joffrey ballet

Opus 4, No. 1: The White Swan And A Jungian-style Of Musical Analysis

September 18, 2012 by Ashley David

by Allan Greene

Cue the strings. Prepare yourself for something big. I’ve got a lot of explaining to do.

Opus 4 is going to be big project. It’s going to synthesize several streams of thought that I’ve been carrying around with me for a while, one going back 36 years to when I was a senior at Carleton College. I’ve been intending to do something with these ideas for a few years, since George de la Peña, who was Artistic Director of the Joffrey Ballet School at the time, suggested I give a talk to the faculty and students on music and dance.

In order to get paid for such a talk, George had me submit a proposal to the school’s executive director. Unfortunately, George and the executive director parted ways before my proposal was ever processed. I had proposed doing five lecture/demonstrations on various topics, including the use both Stravinsky and Balanchine made of French Baroque poetry in Apollo, and the how the Ivanov/Legat choreography of the White Swan Pas de Deux in Swan Lake and Tchaikovsky’s music for it are interlaced to create a masterpiece. Long story short, no money, no revelations.

When the editor of this blog, Catherine, asked me to write about music and dance, and gave me carte blanche to write what was on my mind, the first thing that popped into my head was that long-delayed White Swan project. I had intended originally to recruit two dancers to demonstrate various parts of the dance while I played at the piano and did my Leonard Bernstein routine. In cyberspace, however, my audio-visual aids will be a little different. But it will get to the same place.

The more I thought about how to do this, the more I realized that my project rested on assumptions that, to be charitable, not everybody agrees with nor understands. [Read more…]

10 Questions With…Michael Levine

September 17, 2012 by Ashley David

Meet Michael Levine…dancer, teacher, app creator…yes, I said app creator…read on to find out more…

Michael Levine

1. How did you become involved in dance?

My mother. Isn’t that what we all say? My Mother was a recreational ballet dancer and attended performances while living in San Francisco. When I was younger and jumping around from activity to activity, she put me in “ballet”. I took to it and progressed fairly quickly beyond the level that my small town could support. I was lucky to have two parents that were willing to drive me further afield to get better training.

I ultimately left school early to attend the San Francisco Ballet School as a full time scholarship student. I was never a dancer because of the pretty parts: tutus and tights, etc. I loved the physical, the theatrical, and the transformative. Interests that expressed themselves throughout my career.

2. Where did your career take you?

Artistically or Physically?

Artistically it took me far beyond what I dreamt possible for me. The roles that I have portrayed and the ballets that I have gotten to be a part of still amaze me. Part of what I loved about being at Joffrey during the time that I was there was the mix of contemporary and historic ballets that we were doing at the time. When I look back at the roles that really strike a cord with me they are all theatrical in nature. For example: Romeo from Cranko’s Romeo & Juliet; Death from Kurt Joos’s The Green Table; and the Lover from Tudor’s Lilac Garden. Romeo and Death because I saw both of those ballets as a kid and loved them, but I never thought I’d do them, much less the leads. The Lover because it was the first time that I was moved beyond myself in the role I was portraying.

Physically my career took me all over the world. I was lucky while I was in both Joffrey and ABT that both companies were traveling a fair amount. I always found it fascinating how people in different countries would react to performances. In the end I was fortunate to travel to the Mediterranean several times: Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan and Egypt. I was on multiple tours to Europe, Asia, Middle and South America. I was fortunate to work with my wife for most of my career and we took advantage of the travel. After one tour to Australia we stayed on in New Zealand for 10 extra days (we considered that our honeymoon even though it was years before we got married). It was a fabulous way to see the world and I feel very blessed to have all those memories.

3. What are you doing now? [Read more…]

10 Questions With…Ikolo Griffin

September 10, 2012 by 4dancers

I met this lovely man at Dance USA when he came up to talk to me after the panel on Dance Writing–he had a pretty cool idea that he wanted to share–and now I’m pleased to be able to share it with you…

1. What is your dance background?

When I was in third grade, San Francisco Ballet’s Dance In Schools Program (led by Charles McNeal) came to my school, and following the residency I received an outreach scholarship. I started training at the San Francisco Ballet School from the age of eight until I graduated at eighteen. After ten years in the School, I became the first outreach student to get into the professional company as an apprentice in 1993. At that time SFB was becoming a world-class company, and I was very blessed to grow up watching and then performing with some of the best dancers from all over the world.

In 2001, after seven years performing professionally with the San Francisco Ballet, I moved to New York to join Dance Theatre of Harlem as a soloist. Under the guidance of Arthur Mitchell, I felt myself become more than just a dancer, but a true artist. I felt real satisfaction and fulfillment as I was promoted to a principal dancer and given the opportunity to dance leading roles in many iconic neoclassical ballets. For two weeks we performed at Lincoln Center, the heart of dance in America, and I felt I had reached a very high point in my career.

Unfortunately, after only four years dancing with DTH, the company closed its doors. I was blessed enough to join the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago and landed nicely on my feet (as always!). After my experiences in San Francisco and New York, I felt confident in my abilities as a technician and as an artist. One of the highlights of my two years at the Joffrey was working with Sir Antony Dowell on the role of Oberon in Frederick Ashton’s The Dream.

My time in Chicago was short and sweet, and in 2006 San Francisco called me home again. This time, I had the fortune to dance with Smuin Ballet. Michael Smuin was one of the best artistic directors I have worked with. He had a way of bringing out the best dancing in me and giving the audience a really great show. Mr. Smuin had been the director of San Francisco Ballet when I was just a kid, and we had worked together at Dance Theatre of Harlem as well. It was great to work with him on a full time basis because I felt he appreciated me as a dancer and as person. Up until the day he died in the studio, my experience with Smuin was marked by some of the best dancing I’ve ever done.

Since I left Smuin in 2008, I’ve been freelancing around the Bay Area. I am currently working with the San Francisco Opera as a resident corps dancer. One of the best things about working with the Opera is being back on the War Memorial Opera House stage. This is the very same stage where I did my first Nutcracker as a Mother Ginger kid. It feels like home, and the opera singers are amazing too…

2. What is “Just Turns” and why did you decide to found it?

Just Turns is an interactive classical ballet workshop. The two-hour Just Turns workshop is designed to focus the student’s approach and maximize turning technique in order to increase confidence and ability in all kinds of turns. The class structure and progression are designed to break down every part of turning technique— training spot, balance, force control, and placement from the ground up. Students are encouraged to ask questions, experiment, and take notes throughout the workshop in order to realize their ideal turning method.

My inspiration for Just Turns is in helping dancers with one of the hardest and best parts of ballet technique. While I was dancing in New York, I would take class at Steps on Broadway with Willy Burmann. In his class I really started to develop a great turning style. My turns were always good, but with the Mr. Burmann’s help they became great! When I returned to San Francisco, dancers would frequently ask me for help working on their turns after class. One day I was talking with my friend Vanessa Zahorian (principal dancer with SFB who is a great turner as well), and I thought, “How great would it be to bring back the ‘turning class’ that we would take during summer sessions?” That thought brewed in my head for a while, and when I started teaching ballet two years ago, it was time for Just Turns to be born. Now, as I am moving toward the next phase of my career as a teacher, I am finding my specific niche as a turning coach. Just Turns is my way of reaching the broader dance community and using my passion and specific expertise with turns to help dancers everywhere.

3. Who can benefit from the “Just Turns” approach? [Read more…]

Joffrey: Choreographers of Color Awards

August 19, 2012 by 4dancers

The Joffrey Academy of Dance, Official School of The Joffrey Ballet is excited to announce a call for diverse artists to submit applications for the Joffrey’s annual Choreographers of Color Awards. They are seeking original work developed by applicants with the hope that a diverse perspective will ignite creativity in new works.

Three winners will receive a $2,500 stipend and will have the opportunity to work directly with Academy Artistic Directors, Alexei Kremnev and Anna Reznik. The choreographers’ world premiere works will be showcased on The Joffrey Academy Trainees at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park and other venues throughout the year. To enter and for more details visit: www.joffrey.org/cofc

This is an exciting opportunity–all the best to those who enter! Please do pass the word…

Dance Blog Spotlight: Adria Ballet Beat

July 27, 2012 by 4dancers

This month we have chosen Adria Ballet Beat for our “Dance Blog Spotlight”...keep reading to learn more about Adria and what you can see on her site…

1. Can you tell readers a bit about your background in dance?

It’s safe to say I’ve been dancing for more than 45 years. On my blog I describe myself as “a passionate unprofessional.” I was indeed on a professional track as a child, training at the Metropolitan Opera Ballet School in NYC under the legendary Margaret Craske. But I left the Met at 13 years old, pulled out by my parents who “didn’t want a dance career for their daughter.” Years later, while studying journalism at New York University, I returned to ballet by taking class with The Joffrey Ballet, whose studios were located in New York’s Greenwich Village.

I had the opportunity to reconnect with the ballet world on a professional level as event coordinator of the 2007 American Ballet Theatre Dancer Reunion at the Metropolitan Opera House, and again as event coordinator for The Antony Tudor Centennial Celebration at The Juilliard School in 2008. I am currently Web Coordinator and Archivist for the Antony Tudor Ballet Trust.

I still take class, currently at New Jersey Ballet. Some things are just “in you” and become a lifelong passion. Dance, for me, is a mandate.

2. When did you begin your blog-and why did you start it? What does your blog cover? [Read more…]

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