Adult ballet students come from all kinds of different places—and they attend your class for all kinds of different reasons. Understanding who your student is and what they want is key in making sure you give the kind of feedback that will resonate with them and help them get what they need out of your […]
For Gianna Reisen, a classically trained ballet dancer who now performs with L.A. Dance Project, the process of finding music for her choreography is everything. “If I’m not 100 percent inspired by the music, the movement just doesn’t come out,” she says. Following this natural creative spirit, though, wasn’t always the driving force behind her […]
Q: I can’t straighten both legs and maintain a closed fifth position. I believe it’s mostly because one leg is longer than the other one. What can I do? A: It sounds like you have a true leg-length difference rather than a functional discrepancy. A true leg-length difference is when the length of the bones […]
I didn’t realize how much the whole movement meant to me until I saw the mass of male dancers congregated in front of “Good Morning America” led by the likes of Travis Wall, Alex Wong and Robbie Fairchild. It was pre-7 am—I was all packed up and ready to begin my trek to work when […]
Q: I’ve been blessed with great feet and ankles, but when it comes to getting higher relevés out of my students with lesser feet, I’m stumped. Do you have any advice for achieving maximum relevé? A: The height of a dancer’s relevé depends on both the muscles that cross at their ankle joint and the […]
Dusty Button prefers music with a range. “There needs to be a beginning, a climax and a strong ending. Like a movie,” she says. The award-winning dancer, who joined American Ballet Theatre’s second company, ABT II, at 18, has always been drawn to lyric-free tracks filled with dynamic phrasing, rhythms and composition. “Whether it’s the […]
Most parents start off pretty clueless when it comes to doing their dancer’s hair. If you don’t want your students coming in with elastic-wrapped bird’s nests on their heads, you may want to give them some guidance. But who has time to teach each individual parent how to do their child’s hair? Not you! So, […]
Eric Coudron understands firsthand the hurdles competition dancers face when falling in love with ballet. Now the director of ballet at Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre in Frisco, Texas, Coudron trained as a competition dancer when he was growing up. “It’s such a structured form of dance that when they come back to it […]
Q: I can’t straighten both legs and maintain a closed fifth position. I believe it’s mostly because one leg is longer than the other one. What can I do? A: It sounds like you have a true leg-length difference rather than a functional discrepancy. A true leg-length difference is when the length of the bones […]
Q: Do you require all of your ballet teachers to have a set syllabus? Why or why not? A: For many years we did not have a set syllabus in our ballet program, which meant dancers were advanced by teacher recommendation. It was very subjective and, in turn, there was often class-placement drama and disagreement. […]