gala, find out who is performing, or purchase tickets here.

A Studio Director’s Change Of Heart: Why Ballet Exams Work

June 7, 2012 by 4dancers

by Risa Gary Kaplowitz

I would have never thought that I would one day espouse the idea of examinations for the ballet students at my school. Certainly the studio in which I grew up, Maryland Youth Ballet, has produced dozens of professional dancers, and they never presented their students for exams. And weren’t the students at my own studio thriving and going on to pursue their own careers without ever having taken an exam?

I am far from the only studio director to have disregarded exams. Even as ballet exams are relatively common in Europe, especially at the world’s major ballet schools with their own training systems in Russia (Vaganova), France (Paris Opera Ballet), Italy (Cecchetti), England (Royal Academy of Dance, also known as RAD), and Denmark (Royal Danish Ballet), most American ballet schools, which generally offer a potpourri of the above curriculums, do not offer graded evaluations to their students.

An example of a typical American ballet teacher’s reaction to exams can be found in my thoughts several years ago, when I witnessed Paris Opera Ballet School students prepare for their exams (a perk of being a former famous ballerina’s business partner at the time). The students were going from one combination to another, which they had memorized.

At the time, my thoughts were thus: Didn’t we American ballet instructors need to keep our impatient students happy and their aversion to boredom at bay? And didn’t American ballet students need more diversity in their ballet classes than simple preparation for an exam in order to be prepared for an American ballet company where they could be dancing a Petipa variation one minute and a Nacho Duato piece the next?

This video shows young Vaganova Ballet Academy students’ incredible clarity. Surely this type of regimented single-curriculum training system couldn’t be possible in an American studio with varying body types and skill levels.

Or could it?

Enter American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum, which offered it’s inaugural training sessions to ABT alumni dancers in 2007. For the simple reason that ABT was my favorite company, I was curious enough to start to nibble on the ballet curriculum bullet. However, I never gave serious thought to presenting my students for exams, which were an optional part of the ABT training system. [Read more…]

Three Days At ABT’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School

May 16, 2012 by 4dancers

Please join me in welcoming our newest contributor Dalia Rawson, who will be writing about ABT’s National Training Curriculum for 4dancers…

by Dalia Rawson

I was finally there, at 890 Broadway in New York City. This building, which houses the Laurence A. Wien Center for Dance and Theatre, is the legendary home of the American Ballet Theatre and ABT’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. The building boasts floor after floor of dance studios, and it has been the site of rehearsals, classes, and auditions for countless dance companies, dance schools, and Broadway shows.

The building’s rich history is apparent the minute you step out one of its two operator-controlled elevators, into a maze of hallways and staircases leading to countless dressing rooms and dance studios. Innumerable legendary dance teachers have taught in these studios, and I was about to meet one of the most notable. American Ballet Theatre’s Franco De Vita, the co-creator of ABT’s National Training Curriculum and Principal of ABT’s JKO School had invited me to observe three days of classes. Ballet San Jose School is moving towards implementation of ABT’s National Training Curriculum, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled by this opportunity. Raymond Lukens, who co-created the Curriculum with Mr. De Vita, was out of town, so I would be learning about the Curriculum through watching classes taught by Mr. De Vita, as well as classes taught by other faculty members of the JKO School.

I had arrived early, not sure how long it would take to walk from the Chelsea apartment where I was staying to the studios, and found myself with a moment to catch my breath and reflect before classes were to begin. As I waited with the ABT receptionist, sitting under the framed Resolutions passed by the US Senate and House of Representatives recognizing ABT’s service as America’s National Ballet Company, I felt a growing excitement regarding what was to come. Having spent the previous night on a red-eye flight from San Jose to New York after Ballet SJ School’s Summer Intensive Auditions, I was slightly disoriented, adding to the almost surreal surge of anticipation I was feeling about seeing some of our nation’s most talented dance students up close in class. As it turns out, I wasn’t disappointed.

American Ballet Theatre Lobby, with the Senate Resolutions, Photo by Dalia Rawson & courtesy of ABT

[Read more…]

When Ballet Stars Align

April 11, 2012 by Risa Kaplowitz

Today I’d like to introduce our newest contributor–Risa Gary Kaplowitz. She’ll be doing a monthly column for 4dancers, and today we begin with a bit of her “back story” so you can get to know her a bit…

by Risa Gary Kaplowitz

It’s a wonderful thing to realize how lucky you are. I don’t mean the gratuitous “grateful” we all read on Facebook posts when a “friend” gloats about one thing or another and then says, “So blessed!” Nope. I mean how great it feels to acknowledge the really big decision or moment of good fortune without which your life would be completely different.

I had such a realization a few months ago when I attended the 90^th birthday celebration for Tensia Fonseca, Artistic Director of Maryland Youth Ballet. It was she who started the now nationally recognized school and youth company almost 50 years ago in the barre-lined basement of her cozy suburban home.

I came to what at that time was called, Maryland School of the Ballet when I was three years old. My mom had taken me to my first ballet class at the local recreation center where Mrs. Fonseca’s business partner at the time, Roy Gean, was teaching pre-ballet. After class, he told my mom that I showed promise and asked if she would bring me to their newly built one room studio on St. Elmo Ave. in Bethesda.

The rest of my life can be traced back to the moment my mom said, “Yes.” [Read more…]

The Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP)

April 10, 2012 by Ashley David

by Jessica Wilson

The Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) was formed in 2000 as a non-profit educational organization in order to support and develop world-class dancers from the ages 9 to 19, of all racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds.

YAGP aims to provide educational opportunities and scholarships to the world’s leading dance schools for young dancers as a global network of resources and opportunities which connect students, teachers, schools and dance companies. YAGP is known for providing students with top-quality education and training from the directors and faculties of some of the world’s foremost companies, such as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet, among others. As a result, YAGP refers to itself as the “internet of the dance world”, working to maintain and extend the dance network of the United States, and provide a multitude of prospects for the next generation of dancers.

Each year, YAGP conducts 12 regional semi-finals competitions throughout the US, and an additional 4 international competitions in Brazil, Mexico, France and Japan, considerably extending the reach of YAGP. Each season culminates in a week-long ‘New York City Finals’, in which over 1,000 of the world’s most promising dancers compete for scholarships and professional job contracts offered by YAGP. The dancers are renowned for representing 30 different countries on 5 continents, emphasising the sheer expanse of YAGP in the dance world, and just how prestigious the organisation has become since its inception. [Read more…]

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