As a dancer, I am who I am because of an entire village of incredible teachers. But for today, I’d like to highlight one who played a pivotal role in my career trajectory: Francisco Gella. I met Francisco when I was 10 or 11 years old while training at 24 Seven Dance Convention. His class […]
School administration may not seem like an obvious path to exploring creative practices and processes, but the approaches that academic leaders take will either spark or extinguish their students’ engagement. Alicia Graf Mack, the dean and director of The Juilliard School’s dance division since 2018, utilizes a service-oriented approach to bolstering young dancers’ artistry. Building […]
Waverly Fredericks was on the verge of quitting dance when Chanel DaSilva invited the LaGuardia Performing Arts High School freshman to audition for the inaugural cohort of Young Professionals. Standing 6-foot-2, he’d been told that he looked too awkward and was “too big” to be a dancer. “I didn’t like having long limbs that stretched […]
In March 2018, Jennifer Knostman got a call from her son, Harrison. When she picked up, all she could hear was sobbing on the other end. After a brief second of anticipation, she finally heard him exclaim “Mom! I got into Juilliard!” It was everything she could have dreamed of, not just for her child […]
Lawrence Rhodes passed away on Wednesday, March 27, at age 80. Rhodes, best known as Larry, had a long and celebrated career as a dancer, teacher and director, most recently heading The Juilliard School’s dance department. I first met Rhodes in 2017, when we started work together on an autobiography charting his life and career. […]
Once Adriana Pierce caught the choreography bug as a teenager, dancemaking came naturally. More difficult was navigating the tricky situations that would arise when choreographing on classmates and friends. “If a rehearsal didn’t go well, I’d worry that people didn’t respect me or didn’t like my work,” says Pierce, who went on to participate in […]
When Espen Giljane teaches rond de jambe en dehors, the accent is always in second position, not to the front—and it’s the same for en dedans. For the double rond de jambe on count 4, he describes the movement as two half-size circles around second position. “It’s like whisking an egg with your leg,” he […]
2017 was a big year for Columbia Performing Arts Centre alumna Kaylin Maggard. Not only did she graduate from high school in Columbia, Missouri, and begin her studies at Juilliard, she won the title of Senior Female Outstanding Dancer at New York City Dance Alliance Nationals, was one of 22 YoungArts finalists in dance and […]
Dowd on Dance Teacher’s March 2008 cover The American Dance Festival recently announced Irene Dowd (DT March 2008) as the 2014 recipient of the Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching. A Juilliard faculty member and anatomy expert, Dowd teaches movement-based anatomy/kinesiology classes to help dancers use their bodies safely and efficiently. She […]
How I teach Cunningham technique The young students at the Complexions Contemporary Ballet summer intensive exchange uncomfortable glances when Banu Ogan walks into what, for most, is their first-ever class in Cunningham technique. “Please take off your ballet shoes,” she says, after eyeing their feet. As the group—a mix of comp kids and bunheads—begins pliés […]