July 10, 2008 at 9:29 pm · Filed under dance, magazine, magazines, dance photography, MADISON, cpyb, sanf francisco ballet, dance spirit, madison keesler
Hello again everyone!
First I just wanted to thank everyone for the many congratulations about Hamburg. As the time comes closer it is becoming more and more real, I don’t think it will fully hit me until I actually arrive though.
Ok now for the main reason of this post…..
A couple of months ago I was contacted by Dance Spirit Magazine and was informed that I was a finalist in their Cover Model Search contest. I would have to leave San Francisco for a week and go to NYC with the other contestants where we would stay in a hotel, take classes at STEPS and Broadway Dance Center, have a professional photo shoot, see some shows, and have fun. Once I got the OK from my artistic director it was not a hard decision to go. The entire trip was a really good experience. I also learned that if I ever need photos Eduardo Patino is the man to go to. He is an incredible photographer and I loved working with him. It was really great to make the connection with not only Dance Spirit but the other contestants as well. Amanda was a tapper, and Lee does contemporary dance. They are both wonderful people and very talented in their field of dance, as well as other styles, so I knew that I had some tough competition. Even though the entire trip was technically for a competition there was nothing competative about it. We were all supportive of each other and appreciated what the others could do so it was a very relaxed atmosphere which made the trip much more enjoyable.
The magazine finally came out this past month (the July/August edition) and it was exhilarating to see it all put together. If you wanted to check out the magazine i know you can find Dance Spirit at book stores sometimes. Otherwise you can check out the website at www.dancespirit.com/cms . Here you will be able to see videos and a little information about all of us who are up for the cover. After you look at everything you can vote as many times as you want for your favorite.
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February 19, 2008 at 6:15 am · Filed under dance, injuries, blogs, writing, wingers, magazines, marketing, TAYLOR, kristin sloan, bloggers
(LINKS UPDATED 2/20 SO THEY ACTUALLY WORK! HAHA SORRY ABOUT THAT)
Hi Wingers!
Life has certainly been keeping me busy since my last post about graduating from college, and there’s lots to catch up on (performing, teaching a bit, internship, writing…). But instead of focusing on that (which you can read about in my other blog) I wanted to write about an event tonight hosted by movmnt magazine.
Movmnt is a quarterly dance lifestyle magazine that just came out with it’s spring 2008 issue. The Winger was featured in their last issue, and in this new one there’s an article I wrote about injuries, featuring The Winger’s own Kristin Sloan. First of all, if you haven’t seen the magazine you need to get a copy of it…and I’m not just saying that because I write for them. It’s really a fresh take on the dance world that most other dance writing out there doesn’t offer.
THAT being said, tonight the magazine hosted another blogger get-together similar to the one that Cedar Lake Dance had last month. This time we were able to sit down and actual have some serious conversations about dance, publicity, pop culture, and so much more.
Readers, you should know that all of these bloggers you follow are really incredible people with unique perspectives, who all deeply care about dance on a level that I have personally never experienced before to such a degree. It’s different than being in a room full of dancers, or full of just dance enthusiasts. We all come from different places and have our own ideas, and to share them with each other and on blogs like The Winger really does something for the dance world (in my opinion!).
Tomorrow or someday really soon I promise to post details of our (fascinating) conversation and conclusions we came up with, but for now here’s a basic rundown of my experience at the get-together.
I ran into Evan of Dancing Perfectly Free in the elevator on the way up to the movmnt office, and when we got there we were welcomed by David, Editor and Publisher, some of his magazine staff, and Doug . A stack of sandwiches and multiple diet cokes awaited us, with chips and snacks added to make us feel at home. It’s funny because even though we all see each other in person once in a while (and only since the Cedar Lake event), we all have a sense of what’s going on with each other that we don’t really even need to ask, “So how are you?” Haha we read each other’s blogs and it’s such an amusing connection. Sometimes when I blog I think, who on earth actually reads this. It’s nice to hear that people actually do!
Anyways, multiple other bloggers filtered in within the next half an hour, including Tonya and fellow Wingers Tony & Brian (visiting from San Francisco). After munching and marveling over each other’s real life personas versus blogging personalities (haha), we got down to business.
The nearly 2 hour long conversation went everywhere from what influence do bloggers really have on the dance world, to what dance companies are/aren’t doing to modernize themselves through publicity, to social networks and the fame culture, to where is the blogosphere headed in the future (any thoughts on any of this, please comment!). Everyone raised some very interesting points and sparked some great debate/dialogue. It’s really inspiring being surrounded by people who care so much about dance…I was fascinated by each person at the table.
After saying goodbye and walking away with another copy of the new issue, I took the subway uptown with Evan and we continued the conversation for the whole ride, discussing the issues already raised and bringing up other things we forgot to mention. Now that I’m home and thinking it over I realize there is so much to be discussed and we’ve only touched the tip of it. I hope we have more get-togethers like this regularly in the future, and it would be great to hear from blog readers about some of the issues mentioned above.
More details from our conversation and photo(s) to come soon, but big thanks to movmnt for hosting the get-together. If you get a chance, head to Barnes & Noble and pick up the new issue to see my article and lots of other interesting dance writing!
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