Category: ran-&-rave
A Strike Threat, Scaffolding, and Last-Minute Changes: What It Was Like Dancing in the Olympic Opening Ceremony
Ballet de Lorraine’s Tristan Ihne has been dancing professionally for nearly two decades. But on July 26, he gave a performance unlike any he’d done before: Along with about 200 other dancers, he danced atop a golden platform filled with water next to the Seine river in an 8-minute piece by Maud Le Pladec, as…
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Choreographer David Dorfman on Magical Risk and Radical Empathy
For 40 years, David Dorfman has made capacious work full of heart. His 2020 piece (A) Way Out of My Body features original text, songs by Lizzy de Lise, and the rousing music of a live “house band” led by composer Sam Crawford. In a performance of the work last month in New York City’s…
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Dancing Across the Solar System as the Grand Canyon’s Astronomer in Residence
When I first imagined choreographing a dance about the connection between the Grand Canyon and how humans explore the solar system, I figured the idea was a little too “out there” to be taken seriously. And yet, last month, I stood at the rim of the Grand Canyon as the park’s official Astronomer in Residence.…
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La Cage aux Folles’ Cagelles, 40 Years Later: Something About Sharing, Something About Always
The groundbreaking musical La Cage aux Folles opened on Broadway 40 years ago last August. As part of the anniversary celebrations, members of the original Cagelles—the dancers who formed the drag ensemble at the heart of the show—organized a series of events in conjunction with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. It’s fitting that the group marked…
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Queer Women Are Disconcertingly Absent From the Pages of Dance History. Where Are They?
It’s 2009, and my high school self is in the studio choreographing a new duet with my best friend to Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.” The company director pokes her head in and disparagingly tells us the song and movement choice makes us look like “a couple of lesbians.” We stand in stunned silence.…
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Fighting stage fright: How to spot and soothe performance anxiety
Let’s talk about stage fright. Whether you’re new to performing or you’ve been in front of audiences for years, everybody can admit it’s at least a little nerve-wracking. And yet, it’s the culmination of all the work dancers do! So, as a teacher or studio owner who teaches your dancers all about technique and artistry,…
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The Rise of Pole Dancing in Egypt
Malak Shoeira went to her first pole dance class half-jokingly, after a friend’s suggestion. At the time she was a ninth-grader in Egypt, and almost everything she knew of pole came from American TV. But that was in 2017, when pole dancing was relatively new to Egyptian gyms and dance studios. She ended up…
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Begin Again: Auditioning With Confidence
As I’ve been rediscovering as I return to dance, auditioning is an inherently vulnerable act. Even the most accomplished performers will tell you they hear “no” more often than they hear “yes.” When we get a callback or book a job, we are on top of the world. When we get cut, we are forced…
Read MoreOp Ed: What’s Possible in Writing About Ballet?
How do we respond to recurring accounts of an acclaimed choreographer’s damaging relationships with dancers, especially women? Recent podcasts (Erika Lantz’s The Turning: Room of Mirrors) and books (Alice Robb’s Don’t Think, Dear) have contributed to a narrative that’s been emerging for decades: Throughout his career, George Balanchine employed power dynamics that controlled and hindered…
Read MoreBegin Again: Acting for Dancers
It’s my personal belief that at the center of every electrifying dance performance is a story. Even the works that are supposedly plotless have something evocative going on behind the eyes—in the way the body floats, jabs, crumples, and reaches. Sure, dancers tell their own tales from time to time, but more often than not,…
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