Not too long ago, a friend aptly noticed that I often refer to our goal as dancers as “reaching as close as we can to perfection.” He wanted me to unpack that statement. What does that even mean? Are we talking about technical attainment? Power or finesse? Maybe something else? As Steven put it, we’re transitional … More On dancing and the pursuit of perfection
Are you a ballet dancer in America interested in hopping over the Atlantic and getting a job dancing in Europe? Or vice-versa? Do your homework first, and have an idea of what you’re getting yourself into. The professional dance world in Europe, while similar to America, is of a different breed, and it does’t always … More Five differences between American and European ballet
How do you inspire a group of dancers to live up to their full potential? One of the most important skills to learn as an artistic director, ballet master, choreographer, or teacher is learning how to speak to and manage the group. All bosses have to do it. Organizing a large group of people can … More Correcting the crowd: how group feedback affects us
In the first part of this article, I tackled the false idea that many of us (whether dancers or non-dancers) often have, which is that “you suck at dancing”. If you missed it, find it here. If not, read on. The second myth I want to take on in this article is this: it’s … More You suck at dancing and it’s your own damn fault (part 2)
Okay, now that I have your attention: no, I’m not serious. In fact there are two lies in that sentence, both of which come from our own illusions about our selves and about our objectivity. Although both sides of this thought are wrapped up together, I’ve decided to split this post into two parts in … More You suck at dancing and it’s your own damn fault (part 1)
Hi everybody! Thanks for tuning in to my first post – I thought this might be a good chance to give a brief introduction to myself and to the reason I created this blog. Most of you (hi mom!) already know me : I grew up in Portland, Oregon, started dancing at age 5, went through … More Introduction to the blog
Corporal Culture 