Category Archives: Dance

My First Job at a Dance Company

Posted in Dance by

We all have jitters when we get our first big person job right out of college.  I graduated from College at Brockport in 2008 which seems like ages ago now.  We all have those negative thoughts that nobody is going to hire us, and just hoping that someone will take a chance on a youngin and give you a job.  A company based in Rochester, New York took a chance on a young twenty-one year old girl with big dreams of starting her own dance company; me.  Granted those dreams have grown and changed, but I’ll never forget the people that took a chance on me.

Natalie Rogers-Cropper, Director of the Garth Fagan Dance School hired me as the her assistant.  It was a part-time job, but it was a starting point on getting my foot in the door to understanding the running of a dance company.  As her assistant, I organized and collected payments from students, managed scholarships, helped with grant writing, and had my hand in the three week summer program, where I worked with Natalie to layout the schedule for a three week intensive.  It was the best first big girl job I could have had because I had mentor who not only was a talented dancer, but was in the business world of dance too.

I moved up the ladder pretty quickly in the Company.  After spending eleven months as a part-time assistant I became the full-time Advancement Assistant while still working with Natalie in the School.  As an advancement assistant I got to work with marketing and development, assisting with press releases, writing grants and final reports, as well as helping with program layouts for events.  From there, I become Assistant Company Manager where I got to work directly with the Artistic Director and Executive Director on touring contracts, tour programming layouts, assist with marketing plans and marketing designs, as well as organize and manage our self-program performances and events.

Working for Garth Fagan Dance and getting involved with so many parts of the Company helped me to develop my own direction of where I wanted to go in life.  Even though I no longer work there, I am a big supporter of the Company and follow them online to see what they continue to accomplish.  The Company is going on its forty-fifth anniversary year.  What a landmark for a choreographer who has collaborated with so many musical and visual artists, and brought to life some serious pieces of work such as Griot, New York, Mudan 175/39, and Two Pieces, One Green (a personal favorite).

Garth Fagan Dance isn’t only a dance company, but an eternal apart of the Rochester community.  They work with underprivileged youth through community outreach, as well as provides scholarships for students to study with professional dancers of the company throughout the year.  One of the things I loved about the Company is how intertwined it is with the Garth Fagan Dance School, from the instructors to the students and families involved at school who volunteer at shows.  It is like a family pushing towards a success of a common goal.  It all goes back to the motto of Mr. Fagan – “Discipline is Freedom.”  With hard-work, drive, and a family behind you, the possiblities are endless.

If you live in the Rochester area you should check out the gala event that will be happening at the end of April.  You can purchase tickets here.

Making Your Kid Responsible – One Ballet Class At A Time

Posted in Dance by

imageMany children, teenagers, and even adults lack discipline, responsibility, and the ability to fail and get up and do it again until they succeed.  Granted, this has to with how you are raised and your parents value system, but it also has to with what activities parents put their kids into at a young age.  For example, my brothers and I were all in team related activities growing up.  Team related activities promote competition, strength to improve as an individual, and provides a discipline to work hard and get better technically with every class, individual practice, or competition.

So why do kids today lack this?  Easy, they are involved in too much.  You know that saying, “A jack of all trades but a master of none,” that is currently what we are dealing with in society.  Now, I am not a parent, nor do I claim to be an expert on raising children, but teaching dance for the last ten years I have seen many children of various ages come in and out of my ballet classroom and they always leave for the better.  Ballet teaches you about discipline.  It takes discipline to go into a dance classroom everyday to work on pirouettes for an hour before you finally land a perfect single or double.  Then you have to try to replicate that over and over again till it is ingrained in memory from the weight shift of your body, to the height of your arms, to the position of your leg.  It’s all about calculations.  Is it tedious? Absolutely!  Then I think about that other saying, “practice makes perfect.”  Where is the drive to be best?  I feel like some kids that I come across in the dance classroom are lazy followed by back talk about how I know nothing about dance.  Firstly, if I talked to my parents/ instructor that way I probably would have gotten a wack on the back of my head.  Secondly, I am a ballet instructor with years of knowledge, technical training, and I’ll show you cool moves if you listen.

I had this one girl who was eighteen years old and had so much natural talent.  I pushed her everyday in class, from teaching her to pick up speed in her turns, to using her long limbs to utilize every piece of music to her finger tips.  She didn’t listen to me in class, and in fact she was a know it all like the five year olds I teach.  Needless to say, a year later she came back with a letter that she gave to me that said, “You taught me about responsibility, that others in the classroom depended on me to know my part.  You taught me about discipline and pushed me to be better everyday at the barre and through movement across the floor.  You taught me that we will always be stronger as a unit instead of tearing each other a part, and that constructive criticism isn’t a personal a attack, but a way to drive us.  I’m sorry I was such a brat and even though I wasn’t listening then I’m listening now.”

Ballet is more then just beautiful people on stage dancing for one night.  They were taught discipline, responsibility, and hard work which they have strived to perfect everyday.  So, if you are looking for that one activity that will motivate your kid (whether it is a boy or a girl) take a look at the ballet world before you look anywhere else, because ballet instructors will help you build a responsible adult one ballet class at a time.

Summer Dance Intensives – The Choices You Have for a New Dance Experience

Posted in Dance by

The academic year at the studio is coming to an end, and competitions are in a countdown to the last one.  Now, it is time to start asking yourself the hard question; what summer dance program do I want to attend?  There are numerous camps, intensives, or short dance programs around the world that you could chose.

A few things to take in to consideration – What style do you want to focus on?  Do you want to travel out of the state or country for the experience?  Do you want to work with a specific company or instructor?  Do you have a budget that you need to stay in?

Over the years I tried many different dance intensives some that have last three weeks while others have lasted the whole summer.  First you need to decide how much time do you want to dedicate to your passion of dance.  When I was thirteen years old I went to my first dance camp in Tyrone, Pennsylvania at an all girls boarding school for three weeks (Grier Summer Camp).  There I got to study jazz, ballet, and lyrical and meet some great friends as well as participated in talent shows, and explored other art related activities like yoga and creative writing.

After my first dance camp experience and throughout high school, I stayed closer to home and attended summer long camps at various studios in my home town area of Syracuse, New York.  These various studios brought in experts from Julliard, NYCB, Boston Ballet, and the Russian Ballet.  The prices of dance intensives can be crazy expensive especially if there are no options of scholarships.  In many cases there are not any available or if there are, they are limited and may only provide you funds for the intensive but not for room and board.  Don’t knock out your local area studios as potential options, you never know when studio owners may have a great connection to bring in amazing artists and instructors at a more affordable price.

Once I got to college, I worked over the summers to put together funds for summer dance intensives that were focused around specific companies.  One company that is still one of my favorites is Paul Taylor Dance Company (now Paul Taylor’s American Modern Dance).  I did an intensive in New York City with the Taylor Company where we learned three pieces of repertoire, technique classes in both modern and ballet, as well as conditioning classes such as Yoga and Pilates.  We danced eight hours a day, five days a week.  Luckily, I had family near the City that I stayed with but my commute was about forty-five minutes into the city and out each day.  I had long days getting up at 5:00 AM, but it was worth getting to work with dancers such as Suzanne Farrell; what a dream!

Don’t let money hinder attending a dance intensive.  There are ways around it.  If you want to go to one in a big city spend the summer before saving up for it and figure out if you have family you can stay with in the area.  Don’t knock out the ones close to home either because they can give you some great insight right in your own backyard, and finally be smart and take care of your body at these intensives.  Don’t spend all night going out.  You need rest and healthy eating to keep your body at top performing ability.

Body Frustrations From A Dancer

Posted in Dance by

I started dancing when I was five years old.  You can’t do much at that age besides the simple basics, like positions, pliés, relevés and moving around the room like animals.  I continued to dance through my adolescence, dancing five days a week at studio while going to school and doing homework like every normal teenager.  I made scarifies along the way like missing a dance to do a competition or not going out with my friends because I had rehearsal or class.  I majored in dance in college, which turned into dancing and cross-training eight hours a day, sometimes more depending on upcoming performances.  After graduation, I taught ballet and modern classes to various age groups from three to eighteen years old.  When I went to graduate school I stopped dancing as intensely as I did previously because I realized I wanted to be more on the business side of the art and entertainment industry.

Since I stopped dancing regularly, over the last three years I started to gain weight, and my body changed which made me frustrated and upset because I had pretty much been the same size since I was in high school.  Recently, I got into a workout program called 21 day fix, which not only has you working out every day, but gets you to develop a better eating plan (i.e. less processed food, less sugar).  I love cookies, ice cream, brownies, basically anything that has sugar it count me in on saying yes if you offer it.  Anyway, I am now on the road to improving my health through regular exercise and better eating habits.  I still dance, just not as intensely.  I feel that everyone who has ever danced and then has gone to a life of not dancing has faced this challenged.  My best advance to you is don’t give up.  You can always fight to be better then yesterday, even if you are not the size you were at twenty-one.

Schedules get busy with work, significant others, children, social lives, and just needing down time.  As a person who has grown up with dance in their life it has always been about improving yourself, being better then yesterday, and dedication.  As an adult, I think some of us lose that drive and the thought that anything is possible goes out the window with it.  Sometimes we all need a little reminder that life is what you make of it and we need to keep the same dedication we had as children and carry it into adulthood.  Without that drive we only end up sitting on the couch watching netflix and getting lazier with everyday that passes.  Find that drive and energy you had as a kid, and remember that anything is possible with hard-work.

Lauren Lovette – The Next Prima Ballerina?

Posted in Dance by

Lauren Lovette has been raising star at the New York City Ballet (NYCB) since 2009.  Lovette has the impidiemy of the Balenchine ballerina body, with legs for days, long arms, and tiny torso frame that gives her that perfect look for any dancer on stage.  She started dancing at 11 years old which is late for any dancer, let alone a dancer that has become a professional with one of the best dance companies in the world.  She started her training at the School of American Ballet at 14 years old, an apprentice at NYCB at 18, which soon followed by a corps contract, and now she is a soloist (background on Lovette found at Dance Spirit Magazine Article by Margaret Fuhrer)

Even through she has the perfect body for the ballets at NYCB, she also has an effortless quality about her when she is dancing on stage.  Having a dance background, the first thing I look at are a dancer’s feet.  I am usually mesmerize by their feet that I never look up at their face.  There are only a select few ballerinas where I am fully focused on facial expressions, leg work, and grace within their upper body, and Lovette has that power.

Last year (2014) at the Vail International Dance Festival she danced excepts of ‘Giselle’ with NYCB male soloist Chase Finely.  My entire attention was on Lovette, from the adagio where her arms floated like an extension of her dress as they extended with each lift and arabesque, to the ever so tilt of her head as the excerpt led into a petite allegro with quick changements, passés, and littles jumps that glided across stage like a gazelle.  She has this power that brings you into the dance and makes the audience members live with her in that moment including every feeling – love, anger, hurt, adoration, happiness, and sadness.

In my opinion, being a ballerina is one of the most difficult professions.  There has to be not only a love of dance, but a full dedication and willingness to sacrifice.  By sacrifice I mean giving up your adolescent social life to spend time in the studio practicing and rehearsing, to being dedicated as an adult by being willing to live from contract to contract, as well as working multiple jobs till you get your big break.  Incompassing all of this you need to keep your body in perfect health by eating the right foods, cross training in coordination to eight hours worth of rehearsals, and getting the proper amount of rest.

Lovette is one of the many ballerina that NYCB has helped to develop, but when she is on stage she has light that makes her standout.  Now that she has concurred Juliet this year (February 2015), I hope to see her dance Odiet in the near future as her light continues to rise at NYCB.