by Emily Kate Long

l’ll Be Seeing You – David Howard And Steven Mitchell

I was so excited to try this CD out! I regularly use three other of Steven Mitchell’s CDs (“Solo” and both of the David Howard Covent Garden classes) and love them. I was not disappointed this time. David Howard and Steven Mitchell have come together for a third collection of great music.

The CD includes length, time signature, and counts for each track. There are thirty tracks total, sixteen for barre and fourteen for center. The variety in speed and time signatures for all the degage and allegro tracks makes this a great CD to use for both lower and upper-level classes. The songs themselves range from pop tunes and standards to classical music, some of which is playfully jazzed up as only Mitchell can. The tempi are consistent, the beats are strong, and the preparations are easy to hear—especially great for my junior high-aged class. With all that, none of this music sounds plodding or academic.

This CD is one I’ll turn to again and again.

Assistant Editor 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. She has spent summers studying at Ballet Chicago, Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, Miami City Ballet, and Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive/Vail Valley Dance Intensive, where she served as Program Assistant. Ms Long attended Milwaukee Ballet School’s Summer Intensive on scholarship before being invited to join Milwaukee Ballet II in 2007.

Ms Long has been a member of Ballet Quad Cities since 2009. She has danced featured roles in Deanna Carter’s Ash to Glass and Dracula, participated in the company’s 2010 tour to New York City, and most recently performed principal roles in Courtney Lyon’s Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, and Cinderella. She is also on the faculty of Ballet Quad Cities School of Dance, where she teaches ballet, pointe, and repertoire classes.