Shop right: trying to choose a summer study program? The more you learn, the better you can gauge the fit. DM talked to the celebrated dance artists in charge of six programs about the distinctive features they offer.SUZANNE FARRELL Suzanne Farrell (born August 16, 1945) one of the most noted ballerinas of the 20th century, and was an important dancer for the legendary choreographer George Balanchine. She was born Roberta Sue Ficker Exploring Ballet really does explore the many different aspects of ballet, not just technique in class. I try to help students become more themselves as artists--develop their own identity. It's easy to masquerade behind technique and not reveal anything of yourself, but I believe the more you reveal the more mysterious you become. I also try to get them to move more, inhabit space differently--dance space and musical space. The students see several performances here at The Kennedy Center, and I always take them to the National Gallery to see some of my favorite My Favorite is an independent synthpop band from Long Island, New York. They released two CDs: Love at Absolute Zero and Happiest Days of Our Lives. My Favorite broke up on September 14, 2005, when singer Andrea Vaughn left the band. paintings--Renaissance paintings and sculptures, Monet, and of course Degas Degas To release and vent gases. New building materials often give off gases and odors and the air should be well circulated to remove them. Mentioned in: Multiple Chemical Sensitivity . Then sometimes back at the studio I will give them several phrases of a waltz or march to choreograph a dance using the images, color, texture, and perspective that they saw in the museum. I believe Diaghilev took Mr. Balanchine to museums when they were working in the early part of the century. And Mr. B Mr. B may refer to:
SUZANNE FARRELL Balanchine's last muse and living legend Living Legend may refer to:
Program: Exploring Ballet with Suzanne Farrell Location: Washington, D.C. Focus: Ballet Number of students accepted: 33 Ages: 14 to 18 with at least five years ballet training. Dates: July 26-August 13, 2005 For more information: www.kennedycenter.org/education/farrell Special Opportunity: Museum-hopping with Suzanne Farrell DAN KARATY Daniel Q. Karaty (born September 1, 1972), an American pop dance choreographer. He has created routines for major performers such as Jessica Simpson and NSync. He is also known for being one of the guest judges and choreographers on the dance competition program As far as picking a program, kids like what they're good at, but while you're still young it's important to taste every style. Don't say, 'Oh well I'm a hip hop hip-hop or hip hop n. 1. A popular urban youth culture, closely associated with rap music and with the style and fashions of African-American inner-city residents. 2. Rap music. adj. dancer so I'll go to a hip hop program,' or 'I'm a jazz dancer so I'll take jazz classes.' Try a style you don't always do. You might fall in love with it or at least get some sort of background in it for the future. The thing that makes Shake the Floor so great is that you get all the benefits of taking classes--we have the best teachers in jazz, hip hop, ballet, everything--but yon also get the opportunity to perform. Nothing's worse than a kid who is the best classroom dancer but cannot dance on stage. At Shake the Floor, kids come from all over the country to take classes from 8:30 in the morning until about 2:00 and then rehearse. We put together a show in five days. At the end, each kid gets to perform three, usually sold-out, shows in an off-Broadway theatre like the Variety Arts. It's good for your training to see what else is out there and what other kids are doing. It's good to push yourself to dance up to the level of kids around the country. But the most important thing is to have a good time. DAN KARATY dancer, choreographer, artistic director. His clients include Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, * NSYNC NSYNC Justin Chris Joey Lasten JC (last letters of first names of members of the group NSYNC) NSYNC Negative Synchronization , and Jessica Simpson. Program: Shake the Floor Location: New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. Focus: Hip hop, jazz, lyrical Number of students accepted: 150 Ages: 8-adult Dates: Summer '05 For more information: www.breakthefloor.com, www.dankaraty.com Special Opportunity: Perform in an off-Broadway theatre. EILEEN GRACE Students learn everything from the Rockette repertory--things you see in the Christmas Spectacular and bits and pieces of developing choreography. We work on precision dancing and of course on the world-famous eye-high kicks. We even have a kick clinic where we teach the technique of a proper kick and how to do many in a row without touching each other and knocking each other over. Summer students also take classes in auditioning, so they get a sense of what they need to work on if they want to try out in the future. I tell them that the most important thing to remember when auditioning is confidence. The people sitting on the other side of the table want to hire you--they want you to be good. Some of the Rockette auditions last all day, so I tell them to be prepared, dress properly, and make sure they have water and a Power Bar. A couple of girls became Rockettes after doing the summer intensive, and many have been very close, so we're hoping they get in soon. EILEEN GRACE director/choreographer and former dancer for the Radio City Rockettes. Program: The Rockette Summer Intensive Location: Across America (see dates below) Focus: Rockette style Number of students accepted: 300 females Ages: 14 and up Dates:June 12-27 TX, June 19-25 PA, July 17-22, 24-29 NY, CA dates TBD TBD abbr. to be determined . For more information: www.radiocity.com Special Opportunity: Get prepped for a future Rockette audition. STEPHANIE SKURA What's different about Skinner Releasing Technique The Skinner Releasing Technique™ (SRT) is a dance technique developed by Joan Skinner in the 1960s based on the belief that there is an innate sense of coordination in movement, that this is lost through muscle tension and resulting skeletal misalignment, as people is that it integrates the imagination and creative process with technical study. It helps you practice letting go of habitual holding patterns and habitual ways of thinking so you can let something new happen with your dancing. Often, after taking a workshop, dancers experience new freedom, openness, availability, efficiency, and strength that's based on connections rather than on repetitive muscle use. It's a redistribution of effort, an ability to be moved by the dance and transcend the ego. Every class is completely different. That's deliberate. It's not a linear approach. It's a web-like approach; there are many ways in. There's not one way you have to start. You're always on the floor for a certain amount of time, you're always on your feet for a certain amount of time, and you always do some movement through space. Some of the classes are physically guided for springing (jumping), but you don't have to jump every day. You're never given specific movements; instead you're guided through ideas and concepts. If someone has an injury it's amazingly effective in aiding the healing process. It's a wonderful way to reapproach movement. In the summer, there's a Skinner Releasing class in the morning followed by an improvisation class. Then in the afternoon, alternating every other day, is Finding Forums, which is an approach to composition, or Skinner Approach to Low Flying Trapeze An act involving two trapezes: the catcher's bar and the fly bar. The catcher's bar is at one end of the rig. The fly bar is more central. At the opposite end from the catcher's bar is a pedestal. In the act, the flyer jumps from a pedestal holding on to the fly bar. . It's great for ballet dancers. We get a lot of mature choreographers, dancers, and teachers--all kinds of people. We get people who have been teaching modern dance all their lives at various colleges and universities who realize that there's this whole new approach that they want to know something about. STEPHANIE SKURA choreographer and Skinner Releasing guru. Program: Skinner Releasing Summer Intensive Location: Seattle. WA Focus: In-depth experiences with movement and kinesthetic kin·es·the·sia n. The sense that detects bodily position, weight, or movement of the muscles, tendons, and joints. [Greek k perception Number of students accepted: Up to 25 Ages: 18-adult. For children's workshops see the web site. This year's dates: Aug. 8-26 For more information: www.skinnerreleasing.com Special Opportunity: Deepen your artistry while fine tuning Fine Tuning is the name of XM Satellite Radio's eclectic music channel. The program director for Fine Tuning is Ben Smith. The channel is described as "A musical oasis for the sophisticated listener culled from every imaginable genre and country. your technique. ETHAN STIEFEL Ethan Stiefel (born 1973 in Tyrone, Pennsylvania) is a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre (ABT) .[1] Biography An only son of a Lutheran minister who became a prison warden in New York, Stiefel began ballet training in Madison, Wisconsin at age eight. When I was a student, just being around professional dancers-both at School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet is located in New York City, in Lincoln Center. It is considered one of the most prestigious and notable ballet schools in the United States and teaches some of the most talented young dancers in the country. and Misha's school [American Ballet American Ballet was the first professional ballet company George Balanchine created in the United States. The company was founded with the help of Lincoln Kirstein, and was populated by students of Kirstein and Balanchine's School of American Ballet. Theatre's School of Classical Ballet, established during Mikhail Baryshnikov's tenure as artistic director]--I learned a lot. So I thought, why not take it one step further and develop a program where students actually work side-by-side and hands on with professionals? In the academic ballet world, there's a lot of concentration on structure and technique--as there should be. I certainly teach them in my school. But for students to be able to see how soloists and principals, who have already gone through several years in their career, approach a performance, to watch their stage persona, and understand that they put more out there than just the steps is significant. What makes American dancers so special is that we have the ability to dance many styles. Last summer, I taught classes, the head of The Royal Ballet School The Royal Ballet School is a specialist, co-educational school located in premises at White Lodge, Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond; and an upper school at premises in Covent Garden. It combines a mainstream academic education with an intensive dance training. taught classes, a ballet master from The Kirov set Paquita on the students, Ann Reinking set a Fosse suite which exposed them to musical theatre and jazz dancing. I truly think that that's the future of dance--where they are able to do so many things. These kids may come from a school where they're being trained in only one style. At least now they have been exposed and their minds have been opened. It's a great experience for the students not only in the classroom and on stage, but also Martha's Vineyard is quite a wonderful place. I want them to learn lessons about respecting people and conducting themselves in a disciplined and mature way. I hope they come away with a greater strength and confidence so that they go back to their schools, and even at this young age, become role models and pass on some of the knowledge they learned to their peers. I expected the students to look at the program as a once-in-a-life time opportunity, as something special to remember throughout their lives, but it inspired the professionals as well. We didn't expect the experience to be as magical as it was. ETHAN STIEFEL Harley-riding, All-American ABT ABT About ABT Abteilung (German: Department) ABT Abbott Laboratories (stock symbol) ABT American Ballet Theatre ABT Associação Brasileira de Telemarketing ABT Abort ABT Availability Based Tariff principal dancer, and star of the movie Center Stage. Program: Stiefel and Students Location: Martha's Vineyard, MA. Focus: Ballet Number of students accepted: 15 Ages: 14-18 Dates: August 1-25 For more information: www.stiefelandstars.com Special Opportunity: Live the life of a professional dancer and perform with leading professionals on stage. DAMIAN WOETZEL My program is unique because it coincides with New York City Ballet's season in Saratoga. Students go to the ballet every night and the next morning, quite often, the person they've seen doing the lead in Symphony in C Symphony in C may refer to a number of symphonies written in the key of C Major:
It's usually quite a shock for the students the first week. They have class from 9:30-11 and immediately afterwards they either have a pointe class or a special men's class. There's adagio a·da·gio adv. & adj. Music In a slow tempo, usually considered to be slower than andante but faster than larghetto. Used chiefly as a direction. n. pl. a·da·gios 1. work--pas de deux--as well. The less focused part of the program includes jazz or modern, and I've even had country line dancing taught by former NYCB NYCB New York City Ballet NYCB New York Community Bank ballerina Melinda Roy. It was a huge hit. One of our core teachers is Olga Kostritzky, who is on the faculty of the School of American Ballet. She is a magnificent teacher--great for boys. She works with the younger boys, who, as they grow up, tend to stick with her. I take Olga's class whenever I can because it's the best thing for maintaining classical ballet technique. This summer some kids who are in companies now like Pennsylvania Ballet and Carolina Ballet came back to audit classes during their time off. And we have distinguished alumni like Alexandra Ansanelli and Peter Boal, so there's a nice history to the school. DAMIAN WOETZEL New York City Ballet New York City Ballet, one of the foremost American dance companies of the 20th cent. It was founded by Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine as the Ballet Society in 1946. principal. Program: New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of State Summer School for the Arts: Ballet Program Location: Saratoga Springs, New York "Saratoga Springs" redirects here. For the unrelated Utah city, see Saratoga Springs, Utah. For the resort inspired by this city, see Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, USA. Focus: Ballet Number of students accepted: 70 from NY State Ages: 12-18 Dates: June 26-July 23 For more information: www.emsc.nysed.gov/nysssa/SOB/ ballet.htm Special Opportunity: Taking class from NYCB's stars. Kate Lydon is an editor of DM. |
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