gelsey kirkland

DVD Review: The Nutcracker (ABT/Barishnikov)

December 5, 2012 by 4dancers

by Catherine L. Tully

This is one for the home library. There’s nothing quite like seeing this particular Nutcracker performance–after all–it’s Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland, along with ABT members, dancing one of the most famous ballets of all time. The Blu-ray quality and remastering make it a much better viewing than it would be otherwise, given the fact that this was way back in the late 70’s.

Sets are a bit dated and the film quality isn’t perfect, but this is a real treasure anyway. The choreography is lovely and the dancing sublime. I had seen this version when it first came on TV and remember thinking how absolutely delicate Kirkland was as the Sugar Plum, and Barishnikov is always impressive.

I hadn’t seen this version since then, and it was really interesting to see how much choreography has changed over the years. The execution here is clean and sure, and while the lifts and solos may not be as technically complex as most modern-day versions, it’s still a joy to watch.

5 Questions With…Risa Kaplowitz

August 25, 2010 by 4dancers

Over the next two days we will feature two people on 4dancers–with 5 questions each. Risa Kaplowitz and Susan Jaffe worked together to found Princeton Dance & Theater Studio, so we thought we’d reach out to them both and talk about their experiences with teaching and dance. Part I features Risa Kaplowitz…tune in tomorrow for Part II with Susan Jaffe…

Risa Gary Kaplowitz

1. Can you tell readers a bit about how Princeton Dance & Theater
Studio came about and why you and Ms. Jaffe decided to collaborate together?

Susan and I were very good friends while studying at Maryland Youth Ballet (MYB). We fell out of touch during our individual careers, but at our ballet teacher, Tensia Fonseca’s 80th birthday party, we reconnected. Susan told some of us in confidence that she was going to be announcing her retirement soon. I had been working on a business plan for a studio in Princeton, and I probably had the first little idea at that party that maybe, just maybe, Susan would want to open it with me. My daughter was 4 at the time and I couldn’t find a local studio that offered what I wanted for her. I realized I wanted to open a place that had the essence—the great training plus the nurture—of MYB (which was the first training ground for many renowned ballet dancers including Julie Kent.)

During the reception of Susan’s final performance as Giselle at the Met, she put her arm around me and said, “Who knows, maybe one day you and I will open a school together.” That was all I needed to hear to be tenacious in getting everything in order so that she would finally say, “Okay, I’ll open it with you”.

2. Would you describe your philosophy when it comes to teaching ballet and how it was formed over time?

My teaching is probably most reflective of Maggie Black and Marjorie Mussman. While I definitely have certain elements of Mrs. Fonseca’s and Lupe Serrano’s (whom I had while at the School of PA Ballet) “fire-in-the-belly” type of passion in the classroom, Maggie and Marjorie were instrumental in helping me to understand the physicality of ballet. Everything in my career changed after I began studying with them in NYC, and I want my students to have that type of knowledge sooner rather than later.

Although I teach their philosophy, I’ve developed my own language and imagery to communicate the concepts I first received from them. I stress proper placement as the starting point of all work, which for me includes engaging the inner-thigh on the supporting leg and having an “inner” energy on the sides of the pelvis and an “outer” energy in the upper back. I call it the “Superman” look or suggest they think of it like a hydraulic—a force in on the sides of the hips, which comes out through the sides of the back like a fountain. This translates into a very strong and secure base while having a broad and expressive upper back without jutting the ribs out.

Maggie and Marjorie worked with many modern dancers as well as ballet dancers (in class with me at Maggie’s were such diverse dancers as ballet stars Martine Van Hamel, Kevin McKenzie, Robert Hill, Gary Christ, and Gelsey Kirkland to modern inventors such as Elisa Monte and Twyla Tharp’s company dancers). Maggie and Marjorie (who was ballet mistress/teacher for Mark Morris until her death last year) taught a very unaffected and grounded technique. It provided the necessary foundation for all styles of dance. I have modified this approach in my ballet classes to use more épaulement and port de bras focus than they did.

I have also been exposed to the ABT National Dance Curriculum, in which Susan became certified last year. I particularly like the port de bras co-ordination, and I will be going to their training sessions myself this summer. I’m certain that my ballet training philosophy will continue to evolve for the rest of my life, which is what makes teaching so interesting for me.

DSCN0671 — Risa Kaplowitz, Teaching Students

3. What has been the most satisfying aspect of this portion of your dance career?

Seeing all of our students become empowered through authentic ballet training is priceless to me. We have several students who did not have the facility to be ballet dancers who have gone on to get into the finest summer intensives, and several others who are in premier training companies, such as HBII. We are always told that our dancers stand out in auditions because of their clean, strong technique. While we’ll certainly rejoice loudly when one of our students gets a contract to a major company, we rejoice daily at the incremental advances any student makes.

4. What is your best advice for those who want to improve their teaching ability in the classroom?

My advice is to bring in master teachers, watch great dancers, and teach, teach, teach. One of the great perks of having Susan as a business partner has not only been having Susan in the studios but also the many guest teachers whom she has brought in over the years such as Cynthia Gregory, Desmond Richardson, Robert Hill, Martine Van Hamel, Irina Dvorovenko, Maxim Beloserkovsky, Sascha Radetsky, Ethan Stiefel, and Stephanie Saland. This week we had Julie Kent at our SI. The experience of watching these talents so closely has informed my teaching and so has going to see great ballet performances as much as possible. Susan and I were fortunate enough to have watched several Paris Opera Ballet school classes in their studios in France.

Ironically, I learn the most from my students. I feel their work viscerally, which is important for my understanding of each individual dancer. After so many years of teaching, just recently am I able to say, “Oh I remember feeling this way with a student or seeing this with so and so, and this is what worked for them.” There are so many individual issues, which either can be exasperated or minimized with the right training, that it is important to provide as many individual corrections as possible as opposed to blanket general correction. As with anything, the more a teacher experiences and teaches, the more she has to offer.

5. What is it like to work with Ms. Jaffe, and how would you describe her?

This is a hard question because it is like asking me to describe a member of my family. The lines between our work relationship and long-term friendship are too blurred to comment simply. What I can say is that Susan has bridged beautifully her life on the stage to her life in the studio as a teacher, choreographer and coach. She is extremely detailed in her teaching and coaching and has been an extraordinary role model to our students.

As you may have heard, she was recently named a ballet mistress at ABT—a position for which her experiences over the past seven years at PDT has helped prepare her. While she will not be at PDT as regularly as before, she will come to teach whenever possible. Our students are like our children, and she wants to keep working with PDT as much as possible. I’ll miss seeing her every week, but her presence will always be felt in the school we built.

BIO:

Risa Kaplowitz, a former principal ballerina with Dayton Ballet, drew critical acclaim for her portrayals of Giselle, Titania in Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty. Additionally, she was a member of Houston Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, and Manhattan Ballet.

Ms. Kaplowitz originally trained at Maryland Youth Ballet and went on to study with Maggie Black, Marjorie Mussman, Stuart Sebastian, Ben Stevenson, and Lupe Serrano. She has performed the repertoire of many choreographers including Fredrick Ashton, George Balanchine, Ben Stevenson, Stuart Sebastian, Dermot Burke, and Marjorie Mussman.

Ms. Kaplowitz first experienced the thrill of teaching ballet at the request of Josephine Schwartz, founder of Dayton Ballet. After her performing career, she became a regular teacher at Theater Dance Studio in NYC, assisted choreographers at The Julliard School and taught master classes for major dance conventions and competitions. After leaving the dance world for several years to grow a family and experience a “real world” business career as the New Jersey sales representative for Mikasa, Ms. Kaplowitz found her true calling when, in 2003, she co-founded Princeton Dance and Theater Studio (PDT) with former ABT ballerina, Susan Jaffe.

In addition to her duties at PDT, Ms. Kaplowitz is the Artistic director of DanceVision Inc. and founded D.A.N.C.E. (Dance As a Necessary Component of Education), an outreach program that brings dance to New Jersey schools. She has choreographed more than twenty works, and her choreography has been seen at New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s Family Concerts at NJPAC. Ms. Kaplowitz’s original full-length ballet, The Secret Garden, based on the classic book by Francis Hodgson Burnett, premiered with DanceVision Youth Ensemble in 2008.

Pas de Trois: Who Is Your Favorite Dancer?

August 23, 2010 by 4dancers

This post is part of a larger project–

David Hunter from Ballet for Men and Henrik Lamark from Tights and Tiaras are joining me in a venture called Pas de Trois. On that site we will be posting a question each week, which we will then each answer on our blogs–a few days apart. We’d like to encourage members of the dance community (as well as those just interested in dance) to join us in these discussions by leaving a comment with their ideas either on the blog or on Pas de Trois.

This week, for our first question we decided to share our favorite dancer…

When I think of the word “ballerina” there is one image that immediately comes to mind: Suzanne Farrell. Growing up when I did, she was the most inspiring figure in classical ballet to me. Never had I seen someone so fragile looking that was so strong and beautiful.

It can be difficult to say who your favorite dancer is. There are many people who influenced me, or impacted me in one way or another. Gelsey Kirkland was a little whirlwind with boundless energy and a sprightly presence. Mikhail Baryshnikov blew me away with his sheer power and Fred Astaire had a simple grace that is unmatched, even today. Yet you do tend to gravitate toward someone in particular, and for me, it was Suzanne.

I can recall feeling mesmerized when I watched her dance. She seemed as though she were in a trance–that the music just took her and posessed her, making her move at its will. All arms and legs, she was tall, willowy and to me–the perfect vision of a ballerina.

Share your favorite dancer with us on Pas de Trois at dancing3.com.

Interested in learning more about Suzanne Farrell? Read this wonderful interview on Academy of Achievement.

10 Questions With…Gelsey Kirkland & Michael Chernov

July 13, 2010 by 4dancers

Today’s “10 Questions With…” features Gelsey Kirkland & Michael Chernov; the Artistic Directors of the Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet. The two of them were kind enough to take some time to talk about the school here with us and expound on some of the highlights…

1. What were the events that transpired leading to the creation of the Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet?

We believe that dancers should be actors first and foremost. We created GKACB to provide comprehensive classical ballet training with the goal of developing well-rounded artists. Our approach to training is unique in that the curriculum we offer is not available anywhere else in this country.

MC and GK — Gelsey Kirkland & Michael Chernov

2. What does each Artistic Director bring to this project?

Gelsey brings a ballet background with some theatre; Misha brings a theatre background with some ballet. Gelsey brings detail; Misha brings ideas and broad strokes. Our shared vision is to merge our backgrounds, knowledge and strengths to enhance the training our students receive and to give direction to the studio company.

3. You advocate a return to the story ballet. Can you explain a bit about how you will be working toward this ideal?

We believe that the future of ballet lies in dramatic storytelling. Stories help people to understand themselves and life. To work towards this, we will offer residencies to emerging choreographers, dance companies, designers and musicians, providing them with space to create new works in a collaborative environment. Our plan is to draw on in-house workshops to develop new, innovative dramatic ballets. At the same time, we will build a repertoire of traditional, classical works.

4. What will the training at the Academy be like-and how will it prepare and inspire students?

We take a specialized, multidisciplinary approach to training our students. At the base of our training is core dynamics, which includes dynamic alignment exercises, Pilates reformer and practical anatomy classes. This foundation work is built into the curriculum on a daily basis. Our ballet training includes daily technique classes, which draw from the Russian, Danish, and French traditions, with an overall kinesthetic approach. Classical character, historical dance, pantomime, acting, history, music, and critical analysis make up the remainder of the training.

Dramatic development is a key element of our training program. Students will learn how to build a character through physical and psychological gesture and how to communicate with the audience using the Michael Chekhov technique, as well as learning the art of pantomime and period movement.

5. Can you talk a bit about the Studio Company?

Our hope is to develop an ensemble studio company capable of realizing diverse and compelling theatrical ideas. We will build repertoire based on established classical works and new works by collaborating and bringing together actors, mimes, directors, dancers, musicians, choreographers, and production designers. We are building on established ideas; there have been many times in history that people have tried to achieve a synthesis of many disciplines to create a single work of art. We believe that only a small organization these days may be able to achieve this due to restrictions of unions, budgets, and critical expectations. The ability to experiment in large companies is very limited due to economic restrictions.

6. Your “Teacher Training” program appears to offer a unique synthesis of traditional methods and techniques. Can you share with readers some of the basic principles and why you chose them?

Our teacher training program will provide a systematic approach to teaching ballet: focusing on what to teach, how to teach, when to teach and for how long at any given level. It includes hands-on training by masters in the field of ballet pedagogy. The methods and techniques we have chosen reflect our desire to develop and train the dancer from the inside out and to provide them with the tools they need to develop into well-rounded artists. Teachers in training learn how to construct lessons that develop kinesthetic awareness, coordination, strength and flexibility. This goes hand in hand with the training that our students receive. Music training and understanding of musicality, time signatures and rhythms are integral parts of the training for teachers. Graduates will be recognized as certified teachers in the syllabus in the Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet.

7. You will be offering a summer intensive. Can you tell us a little about that?

Our summer intensive is a rigorous program (three weeks’ duration) that incorporates key elements of our year-round program. We have truly great teachers for our inaugural summer intensive. Our faculty includes master teachers David Howard, Nina Osipyan, Irina Kolpakova and Vlad Semenov; men’s class, variations and pas de deux teacher, Mikhail Ilyin; mime teacher, Pilar Garcia; Bournonville specialist, Karina Elver; character teachers, Larisa Calero and Nadejda Loujine; drama teacher, Lenard Petit; and nutrition/wellness specialist and physical therapist, Suzette Madson.

8. As you launch this endeavor, what do you most want the dance community to understand about GKACB?

Our vision is about fostering creativity. It isn’t simply about image-making; the emphasis is on the spirit, not the shape. The focus is on finding the creative spirit, wedding form and content.

9. How have you gone about the process of selecting your faculty?

We have brought together people who have a common vision. These teachers are specialists in their respective areas, and even though some are teaching different disciplines, their approach is in line with our vision for GKACB.

10. Are there any opportunities for sponsorship?

Absolutely, we accept monetary donations, as well as donations in kind (all tax-deductible). We welcome corporate sponsorship, as well as sponsorship for projects by individuals.

Bio: GELSEY KIRKLAND

Gelsey Kirkland received her early training at the School of American Ballet, gaining early stage experience dancing children’s roles in Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Harlequinade. She graduated to the New York City Ballet in 1968, was promoted to soloist in 1970 and principal dancer in 1972. While in the New York City Ballet she performed a variety of leading roles in their repertory, including Concerto Barocco, The Cage, Irish Fantasy, Symphony in C, La Source, Theme and Variations, Tarantella, Harlequinade, The Nutcracker and Dances at a Gathering.

Her desire to master roles in full-length works coincided with Baryshnikov’s defection and invitation to dance with him at American Ballet Theatre, which she joined in 1974 as principal dancer. Teachers most influential in her development as a classical artist include Stanley Williams, Maggie Black, David Howard, actress and mime Pilar Garcia and dramaturge Greg Lawrence.

Miss Kirkland received worldwide acclaim for her performances in the classical repertory: the title role in Giselle, Kitri in Don Quixote, Clara in The Nutcracker, Swanhilda in Coppélia, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, the sylph in La Sylphide, Lise in La Fille Mal Gardée, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Nikiya in The Kingdom of the Shades, the Mazurka and pas de deux in Les Sylphides, and the sleepwalker in La Sonnambula.

Major choreographers have been inspired to create new works for her; namely, a production of Firebird by George Balanchine when she was seventeen, several ballets by Jerome Robbins, and Antony Tudor’s The Leaves are Fading and The Tiller in the Fields.

Miss Kirkland’s guest appearances with leading companies are notably the critically acclaimed performances of The Sleeping Beauty and MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet with The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, and in Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet with The Stuttgart Ballet. On the occasion of Queen Elizabeth’s 60th Birthday Gala at Covent Garden she performed the balcony pas de deux with Anthony Dowell.

Her appearances on American and British television include Live from Lincoln Center and the film version of Baryshnikov’s The Nutcracker.

Published works by Miss Kirkland include three books co-written with Greg Lawrence: “Dancing on My Grave” (1986), a best selling autobiography published in 5 languages,

“The Shape of Love” (1990), contracted and published as a book on dance education, and a children’s book titled “The Little Ballerina and her Dancing Horse” (1993).

Miss Kirkland has been honored at the White House by First Lady Nancy Reagan, and has been the recipient of awards that include the Victory of the Spirit Award at the Kennedy Center and the Gerald Manley Hopkins Theatre

Award. She was appointed to the Board of Directors for Sight Savers International, named National Chairwoman for USA International Ballet Competition, Jackson, Mississippi, and was an honored alumnus at the 50th Anniversary Gala for American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House.

Retirement from the stage in 1986 marked Miss Kirkland’s transition into teaching and coaching in institutions such as American Ballet Theatre, The Royal Ballet School, English National Ballet, and The Australian Ballet. In the 1990’s she was Professor of Dance at Adelphi University in New York. In 2002-5 she taught at the Victorian College of the Arts and was director of the ballet program at Danceworld 301.

In 2006-8 she collaborated with Kevin McKenzie and Michael Chernov in the staging and additional choreography for The Sleeping Beauty for American Ballet Theatre, as well as appearing as the Fairy Carabosse in that production.

Currently, Miss Kirkland teaches at the Metropolitan Opera, Steps on Broadway and privately.

Bio: MICHAEL CHERNOV

Michael Chernov received his early ballet and theatre training at the National Ballet and Theatre School in Melbourne, Australia. In the 1970-80’s he worked with the Sydney City Ballet and Sydney Festival Ballet in Australia and toured with Alexander Goudonov and Eva Evdokimova and The Israel Classical Ballet at the Athens Festival.

In 1995 Mr. Chernov choreographed The Nutcracker for the Philippines Ballet Theatre and in 1995-96 taught dance for Adelphi University where he choreographed Spring Sonata and Polish Suite.

In 2003 Mr. Chernov received his Graduate Ballet Teacher’s Diploma (Vaganova Method) at the Victorian College of the Arts, and in 2006 completed a Master of Arts Administration at the University RMIT, Melbourne Australia.

He taught classical ballet at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2004 and 2005, and at Danceworld in Melbourne, Australia where he was co-director of the ballet program together with his wife Gelsey Kirkland.

He has taught at Steps on Broadway, Peridance Studios and Ballet Hispanico in New York and in summer programs throughout the U.S.

From 2006-7 Mr. Chernov worked in collaboration with Gelsey Kirkland and Kevin McKenzie on the staging and choreography for The Sleeping Beauty at American Ballet Theatre. The Sleeping Beauty played at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York in 2007 and 2008 and also toured the USA. It is due to be performed again at the Met in June 2010.

From 1987 to 1994 Mr. Chernov worked as an actor performing Off–Broadway and in regional theatre with the Hartford Stage Company, Connecticut, and the Alonso Theatre Company, Florida in plays by Sophocles, Shakespeare, Shaw and Coward, working under the direction of Tony Award winning directors Vivian Matalon and Brian Murray.

In 1992 he studied theatre directing at T. Schreiber Studios in New York and has directed plays by Anton Chekov and Horton Foote, including directing the actor Leonid Satinovsky from Russia’s prestigious Moscow Arts Theatre in Chekov’s The Bear.

Dancing On My Grave by Gelsey Kirkland

August 2, 2009 by 4dancers

This book by Gelsey Kirkland is a well-written account of her life as a ballerina. It chronicles her struggle with drug addiction, anorexia and bulimia and her ultimate triumph over all of these things. Written with a heartfelt voice, it paints an interesting picture of how difficult the world of professional ballet can be if the wrong paths are chosen. Still, ultimately the message is one of hope and self-redemption.

Find Dancing on My Grave here.

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