• Contributors
    • Catherine L. Tully, Owner/Editor
    • Dance Writers
      • Rachel Hellwig, Assistant Editor — Dance
      • Jessika Anspach McEliece, Contributor — Dance
      • Janice Barringer, Contributor – Dance
      • José Pablo Castro Cuevas, Contributor — Dance
      • Katie C. Sopoci Drake, Contributor – Dance
      • Ashley Ellis, Contributor — Dance
      • Samantha Hope Galler, Contributor – Dance
      • Cara Marie Gary, Contributor – Dance
      • Luis Eduardo Gonzalez, Contributor — Dance
      • Karen Musey, Contributor – Dance
      • Janet Rothwell (Neidhardt), Contributor — Dance
      • Matt de la Peña, Contributor – Dance
      • Lucy Vurusic Riner, Contributor – Dance
      • Alessa Rogers, Contributor — Dance
      • Emma Love Suddarth, Contributor — Dance
      • Andrea Thompson, Contributor – Dance
      • Sally Turkel, Contributor — Dance
      • Lauren Warnecke, Contributor – Dance
      • Sharon Wehner, Contributor – Dance
      • Ashley Werhun, Contributor — Dance
      • Dr. Frank Sinkoe, Contributor – Podiatry
      • Jessica Wilson, Assistant Editor – Dance
    • Dance Wellness Panel
      • Jan Dunn, MS, Editor
      • Gigi Berardi, PhD
      • James Garrick, MD
      • Robin Kish, MS, MFA
      • Moira McCormack, MS
      • Janice G. Plastino, PhD
      • Emma Redding, PhD
      • Erin Sanchez, MS
      • Selina Shah, MD, FACP
      • Nancy Wozny
      • Matthew Wyon, PhD
    • Music & Dance Writers
      • Scott Speck, Contributor – Music
    • Interns
      • Intern Wanted For 4dancers
    • Contact
  • About
    • About 4dancers
    • Advertise With 4dancers
    • Product Reviews on 4dancers
    • Disclosure
  • Contact

4dancers.org

A website for dancers, dance teachers and others interested in dance

Follow Us on Social!

Visit Us On YoutubeVisit Us On TwitterVisit Us On PinterestVisit Us On FacebookVisit Us On Instagram
  • 4dancers
    • Adult Ballet
    • Career
    • Auditions
    • Competition
    • Summer Intensives
    • Pointe Shoes & Footwear
      • Breaking In Shoes
      • Freed
      • Pointe Shoe Products
      • Vegan Ballet Slippers
      • Other Footwear
  • 4teachers
    • Teaching Tips
    • Dance History
    • Dance In The US
    • Studios
  • Choreography
  • Dance Wellness
    • Conditioning And Training
    • Foot Care
    • Injuries
    • Nutrition
      • Recipes/Snacks
  • Dance Resources
    • Dance Conferences
    • Dance Products
      • Books & Magazines
      • DVDs
      • Dance Clothing & Shoes
      • Dance Gifts
      • Flamenco & Spanish Dance
      • Product Reviews
    • Social Media
  • Editorial
    • Interviews
      • 10 Questions With…
      • Dance Blog Spotlight
      • Post Curtain Chat
      • Student Spotlight
    • Dance in the UK
    • Finding Balance
    • Musings
    • One Dancer’s Journey
    • Pas de Trois
    • SYTYCD
    • The Business Of Dance
    • Finis
  • Music & Dance
    • CD/Music Reviews

Saying Goodbye To Atlanta Ballet’s John McFall

May 20, 2016 by 4dancers

John McFall with dancers
John McFall and dancers from Atlanta Ballet. Photo by Brian Wallenberg.

Dear John,

You are stepping down as Artistic Director of Atlanta Ballet this month after 21 years. How to describe what your tenure accomplished? How to distill such a career?

I could talk about the numbers. How the budget has nearly tripled since 1994 or the 1200 students enrolled in the school. I could talk about how Atlanta Ballet has transformed in your two decades from a regional dance troupe to a world-class institution. About the exciting collaborations- Big Boi from Outkast, the Indigo Girls. Or about the world premieres- Twyla Tharp’s first full length ballet, Helen Pickett’s Camino Real. I could talk about the tour to China, the opening of a beautiful new building, your own choreography including the record-breaking Nutcracker. I could talk about the cutting-edge choreographers like Ohad Naharin, Alexander Ekman and Jorma Elo that you convinced out of a sheer doggedness and passion for your dancers to come to a city in the Southeast and bring their work to us.

These things are astounding, valid and commendable. But you know all these things already.

And this letter isn’t about what you’ve done for Atlanta Ballet. It’s what you’ve done for me and your dancers. So I’d rather talk about the joy. [Read more…]

Filed Under: 4dancers Tagged With: alessa rogers, Alexandar Eckman, artistic director, atlanta ballet, Atlanta dance, Camino Real, helen pickett, john mcfall, jorma elo, Ohad Naharin, twyla tharp

Atlanta Ballet Presents “Twyla Tharp’s The Princess and the Goblin”

April 13, 2016 by Rachel Hellwig

Atlanta Ballet performs "Twyla Tharp's The Princess and the Goblin." Photo by Kim Kenney. Dancers, from left to right: Peng-Yu Chen, Yoomi Kim, Alessa Rogers, Lisa Barrieau, Rachel Van Buskirk.
Atlanta Ballet performs “Twyla Tharp’s The Princess and the Goblin.” Photo by Kim Kenney. Dancers, from left to right: Peng-Yu Chen, Yoomi Kim, Alessa Rogers, Lisa Barrieau, Rachel Van Buskirk.

by Rachel Hellwig

There was once a little princess whose father was king over a great country full of mountains and valleys. – George MacDonald

A heroine’s quest to save her sisters from goblins comes to life through the choreography of the legendary Twyla Tharp as Atlanta Ballet brings The Princess and the Goblin to the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre from April 15-17.

Created in 2012 for both Atlanta Ballet and Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, The Princess and the Goblin takes its inspiration from George MacDonald’s 19th-century fantasy story of the same name.

“Princess Irene is the oldest daughter of a mostly absent father,” explains Alessa Rogers, who is performing the part. “When her two younger sisters and other children of the kingdom are kidnapped and taken to the underworld, Irene must find the strength within herself to rescue them. She is aided along the way by her friend Curdie and by a mysterious presence.”

No stranger to the role, Rogers performed as Princess Irene in Atlanta Ballet’s 2012 production. Originally cast as the understudy, she was put into the part right before a studio performance. “That was my first lead role ever and I will always have a soft spot for it,” says Rogers. “It’s wonderful to revisit it now after 5 years. I recognize the ways in which I’ve grown and changed as a dancer since its premiere. A lot of opportunities sprang from this ballet. It’s been a crazy, surreal ride but The Princess and the Goblin gave me so much. I will always be grateful for the experience and for Twyla for believing I could be a princess.”

John Welker will also revisit a role he performed in 2012–Princess Irene’s father, King Papa. “His self-centered ways inadvertently lead to the abduction of his daughters,” Welker explains. “He then goes on a desperate search to find them. They, however, are saved by a young man named Curdie, whom he dismissed earlier in the story as a lowlife. Through the innocence of his children and the grace of Curdie, King Papa experiences a transformation and realizes the beauty of family and life.”

Welker especially identifies with King Papa because of his real-life role as a parent. “I enjoy and relate to this character due to my experience of being a father to a frustrating and very adorable three year old,” he says. “Through my son’s eyes I get to experience being a child again, along with all the joy and wonder life holds.”

The cast of The Princess and the Goblin includes 13 students from the Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education. Tharp explained to The New York Times in 2012, “My mission was to find movement [for the young performers], which they could really do that was not something they were straining to reach at […] But that would not just be running and skipping and hopping and chaos. First thing I did was to get them out of their ballet shoes and put them in street shoes. Next thing was: ‘Girls, get your hair out of the buns. Now let’s be who you are, and let’s figure out how you move.’ ”

Twyla Tharp’s The Princess and the Goblin is set to compositions by Franz Schubert arranged and orchestrated by Schubert scholar Richard Burke, as well as original music by Burke. The score will be performed live by the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JvoVpfC10E&nohtml5=False


Tickets start at $25. Purchase here or call 800-982-2787.

From Atlanta Ballet’s website:

“Run time is approximately 1 hour and 24 minutes. This program is performed without an intermission.”


 

Filed Under: 4dancers Tagged With: alessa rogers, atlanta ballet, Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education, Franz Schubert, John Welker, Preview, The Princess and the Goblin ballet, twyla tharp, Twyla Tharp’s The Princess and the Goblin

Remember To Breathe: Stepping Up Your Stamina

July 22, 2015 by 4dancers

You can practice breathing techniques anywhere! Doing this has helped me in other pursuits like hiking mountains!
You can practice breathing techniques anywhere! Doing this has helped me in other pursuits like hiking mountains!

by Alessa Rogers

Effortless grace.

That is what people think of when they think of ballet. And that is what we strive to be, with our tutus and tiaras and sweat and…wait what? Yes, dancers sweat, and we also curse sometimes too. Ballet is hard work after all!

But–back to effortless grace.

Yes, that is what we are. At least- that is–until halfway through Tharp’s In the Upper Room or maybe David Parson’s Caught or the Don Quixote third act pas de deux, when we are gasping for air like a fish out of water, with a variation and a coda left to go (and don’t forget those pesky bows that are next to impossible after a three hour long ballet).

No one wants to be that dancer that is visibly out of breath and increasingly out of control, making the audience worry if they need to call a doctor. But dancers for the most part tend to forget about stamina, focusing instead on technique and shape and choreography and musicality–and even injury prevention. These are all very important to consider, of course, but if a dancer is too exhausted to get through a piece then technique just isn’t going to be useful. Actually, as a dancer gets more tired, technique gets sloppy, choreography becomes harder to learn, and it’s definitely the time when injuries happen.

So a few years ago I set out to consciously improve my stamina. It was mostly out of necessity; a high-profile world premiere was looming where I would be onstage for all but four minutes of the entire full-length, no intermissions, ballet (and those off-stage minutes were for stressful costume changes!). A lot of the work was running and jumping. The first time I ran through the full ballet in the studio I went home and passed out at about 7 o’clock. I knew I had to get myself in shape.

Wouldn’t it be nice if dancers had trainers the way professional sports stars and Olympics athletes do–with scientists, analysts, nutritionists and trainers at our disposal? But we don’t. We only have ourselves, and our acute sensitivity to our bodies, to decide what works for us individually and what doesn’t. We have only ourselves to maintain accountability, to customize a plan that works for us and turn our bodies into fine-tuned machines.

Fast forward a few years and I’d say my stamina is now one of my strengths as a dancer. Other dancers often note how when they are bent over and panting I am still standing up and smiling. None of what I do now is scientifically proven–but they are the practices I’ve discovered that work for me.

See for yourself if some of these work for you: [Read more…]

Filed Under: 4dancers Tagged With: alessa rogers, alexi ratmansky, atlanta ballet, breath control, dance training, Emily Cook Harrison, nutrition, RD, Stamina, twyla tharp

Looking At Art & Inspiration With Herbert Migdoll

January 23, 2015 by 4dancers

It’s always interesting when one artist inspires another–especially when they operate in two different mediums.

Brock Clawson is a choreographer who has had work performed by both the Milwaukee Ballet and The Joffrey Ballet. Herbert Migdoll, artist, Director of Special Projects for Joffrey, and long-time company photographer, recently created a series of art pieces based on Clawson’s piece, “Crossing Ashland”.

We wanted to learn more about how the inspiration for this work came about, so we reached out to Mr. Migdoll to learn more about his process. (Please feel free to click on the photos below to bring up a larger view.)


What was it about Brock’s piece (Crossing Ashland) that you were drawn to specifically?

Initially, in the Joffrey dance studio, the work reminded me of the ballets performed at Judson in the Village in the olden days. That period included such artists as Carolee Schneeman, Laura Dean, Meredith Monk, Twyla Tharp, Cathrine Litz and many others. It always had a rawness and simplicity in the aesthetic, which allowed one to realize that all movement is a part of dance. The core came from rough ideas, and the motion of the dancers presenting those elements were indulged by an audience and relished by visual artists–like Rauchenberg who jumped into dance and even performed in a work with Steve Paxton there. A photo from that performance is on my list of paintings, TO DO.

Brock Clawson and Herb Migdoll

The bodies of the dancers (in Brock’s piece) rolling to the left and then to the right is totally unique to how bodies are normally focused upon.

As a kid I loved to roll down low ravines or in the shallow waters of an ocean tide foaming onto the beach as the twilight of evening was approaching. All of this creates a visual plethora of ones past experience with rolling around. I knew fairly quickly that Brock had touched a nerve in my collective consciousness and that I would have to run with it. That electrical moment does not occur that often and when it does you are not able to not jump into the creative process.

God does good stuff too–like grass and human bodies seemed inevitable elements of collaboration. The grasses in Lurie Garden are often nifty, and also in Ping Tom Memorial Park.

Herbert Migdoll

Do you have a particular piece you gravitate toward?

The first grey panel I produced with colored bodies on top and flesh bodies below would be my first choice if I could afford to buy one. But I can’t.

Also the 5 bodies lost in the Lurie Garden autumn grasses is uniquely magical.

Bob Joffrey once remarked that wonderful art will always have a quality of being magical. It’s the magic that allows you to enter that other dimension.

Lurie Gardens

What was your creative process like with this project?

It started by watching a rehearsal–and from that to know that I had to shoot a lot of rolling around stuff. And I did.

Then I edited down to nine iconic images and placed them mostly sequential order as they appeared on stage–but not strictly. Next I looked at them in Photoshop to eliminate the photographic aesthetic and coax the slickness out of the photo into an evolved
sort of drawing–and then to finally take shape into an acrylic reproduction–producing a digitally painted series of nine images in a row.

The monochromatic “drawing-like” figures were so on the mark, I stopped and simply continued to create an almost square of bodies which became a matrix for the possibility of endless modular combinations. And these compositions of modules will now continue on as long as I have funding to produce new canvasses.

The grey backgrounds on some of the works led to the beauty of colors against grey, and intermingled with the lush flesh colored bodies. All of which have nothing and everything to do with Brock’s ballet. Rothko, one of my heroes, inspired me to pursue the soft edge of one or two colors firmly blended and totally separate. It’s all kind of a “stream of consciousness” response–and finally a leaving of the source of inspiration. It is an acceptance that the inspiration is the golden source–not because it recreates the final images–but because it evolves art totally unique from the source.

Painting is not illustration. It’s something else!

Herb Migdoll artwork

Filed Under: Editorial Tagged With: art, artwork, brock clawson, Carolee Schneeman, Cathrine Litz, chicago dance, crossing ashland, dance, herb migdoll, herbert migdoll, joffrey, Laura Dean, lurie garden, Meredith Monk, rauchenberg, rothko, steve paxton, the joffrey ballet, twyla tharp

10 Questions With…Nadia Mara

February 20, 2012 by 4dancers

Our “10 Questions With…” today is with Nadia Mara from Atlanta Ballet…

Nadia Mara

1. How did you become involved with dance?

When I was 3 years old my mother took me to my first ballet class and since then I’ve been in love with the art of dancing.

2. What are you currently doing in the field?

Rehearsing Twyla Tharp’s world premiere The P,rincess and the Goblin.

3. Would you share a special moment from your career with readers?

Performing Giselle was very special to me. It was my first full length ballet and It was very challenging! I did a lot of research on the role during the previous months, watched many different versions, spent hours in the studios trying to make it as perfect as I could. After the show my parents were very proud and gave me a big hug and a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I still keep one between a book’s pages.

4. What is the best advice you have ever received from a teacher or mentor regarding dance? [Read more…]

Filed Under: 10 Questions With... Tagged With: atlanta ballet, giselle, nadia mara, princess and the goblin, romeo and juliet, twyla tharp

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »

Dance Artwork

Get Your Dance Career Info Here!

Dance ebook cover

Podcast

Disclosure – Affiliate & Ad Info

This site sometimes features advertising, affiliate marketing, or affiliate links, such as Amazon Associate links and others. When you click on these links, we get a small sum that helps to support the website operations. Thank you! There’s more detailed information on ads and our disclosure policy under the About tab in our navigation at the top of the site. We clearly mark any and all posts that contain these features.

Copyright Notice

Please note that all of the content on 4dancers.org is copyrighted. Do not copy, utilize, or distribute without express permission. We take cases of infringement seriously. All rights reserved ©2022.

Copyright © 2025 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in