The dance world is often viewed as something beyond the toils of day-to-day living. When dancers walk into the studio, they are expected to be totally focused, exercise self-discipline and work hard towards perfecting their craft—and leave whatever occurrences happened outside the studio behind. “Leave your problems at the door” is a phrase that most […]
There is perhaps no one else Skylar Brandt has disappointed more than her childhood piano teacher. “I knew by the age of 8 that I wanted to be a ballerina, but my parents insisted on having me try other activities, including piano,” she explains. “With my sense of musicality at a young age, my teacher […]
Dear DT+ Community, Who inspired you to become a dance educator? Chances are, you had a special dance teacher growing up—someone who first opened your eyes to the joy of dance or who saw you hiding in the back row and helped you grow your confidence. At Dance Teacher, we’ve found a way to give […]
In this video tutorial, Vangeline, a teacher, dancer and choreographer who specializes in Japanese butoh, demonstrates a breathing meditation and Noguchi Taiso exercise that will help your students center their bodies, calm their nervous systems and channel the power of stillness. For more insights on how to help your dancers channel the power of stillness, click here.
Dance training has long promoted a learning environment with authoritarian leadership. Just the other day, my friend and I we were trading horror stories of the many times we needed to use the restroom during dance class but were too afraid to ask. The expectation was that you would wait until the quick break between […]
Dance is a wonderful human connector. In the case of Barbara Land, ballet became a bridge between her life in Reno, Nevada, and the deep jungles of the Amazon rain forest in Peru. As a dance anthropologist, Land first arrived in the Amazon 14 years ago to study shamanic rituals and the influence of Western […]
Summer intensives offer incredible experiences for dancers looking to expand their training. New teachers, new friends and new lessons support a dancer’s versatility and growth. But challenges exist for both the dancers and the educators during the summer season. For dancers, summer intensives can exacerbate the potential for food struggles and negative body image. A […]
“For me, musicality isn’t about hitting every beat. It’s about how we listen to the song, because everybody listens to music differently,” says dancer and choreographer Bo Park, whose musically driven choreography has earned her credits with Virgin Voyages, HARMONIX, Hideaway Circus and her own company, SHINSA. Park has always wanted to dance and remembers […]
The moment when Isadora Duncan throws her head back in ecstasy as she dances at the Theatre of Dionysus in Greece (preserved in the 1903 photograph above) captures Duncan’s archetypal performance qualities: supple, improvisatory, transcendent. Arguably the most important American-born dance artist of the early 20th century, Duncan forged her style against ballet’s codified technique […]
The Asian American community has continued to experience acts of targeted violence in cities across the U.S., mostly fueled by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In data published by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, anti-Asian hate crimes increased by 339 percent nationwide in 2021 compared to the year prior. In a Pew […]