New York City’s National Dance Institute dates back to 1976, when Jacques d’Amboise founded it during his final years as a principal with New York City Ballet. d’Amboise recognized the transformational impact dance education had on his life and wanted every child to have the same opportunities. “When he said ‘every child,’ he meant every child,” says NDI artistic director Kay Gayner, noting how the Institute’s initial programming included dancers who were blind, were deaf or hard of hearing, or used wheelchairs.  Photo by Eduardo Patino, courtesy NDI. This season, NDI is celebrating 50 years and has reached over two […]

It may look like magic, but it takes a lot of sweat and many hands to mount a studio’s Nutcracker production. The same goes for putting on any recital or performance, running a competition team, and keeping a dance school humming day to day. Beyond the students, teachers, staff, and leadership, there’s often a stable of parent volunteers who help make it all possible.  “There are so many things that wouldn’t happen in our studio without them,” says Traci Broman, who bought Village Dance Studio in Whitestown, Indiana, from her mother almost a decade ago.  Dance Teacher talked with Broman […]

She was not just a visionary educationist but also an ardent promoter of culture.

This fall, Boston Conservatory at Berklee joins forces with The Verdon Fosse Legacy in a five-year artistic and educational collaboration.  Founded by Nicole Fosse, daughter of dance icons Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse, The Verdon Fosse Legacy was created to preserve and share her parents’ groundbreaking work. “Educating the next generation is imperative to the continuation of this legacy,” she said in a recent press release.  Boston Conservatory’s Dance Division will host The Verdon Fosse Legacy in residency twice a year to reconstruct Fosse masterworks—once during the fall semester for the commercial dance BFA program, and again during the spring […]

Students of JIgyasa Giri performed ‘Kaalam Uruttum Dhaayam’ on the concluding day of the ‘Mahal’ festival, held at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, in Chennai.

Many, but not all, of the most sought-after open-class teachers in cities like New York transition to teaching from high-profile performance and choreography careers. Their built-in fanbase fills classrooms with students who aspire to similar stages. For teachers who have a different path, though, building a teaching career in a major city can be a challenge. For Kate Loh, a popular ballet teacher at Steps on Broadway, Ballet Arts, Broadway Dance Center, and other studios, finding her footing as an open-class teacher took years, as well as some key pivots. As a teen, Loh supplemented her pre-professional training at Steps […]

Sreelakshmy Govardhanan has conceptualised the documentary, Curtain Call, which sheds light on how her guru Pasumarthi Rattaiah Sarma is striving to preserve the legacy of Kuchipudi Yakshagana