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Annie Rigney believes the right song can expand the way dancers move. Whether she’s giving a Gaga class or teaching her own contemporary technique, she chooses music that will help students discover new qualities, rhythms, and syncopations in their bodies—and also get them out of their heads. “I use music to help facilitate an emotional, […]
As a musical-theater teacher, Rachel Leigh Dolan feels a certain obligation to honor the music she’s using in class. After all, it’s right in the name of the genre, she points out. “I take that label seriously,” she says. “There’s never a time when music isn’t intentional.” That means that a song is always her […]
Two years after hip-hop professor Tiffany Bong arrived at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, she asked to bring a DJ into the studio. “That’s a huge part of hip-hop culture,” she says. Just like most university-level ballet classes have a pianist and contemporary classes might have a percussionist, Bong’s classes rely on a […]
Before flamenco dancer Irene Rodríguez ever learned to dance, she learned to make music. Specifically, she studied piano, going to a professional school for the instrument in her native Cuba, where she excelled (partially thanks to large hands, she admits). “But as soon as I met dance, I really started wanting more hours of dance […]
Tap dancer Tommy Wasiuta grew up with a drum set in his basement, playing around with it anytime he got the chance. When he discovered solo drum albums in college, he fell in love with the idea of listening to just one drummer on one drum set. And it sparked an idea: “I was like, […]
Dance teachers can sometimes be treated a bit like DJs. “People always want fresh music from you,” says teaching artist Bailey Randolph. She feels pressure to always keep an ear out for new songs—and she’s happy to oblige. Whether she’s watching TV, riding on the subway, or just walking down the street, the Shazam app […]
Whether she’s choreographing for major artists like Gwen Stefani and Jennifer Hudson or performing on major stages with Beyoncé or Janet Jackson, music is a driving force for Candace Brown. A teacher of street jazz at studios including Broadway Dance Center and Millennium Dance Complex, Brown says that she’s “a fan of all types of […]
Kenichi Kasamatsu has taught worldwide, from New York City’s Broadway Dance Center and at workshops all across America to studios on the other side of the globe in Thailand (where he was born and raised), China, and Japan. However, his sense of musicality, he says, started to evolve three years ago when we were all […]
Whether you’re dancing at Radio City Music Hall with a full orchestra or in a dance studio with a small speaker, precision-style choreography is tied to the music. Timing is crucial. Often, as a precision dancer, you’re balancing multiple things at once: A bevel, an arm, and a head can all switch on one count, […]
Mike Esperanza is not just a choreographer. He’s a composer, filmmaker, graphic designer, photographer and artist. The thread that ties all his passions together? Music. Though Esperanza is now a sought-after choreographer, he didn’t take his first dance class until his junior year of college. Back then he was a music major, playing multiple instruments, […]