Curtain up.When I was growing up I loved Christmas vacation, not because of the time off from school, but because I would be rehearsing The Nutcracker every day. It was my bliss to be in rehearsal, to hear Tchaikovsky played by our rehearsal pianist, and to gradually take on new roles, which I did for most of the eight years I was in Irine Fokine's Nutcracker in New Jersey. I still get a buzz over Nutcracker, and I plan to try to transfer this excitement to various nieces and nephews. In terms of the performers, not every little girl will get to play Clara, and not even' budding ballerina will get to dance Sugar Plum A sugar plum is a piece of candy that is made of sugar and shaped in a small round or oval shape. Sugar plums are widely associated with Christmas, through cultural phenomena such as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker , Dewdrop, or Snow Queen. This month, Cheryl Ossola's "Nutcracker's Delectable Divertissements" zooms in on the fun in-between roles, those colorful bursts of virtuosity that are known as Spanish, Russian, Arabian, Merliton, and Chinese. (I danced the Spanish for years, but went all swoony whenever I heard the music for Arabian.) Our cover story brings you the dazzling accomplishments of Hope Boykin, Alicia Graf, aim Dwana Adiaha Smallwood. Three more different dancers you couldn't imagine, but they are all in one company, which happens to be the most popular modern dance company worldwide: Alvin Alley American Dance Theater The German Tanztheater ("dance theatre") grew out of German expressionist dance. Its most influential performers are Pina Bausch and Susanne Linke. . Each embodies a different aspect of the Ailey vision. Though it's too easy to say that Hope is earth, Alicia is wind, and Dwana is fire, that analogy gives you an idea of the elemental force of each of these women onstage. In another vein, the less widely seen Yoshiko Chuma & The School of Hard Knocks The School of Hard Knocks is an idiomatic phrase meaning the (sometimes painful) education one gets from life, often contrasted with formal education. It is a phrase which is most typically used by a person to claim a level of wisdom imparted by life experience, which they consider is preparing for a premiere of Chuma's iconoclastic i·con·o·clast n. 1. One who attacks and seeks to overthrow traditional or popular ideas or institutions. 2. One who destroys sacred religious images. work. A woman who dances to her own drummer, Chuma has brought her brand of zany, brainy brain·y adj. brain·i·er, brain·i·est Informal Intelligent; smart. brain  i·ly adv. work to more than 30 countrics. Amanda Smith's astute profile delves into Chuma's creative process to get closer to this enigma on the experimental scene. During this gift-giving season, we bring you some dancer-friendly ideas for your holiday preparations in "Simple Gifts." And, so we don't lose track of the original meaning of the holy days, Janet Weeks' "When the Spirit Moves" tells us about choreographers This is a list of choreographers A
Our gift to you is another year packed with relevant stories, interviews, and tips, coming up in 2007--our 80th year! WENDY PERRON Per´ron n. 1. (Arch.) An out-of-door flight of steps, as in a garden, leading to a terrace or to an upper story; - usually applied to mediævel or later structures of some architectural pretensions. , EDITOR IN CHIEF wperron@dancemagazine.com |
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