Few young ballet dancers get to share the stage with international stars like Daniil Simkin and Iana Salenko. That opportunity is even less likely for students who don’t live in dance hubs like New York City or San Francisco. But for a lucky group of 15- to 19-year-old dancers from Arizona, a brand-new gala has given them that chance. On Saturday, March 22, at Phoenix’s Orpheum Theatre, 25 current and former students from 11 regional ballet schools will perform in the first-ever Arizona Grand Gala of Stars. They’ll open each act, dancing Vicente Nebrada’s Doble Corchea (Double Clef) and the world premiere of The […]

Choreographed by Rukmini Devi, this dance drama like all other Kalakshetra productions is high on aesthetics.

Dancers performed Lakshmi Viswanathan’s favourite pieces at a tribute event in Chennai.

As a young child, I was enrolled in dance class by my mother, along with my three older sisters, no doubt in an effort to create some peace in her life. Little did she know that she was creating a space for a shy, seemingly invisible child to be herself without fear. I immediately fell in love with dance and the dance studio. It was a playground for my mind to find patterns and rhythms; I was drawn to the beats and crescendos of music. I lost my first tooth and tied my first shoe at the studio. I knew […]

In the competition dance world, with its high stakes and high tensions, difficult parental behavior—from complaining about scoring to offering unsolicited corrections—is especially common and can be seriously disruptive. Yet most dance parents believe they’re acting in their child’s best interest. So what can studio owners, competition directors, and students do to navigate problematic parent situations with grace and respect? Setting the Stage Dr. Chelsea Pierotti. Photo by Bree Vinston, Courtesy Pierotti. To prevent blow-ups, Larkin Dance Studio co-owner Michele Larkin recommends establishing expectations early. “We have a parent meeting before our season even starts,” she says. There, she encourages […]

Maycee Steele is never far from the for-you page. From her creation of the mega-popular “Cuff It” dance challenge with Kaitlyn Hardy in 2022 to her presence as a backup dancer in Tate McRae’s always-trending tour choreography, she has a knack for moving in a way that’s both joyful and power-packed.  A Kansas City native who has been dancing since the age of 3, Steele got her start in the competitive-dance circuit. Throughout her teen years, she danced ballet during the week and competed on weekends, eventually assisting at Velocity, Pulse, Radix, and other conventions. At 18, Steele moved to […]

Nandhini Jeeva and Rangasri Raghunathan’s exhibited their nritta and abhinaya prowess

Where do artistes whose work does not subscribe to modern-day metrics head to? The Pickle Factory Dance Foundation.

Dr Anuradha J Tadakamalla brings her dance production Mahakali, to Bengaluru as part of the Nayika – Celebrating Womanhood 2025 festival

Nominations for the 2025 Dance Teacher Awards are only open for the next three weeks (until Monday, March 31, 2025), so be sure to get your submissions in via this form now! Every year, we recognize excellence in teaching by honoring outstanding dance educators for their contributions to the field.  We’re currently accepting nominations for the 2025 Dance Teacher Awards, and are looking for dance educators who: Have a unique or outsized impact on their students and/or community Strive to bring out the best in their students as dancers and people Have a thoughtful and forward-thinking approach to pedagogy Are […]