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How I teach pas de deux Charles Askegard coaching Ballet Academy East students Marisa Trapani and Alexandros Pappajohn The hall cutting through Ballet Academy East on a late Thursday afternoon is hectic. Students sprawl out in straddles, hovering over math homework, and parents peek through the windows to get a good look at their tots. […]
How I teach pre-tap Courtney Runft and American Tap Dance Foundation student Julia Freer (age 5) demonstrate a maxi ford. Forty-five minutes of 3 1/2-year-olds in tap shoes may sound like a recipe for a throbbing headache, but Courtney Runft manages to keep the noise under control. That’s because for the first few months of […]
How I teach ballroom dance On a gray Sunday afternoon, about 30 teenagers from all five New York City boroughs pile into a midtown Manhattan dance studio. Adele’s “Rumor Has It” plays from speakers, and with students clad in dresses, suits and clip-on ties, the scene reads like a high school dance with better posture. […]
Common problems and how to correct them Boston Ballet in variations from “The Sleeping Beauty” prologue You have a student with nice facility and solid technique. She has a natural presence and can jump and turn, but something prevents her from looking polished—her hands. Instead of having long arms from shoulders to fingertips, giant claws […]
Though cross-training has become a necessity for aspiring dancers, it wasn’t always common for modern dance companies to embrace classical ballet training. “There was a big change in the ’70s when my generation joined the company, and we came in with ballet training,” says Peggy Lyman Hayes, former principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance […]
How I teach a Graham contraction Marni Thomas with Fanny Gombert at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance Marni Thomas teaches the Graham technique with an unparalleled intensity and animation. As a master teacher at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York City, Thomas boasts more than 50 years of teaching […]