WATCH: Ballet Hispánico's ChoreoLaB Teaches Aspiring Professionals What Being in a Company Really Entails
July 5, 2017

The Ballet Hispánico School of Dance’s first ever pre-professional workshop wrapped last week with a final showing.


From technique classes, to learning BH repertory from current company members and original work from guest teachers, the two-week intensive was designed to give dancers a taste of what it’s like to be in a professional company.

Photo by Paula Lobo

The fifty dancers in the program, split into two groups, performed an impressive amount of choreography in contemporary and Latin fusion. Former BH company member Yael Levitin-Saban restaged Bury Me Standing, choreographed by Ramon Oller. Current BH company member Shelby Colona restaged the school’s director, Michelle Manzanales’ Con Brazos Abiertos, which premiered this past spring at the New York’s Joyce Theater. Choreographer Eddy Ocampo of Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago staged and choreographed his work MASCULUS, the one piece dancers were selected by audition. Taryn Kaschock Russell

Taryn Kaschock Russell teaching an Impovisational class. Photo by Paula Lobo.

In addition to technique classes and learning choreography, allowing the dancers to explore their own creative voices was a major component of the workshop. This was showcased through a taste of the Improv/process classes taught by former director of Hubbard Street 2 Taryn Kaschock Russell and Harvard University’s Mario Zambrano.

Here is Kaschock Russell teaching an Improvisational class during the workshop.

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