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What dance teachers wear can really set the tone for class. Not only does apparel play a major part in the functionality of the job, it also goes a long way towards inspiring and empowering new generations. A teacher can also influence the dancewear choices of their students through leading by example. Sharing wardrobe tips—like how to keep your tap shoes from causing blisters or what to wear to an audition to make you stand out—is all part of a dancer’s education. We spoke to four instructors from different dance styles about what they wear to class, why it works for […]

Apsaras Dance Company and Era Dance Theatre’s staging of the ‘Ramayana: Celebrating the Shared Heritage’ recently at Kalakshetra marked 60 years of India-Singapore diplomatic relations.

Roger Montoya believes teaching dance helps students gain lifelong skills centered in the creative development of the mind, body, and spirit. His organization, Moving Arts Española, serves the rural communities that make up his native northern New Mexico—areas hit particularly hard by the opioid crisis and where a large percentage of residents live in poverty. Through its facility located in the town of Española, Moving Arts offers classes spanning arts disciplines including dance, music, painting, gymnastics, sewing, and cooking, plus internships, community engagement, and, above all, personal investment in the success of the students.  “Mentorship is masterful,” Montoya says. “It’s […]

When one thinks of the legendary dancer Sylvia Waters, excellence, poise, and artistry are among the first attributes that come to mind. But in the classroom, her heart, brilliance, and spirit are what have elevated and inspired thousands of dancers. Selected by Alvin Ailey himself to join Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and later to lead the newly formed Ailey II in 1974, Waters has helped to mentor and elevate countless dancers through the transition from student to professional, all the while shaping a junior company into a globally respected institution. Born and raised in New York City, Waters began […]

The Dance Teacher Awards provide an important opportunity to recognize dance educators who are making a mark in the field. Since the awards’ inception in 2003, the long list of honorees has grown to include luminaries like Judith Jamison, Jacques d’Amboise, Kay Mazzo and Risa Steinberg, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. This year, we’re excited to add four more names to that group. For 2025, our awards selection committee has chosen to honor: Lori Belilove, artistic director of the Isadora Duncan Dance Company, who trained as a dancer in Duncan’s direct lineage and is devoted to keeping Duncan’s legacy alive […]

“I love mistakes and confusion before we get to clarity and precision,” says dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher Lori Belilove. For her, the point of teaching dance is to “tap into the student’s artistic imagination.” Belilove is a direct heir of Isadora Duncan, whose students were Belilove’s teachers. Since 1989, she has been artistic director of the Isadora Duncan Dance Company (IDDC), the New York City–based resident performing troupe of the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation. Teaching and dancing are one and the same to Belilove. “I teach as an artist,” she says. “I’m a little bit like Isadora in that […]

“I’m kind of going to go off script for a minute,” Dianne Walker says within the first minute of our interview. With a chuckle, she adds, “Like I needed to preface that.” For a teacher who is as beloved worldwide for sharing stories as she is for sharing steps, it’s no surprise that she’s eager to begin with an anecdote about fellow Bostonian and renowned tap dancer Jimmy Slyde. “Sometimes, after a show, Slyde would look at me and say: ‘Thanks for taking the time,’ ” she remembers. “Every time someone ‘takes the time’ to acknowledge your contribution to something that’s […]

A researcher at IIT-H and a classical dance, Jayachandran Surendran’s ATAM supports cross-style training by focusing on form-neutral and style-neutral dance fundamentals.

Erick Hawkins made modern dance history as the first male dancer accepted into Martha Graham’s company, but he also earned success as a choreographer and creator of the Hawkins technique. His movement was characterized by a free-flow aesthetic—one that required hidden strength—and informs many of the somatic disciplines we know today, like Body-Mind Centering technique. A late bloomer, Hawkins discovered dance in his early 20s after seeing a performance by German dancers Yvonne Georgi and Harald Kreutzberg. The summer after he graduated from Harvard University, he studied with Kreutzberg in Austria. Hawkins’ next stop was New York City, where he […]