Happy New Year!
January 01, 2012
Happy 2012!
I can’t believe that I let the Summer and Fall of 2011 pass by without an update!
Each day that I work with students heightens my understanding of the “how-to” of teaching and a better way of communicating these concepts. I’m writing more these days and hopefully I’ll have the blog set up soon.
This February, three students of mine will be competing at the Youth America Grand Prix that will be held in Irving, TX. Although I have coached students from other studios, this will be the first year that I will be attending our region’s competition with students of my own! The students I will be accompanying this year are:
Jake Catlett
Kelsey Fox, and
Akiko Kyong-McClain
Hopefully, we can round up enough people to cheer them on. If you’ll be in the Dallas area February 3-5, come show your support!
I can’t believe that I let the Summer and Fall of 2011 pass by without an update!
Each day that I work with students heightens my understanding of the “how-to” of teaching and a better way of communicating these concepts. I’m writing more these days and hopefully I’ll have the blog set up soon.
This February, three students of mine will be competing at the Youth America Grand Prix that will be held in Irving, TX. Although I have coached students from other studios, this will be the first year that I will be attending our region’s competition with students of my own! The students I will be accompanying this year are:
Jake Catlett
Kelsey Fox, and
Akiko Kyong-McClain
Hopefully, we can round up enough people to cheer them on. If you’ll be in the Dallas area February 3-5, come show your support!
Happy Summer!
May 26, 2011
So much time has elapsed since my last entry! Ballet Arkansas’s successful production of The Nutcracker and performances of the spring concert 4x2: Ties That Bind, have long since been performed and here we are in June! The latter show included a wonderful work, Fab 4x6, set to Beatles music, choreographed by Ron De Jesùs, an award-winning choreographer and performer based out of Chicago. Choreography by Shawn Stevens, Jonathan Bostick, Michelle Alexander and myself rounded out the program. Both companies of Ballet Arkansas performed beautifully. Ballet Arkansas’s tour to El Dorado (rhymes with “tornado”) was well received! Thanks to all the dancers who made all of these performances a success.
As of May 1st, I relinquished the position of Artistic Director of Ballet Arkansas. My teaching and writing have taken a back seat for two years and it was time to get back to that business! I enjoyed working with the professional dancers very much and I will miss the hustle and bustle of preparing for performances, but I look forward to jumping back into the depths of working one-on-one with several budding young dancers.
Onward and upward! I will be teaching in Arkansas for all of July and two weeks in August. If anyone is interested, private instruction is also available. Have a great summer!
As of May 1st, I relinquished the position of Artistic Director of Ballet Arkansas. My teaching and writing have taken a back seat for two years and it was time to get back to that business! I enjoyed working with the professional dancers very much and I will miss the hustle and bustle of preparing for performances, but I look forward to jumping back into the depths of working one-on-one with several budding young dancers.
Onward and upward! I will be teaching in Arkansas for all of July and two weeks in August. If anyone is interested, private instruction is also available. Have a great summer!
A Choreographic Fellowship and a Conference in England!
October 24, 2010
Ah, what a satisfying and successful weekend at Ballet Arkansas’ Fourth Annual “Arts in Concert" at Wildwood Park for the Arts! (See below for full review text.) Ballet Arkansas danced beautifully for an enthusiastic audience. The food was delectable, the live music entrancing and the dancing, well, fantabulous! Both the professional and junior companies outdid themselves.
Tomorrow I will be receiving one of three choreographic fellowships from the Arkansas Arts Council. I feel incredibly honored to be the recipient of such an award.
And then I’m off to Birmingham, England to speak at the International Alliance for Dance Medicine and Science. I will be joining Donna Krasnow of York University and Jeffrey A. Russell of the University of California at Irvine to describe specific applications of the dance sciences to dance training, with the goal of improving dance technique and thereby preventing injuries.
In other words, things are insanely busy but very rewarding. I need sleep…
(From Arkansas Online)
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: October 24, 2010
DANCE REVIEW: Ballet Arkansas serves dance banquet
By Eric E. Harrison
LITTLE ROCK -- The six-member professional company provided the main course for Ballet Arkansas’ fourth annual “Arts in Concert” dance banquet Saturday at Little Rock’s Wildwood Park for the Arts, but the junior company provided a fine side dish and even some bon-bons for dessert.
Guest choreographer Shawn Stevens took a “gambol” for the premiere of “Amici Per Sempre,” which she choreographed to an Antonio Vivaldi piccolo concerto. Dancers Jonathan Bostick, Katchiri Feys, Kelsee Green, Lauren McCarthy Horak, Grace Tilley and Paul Tillman capered joyously about thestage in various groupings, artfully designed to make sure the eye didn’t linger on any one very long.
The pro company also offered a fine reprise of “Pressing On” by guest choreographer Kiesha Lalama-White, which premiered in the spring. Junior Company member Jake Catlett joined four of them for a tour de force in Artistic Director Arleen Sugano’s “Risk.”
The Junior Company’s female dancers shone in the premiere of the Bostick-choreographed “Contemporum Fields,” to music by Alicia Keys and Nuttin’ But Strings. Strong moves to strong beats included a lot of well-executed shoulder action.
Less bright was the premiere of “Adagio for Strings,” which Arkansas native Natalie Smith Berry choreographed for the Junior Company.
The simple moments with the fewest dancers were the best; there were moments where the action didn’t seem to correspond with Samuel Barber’s music, which the Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra and conductor Geoffrey Robson performed live behind them.
The dancers do it all over again at 3 p.m. today at Wildwood, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock. Ticket information is available by calling (501) 223-5150 or at the website, BalletArkansas.org.
Tomorrow I will be receiving one of three choreographic fellowships from the Arkansas Arts Council. I feel incredibly honored to be the recipient of such an award.
And then I’m off to Birmingham, England to speak at the International Alliance for Dance Medicine and Science. I will be joining Donna Krasnow of York University and Jeffrey A. Russell of the University of California at Irvine to describe specific applications of the dance sciences to dance training, with the goal of improving dance technique and thereby preventing injuries.
In other words, things are insanely busy but very rewarding. I need sleep…
(From Arkansas Online)
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: October 24, 2010
DANCE REVIEW: Ballet Arkansas serves dance banquet
By Eric E. Harrison
LITTLE ROCK -- The six-member professional company provided the main course for Ballet Arkansas’ fourth annual “Arts in Concert” dance banquet Saturday at Little Rock’s Wildwood Park for the Arts, but the junior company provided a fine side dish and even some bon-bons for dessert.
Guest choreographer Shawn Stevens took a “gambol” for the premiere of “Amici Per Sempre,” which she choreographed to an Antonio Vivaldi piccolo concerto. Dancers Jonathan Bostick, Katchiri Feys, Kelsee Green, Lauren McCarthy Horak, Grace Tilley and Paul Tillman capered joyously about thestage in various groupings, artfully designed to make sure the eye didn’t linger on any one very long.
The pro company also offered a fine reprise of “Pressing On” by guest choreographer Kiesha Lalama-White, which premiered in the spring. Junior Company member Jake Catlett joined four of them for a tour de force in Artistic Director Arleen Sugano’s “Risk.”
The Junior Company’s female dancers shone in the premiere of the Bostick-choreographed “Contemporum Fields,” to music by Alicia Keys and Nuttin’ But Strings. Strong moves to strong beats included a lot of well-executed shoulder action.
Less bright was the premiere of “Adagio for Strings,” which Arkansas native Natalie Smith Berry choreographed for the Junior Company.
The simple moments with the fewest dancers were the best; there were moments where the action didn’t seem to correspond with Samuel Barber’s music, which the Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra and conductor Geoffrey Robson performed live behind them.
The dancers do it all over again at 3 p.m. today at Wildwood, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock. Ticket information is available by calling (501) 223-5150 or at the website, BalletArkansas.org.
Post-IBC Update
June 28, 2010
Whew! What a whirlwind the last three weeks have been. Three weeks ago I was packing and moving my mother from Palo Alto, CA to Little Rock (talk about culture shock!), took a breather at a showing of “O” in Las Vegas, then spent the last two weeks in Jackson, Mississippi at the International Ballet Competition! I came home exhausted but with a smile on my face.
Everything about the IBC experience was wonderful…from the moment each of the faculty (including myself) and jury walked onto the Thalia Mara stage, to the teaching, to the competition, to the parties to the final evening and gala. How rewarding to have the honor of not only meeting but teaching alongside so many of the dance industry’s luminaries. And the students were so open-minded and hungry; it made teaching easy and a joy. I even cried, and if you know my teaching, you know that that’s a good thing.
Now, to catch my breath before I start teaching at Shuffles for the summer program!
Everything about the IBC experience was wonderful…from the moment each of the faculty (including myself) and jury walked onto the Thalia Mara stage, to the teaching, to the competition, to the parties to the final evening and gala. How rewarding to have the honor of not only meeting but teaching alongside so many of the dance industry’s luminaries. And the students were so open-minded and hungry; it made teaching easy and a joy. I even cried, and if you know my teaching, you know that that’s a good thing.
Now, to catch my breath before I start teaching at Shuffles for the summer program!
Spring Update: Season's end, Ballet Intensive, England and more!
May 05, 2010
Ah! Ballet Arkansas’s season came to an end on Friday and truthfully, I breathed a big sigh of relief! I’ll get about a nanosecond to breathe. We had a very successful season and will continue our performing with Jonathan Bostick and Kelsee Green at Arts Week at the River Market in Little Rock next Friday (May 14th).
Meanwhile, I’m off to Point Park University in Pittsburgh to observe their graduating class for potential dancers for the company. Looking forward to that with great anticipation! Thank you Kiesha Lalama-White for making this happen.
Ballet Arkansas will commence its Ballet Intensive on May 7th and I’ll be teaching the first week before I go to USAIBC. We are very lucky to have Shawn Stevens and Stan Roberts teaching for us this summer.
In August, I team up with Dr. Kenneth Laws for a conference in Pennsylvania: “Science and the Art of Dance.” This conference will be a hands-on experience with health professionals, dance educators and students.
And last, but not least, I have been asked to be part of a forum at the next International Alliance for Dance Medicine and Science to be held in Birmingham, England. Donna Krasnow asked me to be a part of her team that speaks about “The Practical Application of Science in the Dance Classroom.” Exciting stuff!
Meanwhile, I’m off to Point Park University in Pittsburgh to observe their graduating class for potential dancers for the company. Looking forward to that with great anticipation! Thank you Kiesha Lalama-White for making this happen.
Ballet Arkansas will commence its Ballet Intensive on May 7th and I’ll be teaching the first week before I go to USAIBC. We are very lucky to have Shawn Stevens and Stan Roberts teaching for us this summer.
In August, I team up with Dr. Kenneth Laws for a conference in Pennsylvania: “Science and the Art of Dance.” This conference will be a hands-on experience with health professionals, dance educators and students.
And last, but not least, I have been asked to be part of a forum at the next International Alliance for Dance Medicine and Science to be held in Birmingham, England. Donna Krasnow asked me to be a part of her team that speaks about “The Practical Application of Science in the Dance Classroom.” Exciting stuff!
Book Release!
August 05, 2008
Physics and the Art of Dance is now available for purchase!
Synopsis (courtesy of Oxford University Press):
Physics and the Art of Dance gives all who enjoy dance - whether as dancers, students, teachers, or fans - an opportunity to understand what happens when human bodies move in the remarkable ways we call dance. How, for instance, do dancers create the illusion of defying gravity? Or of starting to spin when in the air with no source of force to act on their bodies? You may observe some dancers using their arms in a way that allows some to jump higher than others. What is that technique, and why does it work?
In this second edition, author Ken Laws - a physicist with years of professional dance training - teams with veteran dance instructor Arleen Sugano to provide new step-by-step experiments for dancers. "What you see" sections describe the way physical principles form the framework within which some movements exist. The complementary "What you do" sections allow dancers to experience how those physical analyses can provide them a more efficient means of learning how to carry out those movements. Throughout, the book shows how movements are first artistic expressions, and secondly movements of the body within the framework of easy-to-understand physical principles.
To read the entire synopsis and purchase the book, visit the OUP site or Amazon.com.
Synopsis (courtesy of Oxford University Press):
Physics and the Art of Dance gives all who enjoy dance - whether as dancers, students, teachers, or fans - an opportunity to understand what happens when human bodies move in the remarkable ways we call dance. How, for instance, do dancers create the illusion of defying gravity? Or of starting to spin when in the air with no source of force to act on their bodies? You may observe some dancers using their arms in a way that allows some to jump higher than others. What is that technique, and why does it work?
In this second edition, author Ken Laws - a physicist with years of professional dance training - teams with veteran dance instructor Arleen Sugano to provide new step-by-step experiments for dancers. "What you see" sections describe the way physical principles form the framework within which some movements exist. The complementary "What you do" sections allow dancers to experience how those physical analyses can provide them a more efficient means of learning how to carry out those movements. Throughout, the book shows how movements are first artistic expressions, and secondly movements of the body within the framework of easy-to-understand physical principles.
To read the entire synopsis and purchase the book, visit the OUP site or Amazon.com.