Archive for schools
August 14, 2008 at 4:49 pm · Filed under ballet, dance, studio, schools, savannah, students, VERONICA, the STUDIO, teacher, dance companies, american ballet theatre, summer intensive, dance classes
Many of my students go off to summer programs. This year I had kids at Chautauqua, the Rock School, ABT and Virginia School of the Arts.
I wanted to share some of their experiences with you all.
Alston, 10, went to Chautuaqua and the Rock School.
Here she is at Chautauqua with Patricia Mcbride:
Here’s some from her own post on TIM
“Amy Price was another one of our teachers. She choreographed our classical piece and our contemporary piece for the show at the end of the intensive. She was fun to have class with, but she still expected alot out of us.
This is a picture of Ms. Amy correcting me in pointe class.”
And here is Linzy and friend, also at Chautauqua. They both felt that is was a very special place to be.
Alston with Bo and Stephanie Spassoff at the Rock’s coaching intensive
Angela spent her second summer at Virginia School of the Arts.
I’m really proud of them they are all such special dancers and people. I have a few more to share with you in my next post.
Recent Posts by veronica moretti niebuhr
May 10, 2007 at 5:41 pm · Filed under schools, ANNE, ballet austin, dance teacher, dance photography, orlando canova
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| Posted by Anne Marie
When I was younger, we all wondered which of us would keep dancing. I had a very close group of friends when I was about 14, and out of the 6 of us I’m the only one who ended up dancing professionally. Who really knows why, that’s just the way the cards played out….
Periodically my husband and I talk about the friends we’ve danced with and wonder years down the road which ones will be Artistic Directors, Ballet Masters, and Choreographers … who are the future players? I think we’ve started to get our answers…
Coming up on a year ago our fellow Ballet Austin dancer, Orlando Julius Canova, became the Artistic Director of the Ballet Conservatory of South Texas, in San Antonio, Texas. Orlando all season has been driving down after his day at Ballet Austin, the hour plus drive at least 4-5 days a week to teach, coach and rehearse his dancers.
This past weekend we got to see them in action and seen the vast improvement of his dancers and overall production quality of BCSTX’s performance in “Turning Pointe”. I had seen them perform in November, only months after Orlando had been there, and let me tell you… this is a different group of dancers.
Here’s Orlando with BCSTX Board President and Vice-President, Susanne Cooper and Susan Arnim
Since now there’s an obvious relationship between Ballet Austin and the Ballet Conservatory, Orlando took it a step further and mixed his program with guest performances by Ballet Austin II directed by Michelle Martin. I’ll talk more about that aspect of the performance in another post…
Orlando has also integrated other BA dancers into the lineup: Ballet Mistress, Jaime Lynn Witts and Resident Choreographer, Reginald Harris. Ballet Austin Trainee, Donald Hicks, also choreographed a piece for the group integrating some of the BA’s male apprentices. This gave Orlando’s students a chance to work on their partnering skills, which some of you know at a small pre-professional school it’s a challenging task to get boys into the ballet studio.
Here’s a photo from Reginald Harris’ “Ella” featuring BCSTX dancer Beth Huddleston and guest artist, BA II dancer Chris Butler:
A photo of Orlando Julius Canova’s “Unstable Dependency” featuring BCSTX dancer Bryn Schiele and BA Trainee Donald Hicks:
One from Donald Hick’s “Adrenaline” featuring BCSTX dancer Analisa Rodriguez and guest artist, Ballet Austin dancer Matthew Cotter.
And here’s a couple from “Paquita” staged and rehearsed by Jaime Lynn Witts lovingly nicknamed by her Ballet Austin co-workers as “Rules and Structure”, which in my opinion makes her the perfect Ballet Mistress.
Erin Galvan in her variation:
Analisa Rodriguez in her variation:
And Elizabeth Arnim and Charlotte Cooper in Paquita:
Orlando, his students and all the parents and volunteers should be really proud of how far they’ve come in a year, and I’m really looking forward to watching them continue to grow.
Recent Posts by anne marie melendez
March 22, 2007 at 2:27 am · Filed under injuries, schools, doctors, news, SUSAN, New
| | Posted by Susan Kim
Probably because of my own current physical plight, all my senses have started taking an immediate fancy to anything and everything related to dance, joint and muscle injuries. Already, in the very little time I’ve been able to spend outside the office, out of my apartment and, most significantly, far from the doctor’s office, I’ve bumped into three gimps strangers on crutches, one cripple person in a boot brace (a.k.a. “walking cast” (for me, a very recent upgrade from the solid cast I was originally in)), and countless stories about past muscle strains, joint sprains and bones broken.
With that in mind and, in anticipation of (hopefully) permanent freedom from the medical devices and supports I’ve grown so accustomed to in the past two months, I’ve been researching local possibilities from whence I can receive my physical therapy. My searches so far have provided very few options for injured dancers.
Until today, that is.
Imagine my pleasant surprise when my Google search turned up an article from the Los Angeles Times announcing a “New center for ‘dance medicine.’” Turns out, just this past Monday, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, together with USC, opened a new facility specializing in dance medicine. To quote the LA Times: “The first of its kind in Los Angeles, the Cedars-Sinai/USC Dance Medicine Center will offer comprehensive injury treatment, rehabilitation and preventive care tailored to professional and recreational dancers.”
I’ve linked the article for your reading pleasure. In about a month’s time I am hoping to pay them a visit…
…on both my feet!
Recent Posts by susan kim
January 21, 2007 at 7:22 pm · Filed under SLOAN, dance, schools, nycb, sab, students, education
Posted by Sloan
This week I attended a presentation by the New York City Ballet Education Department of their Ballet Bridges program, which exposes students in New York and New Jersey area schools to dance, choreography, and performance. They also get the opportunity to see dancers from the School of American Ballet perform at their school, and to see New York City Ballet dancers in performances at Lincoln Center.
Before entering studio 3 of the Samuel B. & David Rose Building, where the event was starting, I slid into studio 2 to take a few shots of the School of American Ballet students getting ready for their rehearsal, which we would see later on in the night.
(Notice the ubiquitous knit booties. These were popular back when I was at SAB, as I am sure they were even before then. There also happens to be a Himalayan Crafts store which sells them on Broadway, just a few blocks from Lincoln Center.)
The projection in the back is part of the presentation they give at various schools.
And in the left corner… Dance Demonstration Technology in action.
The first part of the evening was a presentation by Mr. Ronald Treanor (first photo above), principal of the Woodrow Wilson Elementary School in Union City, NJ, and three of his teachers who participate in the Ballet Bridges program.
All of them spoke passionately about the program and how much it meant for their school to be a part of it. Mr. Treanor was so proud of his school and its students - and it showed. I heard a few of the teachers in the audience half-joking about asking him if he had any positions available. Inspiring stuff.
Prompted by a question from an audience member, Mr. Treanor explained that the program also helped his students bond in a new way with their parents. He said many of his students live in Hispanic homes, where language can be a barrier between the parents and their children who learn all their classes in English. But this dance program transcends this language barrier, and the projects the children do are things that their parents can more easily be involved in. Amazing.
They also showed a few videos of the students in school, learning steps, learning how to choreograph steps, giving dance performances for their peers, and visiting Lincoln Center. Two adorable students from Woodrow Wilson were also in attendance and answered some questions from the audience. (They said they enjoyed the choreography and performance aspects of the program the best).
It really blew me away how massive this program is, which I was told reached about 3,400 students last year. The schools also make an effort to incorporate the dance training with the students’ academic training, sometimes by using the theme of their academic studies to inspire their dance projects. For instance, one school made a dance about interacting molecules, because that’s what they were learning in their other classes.
John, from NYCB’s Education Department, tells us all it’s time to move along to studio 2 to watch a rehearsal of what the SAB students will perform for the school students.
This is such a great opportunity for both sides of the equation. The school students get to see nearly professional level dancing, and demonstrations of Balanchine ballets and technique, and the SAB students get to learn, rehearse, and perform ballets that hopefully they will be performing with a professional company someday.
My seat from the second row of chairs. On the wall is a projection of portraits of Lincoln Kirstein. Throughout the lecture/demonstration, the “teaching artist” tells students about the beginnings of SAB and NYCB.
The teaching artist (above) is someone who goes to the schools, teaches the students dance moves, works with them on choreography, and presents these lecture/demonstrations with the SAB students. He was very enthusiastic and entertaining.
Two SAB students showing a pas de deux from Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments.
The proud and watchful “mom”…
Former NYCB soloist Katrina Killian (standing by the piano) now runs SAB’s lecture/demonstration program, which was originally started by Suki Schorer at the suggestion of Mr. B himself.
On this particular program is a Theme from Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments, and Tarantella. They will also perform the Four Little Swans from Swan Lake and an excerpt from Stars and Stripes, both of which we did not see.
… Taking a breather after the notoriously difficult Tarantella.
Smiling and waiting to take their bows.
The kids did such a great job! And that’s always such an uncomfortable performing environment (at least I always thought so) with the bright studio lights and rows of people watching you from a few feet away.
Thanks to the SAB students for doing such a great job and letting us in on their rehearsal, to the teachers and students from Woodrow Wilson Elementary School for sharing their experience, and a big thanks to John for inviting me to come see some of the wonderful things the NYCB Education Department does outside Lincoln Center!
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
December 18, 2006 at 4:23 pm · Filed under SLOAN, schools, student, events, lifestyle, manhattan, technology, science
| | Posted by Sloan
Yesterday, during my hour break between Nutcracker shows, I finally got to go to NYU’s ITP (Interactive Telecommunications Program) Winter Show, where the students display their work. (I’ve wanted to go for a long time, but performances have made it impossible in the past).
There was so much interesting stuff there it was a bit overwhelming. Also overwhelming is the feeling that I wish I could play around and make some of this stuff too! Maybe someday 
Our friend Dens, who’s responsible for an awesome little program called dodgeball, studied there and is now one of their esteemed teachers.
Above is a photo of me using this wand thing to create pretty designs on the screen in front of me. Below, Doug tries it out.
The set up looked just like the set-up with the red lights that Tony had in his black suit with the little white balls (check out his profile page).
The wand has sensors on either end and their position in space determines what is happening on the screen.
Here is a wall of paper disks with black and white patterns printed on them. There is a tiny camera embedded in the wall which makes it possible for the wall to read the light and shadow of what’s in front of it, and mimic it by rotating the disks to reveal the corresponding lighter or darker parts.
This one was really neat… an interactive dollhouse that told the darker versions of well-known fairy tales. (example: hansel and gretel was actually a story relating to a common form of infanticide, where parents who could not afford to feed their children, would abandon them in the woods.)
As you turned the page of the story book, a different room in the dollhouse would light up, sometimes with moving parts inside. There were tiny video camera’s inside the house that showed the interior perspective of the rooms on the screen to the left of the house.
Above, video of individual people, projected into glass jars.
This was SO cool looking, and a bit creepy. I think there were seven different-shaped jars with seven “trapped” people, each with a unique look and personality.
There was also a sensor built into the table that the jars were on. When you, or your hand, got too close to the jars, the little people would start getting angry and try to shoo you away, each in their own individual way.
And finally…
A solar powered bikini.
Makes it possible to have endless hours of tunes from your ipod or other electronic device while lounging on the beach.
Functional - yes.
Comfortable - probably not.
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
August 16, 2006 at 8:28 am · Filed under SLOAN, ballet, dance, studio, dancers, schools, student, video, podcast, kids, teaching, savannah, vidcast
| | Posted by Sloan
Our last installment of video from Savannah…
and it’s a silly one!
This is some footage of the girls in their jazz class, as well as a bit of the “show” that was for their parents, in which they peformed the pieces they’ve been working on.
Music by DJ R-Qubed.
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
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