10 Questions With…
10 Questions With…Alexsandra Meijer
Today I’m excited to announce 4dancers new partnership with Ballet San Jose. Much like our relationship with the Joffrey, in the coming months you will see interviews with various dancers from this amazing California ballet company, and today is our first…please welcome Alexsandra Meijer…
Alexsandra Meijer
1. How did you become involved with dance?
I suppose you could say my mother has always loved dancing. Even in her sixties she loves to salsa. So when my parents made us kids participate in all sorts of after school activities of course dancing was among them. My father thought that ballet was an excellent form of discipline, and he hoped that we would learn to move with grace outside the studio. It wasn’t until I discovered ballet’s athleticism, musicality and story telling that I started to understand its beauty.
2. What are you currently doing in the field?
I am dancing as a Principal with Ballet San Jose.
3. Would you share a special moment from your career with readers?
Without a doubt the greatest moments in my career are linked to roles like Swanilda and Odette/Odile, however one of my most cherished moments on stage didn’t involve being the lead in the ballet let alone my face even being seen. It was a little known ballet by the late SFB director Lew Christensen, named Il Destratto. Towards the middle of the ballet the lights suddenly go out and the stage is left completely dark. As Haydn’s music continues, slowly a pair of arms consisting of only an upper torso eerily emerges floating in midair. Some of the audience gasps while others giggle at this unexpected twist. Then shockingly a pair of legs bourrée from the wings on the other side of stage completely void of an upper body. As we perform a sort of “Dueling Banjos” pas de deux assisted magically by our men dressed all in black, as not to be seen, the audience starts to chuckle. Now, I have performed in many comedies in my time on the stage, and as always when the audience starts to crack up I know my timing is right and it brings a lightness to my heart. However what I could never have imagined was the intensity and roar of pure, whole-hearted, gut wrenching, explosive laughter that swept the audience. As I sailed offstage upside down in the splits, I couldn’t contain this infectious laughter. I was truly grinning ear to ear and it was at this moment that I felt that I had caught a glimmer of what comedians like Dave Chappell and Dane Cook must truly experience.
4. What is the best advice you have ever received from a teacher or mentor regarding dance?
One Dancer’s Journey…
Today I’d like to welcome Todd Fox as our latest contributor to 4dancers. Todd originally was going to complete the interview I sent for “10 Questions With…” the feature I typically use to highlight dancers and dance-related professionals on this site.
Time passed and he found himself answering the questions in depth, and after we talked a bit, we decided we would break them down into monthly posts, so that readers could get a closer look at his journey through the dance world. Today is his first post…answering question 1…stay tuned next month for more! -Catherine
Todd Fox
1. How did you become involved in dance?
I was born in Miami Florida and from a very early age my mom exposed me to dance. She taught ballet for a magnet arts school in Miami called PAVAC, Performing and Visual Arts Center, and used to drag me around to all the classes she taught.
As I got old enough she made me learn ballet by taking one of her classes each week with her other students. At that age I wasn’t at all interested in studying ballet, I thought it was boring and I hated wearing tights. All I ever wanted to do was go ride my bike with friends or play video games but my mother was insistent, VERY insistent. She eventually presented me with an effective ultimatum, take one ballet class per week or I wouldn’t receive my weekly allowance. So, I studied ballet like this on and off for most of my young life, I went through the motions but never really took a serious interest, it was all just to appease my mom and of course get my allowance.
When I was 13 my family moved to New Jersey and in Somerset County where I attended public school there was a Vocational and Technical School (vo-tech) which had a performing arts program offering dance. There were lots of girls in the Vo-Tech dance program from mine and several neighboring schools with no guys at all. At that age the thought of spending my day dancing around with lots of girls and being the only guy had amazing appeal and much to my mom’s complete jaw dropping shock and surprise I begged for her to let me enroll.
10 Questions With…Lucas Segovia
Today on 10 Questions With… we have Lucas Segovia from the Joffrey…
Lucas Segovia
1. How did you become involved with dance?
I took my first ballet class when I was 16, after a friend of mine invited me to one of her dance shows. I liked it very much, and I gave it a try. I never stopped since then.
2. What are you currently doing in the field?
I am currently dancing with The Joffrey Ballet, where we just finished a new production of Don Quixote and we are about to start working on Nutcracker, among other pieces in the season. The company has a wide repertoire, so we are always working on different things.
3. Would you share a special moment from your career with readers?
One of the most special moments so far for me was receiving an award in Buenos Aires, my hometown. The “Premio Clarin” is a very important award and it was a dream for me to get it.
4. What is the best advice you have received from a teacher or mentor?
The best advice I got was from my mentor. I was about to leave the country into the unknown and he told me “live and work like there is no tomorrow and have the strength to accept your decisions.” I’ve been trying to follow that path ever since.
010 Questions With…Melanie Doskocil
Today on 10 Questions With… we welcome Melanie Doskocil …
Melanie Doskocil
I think I pretty much begged my mom to put me in ballet classes since I was little. I used to have this lamp when I was a child that was a Degas dancer painting on glass with a bulb behind it. I used to plug it in and dream of being one of those ballerinas.
2. What are you currently doing in the field?
I retired after a 17 year professional career and now am teaching classical ballet and directing a ballet school.
3. Would you share a special moment from your career with readers?
The last job I took was a European tour as part of Mia Michael’s R.A.W. Her company had disbanded and she hired 10 of us to represent her on this 6 week tour. It was tough! She was mean; brutal in fact. She looks like a pussy cat on SYTYCD, but she unleashed her demons on us through that rehearsal period. Everyone cried, everyone wanted to quit. One dancer actually told me he wished he would break something in rehearsal so he could quit with dignity. Dancers came to me (the old lady) and begged me to let them quit. I did more fast talking through that period than I ever had. I motivated, I cajoled, I cried myself and I wanted to quit, but I couldn’t, wouldn’t, let myself or Mia or the tour company down like that. In the end, we all ended up taking our dancing to a new level. Moving beyond our self imposed limitations. Luckily for us, Mia decided not to go on the tour. So we went to Europe without her, danced to packed houses, standing ovations, and shouts for encore! and never had to hear her belittle us again. For some reason I actually remember this time as one of the greatest things I ever did with dance. I feel like I over came major obstacles with that project.
4. What is the best advice you have ever received from a teacher or mentor regarding dance?
010 Questions With…Ryan Wenzel
Today on 10 Questions With… we welcome dance blogger Ryan Wenzel…
Ryan Wenzel
1. How did you become involved with dance?
Completely by accident. I never danced or saw any professional dance when I was growing up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. A friend of mine in New York has been a fan of New York City Ballet for years and convinced me last year to join him at a weekend matinee. It was an all-Robins program: Dances at a Gathering and West Side Story Suite. I didn’t love it at the time – I was intimidated by it – but I was intrigued, so I bought books about Robbins and George Balanchine and devoured them. By the end of New York City Ballet’s next season, I was hooked, and I started seeing other types of dance as well.
2. What are you currently doing in the field?
I write Bodies Never Lie, a blog mostly about the New York dance performances I see. I also work full-time as the online communications manager for Henry Street Settlement, a nonprofit organization on Manhattan’s Lower East Side that includes the Abrons Arts Center.
3. Would you share your thoughts about where you think dance is headed as an art form?
I have no idea. At this point I’m working overtime just to figure out where dance has been!
4. What gave you the idea for your blog?
010 Questions With…Michelle Kranicke
Today on 10 Questions With… we feature a Chicago-area dance professional, Michelle Kranicke…
Michelle Kranicke
My mother was an enormous ballet fan, and as a child she took me to see many performances. Although it wasn’t love at first sight, it took me awhile to develop a love for dance. I actually did not begin taking ballet class until I was 13. But once I fell, I fell hard. I grew up in Chicago and there were always ballet companies touring and performing in the city, so I was fortunate to see many of the classics.
2. What has your dance career been like?
It has definitely a lot of work, but it has also been extremely rewarding. It’s a gift to be able to grapple with aesthetic ideas all day. I have had the privilege of working with so many talented dancers. For some dancemakers the performance is the best part, but for me I love the rehearsal process. I love watching ideas unfold and then really honing and developing those ideas.
3. What are you doing currently in the field?
I am actually stepping back and taking a good hard look at my dancemaking process. I am going back to the fundamentals of my own creative process and trying to take those fundamentals apart. I am really looking to extend the art form, to push against the boundaries of dance and extend ideas about movement as far as possible. I am using proximity and stillness, and trying to move dance from a predominantly visual experience for the viewer into an aural or kinesthetic experience as well.
4. If you had to describe Zephyr Dance to someone, what would you say?
010 Questions With…Pam Zeidman
Today on 10 Questions With… we have Pam Zeidman…
Pam Zeidman with Debbie Allen
1. How did you become involved with dance?
I started dancing at age 9 because I kept waking up with dance moves running through my head and needed an outlet. My mom enrolled me in jazz and tap – a perfect fit for me. I started choreographing and teaching the neighborhood kids at age 12 – putting on dance recitals in my garage with the parents sitting in lawn chairs on the drive
2. What are you currently doing in the field?
Currently I am the Midwest Program Director for American Dance Training Camps, an instructor for Trilogy Performing Arts (Lake Zurich, IL) and Christian Youth Theatre (CYT). I am also an adjudicator with Spotlight Events.
3. Would you share a special moment from your career with readers?
I’ve had many “special moments” in my dance career, but probably the most memorable was when I got to meet Debbie Allen after I choreographed “Fame – The Musical.” I’ve always admired her rise to “fame” and respected her passion for dance.
4. What is the best advice you have ever received from a teacher or mentor regarding dance?
Mme. Peff Modelski, a wonderful fount of knowledge, has imparted some simple truths to me: “Don’t tell the brain you can’t do something.” “Fear and dance don’t live in the same house.” “Use your body parts for what they are made for.”
5. What has been your greatest challenge?
010 Question With…Marina Surgan
Marina Surgan
Today on 10 Questions With… we talked with Marina Surgan….
1. Can you tell readers a bit about how you got into music?
Getting into music was very easy and natural for me. Everybody in my family played an instrument and to keep the family tradition my mother sent me to a piano teacher when I was seven years old. It was a “must” in my family to have a subscription to Philharmonic concerts, to the Opera, and to Ballet Theatre. When I was nine years old I was accepted to the very famous music school for gifted children named after Professor Stolyarsky in Odessa, and I continued my education in Moscow’s Pedagogical Institute (former USSR) as a Soloist, Concertmaster and Piano Teacher. I was also composing music.
2. How did you get involved with the dance world?
When I was seven I thought that the minute I put on some pointe shoes I’d be able to spin and run across the stage as easy as those magical ballerinas. One day I persuaded my mom to buy me a pair of pointe shoes. I couldn’t wait to get home and try them on, but when I put them on the excruciating pain at once destroyed all my dreams of becoming a ballerina. I decided that it was better for me to stick with piano, as it wasn’t that painful.
When we emigrated to Toronto I met a former dancer from the Igor Moiseyev Dance Company who was looking for an accompanist. She asked me if I could play by ear – folk music. This is where I gave thanks to God for the gift of perfect pitch and improvisation. This is how I got involved with the dance world.
3. You have composed music for the Cecchetti Grade Examinations – what was that like?
It was in 1980, Carol Chadwick who was Vice Principal of ballet at Canada’s National Ballet School at that time asked me if I could compose new music for the Cecchetti Grade Examinations. I didn’t know grades music so I told her that I needed a studio with a student and teacher who could demonstrate each exercise for me – so that I could improvise on the spot and everything would be videotaped.
I should proudly say that I did quite a good job and didn’t have to edit any of my compositions. I just had to score all the music that was recorded by videotape and it was subsequently published by the Canadian Branch of the Cecchetti Society in 1983.
4. You have also held workshops for accompanists- what are those like?
010 Questions With…Sophie Flack
Sophie Flack
This week on “10 Questions With…” we’re featuring Sophie Flack, author of “Bunheads”… a book about the ballet world. I’m reading it right now, and it’s fabulous!
1. How did you get involved in dance?
When I was seven, the Boston Ballet studios were under renovation and they temporarily relocated to my school gymnasium. I’d see these lithe ballerinas lingering in the hallways as they stretched and spoke to one another between rehearsals. I begged my mother to take ballet classes, but I was too shy to walk into theclass that first day. I wanted my mother to go with me. It took me six months to find the courage to walk in alone.
2. What is your dance background?
I began my training at the Boston Ballet School learning the Vaganova technique. When I was eleven I was introduced to the Balanchine technique by Patricia McBride at the Chautauqua summer intensive. After watching a video of McBride dancing Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, I decided that I wanted to dance with the New York City Ballet, because I wanted to move like she did.
When I returned home, I transferred to Ballet Workshop of New England in order to study Balanchine technique. I spent my summers training with Suzanne Farrell, Gloria Govrin, Violette Verdy and Patricia McBride.
My mother would drive me to New York City in order to take private lessons with Nancy Bielski and Wilhelm Burmann, some of the best coaches in the country. I took open classes at Steps on Broadway alongside New York City Ballet dancers, and regular Pilates privates with Laurie Hurt.
At fifteen, I was accepted into the School of American Ballet on full scholarship and moved to New York City alone. At age seventeen, I joined the New York City Ballet as an apprentice and became a member of the corps de ballet the following year.
After dancing with the New York City Ballet for nine years, I retired from professional dance in 2009.
3. What is your book about, and who is it written for?
410 Questions With…Robert Long
Robert Long
Today on 10 Questions With… we have Robert Long, a musician who plays for dancers…
1. Can you tell readers a bit about how you got into music?
I started in music the way most kids probably do. There was a lady in the village who gave piano lessons, so off I went. I was 7 or 8.
2. How did you wind up playing for dancers?
I had finished university (Mus. Bach, M.A., University of Toronto), and couldn’t find any employment.Through friends I received some contacts for ballet schools, so I decided to give it a try, even though I had no idea what to play.
3. What are the special considerations you must address when arranging music for dance class?
For me, the considerations to be addressed involve the instructor I’m working with. Some like quicker tempos, some slower; some like lengthy exercises, some shorter, and so on. Beyond that, an instructor could have personal preferences: ragtime, tangos, habaneras, adages in 4/4 instead of 3/4, continuous exercises at the barre with 4 counts to turn the middle; things like that.
4. What do you enjoy most about working on this type of music?
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