tutu

Interview With Tyler Christopher Jay

January 25, 2013 by Ashley David

dancer in forest — Tyler Christopher Jay

I “met” Tyler Christopher Jay on Twitter recently and after a short chat, thought he’d be great to feature on the site. He has a varied background in dance and theatre, and a lot of energy! Here’s more about his life in the arts…

1. How did you get started in dance?

I suppose it was just expected of me to dance. My mother was a dancer and taught dance, and my sister was a dancer so I was constantly at the studio. I think when I was 7 I finally was able to push my mother to let me start taking classes. At that time I started taking ballet, tap, and jazz and have taken many more different styles since then.

2. What made you pursue it as a career?

Well, its not my full career. I also make my career out of acting, and singing. The limelight has always been in me from my first dance class to going to see my first musical. For me, going into the arts was never a question. I always knew that I wanted to be onstage somehow. I also enjoy choreographing though and being behind the scenes. I specialize in musical theater choreography, but don’t mind teaching ballet, contemporary, or partnering.

3. What are you currently doing?

Currently I am dancing with the Metropolitan Ballet for their 2012-2013 season in the Twin Cities; right now we are working on ‘Swan Lake.’ I also choreograph for a local theater company.

4. What do you think is the most challenging aspect of a career in dance—and why? [Read more…]

In A Class Of Her Own: Tutu Maker, Toya Dubin

January 11, 2013 by 4dancers

photo of ballet dancer in tutu — Toya Dubin, wearing the “Jewel Box Tutu”

Today we have something really different to share with readers…

Meet Toya Dubin, dancer…and tutu-maker. This teenager is in a class of her own, and knows more about tutus than most!

What is your dance background?

I began dancing at the age of three in my hometown, Miami, Florida at a studio called In Motion. The appeal of graceful movement was irresistible, the idea that I could make myself a fairy or princess even more exciting. I took a modern class there with a disciple of Isadora Duncan, and remember never wanting class to be over. Since then, my love for ballet has outstripped that for any other form of dance. However, I have studied jazz as well as Zena Rommett Floor barre technique. I really enjoy ballet classes with Elena Kunikova, Lisa Lockwood, and Fabrice Herrault at Steps on Broadway. Over the years I have studied Balanchine, Vaganova, Russian, and Checetti styles of ballet, along with some Fosse, and Limón modern dance.

What are you currently doing in dance?

At the moment, I dance with the Orange County Ballet Theatre, under the artistic direction of Alicia Lovely and Carol Purcell, and have performed in their production of The Nutcracker since the age of eight. I also dance with the American Youth Ballet, under the tutelage of Albert Davydov, and performed in their Nutcracker this year. In addition, I study at Ballet Arts Studio, in Beacon, with Alessandra James.

How did your love of costumes come about?

I cannot distinguish a moment in my life in which costumes or being fabulous didn’t hold endless fascination for me. From the moment I learned to undress and redress myself, a minimum of fifteen clothing changes occurred per day. On a hike up Mount Marcy at nine years old I covered my eyelids in glitter and outfitted a friend and myself in fake pearls because, as I told everyone who laughed at us, “A girl must always be fabulous. No matter where.”

This idea has taken root in my mind. Fabulousness to me, is the expression of a person’s innermost aesthetic. In my own life that may involve oodles of rhinestones, but for the characters I bring to life that may not be their breed of fabulousness. The challenge of discovering what brings a different character to life is the ultimate challenge in my opinion, and from ballet I have learned that the most satisfying feeling is to stretch a little further than I thought I could. Succeeding in realizing a character’s personality and expressing that through their clothes is like that perfect triple pirouette you whip off in class one day.

What is it that you hope to do in this arena? [Read more…]

Dracula, Choreography & Artistic Ownership

October 10, 2012 by Ashley David

by Emily Kate Long

ballet quad cities — Ballet Quad Cities dancers Lauren Derrig, Kelsee Green, Margaret Huling, and Emily Kate Long

Last month I had the opportunity to return to the role of Mina Murray-Harker in Deanna Carter’s Dracula. It was the season opener for Ballet Quad Cities when I joined the company in 2009, and my experience then was radically different from now. The process of re-learning got me thinking about the dancer’s function in the existence of a role. To remember and pass on steps is one thing, but what about the aspect of characterization? We must preserve, but we must also advance. Interpretation and personalization are inherent in live art. How can we go about our work in a way respects the choreographer’s wishes?

Mina was the first real character role I ever danced, and Dracula was the first ballet I ever performed as a full member of a professional company. It was the beginning of my awareness of the huge clash between the academic, black-and-white (or, perhaps more appropriately, black-and-pink) framework I clung to as a student and the messy, splatter-colored, pick-your-own-adventure world of a professional career.

My professional performing experience up to that point had consisted largely of being the third-shortest girl in a line of umpteen in hundred-year-old tutu ballets. Conformity was the order of the day, and I quaked in my pointe shoes at the prospect of sticking out—being noticed usually meant you had done something wrong. We had a saying at Milwaukee Ballet among the trainees: “Know your role and shut your hole.” Great for staying out of trouble, not so great for artistic self-discovery.

I had anticipated that professional life would just be an extension of what I already knew: take class and do as I was told, learn choreography and do as I was told, perform choreography and hope I didn’t get reprimanded afterwards. Feedback or not, there was always the nagging question of whether my work had been good enough. Little did I know that being an artist has a lot more to do with being honest and generous and responsible than about being right by arbitrary standards. [Read more…]

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