ballet san jose

5 Tips For Getting The Most Out Of A Summer Intensive

January 17, 2013 by 4dancers

ballet students at barre — Students at Ballet San Jose’s School, Photo by Scott Belding

The Summer Intensive. Both exciting and a little frightening, this type of training can really be beneficial to you as a dancer. It can also be a little bit intimidating, offering a new environment, new teachers and students you may not know. For some dance students, it may also be their first time away from home.

Dalia Rawson, Principal at San Jose Ballet School has “been there, done that”. Not only has she attended summer intensives herself, but now she also hosts them at the school. Dalia was kind enough to take the time to offer 4dancers readers 5 great tips for getting the most out of a summer intensive.

Here they are:

1. Do your research.

Be sure to pick a Summer Intensive that offers what you need to get the most out of your summer of training. If you are an advanced dancer, and are looking to find an Intensive that will help you take steps towards a future as a professional dancer, you will likely want to attend a Summer Intensive at a School associated with a professional company. Some Intensives, including Ballet San Jose’s Summer Intensive, offer the chance to work with the associated company’s Artistic Leadership, providing excellent exposure to the people who will ultimately be choosing Trainees, Apprentices, and future dancers in their company.

2. Embrace classes in dance styles outside your comfort zone.

The more uncomfortable you feel in a class, the more important taking that class likely is for you. It can be hard for a bunhead who has never taken a jazz class before to be able to let go and move their pelvis, or for someone who has never tried to improvise to find the freedom to create their own movement vocabulary. But if it feels foreign and uncomfortable, take a deep breath, have a sense of humor about yourself, and give it a try!

The ability to adapt and have an open mind is critical to dancers working with new choreographers, and even if you never professionally end up having to do a musical theatre number, the ability to get over feeling uncomfortable and give it your all is a valuable skill to develop.

3. Give some thought to the challenges of living on your own that you may face for the first time if you are living in a dormitory. [Read more…]

ABT National Training Curriculum — Teacher Training, Part I

July 25, 2012 by 4dancers

4dancers has been following along with Dalia Rawson from Ballet San Jose as the school participates in American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum program. Today and tomorrow we’ll feature posts that reflect on the day-to-day experience of the teacher training portion…

(You can find the very first post in this series here if you’d like a little more background.)

Ballet SJ School Students with Franco De Vita, happy after an inspiring demonstration class

by Dalia Rawson

Tuesday, May 29, 9:37PM: The Day Before

Tomorrow is the day. Teacher training at Ballet San Jose School for certification in the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum finally will begin. Fifty-two people – about half dancers, faculty, and staff from Ballet San Jose, and half from the Bay Area, out of state, and even as far away as Japan – have signed up to take the first of three training courses necessary to become certified in all levels of the ABT National Training Curriculum. This course covers the Primary Classes and Levels 1, 2 and 3 of the Curriculum, and I can’t wait to get started, not only to learn the material, but to learn more about how the implementation of the Curriculum will benefit our student body.

I look forward to welcoming people early tomorrow morning into the 1920’s era building that is home to the Ballet SJ Studios here in downtown San Jose. I think we are ready. We have studios and pianists scheduled, and twenty student demonstrators confirmed, five for each of four days of demonstration classes. Franco De Vita, Raymond Lukens and Meaghan Love arrived earlier today from New York, and we showed them around the Ballet SJ Studios. It seemed we had everything they needed, and it looks as if we’re all ready to go!

I’m so excited that the training session is about to begin, and am finding it hard to calm down and get ready to bed. One final very girly question remains to be answered tonight: what on earth am I going to wear tomorrow?

Thursday, May 31, 9:23PM: After Day One

What a day! So many excited instructors arrived, filling our hallways and lobby as they registered. We each received an enormous binder with the curriculum guidelines, illustrated glossaries, and sections on health and development. After welcoming us to the program, Raymond introduced himself and Franco, and then began a detailed discussion about the motivation behind creating a National Training Curriculum. It seems that the administration of American Ballet Theatre had scheduled a retreat to deal with the issue of dancers who were so stylistically specific that it became problematic. This was not only an artistic issue for the dancers who had trouble adapting to various choreographers, but became a physical liability, as learning new movement vocabularies was so foreign to these dancers that it was leading to injuries. Additionally, dancer health issues, such as younger and younger dancers developing serious injuries, and the dangers of over stretching were discussed. The idea was put forth that a National Training Curriculum should be developed, not only to benefit the 5% of people who have the natural potential to become professional ballet dancers, and to help them to safely develop solid technique and artistry, but to create a broader base of love, support and understanding of the art form, through healthy, safe, and appropriate training for people with all ranges of natural ability.

We dove right into the National Training Curriculum’s ten principles of classical ballet training, which broke down the concepts that ballet teachers need to be able to explain and pass on to their students into easy to understand and comprehensive categories, defining fundamental but sometimes vague terms such as “placement,” “posture,” and “turnout” clearly and specifically. Ballet terminology was addressed, and the need for a standard naming of steps was explained. Considering the international nature ballet training, and the wide range of names for each step that are in common use, it is easy to appreciate the need for standardized glossary. [Read more…]

Mads Eriksen On Teaching Adult Ballet

March 24, 2012 by 4dancers

Today we have a few thoughts on teaching adult ballet from Mads Eriksen – the Ballet Master at Ballet San Jose’s school…

Mads Eriksen teaching an adult ballet class at Ballet San Jose School, Photo by Breanna Palermo

What do you enjoy most about teaching adult ballet classes?

I think that one of the best things about teaching adult students is sharing my love of dance with somebody that has not necessarily been dancing since they were little kids. It’s very rewarding to be able to introduce dance into somebody’s life.

What is the best piece of advice you could give an adult ballet student?

When you decide to take up ballet as an adult, whether you have danced a lot or never before, the most important thing is to come to class ready to have fun and express your self through movement. Ballet class can have a very serious aura when people are working hard, so it is important to remember that everybody is there to share the love of dance. Remember a smile goes a long way!

HeadshotMads — Mads Eriksen, Photo by Scott Belding

Can you pass along your best tip for teaching this type of class?

I find that my most successful classes happen when I don’t spend to much time going into detail about every little thing, and focus a little more on letting people really move. The more actual dancing there is in a class for adults the better.

BIO: Mads Eriksen trained at the Royal Danish Ballet School, and upon graduation entered the ranks of the Royal Danish Ballet where he performed.

He spent several seasons dancing with Ballet San Jose, and is now a Ballet Master with Ballet San Jose School teaching all levels.

My Pointe Shoes – By Shannon Bynum

January 28, 2012 by 4dancers

Our focus this month is on pointe shoes and today we have Shannon Bynum from Ballet San Jose with us to share her thoughts on what type of shoe she wears–and why she chose them…

At first when I was asked to describe how I break in my pointe shoes and prepare them for the stage I was perplexed. The reality is not much at all! Most ballerinas (including myself up until last year) have a very religious routine to what they do to make the shoe fit perfectly. Each individual dancer’s foot is so unique that no two dancers use the exact same process. Some glue the box and use shellac to make the shoe last longer. Others may darn the tip of the shoe for better balance, break the shank, sew the sides down… the list goes on and on.

I was one of those dancers until I was in New York one summer finding myself at a standstill with my shoes. I just couldn’t seem to find the right pointe shoe for my foot. I was discouraged and unable to find the perfect match. Many shoes may have looked beautiful yet I wasn’t able to perform in them, or they were great to dance in and just didn’t look right. Some died more quickly than I could sew a new pair, had me preparing them daily, hurt my feet, didn’t look as beautiful, or were just the wrong fit.

While in NYC a teacher had told me that I should wear either Freed or Bloch. The only problem with that was every pair of Freeds or Blochs I had ever tried just didn’t do me any justice. Nothing against Freed or Bloch as some of my favorite dancers bring so much life to the stage wearing them. They just did not work for me.

I needed a shoe that not only looked beautiful on my foot aesthetically, but was also comfortable enough to dance in forty hours a week and without dying after one class! I finally came across my match in Gaynor Minden. Some dancers don’t believe that this pointe shoe is any good. In fact, the topic between ballerinas, teachers, and coaches is very controversial.

I agree to disagree; this shoe has changed my career. Gaynor Minden pointe shoes are far from traditional. They are like Mac and PC. They do the same thing in the end but are just different technology. Both are computers and some people prefer one to the other. I happen to be a modern day American ballerina and I feel very proud to have the opportunity to grow in these particular pointe shoes.

Shannon2 — Shannon in her Gaynor Minden Pointe Shoes

The pointe shoe is a ballerina’s tool, and are most important item in my dance bag. I came back from FHL and ATFL surgery on my left ankle in 2010 and needed a shoe that was extremely supportive yet supple enough to help me gain back my flexibility and line. I have fallen in love with wearing Gaynor Minden’s. They offer me everything I need as a ballet dancer. They are consistent and last a long time so I can spend more time perfecting my work and artistry while spending less time worrying about my pointe shoe.

I first started out wearing a stock Gaynor Minden shoe then a few months later they started making me a custom shoe made specifically for my feet and the specs that I needed to have the best line. All I have to do now is un-wrap them, sew on my ribbons, elastic, and I am all set.

Gaynor Minden pointe shoes are not like the traditional pointe shoe. They are a completely new technology and generation of the pointe shoe. If dancers are evolving like they are, then why not the pointe shoe? That’s exactly what Gaynor Minden has done. They were tired of how painful all the pointe shoes were and how they would die so fast. On an average pointe shoe, you get to a place where it is broken in perfectly and that moment lasts for such a short time. With Gaynor Minden, it is always the same. I know what I am getting when I put that shoe on. I love that my shoe has a consistency I can rely on, especially in a career where the rep demands are so diverse.

Gaynor Minden pointe shoes are made of an elastomeric shank and box, cushioned moisture control lining, and a flat free of pleats bottom. They are also made to be extremely quiet with Poron, “an impact shock absorption system”. I cannot say enough amazing things about this shoe. What I love most about the way I prepare my pointe shoes is that it is so minimal which creates less anxiety and more time for fine tuning what matters the most, which is what we bring the the stage.

Thanks to this innovative pointe shoe, few stitches with a needle and thread and I am good to go! Simple, clean and a new take on tradition.

10 Questions With…Dalia Rawson

January 23, 2012 by 4dancers

I’m always amazed at the things I learn about dancers when I read these interviews, and today is no exception. Meet Dalia Rawson. Read her story. Be amazed. She’s one impressive lady…

Grad Ball — Dalia Rawson in "Graduation Ball", Photo by Marty Sohl

1. How did you become involved with dance?

The first time I ever moved might be considered dancing. I had been either very small or very still while my mother was pregnant with me. She says that late in the pregnancy she had never felt me move or kick. My parents had a season subscription to the Joffrey Ballet in NYC, and while watching the performance in the theater, my mother felt me move, apparently reacting to the music by kicking and rolling, for the first time. When I was a baby they called me twinkle toes, because I couldn’t keep still if there was any music playing. I was in local dance class by age two, a more serious ballet school at age six or seven, and San Francisco Ballet School at age nine.

2. What are you currently doing in the field?

Currently I choreograph and set ballets and I teach. I am the Artistic Director of The Rawson Project Contemporary Ballet, a small company I founded in 2010 for which I have created a small repertory of original works. I am also the Ballet Mistress of Ballet San Jose School where I teach all levels of the professional division, and Rehearsal Assistant for Ballet San Jose, for whom I run rehearsals and re-stage works.

3. Would you share a special moment from your career with readers? [Read more…]

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