Opening the Door The first person to ever give me a scholarship, who recognized what I could be, was Pepe Bronce. He offered me the opportunity to study dance at a local school in Miami on a scholarship when I was 13. I have never truly thanked him for this, but Pepe opened the door for me. That scholarship led me to my first ballet teacher, Maria Eugenia Lorenzo. I had just started dancing and was very self-conscious about how skinny I was, but she developed in me a true love of self. She taught me to “fall in love” […]

Written and directed by AK Srikanth, the film features his dancer-wife Savitha Sastry along with 100 dancers from across India

Partner work is not just about nailing an overhead press, says Eduardo Permuy, Atlanta Ballet’s company répétiteur. It’s a fact he stresses even for the younger students he teaches in the school. “ It’s not just about going onstage and picking your partner up. You create something together.”  Of course, foundational skills are necessary to take that art from studio to stage. Edyta Śliwińska, an instructor and former professional on “Dancing with the Stars,” spent many years on the Dansport circuit. Whether in class, rehearsal, or performance, she says, even a dancer’s relationship to the music needs to be reframed in […]

Oftentimes, people may think of dance education in the context of a studio, classroom, or university. However, there are considerable numbers of dance educators who work in-house at performing arts organizations or companies that are tasked with the impactful work of promoting the institutions’ programming and community outreach.  Dance Teacher chatted with three leading education and community managers to learn more about the work they do (often wearing multiple hats on any given day); what led to their current role; and the advice they have for others looking to step into their shoes one day.   Giving Back to the Community […]

To be launched in JuIy, it is an extension of Learning Ladder, an abhinaya pedagogy the dancer developed two years ago.

Luna Dance & Creativity (formerly Luna Dance Institute), a nonprofit organization based in Berkeley, California, is one of a kind. Founded by Patricia Reedy in 1992, Luna exists to bring creativity, equity, and community to every child’s life through the art of dance. The institution accomplishes its mission through a myriad of ways—in-house studio classes, partnerships with K–12 public schools, parent–child programs for reunification in the welfare system, research and advocacy in the dance field, professional learning opportunities for educators around the globe, and more. Luna has reached over 500,000 children since its founding three decades ago, and it hopes […]

In this video, writer and mental health advocate Kathleen McGuire Gaines and Dr. Elizabeth Hutter, school principal of New Ballet in San Jose, California, and president of the American Psychological Association, discuss how to help your students cope with performance anxiety, unpack your personal self-criticism, and manage the day-to-day stresses that come with teaching. The post Watch DT+ Teacher Talk: “Managing Perfectionism and Performance Anxiety” appeared first on Dance Teacher.

The post Managing Perfectionism and Performance Anxiety appeared first on Dance Teacher.

Listening to Dr. E. Macias describe her approaches to teaching and performing, a certain word keeps appearing: “collaboration.” Whether it’s a lecture course at the University of California, Irvine, or a solo performance she’s creating, Macias is “activating connections.” This includes connections between humans and more-than-humans, meaning animals, atmospheric elements, and land.  Macias’ investment in collaboration informs every aspect of her teaching: from the knowledge she shares to how she shares this information. Traditionally, in lecture courses, faculty members are expected to be experts on a topic, like “dance history,” and to speak about a range of styles and time […]