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Choreographer Mandy Moore is perplexed about the way students in her convention classes transition from standing to the floor. “It’s like kids turn off their brains!” she says. “Why would you take the most difficult route to the floor? Why would you ever try to do a triple back flip to get there?” Despite its […]
Ellen Robbins’ modern dance classes for kids and teens are legendary in New York City. Robbins, who has been teaching kids how to dance since the 1970s (and whose pupils included the actresses Claire Danes and Julia Stiles), takes the standard recital model and turns it on its head. Her students—ranging in age from 8 […]
Martha Graham was the “Mother of Modern Dance,” influencing generations of dance artists with her incomparable choreography and technique that featured the pioneering concept of contraction and release. But did you know… 1. Graham frequently created her own costumes. In a 1989 interview, Graham commented, “Dance is theater and larger than life. Makeup and costume, […]
With a career spanning nearly six decades, Liz Lerman has been questioning and testing the boundaries of dancemaking and education her whole life. She is known for building communities, working with dancers of all ages and abilities and creating works that explore topics like the human genome, particle physics and the defense budget. Earlier this […]
The lateral T is a hallmark of Horton technique. When executed correctly, the body resembles the letter T: The torso tilts to 90 degrees, and the opposite leg extends for counterbalance. For a more advanced version of this staple movement, Karen Arceneaux has students continue tilting past 90 degrees to create a low lateral T […]
Win It! Trisha Brown By Susan Rosenberg Wesleyan University Press; 407 pages; $31.00 Undeniably one of the most important artists of our time, Trisha Brown’s artistic principles, spirit and prolific body of work are captured within the pages of this book. Art historian Susan Rosenberg draws from Brown’s archives, including interviews with colleagues to track […]
Italian choreographer Caterina Rago has created an initiative to bring American modern dance teachers to Italy. Each month, three teachers will travel to the Istituto Pio IX in Rome, where they will introduce Italian students to Graham, Limón and Horton techniques through weekend intensives. The faculty will rotate over the course of the one-year program. […]
Gus Solomons jr includes this exercise in his warm-up, following an initial 10 minutes of floor work. The combination’s constant plié-and-rise dynamic is designed to help students find the ease and weight of the pelvis. As in Cunningham technique, the top of the body moves independently from the bottom half. Gus Solomons jr is a […]
“I think it’s nice to start class with a moment of calmness,” says Nol Simonse, of his open adult modern class at Alonzo King LINES Dance Center in San Francisco. “People have so much stress in their everyday lives. They sometimes carry that stress in their jaw or throat or neck.” A short meditation in […]
Loux in Mark Morris’ Pacific Mark Morris Dance Group’s Aaron Loux didn’t take ballet until he was 17, while studying at the Cornish Preparatory Dance Program. His teacher Marie Chong helped shatter his preconceived notions about the classic dance form. “I spent so many years resisting ballet and thinking it was stiff and boring compared […]