Whether you and your students took the summer off or you’ve been busy with camps and intensives, back-to-school season is special. It’s a time to return to beloved and comfortable routines. It’s also a time to plan for the year ahead—to outline new goals and to implement new initiatives. Starting strong in September can set you up for success through spring recitals and beyond. To inspire you this month, we’re sharing interviews with Tai Jimenez, director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem School; Endalyn T. Outlaw, dean of the School of Dance at the University of North Carolina School of […]
Madi Hicks on Movement, Mentorship, and Making Space for Others
As a twirly 3-year-old, Madi Hicks says, she didn’t choose dance, but dance chose her. “Everyone in the studio called me the ‘Ding’ girl,” Hicks remembers. “We were doing this dance where you play a keyboard and then hit a ‘ding.’ I was front and center and screamed ‘Ding!’ to the whole auditorium. To this day, they still call me that.” Growing up in Dallas, Hicks attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts before earning her BFA in dance from Juilliard. After performing with L.A. Dance Project, her passion for choreography led her to California […]
Comp Kid Turned Teacher and Choreographer Gabe De Guzman Comes Full Circle
Gabe De Guzman grew up taking convention classes across the country and starring in one viral class video after another, gaining tens of millions of views and hundreds of thousands of fans in the process. Now 24 years old, De Guzman is back on the convention circuit—at the front of the ballroom, leading the next generation of dancers through classes. De Guzman’s high-energy choreography, characterized by unexpected yet seamless transitions, has appeared everywhere from Season 17 of “So You Think You Can Dance” to Skechers commercials. And while his professional bucket list includes choreographing for an international tour, De Guzman […]