Maria Torres always knew that she would be a dancer, even despite her parents’ urging her to pursue a career path with more stability. When she landed a job performing with one of her mother’s favorite singers, Celia Cruz, Torres says she finally earned her parents’ blessing. But even after that, her mother encouraged her […]
When Hilary Cartwright was a soloist with The Royal Ballet, she suffered two falls that severely injured her back. She had slipped discs, which resulted in nerve damage and numbness down one leg. Ultimately, Cartwright had to stop performing due to the injury. After spending two years exploring other paths, she went on to use […]
When Edwin Aparicio took his first flamenco class, he was a recent high school graduate looking for opportunities to further his ballet training. But he immediately “fell in love, head over heels, with flamenco,” he says. “The complexity of the footwork, and the singing, and the intricacy of the dance with the guitar and the […]
“I’m someone who tries to go to my edge, so I can understand what I’m doing,” says contemporary dancer and educator Jennifer Nugent. “I have to go to that edge before I can pare back, and I teach that in my class. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s high-risk movement—it’s also the edge of sensitivity, […]
When Anya Katsevman found salsa dance, she brought her stage presence, technical expertise, and educational insight as a multiple-time International Latin ballroom champion and teacher. Having competed since childhood and toured with Dancing with the Stars and Burn the Floor, social dance introduced her to a new world of movement. Katsevman felt a newfound sense […]
Moving tap classes to a virtual format wasn’t easy when the pandemic began: Not everyone had access to a floor that was appropriate for tap shoes, and students had to mute themselves on Zoom to avoid creating a cacophony of footwork. Thankfully, Anthony Morigerato had plenty of experience teaching dance through a screen. In 2014, […]
In the mid-1970s, Christine Colby Jacques was an aspiring concert dancer in New York City. “I came into class at Luigi’s [Jazz Dance Centre] one day, and there was hardly anyone there,” she recalls. “I found out there was an audition for Bob Fosse’s new show, Dancin’—that’s where everybody was!” Luckily, there were more auditions […]
When it comes to teaching a grand rond de jambe en l’air, New York City–based master teacher Caridad Martinez infuses equal parts technique and elegance for this tricky one-legged yet full-bodied phenomenon. Typically included in an intermediate/advanced barre series or in a center floor adagio combination, the rond de jambe en l’air requires precision and […]
If there’s one lesson Annette T. Thomas wants her students to take away from their time together, it’s that the “process is beautiful. In the arts, especially classical ballet, you can’t rush things,” she says. “The process is the details that make for fine art. In moving through the process, we create the artist.” That […]
Isadora Duncan once said “I don’t teach dancing. I teach joy.” Lori Belilove, Duncan’s foremost interpreter in the 21st century, teaches both. As a dancer, choreographer and director of the Isadora Duncan Dance Company & Foundation, Belilove has kept Duncan’s body of work alive and growing. As a teacher, she sees her role as transmitting […]