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How Ballet Helped Me Learn How To SUP Surf

August 16, 2015 by Rachel Hellwig

Ballet on a Surfboard - Miami Beach
Ballet on a Surfboard – Miami Beach

by Todd Fox

I’m a Bunhead Surfaholic!!! That’s right, my career focus and lifelong passion has always been ballet and there’s not many things in this world I love as much as ballet, but surfing is definitely one of them. I surf every chance I get and am probably one of the only surfers in Florida who strikes ballet poses while riding a wave. Over the years I’ve surfed on all sorts of boards including long boards, short boards, foam boards, plank boards with no fins, kayaks, canoes, boogie boards, etc.– if it floats I’ve surfed it and probably tried to do some ballet on it as well.

Ballet on a SUP - Miami Beach
Ballet on a SUP – Miami Beach

A few years ago I began noticing more and more stand up paddleboard (SUP) surfers catching waves at the local surf breaks here where I live in Miami. I had previously paddled a SUP on our calm south Florida inter-coastal waters and it was super fun but surfing on a stand up paddleboard looked intense. I couldn’t believe surfers were dropping in on waist to chest high waves while using a paddle to maneuver these giant heavy SUP boards. It looked like an incredible workout as well as a ton of fun so I decided to give it a try and bought a used 10’6″ Surfseries SUP off Craigslist to start learning with.

Ballet on a SUP - Miami Beach
Ballet on a SUP – Miami Beach

I had been a traditional board surfer for many years and figured the transition to surfing on a SUP would be relatively easy, plus I’m a professional ballet dancer and have good strength/balance/coordination, right? WRONG!!! I couldn’t believe how incredibly difficult it was to balance on a SUP in choppy water and the workout was much more intense than I imagined, it gave a whole new meaning to the word exhaustion. Paddling a SUP on nice glassy calm water is an amazing full-body workout but when you add waves, rip currents, and rough surf to the equation, the physical demands become much more extreme. Complicating matters was the fact that where I surf most often, Miami Beach, rarely has “clean” easy-to-paddle surf, most of our good surf is accompanied by rough, choppy ocean conditions. Without going into too much detail, this is due to Miami’s geographic proximity to the island chain of the Bahamas located directly to our east. On my first attempts I could only manage to stand on the SUP briefly, once the board started to wobble or bob up and down as a result of the choppy surface water, I would immediately lose balance and fall off every time.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: 4dancers, Teaching Tips Tagged With: Ballet, dancer hobbies, male dancers, Miami Beach, paddleboard, SUP Surfing, surfing, todd fox

One Dancer’s Journey: Performing Outside the US

June 28, 2012 by Ashley David

Todd Fox & Oksana Storazuk in Giselle (Serbian National Theatre Ballet)

It’s time for the next question in our series, “One Dancer’s Journey”. Todd Fox has danced all over the world, and here he shares some of his experiences (and photos) from his travels…

by Todd Fox

6. You have danced for companies all over the world. Can you talk a bit about what that is like?

Truly unbelievable!  When I was a young professional dancer just starting out I never imagined performing with a ballet company outside of the USA, not because I didn’t want to, it just didn’t seem realistic. The Internet didn’t exist back then and things were much different in regards to communication and retrieving simple information like addresses and contact info on companies you wanted to audition for abroad. You couldn’t just do a search for the company and email your resume/images/video, if you wanted to seek employment with a ballet company abroad you had to either wait for that company to host an audition here in the states, or, personally know dancers in those foreign companies who could tell you when they were auditioning in their cities, where to send resume/CV info via regular post and then somehow communicate via regular telephone.

Todd Fox, Romeo & Juliet Promo (Perth, Scotland)

That was just crazy complicated and back then my world was New York City, all I was ever concerned with when living in New York City was the perpetual task of finding a job, any job that would allow me to dance every day. Back then within my circle of friends and peers when you said you were going to dance abroad it generally meant crossing the Hudson River.

Todd Fox, Mercutio (Manx Ballet, Isle of Man, UK)

Ironically, during the first half of my career I ended up doing quite a bit of international touring with the companies and productions I danced for, I loved every minute of it and developed a great passion for traveling abroad. I began paying much more attention to what performance opportunities were available overseas and jumped at the chance to do any of them, even if the monetary value of the contract was so low that I would only break even. Then in 2001, the ballet company I worked for at the time, Cleveland San Jose Ballet, went bankrupt during its 25th year anniversary and I once again found myself suddenly unemployed. Up to that point in my professional career (12 years) I had worked for a total of 5 different ballet companies here in the states which either declared bankruptcy, ceased operations and relocated, or gone through major financial hardship forcing dancers into immediate unemployment and I was just so sick of it all. I decided to continue dancing but no longer within the structure and confines of a “home” ballet company and have since focused much of my efforts on performing seasonally and as a guest artist with companies overseas.

It has been a dream come true to use dance as a way to fuel my travels around the world in seek of new and emerging creative influences. Since I made that decision in 2001 I have been privileged to perform with ballet companies in 8  different countries spanning 4 continents. Not all have been high profile red carpet events but for me each different performance experience represents an absolute miracle in my career. Working in these foreign countries allowed me the opportunity to study and compare first hand many different cultural and ideological approaches to dance. I learned so much from each experience and as a result my own knowledge and creative perspectives on dance have broadened in ways I never could have imagined.

Todd Fox & Amy Lawson (Studio Rehearsal, Dublin, Ireland)

As amazing as these opportunities were, working thousands of miles away from home for extended periods of time as an independent dance artist presents unique challenges and it’s definitely not for everyone. Trust me when I say, there is a HUGE difference between touring and performing abroad with a company of dance artists you know and trying to integrate into a company of dance artists that you don’t know for just one season or a single production. There are cultural and artistic differences to take into consideration, language barriers, and workplace politics like power struggles, labor disputes, casting disputes, partners that are difficult to work with, or choreographers who may not like you just because of what country you come from. Granted, all this can be said of dancing for just about any ballet company on the planet but when you’re a foreigner overseas the difference is that you are not at home and at the end of the day when you go back to the hotel or whatever housing you are living out of a suitcase in you eventually start to crave “home”. For me it took about 7 years of performing and traveling abroad before I started spending more and more time at home and less time flying all over the world to perform. Everything runs its course and for the rest of my life I will always cherish the amazing opportunities and life altering artistic experiences I was exposed to while performing independently abroad.

 

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Editorial, One Dancer's Journey Tagged With: amy lawson, Ballet, ballet company, ballet theatre afrikan, corrina dumistrescu, giselle, manx ballet, oksana storazuk, serbian national theatre ballet, todd fox

One Dancer’s Journey: Performing Arts As A Profession

April 23, 2012 by 4dancers

Todd Fox returns with the next installment of “One Dancer’s Journey” — if you haven’t had the chance to read the other posts by Mr. Fox, you can find them here.

by Todd Fox

Todd Fox

 

5. What have you had to struggle against in dance?

I didn’t experience an overwhelming amount of ridicule in public school as a boy studying ballet but I did hear my share of jokes and was teased often. At first the teasing didn’t really bother me because I was obsessed with learning ballet and I didn’t really care what people thought—but you can only ignore things for so long.

It all came to a head pretty quick one day in 9th grade when a student was teasing me and called me a name so I punched him square in the face causing a bad nose bleed. I was promptly suspended from school and my parents completely freaked, it was definitely NOT the proper or mature way to handle the situation but I was 15 at the time, it happened, and I was never teased again.

Teasing and name calling aside, I think the number one thing I have had to struggle against as a professional ballet dancer here in the United States is the perception of my life’s work as some sort of contribution to a non-essential charity, as if it has no value in the “real world”. [Read more…]

Filed Under: 4dancers, Editorial, One Dancer's Journey Tagged With: arts professional, Ballet, dance, todd fox

One Dancer’s Journey: A Little Advice

March 19, 2012 by 4dancers

For those of you who are just tuning in, this series, “One Dancer’s Journey” follows Todd Fox through his in-depth answers to the questions we typically pose in our interviews with dancers and choreographers. We’re up to question #4….

by Todd  Fox

Todd Fox

4. What advice would you offer other dancers?

I could literally write a book as an answer to this question but that has already been done many times so I will only touch on a few points of interest.

Get over the insecurities and pound that pavement, today!

I frequently hear from young aspiring professional dancers who tell me how they didn’t go to an audition or send out their pictures and resumes for consideration on a gig because they thought for sure it just wouldn’t happen–so why waste time trying. This has never made any sense to me; students will spend years of hard work in the studio improving and expanding their technique/abilities but when it comes time to learn and expand into the actual profession, suddenly they become insecure.

Every aspiring professional dancer needs to realize that auditioning and seeking out employment opportunities in this industry is a learning process unto itself. Just like learning technique, there are dos and don’ts, tips and tricks, and all sorts of trials and errors you will have to go through to learn how to secure employment as a professional dancer. The ratio of being turned down will always outweigh the actual offers of employment–it has been that way since the dawn of the industry and it’s something you are just going to have to deal with.

Everyone has insecurities and nobody likes to be told they are not right for something they really want to do but you have to at least try, otherwise you will never succeed. This industry is filled with stories about professional dancers who ended up getting amazing jobs and opportunities they never thought would happen but because they took that first step and actually tried, it somehow managed to work out. It is imperative that you leave no stone unturned throughout your journey to become a professional dancer… [Read more…]

Filed Under: 4dancers, Editorial, One Dancer's Journey Tagged With: advice for dancers, auditions, dance competition, todd fox

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…

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…]

Filed Under: 10 Questions With... Tagged With: balanchine, Ballet, ballet san jose, catharine grow, choreographer, dalia rawson, four temperaments, joffrey ballet, patricia perez, swan lake, the rawson project, todd fox

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