Category: ran-&-rave
Jessica He on the Joys of Being a Professional Ballerina
Visualize your favorite hobby—is it drawing, cooking, running? Now, visualize yourself in your element, whether at your desk, in the kitchen or on the trail, and you are totally consumed in your craft, your brain is so focused on the task at hand that external thoughts are unable to penetrate your intense, but effortless, concentration.…
Read MoreWhy Crafting More-Inclusive Immersive Theater Matters
I am a unicorn, so I’ve been told. I can make people feel a certain way, move a certain way and feel validated. I nestle, negotiate and fly in spaces on- and offstage. My role? Making performers, spectators and directorial/producorial teams feel like they belong. This magical work grew out of my lifelong career in…
Read MoreJodi Melnick on Her Lifelong Love of Dance
I am deeply, madly, in love with movement. It is one of the great loves of my life, it is my heart. The very unromantic reason why I dance is because it is my vocation, my entire adult life’s work, it is what I do. But back to the heart… Since my beginning, my beginning,…
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Meet Cira Robinson, Senior Artist with Ballet Black
“My growth as a dancer is never over, and that’s one of the many reasons why I still love it,” says Cira Robinson. The Cincinnati native trained under Arthur Mitchell at Dance Theatre of Harlem and joined London’s Ballet Black in 2008. A senior artist in the company, she’s originated roles in ballets by Annabelle…
Read MoreMy Experience With Long COVID Forced Me to Acknowledge the Vulnerability of All Bodies
As a dancer, I have always understood how much I depend on my body. But I hadn’t ever thought about how much my world would change if it functioned differently. I thought I was rather invincible, with my young age, agility and health. Then, one day, I couldn’t breathe. Not easily, at least. I became…
Read MoreJerron Herman, Disabled Dancer, On the Power of Gut Feelings
When you return to a piece of choreography after a while, whether rehearsing for another performance or simply reminiscing with old company friends, it’s a kind of performer time-travel. The muscle memory is potent. You are pulled back to the stage with the emotions and knowledge and language you had then; you feel the heat…
Read MoreGregory Richardson on Music From The Sole
Despite having grooved onstage with tap icon Michelle Dorrance for over a decade, Gregory Richardson doesn’t consider himself a dancer. The composer and multi-instrumentalist is the musical director of Dorrance Dance and has been composing and performing with the company since its 2011 inception, having met Dorrance when they were both playing in the indie…
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How Intimacy Consultant Anisa Tejpar Coaches Sensitive Dance Scenes
From Manon’s bedroom pas de deux to Sonya Tayeh’s entwined ensembles in Moulin Rouge! The Musical, intimacy is everywhere in dance. It’s also sensitive territory, and some companies are turning to intimacy professionals for guidance. During its recent production of John Neumeier’s A Streetcar Named Desire, which addresses interpersonal violence, mental health issues, sexual orientation and consent…
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Karole Armitage’s Diary of “A Pandemic Notebook”
Taking class with Baryshnikov in the room never fazed me. It was the late 1990s and I was in college in Manhattan, where I took (and still take) classes at Steps on Broadway, and where Baryshnikov or any number of dance superstars might roll in. It’s not as though he wasn’t incredible; that’s a given!…
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Reconsidering the Relationship Between Social Media and Creative Practice
When I was little, I would people watch all the time. I would narrate what I thought they were thinking and doing. I would do accents. That sense of wonder and play and whimsy is essential to my work. Those moments alone or with friends when you’re playing around, you go a little too far…
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