In the choreography class I teach, my high school students rely heavily on viral YouTube videos for inspiration. Is there something else I could share with them, more focused on concert dance?
Juilliard has come out with an app that I think you’ll find useful: its Juilliard Open Studios app. It’s predominantly a portal to exclusive video content with a focus on behind-the-scenes access. Users get a peek at the process of creating work in various artforms from multiple vantage points. The video content takes you through rehearsals and interviews with student performers.
One of the most useful tools I found in the app’s dance section shows rehearsal videos of the same piece at four different times in the process. You can jump from one rehearsal to another and see how the dance changes and takes shape. Each track comes with a commentary option, too, so students can hear from the dancers about the experience.
Though the content is divided by artform, there is some nice overlap: The first set of videos for classical music, for example, includes music for dance. Currently, the app has a monthly subscription fee of $7.99. That might be a bit much for some dance educators, but since it’s an app you could share across an arts department with your music and theater peers, you might be able to split the cost.
Barry Blumenfeld teaches at the Friends Seminary in New York City. He is an adjunct professor at New York University and on faculty at the Dance Education Laboratory of the 92nd Street Y.
Photo courtesy of Barry Blumenfeld