Thursday, June 30, 2011

Barre - A Real Food Barre

http://realfoodbarre.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/julia-knockout.png

Julia Erickson, Principal Dancer, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and creator of Barre!

Energy Bar By Dancers For Dancers

Text featured from Pointe Magazine, photos from realfoodbarre.com

Keeping a snack in your dance bag is a must. But finding one that's portable, healthy and will sustain your energy? That can be a challenge. Energy bars are a frequent go-to solution for dancers. Unfortunately, however, they are often loaded with refined sugars and lack "real" ingredients.

There is now a solution to your snack search conundrum: the Real Food Barre. Developed by Julia Erickson (a principal dancer at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre) and Aaron Ingley (a former PBT principal), the Barre is made of only natural, raw ingredients. The two felt there was a lack of healthy bars for dancers, and set out to create a solution. Their mission statement reads: "The mission of Barre is to provide exceptional nutritional fortification for dancers and everyone else who demands clean, wholesome, nutritious and great tasting sustained energy."

In their products, you won't find any processed sugars or impossible to pronounce ingredients—a telltale red flag in many manufactured foods. They're also free of common allergens like dairy, soy, and wheat. There are currently two varieties: Pirouette, a cinnamon nut flavor, and Pirouette Crunch, the same with an added crunch. A third flavor, Black Swan, combines dark chocolate and nuts, and is scheduled for release soon.

And the benefits of this bar extend beyond its healthfulness—a portion of the sales proceeds goes to supporting arts education! Go to realfoodbarre.com/ to learn more, and order online.

Your Best Body: The Food Diaries

I saw this and thought that it was a really cool insight!

From Pointe Magazine:

Four pros reveal everything they ate for a day.

By Kathleen McGuire

Published in the June/July 2011 issue.

Dancers are mad scientists of nutrition: They know what every bite will do to their bodies and are constantly adjusting the formula. We asked four professional dancers to tell us exactly what they had to eat on a given day and why. These aren’t menus that were carefully crafted by a nutritionist. They’re the actual food that fits into each dancer’s hectic schedule, giving her the energy she needs—and the treats she’s earned.

Go to it: http://pointemagazine.com/issues/junejuly-2011/your-best-body-food-diaries

Royal Danish Ballet at the David H. Koch Theater

In my second semester at school (early winter, late spring) we had a Bournonville specialist, Karina Elver, (from Denmark) teaching both class and enchainments. She also taught us some of the Bournonville repertory including mime scenes from Le Sylphide. It was challenging, but a lot of fun! Unfortunately, I was unable to see the Royal Danish Ballet perform in New York, but from what I hear, it was good. The Bournonville style of technique is really crucial to attain the quick, airy movements that are a must in a dancer.

http://images.dancemedia.com/common/content/97c91fef27705f40465b8917550261d1756dc0dd.jpeg

Susanne Grinder and Ulrik Birkkjaer in Napoli Photo by Costin Radu, courtesy RDB

The Royal Danish Ballet's recent performances in New York provided a rare, intriguing glimpse at the world's third oldest ballet company. The repertoire presented a snapshot of the current artistic direction under ex-NYCB principal Nikolaj Hübbe. Like other companies, RDB necessarily combines cherished older works with newer, risk-taking choreography, revealing both strengths and weaknesses. The highlights were La Sylphide and Act III from Napoli (the entirety was too big to stage in New York), an exhilarating display of why August Bournonville, born over two centuries ago, remains a titan of ballet.

Bournonville's style is known for its elegant lines—low-held, gently curved arms, and high leading legs in arcing grand jetés, for example. But the complex patterns, darting chassées with rapid direction shifts, and elaborate, crystalline footwork were an epiphany in the celebratory Napoli, modernized with some Fellini-esque characters and a Vespa. There was nothing revolutionary about the vocabulary, though in variation after variation, it conjured a profound dimensionality and fluency, particularly when danced by Alban Lendorf, whose plush muscularity befits the style.

Read the rest of this review at Dance Magazine online

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Cupcakes & Conversation

(A nice insightful article into the life of a dancer!)


Jo-Ann Sundermeier, Soloist, Royal Winnipeg Ballet Photograph : David Cooper

Quick excerpt:

" What is your daily routine at the moment ?

On a typical day, I wake up around 7:30am, have breakfast and coffee, out the door by 8:20, arrive at the studios and take class at 9:30am. Rehearsals begin at 11:00am. Lunch is from 2:00-3:00pm. Back to rehearsal from 3:00-6:00pm, then head home for dinner and some downtime with my husband and doggy! I usually try to get to bed around 10:30 or 11:00pm.

What do you eat during the course of a typical working day ?

I start off with 2 cups of coffee and cereal. We have a few breaks throughout the day (between rehearsals) to grab a quick snack, so in that time, I usually have yogurt, fruit, almonds, a granola bar, etc… For lunch, it’s either leftovers from the night before, or I’ll go out and grab some food from the local cafe. At dinner time, I have to have meat and veggies. I love steak and chicken, and I always accompany my meals with a big salad and another vegetable on the side. Do I eat dessert? Yes. I love sugar! But I try to keep it to a minimum. I won’t have it every day, but on the occasion I will!

How do you prepare your pointe shoes ?

I wear Gaynor Minden pointe shoes, so they don’t really need much preparation, just sewing on ribbons and elastics. Depending on the role, I would usually wear my shoes for a few weeks before show time, alternating between a few pairs. I never like to go out on stage with a new pair of shoes.

What would surprise people about you ?

When I’m not dancing, I’m very lazy. I like to watch TV, and sit around and do nothing.

Who inspired you to dance ?

I don’t remember who was the first person who inspired me to dance, but I have many people that I look at every day that inspire me to go that next level, and really push myself. I also like to watch videos of amazing artists around the world, to remind me that, although ballet is a small world, there’s so much more out there! I find watching great dancers inspires me to be great!

What is your best piece of advice ?

“Just have fun! You know, life is short…make the most of it." "

Photo break!

Alastair Macaulay writes: “ ‘Swan Lake’ is central to American Ballet Theater repertory. The company tours it to other cities and countries. Each summer its week of performances at the Metropolitan Opera House is one of the annual climaxes of the city’s balletomania.”

Photo: Irina Dvorovenko performing in “Swan Lake” on Monday night.

Credit: Andrea Mohin/The New York Times

See more Swan Lake photos from the New York Times slideshow

Monday, June 27, 2011

Where the World comes to Dance

Martin Mydtskov Rønne

The Danish Royal Ballet's Gudrun Bojesen in 'La Sylphide,' which will come to the David H. Koch Theater *next week*.

It's been seven months since the movie "Black Swan" came out, and in that time it has scooped up awards and critical praise—and sparked everything from disdainful sighs to vitriolic revulsion from the ballet community. By now, one might expect that anger to have faded away.

But on May 22, the Los Angeles Times ran an interview with former New York City Ballet principal dancer Nikolaj Hübbe—who is now the artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet—in which he said of the film: "It's the worst piece of hideous crap I've ever seen. I just thought it was scintillatingly awful."

Ballet does not forgive and forget easily. But Mr. Hübbe's comments point to a broader complaint: If you thought you were watching brilliant choreography and a realistic backstage portrayal, well, you weren't. It was the popcorn version. Despite the movie raising awareness for ballet, it essentially boiled a grand tradition down to sex and starvation.

For those who love an art form that is often treated like a dead language, this causes a descent into near madness (see "Giselle") because there is so much more to ballet. What is that "more"? With five of the world's most historically significant ballet companies in New York this season, this is the summer to find out.

A Circus Not Worth Flipping Over

An interesting perspective from the Wall Street Journal:

A Circus Not Worth Flipping Over

By PIA CATTON

CULTURE CITY - JUNE 27, 2011

Cirque du Soleil

Cirque du Soleil's 'Zarkana' is scheduled to run at Radio City Music Hall through Sept. 4.

I know it's not polite. I know I shouldn't do it. But when someone starts talking about how brilliant Cirque du Soleil is, I feel the need to present an alternate view.

It goes something like this: Cirque du Soleil is not theater, dance or any sort of performing art that expresses thoughts and emotions. It's a traveling Las Vegas act in which performers squeal gibberish and execute circus techniques with no regard for the rhythm of the very loud music. There is respectable athleticism in the physical tricks, and the visual projections can be impressive. Just don't kid yourself that you've experienced the performing arts. You've been to the circus—at opera prices.

This does not make me popular at dinner parties and family gatherings. And I'm OK with that. But what I fail to comprehend is why so many people continue to love Cirque du Soleil quite so much. What is it about this show that has thoroughly captured the public? Why are the performing arts—even the ones based on spectacle, such as ballet and opera—less able to connect with our common culture than Cirque du Soleil?

To find out, I bought a ticket and submitted to "Zarkana," the new show at Radio City Music Hall that opens Wednesday. (I had also seen a show on Randall's Island in 2003.) And just to recalibrate myself to a different sort of live entertainment, I also bought a seat on "The Ride," the 75-minute bus tour of Midtown Manhattan during which riders (positioned outward, facing the sidewalk, rather than straight ahead) witness performers on the street "spontaneously "breaking into song and dance.

After enduring both, I'll take the cornball antics and forced participation of "The Ride" over Cirque any day. And that discovery helped me understand the larger issue.

Let's start from the fact that "The Ride" operates with a sense of humor. After all, there is nothing earnest about a "talking" bus from which you are encouraged to wave at passersby—or to cheer for that gentleman in a navy-blue suit who just started tap dancing down 42nd Street.

Cirque, on the other hand, takes itself very seriously. Sure, "Zarkana" has silly bits, but ultimately it attempts to conjure a fantastical, seductive world of mystery. There's no denying that opera, ballet and theater take themselves seriously, too. But the difference is that they strive for emotional transcendence via the voice, body and music. In doing so, they give the viewer the mental space to reflect on life.
Cirque does many things, but it does not encourage you to plumb the depths of your soul. It wants to dazzle and amaze with flying trapeze artists, high-wire walkers and one-handed handstands.

Again, there is no denying that the stage arts want to dazzle, too: The vocal pyrotechnics in opera, repetitive turns in ballet, or melodramatic breakdowns in plays all result in "ta-da" moments that the audience rewards with applause. But the point is to use the "tricks" to amplify emotion, music or ideas related to a story.
Here's a way of thinking about it: Imagine you're sitting in a dance studio and you're told that a dancer will perform two identical sets of turns, but one will reflect a character from a tragedy, say "Giselle," and one from a comedy, like "Don Quixote." Even without having seen dance before, you could tell the difference because the steps are designed to express and trigger emotions.

What a trapeze act inspires is fear, shock and (hopefully) relief. It's just one way in which Cirque achieves what it is best at: suspense. What is this magical "Zarkana"? How will it differ from other shows, with names like "Zumanity" or "Dralion"?

The central figure is Zark, who is, according the troupe's website, "a magician on a quest to find his lost powers. He finds himself plunged into a world inhabited by surreal and mesmerizing creatures." What will happen on Zark's journey? Well, it will be more suspenseful than, say, the opera "La Traviata," which has had more or less the same plot since 1853. And that plot is no escape: It's about love, remorse, social conventions, illness and death. Compared to that, an "acrobatic rock opera" with only a shred of a story and a juggler sounds pretty good.

Cirque du Soleil offers a mash-up of comedy, drama, stunts and romance at a ticket price that makes it appear to be the equal of performing arts without exacting an emotional price. It thrives while regional theaters, operas and orchestras collapse.

I'll take "The Ride."

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

100 Posts!!!

Yay! Time to celebrate! One hundred posts here on the blog. I'm happy to have made it this far!

So, my last day of the program officially was June 4th, and since then I've been home relaxing and getting into a much different schedule. Haha. And happily, I've still been dancing - at my home studio's new location close by! I've been able to take pilates and yoga in addition to ballet classes. I'm also doing a work study/assistant job as well for them to help with all of the new business at the new location - receptionist tasks, maintainence, assisting with classes for the little kids, and more! It's a lot of fun and I'm happy to have this opportunity - and be able to stay in shape. It's a blessing. I'm also rehearsing quite frequently during the week for our upcoming "studio warming" performance in July, which will be a lot of fun. I'm doing a solo in addition to a few hefty group pieces. It's a fun challenge - something to keep me "on my toes".

But it hasn't been all dance all of the time. I get some down time on the computer and have time to hang outside. (It's good to relax, and it's nice to be in the country again now that it is Summer!) I went to an amusement park in PA for a family reunion, a week ago today, actually, and will be going to another family reunion party later this week. So, I'm comfortably keeping busy - without being crazy. It's good to have a break, but yes, though I wouldn't call it homesickness, I do miss my teachers and the environment I was in - the routine of hard work, sweat... ...really hard work. It's hard to express it properly. But I am enjoying my break!

Here's a piece I'm rehearsing for - "Take 5":

And another fun, jazzy piece, "Swing Guitars":

Sunday, June 12, 2011

DanceQuote 19

"Dance first. Think later."

- Samuel Beckett

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

"Drum Dance" from La Bayadere

Choreography by Marius Petipa, staged by Larisa Calero, music by Ludwig Minkus.
Danced by my entire class and I (minus 2 guys). It was an absolute killer of a piece, but turned out really well!

Another treat - "Gypsies" from Don Quixote Act III
Choreography: Solo - K. Goleizovsky, Ensemble, Larisa Calero.
Music by Ludwig Minkus. (This is danced by the other level.) For me, nothing beats this music...

Photos: the last few days

So, on June 3rd we students had an end-of-the-year party, while the faculty/directors had one upstairs as well. It was a lot of fun, though sadly some people couldn't make it, so it wasn't as full as it could have been. It was really nice to let loose, relax, and have fun...

That day (Thursday) I emptied out my locker... This, including a regular bag, was what I had to lug home on the subway!!! Whew. Really, I don't know how I did it... I'm sure I looked like a pack mule.

The digs

Milla, Hayley and I

Ana Elena and I

Dancin'!

Me...

Studio 4, where we (my class) spent most of our year

Many hours and hours of hard work from many many people are in this room!

I pretty much always stood somewhere along this wall barre


Moi again... goodbye studios until summer!

Photos: the week after the show

Monday after the show it was back for the last week of classes! It was nice to have a different feel and have the stress of the upcoming show be lifted. All of my classmates and I were sure to take a lot of pictures before many of us went our separate ways. Some of us may never see each other again.

Studio 2, (overlooking Broadway) where I've spent a lot of time over the past year!

Lunch!

Hayley, Desiree, and I

Brigitta and I

My friend, also named Hayley!

Brigitta and Milla

Cindy and I

Rachel and Abigail

The goofy pair!

Brigitta, Milla, and I

Spring show photos: backstage and performance

Waiting to be called onstage...

The craziness backstage, pre-dress rehearsal!

My slightly messy dressing table space...

Rehearsal: La Bayadere "Drum Dance"

Full body shot of the costume - I believe this was taken after the show

After the show, with our Character teacher, Larisa Calero

With our beloved ballet instructor, Erin Forrest

Spring show photos: rehearsal

I took these pictures of the other level rehearsing in the theater...
Here is Le Conservatoire, choreography by August Bournonville, staged by Karina Elver.