September 30, 2008 at 11:16 pm · Filed under dance, tour, ANNE, ballet austin, dc
An impromptu blurry photo trying to catch our connecting flight to Washington D.C.
Most of us slept on the plane, including my seatmate, Orlando…
Collecting our bags after arriving… luckily all of our baggage arrived safe and sound!
Michelle doing “Hungry Model” while we wait for our ride to the hotel…
Chris and Becky showing how overwhelmed they were by the sights at our nation’s capital…
This is what happens when you pack seven pairs of jeans…
After our first day of rehearsals Paul, Allisyn, Ashley, and I went exploring to the National Zoo followed by dinner at a beautiful Italian Restaurant.
Things have gotten off to a great start and everyone has been very welcoming. It’s always interesting to see how another company works and put the two different dynamics together. I’m hoping to be able to get some rehearsal shots, so stay tuned!
Recent Posts by anne marie melendez
September 28, 2008 at 1:36 pm · Filed under dance, MADISON, gifts, madison keesler
I am a firm believer that we attract and control everything within our lives.
A friend of mine from Central Pennsylviania Youth Ballet sent me an e-mail explaining how one of his friends has started a dream. Her dream is a “29-Day giving Challenge”. I think it is a wonderful idea, so I wanted to help spread the word.
Her website is www.29gifts.org and there is a video on the opening page that explains everything. I have also attached that video below…
click here to view the video on youtube
“Why? Because to see the world change, we have to do something to change the world. Plus, the best way to attract abundance into your life is to be in a perpetual state of giving and gratitude. Be an important part of the global giving movement that inspires more generosity on our planet.” - from www.29gifts.org
Recent Posts by Madison Keesler
September 28, 2008 at 2:28 am · Filed under dance, ANNE, ballet austin
First of all, my apologies for being absent from the Winger for so long. In Spring 2008 I added a new element to my already busy schedule that has forced me to take some time to re-learn time management skills.
Last January I went back to school. I had some previous college work done, but none since I had moved to Austin. I always planned on going back, but I never expected it to be quite like this. Ballet Austin has teamed up with a beautiful private University here in Austin, St. Edward’s University, who with the help of many people has actually created a degree program specifically for the dancers. My degree, along with some of my co-workers turned classmates, will be in Dance and the Humanities. It is an absolutely amazing program that sometimes I still can’t believe it’s real. Essentially, each of us was given a collection of certificated credit for our dance careers (18-36 units depending on our experience…). To supplement those hours is the collection of Humanities classes in our degree program, which are being taught 6-7 units a semester at the Ballet Austin building. So now Mondays nights (and a few Saturdays…) about 15 of us stick around after work and “go” to school. Our participating group ranges from apprentices, company dancers, a couple recently retired dancers, and even our artistic director, Stephen Mills.
Here’s a group photo of our very first St. Edward’s class:
And of course there was the rest of the 2007/2008 season:
Including Cult of Color: Call to Color, a collaboration between our artistic director, Stephen Mills; musician/composer, Graham Reynolds; and visual artist Trenton Doyle Hancock. This was by far one of the most extreme productions I have ever been a part of. Trenton’s visual art and mythology is so intricate and evolved I think many of us wondered how we could possibly make a ballet out of it. Just to give you an idea, here’s one photograph from the production taken by Tony Spielberg:
Our season came to a close with Don Quixote and the opening of Austin’s new Long Center for the Performing Arts. It was a beautiful way to debut the theatre and I can’t wait to be there again for our upcoming performances in October. Don Quixote was, in a way, nostalgic for me. I performed in the Louisville Ballet’s production of Don Quixote as a trainee when these exact sets and costumes were built. But here I was, nine years later, in a different city, in a different company, and in a completely different stage in my life. It really reminded me of how quickly time goes by how many things can change in that short period. Here’s a photo of me as Cupid in Act II (photo again by Tony Spielberg). I don’t think a blonde pixie wig is particularly becoming on me, but it was such a fun role to do I would have worn anything and still had a blast.
The close of our 2007/2008 season was a very emotional one with the retirement of four of our dancers: Gina Patterson, Eric Midgley, Jim Stein, and Tony Casati. All four of these beautiful dancers truly made Ballet Austin what it is today and we have all learned so much from them. They gave their final bow with Ballet Austin with a joint toast onstage and this accompanying video montage of highlights of their career.
Now with our new season well under way and a collection of new faces (more on that later…) there is more excitement on the horizon. Tomorrow, just over half of the company travels to Washington D.C. for a two week residency with the Suzanne Farrell Ballet. We will be learning Balanchine’s Episodes and performing it on their program at the Kennedy Center October 8-12. It’s crazy to me when I realize I’ll be performing a ballet in less than two weeks and I haven’t learned a single step! It will absolutely be an adventure!
I’ll be bringing my camera and laptop with me, so my hope is that in the midst of all of our rehearsals and studying for school I still have to keep up with while I am away, I’ll be able to blog about our trip.
See you in D.C.!!!
Recent Posts by anne marie melendez
September 28, 2008 at 1:05 am · Filed under dance, performing, TAYLOR, apartments
(photo by Julia Shapovalova)
(I seem to always start my posts with “Sorry for not posting for so long…” but when you read this, you’ll understand! This is a super long post, but the best part is at the end, so I hope you make it through ☺ I made the important parts in bold for your reading convenience…)
Over the past few months, I had two lifelong dreams come true, and then had them snatched away before my eyes. And then, this week, I got more than I could have ever asked for.
Let’s start from the beginning. Since I graduated from college months ago, at the end of the school year I had to move out of my dorm and find some other place to live in the crazy NYC real estate market. That was a project enough, but I finally found a small, affordable place and had my whole family come down from Boston to help me move. I had to buy furniture and the works, but I was so excited because now I had my own real life New York City apartment. Life long dream number 1, check!
(Me in the new apartment right after moving in)
About the same week I signed my year-long lease I was taking class and the director of Minnesota Dance Theatre in Minneapolis came and watched. After class, we spoke and she basically offered me a job in the company on the spot. After much discussion, two weeks later, on my 20th birthday, to be exact (seriously!) I received a contract to dance in a professional ballet company. Not an apprenticeship, an actual position. Happy Birthday, haha! I was SO thrilled. Life long dream number 2, check!
Well, I received the contract on July 31. Rehearsals were supposed to start August 4. There was so much to take care of…dropping out of my last semester of grad school, working out the logistic kinks of moving across the country on short notice and, more importantly, finding a place to live.
(with friends on my birthday)
Here’s the part where things get rough.
Everything seemed to be okay. I made the decision that this was what I wanted to do, even though it meant giving up New York and postponing my masters degree (does a 20 year old really need a masters??). BUT the problem: the apartment. I moved in one week before receiving the contract, literally getting the email about wanting to hire me as I hung up the last picture frame in decorating the place. No matter - I could just put everything in storage.
Or not. The issue was with my lease. I signed it for a full year, and it was illegal to sublet under it. We battled with the landlord every which way to try to get out of it so that I could go dance. After much drama, I was forced to give up the contract and stay in New York, where, at that point, I had no plan set for anywhere to dance/perform in the fall. Life long dream number 1 dead, check!
Recovering from that, I spent much of August catching up on some writing, taking class a lot, and spending some much needed resting time in my new apartment.
Until the day I came home from grabbing my morning Starbucks and found huge rats scurrying around my couch!!! Eek! Yes, rats in my room after living there 2 weeks. The next day, a giant cockroach the size of my hand (no exaggeration) crept across my floor as I walked in. Eew! Apparently, the building was infested because the place next door had been knocked down a few months ago. They knew this before they rented me the apartment but failed to inform me I’d be welcoming new rodent roommates into my life. Eew!
It was SO bad. So gross. I did everything in my power to not be at home during the week I discovered my new wildlife friends while, we thought, the building tried to get things under control. In the end, they did nothing and finally allowed me to break my lease and move out with 5 days notice if I didn’t want to live with the possibility of rats. Life long dream number 2 dead, check!
So now, I had no place to live, AND the thing that kept me from my job dancing with a company full time was gone. Oh timing is everything! If only the mice had come 2 weeks sooner and they had let me out of my lease in time to go to Minneapolis!
Suck it up and move on. I had no time to be upset because I had to find someplace else to live, haha. I was VERY LUCKY to have an incredible support system of family and friends who helped me out, and I stayed with the most generous of them all, my ballet teacher, haha.
(a student showcase I was in the week all this happened, haha. i’m in the front there)
Making a long story shorter, I found a new apartment, went through the hassles of moving (to storage first, then again to new apartment), and finally got settled. I started my last semester of grad school, and even got a paid internship at a major book publisher. And I was asked to return to the company I did Nutcracker with last year for another Christmas season.
Then, this week, my life flipped upside down yet again, but for the better. The best, actually.
I’m sitting at my desk at a pretty slow day at my new internship. It’s about 11am and I glance at my cell phone to see I have a new voicemail. I go to the kitchen in our office and listen.
“Hi Taylor. This is Radio City Musical Hall calling. Please give me a call back as soon as humanly possible! It’s about the show.”
My heart FLIPS.
I auditioned for the dancing roles (not to be a Rockette) in the Radio City Christmas Show back in May and surprisingly made it through all of the cuts and callbacks. I went on a whim but was thrilled just to make it as far as I did, because most others were a lot older and more theatrically experienced. When I called after a few weeks to get the results of the audition, they politely informed me that they didn’t have a place for me. Ah well, another rejection.
As you can imagine, I was even MORE surprised to get a call from them months later.
Stealing a few minutes from my work day, I called the happy voice that left the message back.
“Taylor, we’d like to offer you a role as a dancer in the New York show of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular!!!”
OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!
Apparently someone dropped out and they needed a replacement, and for whatever lucky reason I happened to be the next in line.
Of course I accepted on the spot, gripping myself to the chair so as not to jump in excitement in the middle of the publisher’s office where I was supposed to be working!
After about an hour I still literally COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. I honestly and truly had to keep looking at my cell phone call history and re-listen to her voicemail to confirm that it did indeed happen and I wasn’t just daydreaming the whole thing. Seriously.
It didn’t fully click in until later that night when I got an email asking for my pointe shoe order info.
Since then, I’ve filled out paperwork and gone for shoe fittings and everything. Rehearsals begin in a week, and shows start November 7. I sign the union contract on Monday!
I am SO happy and excited about this. All the performances…all the dancing…and all in New York! What a round about path it took for me to get here, but it was all worth it!
I’ll do my best to post about the exciting process as it happens…more about what’s been going on here.
Recent Posts by taylor gordon
September 24, 2008 at 5:28 am · Filed under dance, chicago, joffrey ballet, choreography, hubbard street dance, non-profit, photographer, LAUREN
With the change of climatic seasons and with a new home for the Joffrey, Chicago has been quite busy with events and performances happening since the start of our 08/09 season. I wanted to update you all on what’s new and exciting.
For starters, I made my choreographic debut on September 15th at the Ruth page center for the arts. “Dance Chance” a program sponsored by Dance Works Chicago is a free program which gives artists and budding choreographers the chance to choreograph freely in front of a public audience. The performance is free and anyone can choreograph–those that choose to, simply enter and are selected in a fishbowl at random during each “Dance Chance” performance, which are held once each month. Typically, there are three pieces on the program and performances usually are no longer than one hour. I selected two coworkers Britt Hillard and Abigail Simon, along with friend and former coworker Justine Humenansky to dance in my piece. Not only was it a success and a rewarding experience for me as a dancer, but I was so honored many colleagues and friends came to support me in the performance.
Justine Humenansky rehearsing.
Abigail Simon, Britt Hillard and Justine Humenansky rehearse at the Joffrey studios.
As well as choreographing, I have been gaining more experience with my photography. I will be contributing to “On Center” Magazine for their 4th issue. “On Center” is a dance publication consisting of photography established by two coworkers of mine, Michael Smith and Sasha Fornari. Their work continues to inspire and amaze me with its ingenuity and groundbreaking ideas. I chose to photograph DanceWorks Chicago in rehearsal. DanceWorks Chicago is six member company directed by Julie Nakagawa, former director of Hubbard Street 2. I t was such a pleasure not only to photograph but observe their amazing talents and superb professionalism in the rehearsal process. I look forward to seeing “On Center” in print and check out for further details!
Sayiga Eugene Peabody and Rebecca Nizoil in rehearsal.
Recent Posts by lauren
