jazz dance

Musical Theatre Dance: In The End, It’s About The Process…

June 24, 2013 by 4dancers

"Forget About the Boy", photo by Mandy Love, courtesy of CAM-PLEX — “Forget About the Boy”, photo by Mandy Love, courtesy of CAM-PLEX

by Lauren Warnecke, MS

Choreographing for children’s musical theatre isn’t my dream.

I can’t sing. I never liked jazz class. I’m an ex-bunhead turned squishy modern dancer… musical theatre just isn’t my bag.

Almost ten years ago I got a job at a Jewish Community Center north of the city teaching dance to little kids, and part of the gig happened to include a choreographic residency with their youth theatre company. With a hefty season of three full productions and eight weeks of summer camp, I went from Isadorable to queen of the jazz square – and quickly.

Sometimes you have to let go of your artistic integrity just a little bit when you’re working with kids. I often reflect on all the letting go, the undoing, the molding, the careful nurturing of the seed that would later become the artist I am today.

But then I remember that kids are missing part of their brains and it makes the jazz squares a little easier to swallow. [Read more…]

Adult Ballet Student: Anne Hilary Sanderson

March 18, 2012 by Ashley David

Today we have a lady who began taking ballet at 63! Here’s her story…

Anne in white, high resolution 1 — Anne Hilary Sanderson

1. How did you first get involved with ballet and what attracted you to it as an adult?

I have loved watching ballet all my life, being fired by enthusiasm by ‘The Red Shoes’ when I was 5 & seeing my first ballet on stage when I was 9. My mother could not afford ballet lessons for me when I was a child, although I would have loved to go. As an adult I saw whatever ballet productions came to my town or were on TV. The possibility of learning it as an adult did not occur to me (& may well not have existed until comparatively recent times), and while I was working at a demanding job, there would have been no time anyway.

Around 2007, having retired, I picked up a brochure of Norfolk Dance & found they held beginners’ ballet classes for adults. These were full at the time, but I enrolled for the following term & began ballet in Autumn 2007 & have never looked back. At first we could find only one elementary class a week, which we felt was not enough, and I wrote 3 letters to ‘Dancing Times’ (which were all published – & 1 was Letter of the Month) about the need to provide more facilities for adult learners, and commenting when these started to appear in Norwich, with more classes I could go to. Now Norwich has more dance classes than I have time to go to, & excellent teachers. Along the way I’ve tried out other types of dance to fill out my dance education: tap, contemporary, national of different countries, lyrical & jazz.

What attracted me to it? Beauty, grace, elegance, technique, magic & mystery, being another world, to a certain extent living out a dream. Also its keep-fit & weight-loss potential (I had to lose a lot of weight after a sedentary career & lost 4 stone, partly through ballet), & health investment for old age (suppleness, posture, stamina, increased energy). I’ve found the whole weight loss & ballet experience very rejuvenating & invigorating, & I’m certainly fitter than I was 10 & 20 years ago, probably longer. I began ballet at 63 & am now 68.

2. How many classes are you currently taking per week? [Read more…]

Dance In The US: Arizona School Of Classical Ballet

January 25, 2010 by 4dancers

More about ballet in Arizona….

Name: Arizona School of Classical Ballet

Location: 20820 N. 25th Place, Suite # 110 – 112, Phoenix, AZ, 85050

About: The Arizona School of Classical Ballet teaches the Russian Method of Classical Ballet and also offers a recreational program of dance, and an adult ballet program for those who are looking for something less demanding. There is a four-year program for students ages 3 to 7 that prepares them for serious study.

The more advanced study of ballet begins at ages 8/9, and after some time girls are exposed to pointe work as they are ready. Other dance styles offered here include character dance, flamenco, modern and jazz.

School director Nadya Zubkov has served in many different capacities in her career, including the Artistic Director of the Ballet Department of the Children’s School for the Arts in Moscow and as a full-time faculty member for the School of Ballet Arizona prior to her current position.

The faculty at Arizona School of Classical Ballet all have strong backgrounds, and it is clear that they all have a great deal of experience in their respective fields. I found it very interesting that they also have a music instructor on staff who teaches piano and music theory.

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