Emily Kate Long

Balance is an integral part of dance: in technique, physical appearance, partnering, staging, casting, injury prevention…and on and on. Balance is what makes dance beautiful, and imbalance is often what keeps the audience on the edge of their seats, tense and excited. In our day-to-day, balance—or the lack of it—can provide comfort, frustration, boredom, serenity, or stress.

Physical imbalance reared its ugly head in my life throughout December and January. After nothing but Nutcracker for November and early December, three weeks of layoff seemed welcome at first. By about day four, though, I was longing for full days of rehearsal again! How was I supposed to keep myself in good shape while still allowing time for recovery?

Two months of promenades on my left leg had not only eaten through pair after pair of pointe shoes, but had also done noticeable damage to the muscles in my hip and calf on the left side. Prevention, correction, and maintenance all played a part in physically rebalancing my body before rehearsals started up again.

Pilates Reformer work was, and continues to be, a really effective way to maintain balance and alignment in my body. It was also useful as a preventive measure. My trainer and I had been working to stay on top of the one-sidedness of classical pas de deux work in weekly sessions during Nut rehearsals, so by the time the run of shows was over I had a repertoire of exercise remedies to practice with her and on my own.

Pilates Work

A visit to the chiropractor kicked off the corrective steps. He’s always telling me to reverse one-sided choreography, even if that only means one time reversed for every ten times I dance it. I think there’s validity in that, though in a company of nine dancers with one full-size studio there is not always time or space (or, more often, quite enough self-motivation) to take on that extra project, however small. I did begin doing the left side first for class exercises during the layoff, which was an interesting and helpful experiment.

Long, busy days in the theater meant that I wasn’t able to stretch as much as I would have liked, and dancing on a hard stage meant that I needed it more than usual. So I ended up tighter in general, especially in my hips and lower back. Hot yoga was a nice fix for that. The heat allowed me to stretch more intensely, and the combination of turned-in work and plenty of twisting relieved a lot of the tension that had been living in my back and hips.

Maintenance, in addition to continued Pilates work, involved taking lots of time to do class on my own and really simplify things, going back to the basics and re-examining those steps for quirks that could lead to bigger problems later. I also indulged my love of running outdoors, something that I avoid during rehearsal weeks because of the impact.

Now that rehearsals are back in full swing things are starting to get crazy again—just the way I like them! Full days at the studio plus planning classes and choreography make me really appreciate any opportunity I can find for pastimes—currently, reading Jane Austen and Stephen Manes. But that’s fodder for another post!

Emily Kate Long

BIO: Emily Kate Long began her dance education in South Bend, Indiana, with Kimmary Williams and Jacob Rice and graduated in 2007 from Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School’s Schenley Program. Ms Long attended Milwaukee Ballet School’s Summer Intensive on scholarship before being invited to join Milwaukee Ballet II in 2007. She also has spent summers studying at Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive, Miami City Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, and Ballet Chicago.

Ms Long has been a member of Ballet Quad Cities since 2009. She has danced featured roles in Deanna Carter’s Ash to Glass and Dracula, participated in the company’s 2010 tour to New York City, and most recently performed the title role in Courtney Lyon’s Cinderella and the role of Clara in The Nutcracker. Prior to joining Ballet Quad Cities Ms Long performed with Milwaukee Ballet and MBII in Michael Pink’s The Nutcracker and Candide Overture, Petipa’s The Sleeping Beauty and La Bayadére, Balanchine’s Who Cares?, Bournonville’s Flower Festival in Genzano and Napoli, and original contemporary and neoclassical works by Tom Teague, Denis Malinkine, Rolando Yanes, and Petr Zaharadnicek.

This summer will be Jacob’s Pillow’s 80th Season and my seventh as Festival Photographer. My responsibilities at the Pillow have shifted since my first season.  In 2006, I was primarily hired to capture several of the events and make beauty shots of the grounds. I was welcome to shoot dress rehearsals for performances, but they didn’t really need those images.

Now I’m working there to photograph dance, the dress rehearsals for press, the school for documentation, etc. I love it, and I’m always looking to do more and find new ways to contribute.

It’s been a dream of mine to make portraits of the artists and dance portraits of the performers whenever possible, but I’ve been quite timid and shy about this endeavor. Last summer I finally got my foot in the door and asked a couple of the artists to work with me doing some creative portraiture. You can see examples of what we created on my blog:

http://blog.christopherduggan.com/2011/08/jacobs-pillow-dance-festival-photos-milton-myers-the-schools-contemporary-program/
http://blog.christopherduggan.com/2011/07/jacobs-pillow-crystal-pite-photo-essay/

This year I’ve already started to form ideas about a big project that excites and terrifies me. I want to photograph every dancer, student, artist, company member, staff and intern that comes to the Pillow this summer. Not to just photograph them in action at the festival, but invite them for a portrait in my not-yet-designed or constructed outdoor natural light studio.

This idea is probably crazy. One reason alone being the sheer number of potential performers. 1000? Crazy, right?

There is a historic platform behind the Ted Shawn Theatre where John Lindquist made so many images that are synonymous with Pillow history. Here are two:

My idea is to construct a white box, natural light studio and take the artists out of context. I want to do close-ups of their faces, half portraits & full-body shots, in costume, in street clothes, groups shots, moving, still and more. Not only that, but I want to be able to make portraits in just a few moments. Time is always a challenge when working at the Pillow–the artists are extremely busy and constantly being pulled in different directions.

I’ve just started to collect ideas on an inspiration board in Pinterest. Check out my board and send me your thoughts, comments, ideas. I’d love your help making this project happen!

Christopher Duggan

Contributor Christopher Duggan is the founder and principal photographer of Christopher Duggan Photography, a New York City-based wedding and dance photography studio. Duggan has been the Festival Photographer for Jacob’s Pillow Dance since 2006. In this capacity, and as a respected New York-based dance photographer, he has worked with renowned choreographers and performers of international acclaim as well as upstarts in the city’s diverse performance scene.

He has created studio shots of Gallim Dance, Skybetter +  Associates and Zvidance, among others, and in 2011 alone, he has photographed WestFest at Cunningham Studios, Dance From the Heart for Dancers Responding to Aids, The Gotham Dance Festival at The Joyce Theater, and assisted Nel Shelby Productions in filming Vail International Dance Festival.

Duggan often teams up with his talented wife and Pillow videographer Nel Shelby (http://nelshelby.com). A New York City-based husband and wife dance documentation team, they are equipped to document performances, create and edit marketing videos and choreography reels, and much more.

Christopher Duggan Photography also covers Manhattan’s finest wedding venues, the Metropolitan and Tri-State areas, and frequently travels to destination weddings.  The company’s mission is straightforward and heartfelt – create timeless, memorable images of brides, grooms, their families and friends, and capture special moments of shared love, laughter and joy.

His photographs appear in The New York Times, Destination I Do, Photo District News, Boston Globe, Financial Times, Dance Magazine, Munaluchi Bridal, and Bride & Bloom, among other esteemed publications and popular wedding blogs. One of his images of Bruce Springsteen was added to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s celebrated photography collection in 2010. His company has been selected for inclusion in “The Listings” in New York Weddings magazine.

There is a quality in movement that I love to see and makes me engage with material in a completely different way than other dance. It’s hard to describe, but I know it when I see it. In fact, I find most people have a certain stylistic choice or a certain way of moving that feels good to them, or that is interesting to watch or work within.

This clip instantly captured me. I realized that it sort of encapsulated the continuous motion that intrigues me as a choreographer, stimulates me as a dancer and captivates me as an audience member. It is the union of opposites that intrigues me – lightness and weight, controlled and yet abandoned, strength and yet ease…the complexity and texture this creates in performance is breathtaking to me and yet is not accidental.

Watching this class I find myself drawn to the fluidity of the movement, the way it pauses – but never really stops; the ability to create interest through utilizing the floor and all surfaces of the body; the mercurial quality as bodies pour from one place to the next.

But it’s not just visually enchanting – it’s also incredibly stimulating mentally. This particular technique lends itself well to individual choice making and gives the dancers freedom in choosing how to find their way out of “mistakes”. In fact, this may even eliminate the idea of “mistakes” in favor of dancers’ own timing.

There is a beautiful example of this at about 1:21. The man in the white pants finds himself on another step but is able to catch back up with some strategic choices. While not as seamless as it perhaps would be, were he more familiar with the material, it exemplifies the many ways in which one can arrive at a particular shape, from another particular shape.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that techniques such as this, allow for dancers to connect more freely with the movements they perform – allowing for them to become aware of the time it takes to reach the edges of the movement – rather than creating shapes on specific counts. It is a difficult education, but one that separates rote memory from artistry.

An example of how different this looks can be found at 1:39. Look at the difference in movement quality from the gentleman in the striped shirt and the women in the blue shirt and cropped pants on the right. It’s not that anything she does is incorrect; she makes all the same shapes and gets to the same end place. But it’s how she gets there – never releasing her head, the act of preparation for inversions rather than pouring into the floor, the “placed” arms as opposed to reaching – that really separates the movement from the body.

There is a great sense of freedom that evolves out of dancers really understanding internally, kinesthetically, what movement “is” in their bodies. It allows simple phrases to develop into choreographic structures (3:53) as those who “hear” the movement the same way synchronize and make similar choices. It allows one to see the full breadth of a single movement (2:09) through different bodies making different kinesthetic choices. Further it respects those choices, and in some ways needs those choices, in order to be the dynamic force that captivates us.

For me, the best movement, the most captivating performances, are always those that are first physically stimulating to me – movement that feels good to do. And secondly, movement that intrigues me while experiencing it. I don’t like to be able to figure it all out. I like movement that you have to “unpack” a little to get at the nuance and discover the subtlety. I like movement that makes me think a little harder, work a little harder to get at what makes it tick.

I encourage dance educators to push their students to make conscious choices and to explore techniques which encourage kinesthetic education. I also encourage students to take those risks and create complexity by observing with more than your eyes.

Kimberly Peterson

BIO: Contributor Kimberly Peterson, a transplant to Minneapolis from the Dallas area, received her BA and MA from Texas Woman’s University’s prestigious dance program.

Drawing on her experience with producing dance works, Kimberly has served as lighting designer, stage manager, event coordinator, volunteer and an advisor in various roles. She has taught in various roles and her choreography featured at ACDFA, TCC South Campus and Zenon Dance Studios. Her recent internships with Theater Space Project and the Minnesota Children’s Museum have served to expand her skills in arts administration and development.

Her graduate research explored the parallels between the independent music industry and current methods of dancer representation. Fascinated with how art is represented and presented in society, she continues to develop this research while delving further into this complicated subject through her dance writing.

2. What are you currently doing in the field?

I perform mostly short term or guest artist engagements abroad these days as well as teach master classes at various schools and universities. For the past 13 years I have run my own management agency, Elitedance Artists Management, which continues to collaborate with dance projects and organizations all over the world.

I also oversee the distribution of a retail product I created for ballet dancers called “Balletband” and in the coming months will be introducing a brand new product to the market which I anticipate being popular among student and professional ballet dancers everywhere.

3. Can you share a special or memorable moment from your career?

My career has spanned a little over two decades, it would be difficult to narrow down just one memorable or special moment so here are a few.

Todd Fox

I don’t think any dancer ever forgets that very first time onstage fresh out of school in a professional company environment. For me, it was in Swan Lake at Pennsylvania Ballet when Robert Weiss and Dick Tanner ran the company. I was 17 years old, had just joined the company’s trainee program and during my first week, the company was in the middle of a Swan Lake production at Philadelphia’s ‘The Academy of Music’.

A bunch of company dancers were injured and as a result I got the opportunity to perform in the ensemble of the Act III “Czardas” dance. Even though I was in the back of the ensemble it was super exciting and I will always remember that first nervousness and excitement onstage in what was the beginning of my professional career as a ballet dancer.

In 1994/95 I was a member of The Joffrey II Dancers during what was The Joffrey Ballet’s final year of existence in New York City. Joffrey II or ‘J2’ as it was commonly referred to back then was basically the apprentice program for the main company and consisted of 10 dancers, 5 guys and 5 girls.

For most of the year we had a rehearsal and performance schedule separate from the main company with one exception; Nutcracker. During the first day of Nutcracker rehearsals that year I got to take my first full class with the main company. Prior to the integration all of us in J2 were instructed that under no circumstances were we to ever get in the way of any company members in class or rehearsal. So, as a result I did my class mostly on the sides of groups or in the back of the studio which allowed me a fantastic perspective to watch the company members do their thing up close and personal.

In that class I couldn’t help but take particular notice of this one ballerina who for me just stood out from everyone else. I remember it vividly, she was wearing a red cutoff unitard, had an incredible command of movement, and I just couldn’t get over her grande jetes, which seemed to suspend in mid-air defying gravity. Her name was Maia Wilkins and out of all the fantastic amazing ballerinas I watched and admired that year in the Joffrey Ballet, she would remain my favorite.

I spent lots of time watching the company from offstage as my actual dancing in Nutcracker was minimal. I remember thinking to myself, with a lot of hard work someday this will happen, I will actually be onstage dancing  with these amazing ballerinas, maybe even Maia Wilkins.

Unfortunately, things don’t always work out the way you plan, and at the end of that year the Joffrey Ballet in NYC ceased operations and would eventually relocate to Chicago, the Joffrey II program officially closed and I ended up taking a contract to go dance with a ballet company in Caracas, Venezuela. My career went down a wildly different path than I ever anticipated and I remember thinking that my hopes of dancing with the amazing Joffrey Ballet dance artists I admired so much would never happen, but as the old saying goes, never say never!

Todd Fox and Maia Wilkins in Giselle

12 years later, in 2007, Maia Wilkins actually got in touch with me through my agency seeking to secure guest artist engagements to supplement her performance schedule at Joffrey Ballet. As luck would have it, at that same time I myself was in need of a partner for a production of Giselle which I was to perform in as a guest artist. We worked out the particulars of rehearsing together and voila, there I was onstage performing one of my favorite full length classical ballets opposite none other than Maia Wilkins. I couldn’t believe it, I remember thinking to myself, somebody needs to pinch me, I’m finally getting the chance to perform opposite Maia Wilkins, unbelievable! I never got the opportunity to dance with the main company but in the end I did get to perform with my favorite ballerina from the Joffrey Ballet and that experience will always hold a very special place within the timeline of my career.

Pas de Quatre from Martin Schönberg's Four Seasons, Todd Fox Center Stage Left

In 2006 I performed with a ballet company in Johannesburg, South Africa, and that was a very memorable moment for me. South Africa has a rich cultural history and throughout my career I have performed alongside many exceptional ballet dancers who used to grace the ranks of the ballet companies there. Whenever they told me stories about dancing in South Africa I would always say, “I’m going to do that! Someday I’m going to travel to South Africa and dance with a ballet company!”

For me, South Africa was about as far away a location as I could ever possibly journey from my home to go dance and experience. It seemed an impossible accomplishment, and for me if something seems impossible or intimidating I am more drawn to try and achieve it. I always had my radar up for any chance to perform there and it remained a career bucket list item of mine for close to 15 years before an opportunity finally materialized.

It was Martin Shonberg, Artistic Director of Johannesburg’s Ballet Theatre Afrikan who got in touch with me regarding the possibility. Martin was seeking to hire dancers of international background to be featured during his company’s winter season at the Johannesburg Civic Center. I of course jumped at the chance and before I knew it I was on a plane flying south across the globe with my dance bag. The experience was amazing, I had the best time meeting and working with all the people and dance artists I met while mounting the production.

The opening night performance was very special for me, I had imagined what that moment would be like for so long and then there I was, onstage half way across the world in South Africa, dancing. It was one of those experiences where you just can’t wipe the smile off your face for days from being so happy, I will remember it for the rest of my life.

I don’t want to just highlight good memorable and special moments, every dancer has ups and downs throughout their career so here is one of my worst memorable moments. For a little over 1 year I toured the United States and Canada with what was then labeled as the North American Farewell Tour of “Oh! Calcutta!” the nude erotic musical which at one time was the longest running show on Broadway.

Just for the record, Oh! Calcutta! is the trashiest piece of crap ever created for the stage! Sorry but I don’t consider this statement an artistic opinion, it’s pretty much a proven fact. The production’s subject matter is at best dated with audience appeal relying mostly on shock value by featuring 100% nude cast members onstage in scenes that celebrate aspects of the 1970’s era of sexual revolution.

I was hired on as a chorus member but more specifically to dance the “pas de deux” in the 2nd Act choreographed by Margo Sappington. One of the worst memorable moments of my entire career was the opening night on the US leg of the tour. The production was rehearsed and mounted in New York City but the opening in front of an actual public audience was in Greenville, North Carolina. I was the youngest cast member and the only person new to the production as most everyone had done the show on and off for years.  Up until that opening night I kept saying to myself, “dancing onstage naked within the production’s erotic contexts won’t be difficult to handle, I don’t know anyone in the cities we are touring to so why would I care what they think?”

Well….. as the minutes got closer and closer to places on the opening night and I could hear the 1000+ audience members sitting just beyond the curtain, suddenly my nonchalant attitude changed; dramatically. I just kept thinking, what the hell am I doing??? It wasn’t where I want to be and it certainly wasn’t what I had intended to achieve with my dancing, I remember thinking I had made a giant mistake. I was the most nervous I have ever been throughout my entire career walking onto the stage that opening night. All I could focus my attention on that opening night were the lights and fellow cast members as I just couldn’t acknowledge there were people in the audience. It was humiliating.

After a couple more performances in different cities and a bit of time I eventually got over all the nervousness and qualms about my decision to be in the production, Calcutta just became a gig for me as it did for most of the cast members. We did our thing onstage and people would gasp, clap, boo, or in many cases protest the production’s subject matter right outside the front of the theatre, then we would travel to the next city and do it all over again.

Try to understand, as unpleasant as the experience was at first for me I don’t at all regret making the decision to be a part of the production. I was 20 years old at the time, had no money living in New York City, and for the life of me I couldn’t find another job opportunity dancing. My involvement in ‘Oh! Calcutta!’ was the result of a desperate attempt by me to keep creatively active and it served as a means to get to the next stage of my career. If I had to go back and do it all over again I absolutely would without any hesitation. However, in retrospect, nothing throughout my tenure as a professional dancer has ever sunk lower than performing in ‘Oh! Calcutta!’. It is what I have compared every other unpleasant experience in my career to and thankfully nothing has ever topped it.

This November I moved into a new office space with a fully equipped photo studio, perfect for solo sessions with dancers looking for new portraits for their portfolios. I recently broke in my new space with Caleb Teicher, an 18-year-old dancer who just won a 2011 Bessie for his performance with Michelle Dorrance’s tap company, Dorrance Dance.

I knew Caleb wanted a new head shot along with some dance images, but I didn’t have any direction beyond that. He arrived at the studio completely open to the creative process, and we started the session with little else but trust in each other. Everything flowed wonderfully, resulting in a steady stream of charismatic images showcasing his signature style.

This isn’t always my approach to a studio session. Sometimes it’s best to come in with clearer goals for specific angles and stylistic ideas. (More on that in another column.)

As dancers, what approach have you taken in studio sessions? What direction (or how much direction) would you like to have from your photographer? And most importantly, what is the dance portrait? What makes the portrait useful to you and why?

Is a “dance portrait” one that features a dance move? Of these images I’m showing, which is the one that personifies “dance portrait” the most?

View more photos of Caleb’s shoot here.

Christopher Duggan

Contributor Christopher Duggan is the founder and principal photographer of Christopher Duggan Photography, a New York City-based wedding and dance photography studio. Duggan has been the Festival Photographer for Jacob’s Pillow Dance since 2006. In this capacity, and as a respected New York-based dance photographer, he has worked with renowned choreographers and performers of international acclaim as well as upstarts in the city’s diverse performance scene.

He has created studio shots of Gallim Dance, Skybetter +  Associates and Zvidance, among others, and in 2011 alone, he has photographed WestFest at Cunningham Studios, Dance From the Heart for Dancers Responding to Aids, The Gotham Dance Festival at The Joyce Theater, and assisted Nel Shelby Productions in filming Vail International Dance Festival.

Duggan often teams up with his talented wife and Pillow videographer Nel Shelby (http://nelshelby.com). A New York City-based husband and wife dance documentation team, they are equipped to document performances, create and edit marketing videos and choreography reels, and much more.

Christopher Duggan Photography also covers Manhattan’s finest wedding venues, the Metropolitan and Tri-State areas, and frequently travels to destination weddings.  The company’s mission is straightforward and heartfelt – create timeless, memorable images of brides, grooms, their families and friends, and capture special moments of shared love, laughter and joy.

His photographs appear in The New York Times, Destination I Do, Photo District News, Boston Globe, Financial Times, Dance Magazine, Munaluchi Bridal, and Bride & Bloom, among other esteemed publications and popular wedding blogs. One of his images of Bruce Springsteen was added to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s celebrated photography collection in 2010. His company has been selected for inclusion in “The Listings” in New York Weddings magazine.

This time, spent partially observing children in active play and engaged in learning while creating, has opened my eyes to the skills of active choice making involved in creative play.

Playing is learning for children and is directly derived from their ability to make assumptions, try them out, learn from them and engage in the decision making process with others. It is their opportunity to learn from, socialize with, engage in and develop their sense of self and to context that self within their understanding of the world.

This doesn’t really change all that much when you become an adult either, though adults get far less constructive and creative play time than children tend to. Creative play is one of the amazing elements exemplified in contact improvisation.

The video below captures perfectly the duality of play, creative choice making and learning:

Immediately, we see active choice making from the little one. At :18 we see a decision to find a connection, seek hand holds and shift weight in an appropriate way to execute that choice. At :21, :25 and :32 we see her decide to leave that position – even using “safe arms” on her way out, to maintain a physical connection with her partner, make independence choices away from her partner, but re-engaging contact. At :38 there is a serious test of trust between the two partners – trust that is rewarded with a brilliant series of movement in :50, 1:43, 1:55 and 2:43 and carries over to her new partner at the end of the clip.

It may be difficult to differentiate between the desire of a young child to be picked up and twirled around by a dancer parent. But notice the cues she is giving to her partner’s body, notice her weight sharing (:50) and even the physical cues that let us know she is playing – but with purpose. The use of push and pull to indicate movement directionality and desires (1:22), the use of “safe arms” to link bodies and maintain connection(2:48), the lack of “grabbing” or “choke holds” that she even corrects herself on (1:11), the use of touch and weight as invitation to dance together (1:05), her comprehension of momentum (3:00). She is clearly an active participant, an active choice maker.

Contact Improvisation (CI) is a beautiful and fascinating technique. And it’s tempting to view the child’s choices as being nothing more than simple play with a “skilled” adult. But in CI jams, play is often the only guideline. Try, play, explore, create…are these not all part and parcel of the same thing?

Besides being a great example of the CI community, the implications of this video can stretch beyond simple admiration. In fact, they should challenge us to revisit how we teach children. Shouldn’t our pedagogy allow for and respect active choice making from our children? And shouldn’t we then cease seeing children as simply “cute” in their tutus and spangles, but rather begin seeing them as they see themselves – creators of their own vision. If we cease to see them as infantile, but instead as actively learning human beings making conscious choices, we may be able to engage their creative voices in more structured forms such as choreography, CI sessions, and even in more codified forms of dancing.

What the video shows me, more than anything else, is that we have vastly underestimated our children, and rather than engaging them as equal learning partners – we have tended to patronized them as cute playthings able to be adorable in a single bound! If we were to change our approach to children and our pedagogy in teaching children dance, imagine the possibilities for creative expression, deep lasting impacts with regards to education and self esteem, and what their additional voices could bring to dance as an art-form.

When I write, my environment is really important.  There are two spots in my house that I like to sit and write: the dining room table and the desk in my office.  When those aren’t working, there’s always the neighborhood coffee shop and my desk at work.  I’m not sure what it is about those spaces in particular, but something about the “energy” of those spots let’s me write.

Katie Matteson and Vienna Willems performing Lauren's latest work, Grind. Photo by Kelly Rose/ Savage Rose Photography

If you want to make dances, you need space….

… and you don’t always have a choice of what that space will look like or if the “energy” there will be conducive to creating.  As a dancemaker, there are restrictions to the types of workspace you can use.  There are considerations such as having a safe floor, a convenient location, and finding something that’s affordable and matches up with your dancers’ schedules.  These are things that just don’t factor in to other creative endeavors like music or writing.

As a result, we sometimes find ourselves in strangely shaped rooms with polls, late at night, where we’re forced to crank out as much material as we can in one or two hours.

In other words, there are obvious challenges to finding physical space to make dances.  However, more and more programs are becoming available to offer rehearsal space to choreographers for little or no money.  In Chicago alone, there are several programs such as LinkUp and DanceBridge that you can apply for to receive free rehearsal space in exchange for volunteer hours.  Additionally, there is a long list of alternative affordable spaces that are really suitable for dance.

You might also consider joining an artists’ cooperative.  By paying a monthly “share” of a workspace, you give yourself consistent access to a space you’re comfortable in, and often end up paying less than the hourly rate you might pay somewhere else.The elephant in the room (or rather, this article) is that “space” isn’t always just a matter of a room full of dancers with a sprung floor.  Space comes in more than one form, all of which are important to the creative process.  In addition to the room, there’s the space we have to make in our brains and in our lives to give our work the time it deserves to steep, evolve, and change.

I’ve been fortunate this year to be part of a program that includes the creation of one piece over the course of a “season” of shows with the support of an apprentice Production Manager.  Designed to “strengthen the longevity of self-producing artists’ processes and their ability to create public work”, this program does triple duty: giving me space, space, and space.  That is to say, I’m given access to two performance spaces at a discounted rate, space in my brain with the added production support, and space for the work to breath and change (the two shows are separated by a self-selected period of 3 to 9 months).

Pico Iyer spoke about “stillness” at this year’s Dance/USA conference.  You can read my thoughts on that here, but perhaps the stillness he spoke of is really just space.  Dancers rarely, if ever, can make dance the sole source of their income.  We spend so much time commuting from job to job, serving blue plate specials and making lattes.

Then, when we do make time for our work, there’s the constant texting, tweeting, and extra energy spent coordinating dancers’ schedules (which are all as busy as yours), managing press releases, making postcards, and then, lastly, creating the work.  In my own work, I admit that I hardly take the time the work desires to sit and let it steep in my brain.  Many dances were finished not by improvising in a spacious studio in front of a camera, but from the seat of my bicycle commuting between jobs.

Wherever and whenever you find the space to create, both types of space – physical space and brain space – are equally important.  But consider this: the more space you can carve out in your life, the less actual space you may need!

So even if that means grabbing a cup of coffee and staring out your dining room window, make space.

Lauren Warnecke

Contributor Lauren Warnecke is a Chicago-based dance artist, educator and writer.  She trained at Judith Svalander School of Ballet and Barat Conservatory of Dance before earning a BA in Dance at Columbia College Chicago. In 2009, Lauren completed her MS in Kinesiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is an adjunct instructor for the Department of Kinesiology at UIC, the Performing Arts Coordinator at the Menomonee Club for Boys and Girls, a member of the Cecchetti Council of America, and Neurotransmitter to Synapse Arts Collective (read: too many jobs).

Lauren created and maintains Art Intercepts as a platform for dance that is informed, inventive, and evidence-based. In addition to writing at 4dancers, Lauren is a columnist at Dance Advantage, specializing in dance injuries and prevention, dancer wellness, and evidence-based teaching practices.  She also enjoys her freelance work as a grant writer and production manager and likes to grow strawberries, bake scones, and dig in the dirt.

The London School of Contemporary Dance’s postgraduate performance company, EDge, is preparing to invest in auditions in cities across North America for 2012-2013, continuing to widen international dance connections and develop the art form we all know and love.

Additionally, auditions will be taking place for other postgraduate and undergraduate programmes at The Place, extending this investment across the breadth of London Contemporary Dance School and connecting dance further. It is the third year of their holding of auditions in the States, with a number of American students currently company members of EDge, extending dance horizons positively in the direction of further development.

Auditions for EDge have been held yearly in the UK and Europe for both postgraduate and undergraduate programmes, with the transition to incorporate US auditions extending dance even further. As the cultural context of dance continues to widen, the future of dance looks extremely bright indeed.

Throughout dance history – and ballet and modern dance particularly – practitioners have travelled extensively, spreading their dance influence and initiating their own dance strands within distinctly differing countries. From Isadora Duncan to George Balanchine and beyond, dance contexts have gradually developed and flourished beyond conception through choreographic and training work in many different cultural contexts. The investment of London Contemporary Dance School in auditions within North America is a clear symptom of an increasingly global approach to contemporary dance training. EDge, amongst many other dance companies, is continuing this through their international auditions and further through the appointment of American artistic director Jeanne Yasko in September 2010.

Jeanne Yasko

Yasko is “just at the beginning of my second year, since returning to the UK. I am partly re-visiting UK contacts from long ago and partly getting acquainted with the very exciting and diverse dance community here in the UK.  I am perhaps more familiar with European and Scandinavian dance as I’ve spent so many years working and touring in that part of the world.”

EDge tours almost constantly between April and July, benefiting from Yasko’s vast experience as a dance practitioner, as her own experience continues to evolve from her links with both the UK and the US. “Since being in London, I have had more contact with US choreographers and dancers. I guess that says something about the exchange that must be happening between the UK and the US! The Dance Umbrella festival in London often brings in the US companies; UK companies are going to the States, and most recently the Richard Alston Dance Company performed at the Fall for Dance Festival at New York’s City Centre.”

Yasko believes the international auditions will guarantee diversity through “a great variety of backgrounds and cultures providing dancers and teachers many opportunities for learning from each other” – “there is a great deal that dancers from both countries can give and learn from each other and the energy is just fantastic!”

EDge specifically shows dance to be merging across continents through much American influence, spelling promise for the future in creating a super-power art form. “I look for dancers who love to dance and who are able to demonstrate this love even in the pressured context of an audition…we require an adequate level of maturity and willingness to create an ensemble together. For ensemble I don’t mean just having dancers in the same studio working on a creative process, but growing and learning to co-create, contributing with the skills and gifts each one is provided with.”

EDge currently performs in England, Scotland, Ireland and also Denmark, Austria and Portugal, providing innumerate yet undoubtedly enriching challenges for the company who will in turn nourish these opportunities and build on them further.  “EDge will continue as a touring dance company of twelve dancers.  Our touring program generally includes newly created works, and, for the forthcoming tour, there will be two additional works from existing repertoire”, which seemingly fulfils roles of both innovating and preserving the past of dance, in order to construct the future.

This responsibility is paired with a completely new yet extremely exciting venture for EDge: Yasko maintains that EDge aims to “recruit a couple of dancers who will also choreograph.  These dancer/choreographers would both perform and have the chance to create a work for their colleagues which would become part of the touring program. The dancer/choreographers would also have a mentor and have the support of the technical and costume production team” in order to shape the best possible direction for London Contemporary Dance School through this new feature, and its consequent contribution to modern dance. There are undoubtedly many plans Yasko is accounting for in encompassing additional audition dates from January 2012.

Yasko agrees that “our history is filled with dance artists exploring, breaking new ground and finding ways to make dances in all sorts of economic climates.  One of the things we are learning is that we need to collaborate more, share as many resources as we can…and all come together!” This positive attitude indicates that the recent UK funding cuts will be defied, with dance continuing to expand through the dedication and passion for the form. “In January 2012, EDge, the other postgraduate study programs as well as the undergraduate study programmes will be holding auditions in Toronto, New York and San Francisco…so we are already expanding in Canada for next year…for the future, well, who knows..!”

For more information please visit -  http://www.theplace.org.uk/3052/about/international-auditions.html

Auditions -

Toronto – Sunday 15 January, 8.30am

Dovehouse Dance

Ballroom, 2nd Floor

Dovercourt House

805 Dovercourt Road

Toronto, ON

M6H 2X4

New York –Monday 16 January,2pm

The Ailey Studios

405 West 55th Street

New York, NY

10019

San Francisco –Sunday 22January, 1pm

ODC Dance Commons

351 Shotwell Street

San Francisco, CA

94110-1324

Additional information about our programmes and course content can be found on the following websites:

Undergraduate:

www.lcds.ac.uk/112/content/technical-training

Postgraduate:

www.lcds.ac.uk/119/pg-diploma-leading-to-ma/taught-postgraduate-programmes

Postgraduate (EDge):

www.theplace.org.uk/edge

From September 2011, EDge will for the first time include dancer/choreographers in its ranks. They will make works on their fellow company members for the touring repertoire, to be complemented by works from guest choreographers. The programme for EDge students will also be more closely integrated with other artist development opportunities offered by The Place as it launches the new “Work Place” scheme for support and development for dance artists at key stages of their careers.

Jessica Wilson

Assistant Editor Jessica Wilson is a final year student at Middlesex university in London, studying Dance Performance. Jessica reviews London shows for the Society of London Theatre’s initiative for 16-25 year olds, TheatreFix, writes features for A Younger Theatre and blogs for Cloud Dance Festival, with additional press responsibilities. She has completed many marketing internships, the most recent at English National Ballet.

Jessica has also previously interned for SOLT, East London Dance and the ISTD dance examination board. Jessica is a National Youth Dance Ambassador for Youth Dance England, focusing on young people’s access to dance. She is extremely passionate about opportunites for young people enabling them to succeed and hopes to continue advocating this in the future through a variety of means.

The Nutcracker

There’s an extremely Christmassy privilege heading to the UK on 22^nd December, in the form of New York City Ballet’s brand new production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, with tickets priced at just ten pounds. This multi-million dollar production includes a forty foot Christmas tree which weighs a staggering one tonne, seventy ballet dancers, fifty children from the School of American Ballet – the official school of NYCB – and a sixty-two piece orchestra. It is ultimately described by the New York Post as “the Christmas show of all Christmas shows”.

NYCB has an unparalleled active repertory of more than 150 works, many of which are considered modern masterpieces. The Company was established in 1948 by choreographer Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein, joined by Jerome Robbins in 1949 as associate artistic director.  Now under the artistic direction of Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins, the company performs an impressive annual 21-week season in New York, the longest home season of any dance company in the world.

The production’s defining feature is its vast scale, described as a ‘virtually live performance’ to be screened in cinemas all over the UK. This will ultimately provide mass audiences with the chance to view such an iconic and prestigious work by Balanchine, who is generally argued to be the father of modern ballet. This great accessibility is proved unhindered by the extremely limited run, due to the fact it is the ‘golden ticket’ of ballets for all dance lovers, available nationally.

Too often Balanchine’s work is described at length throughout literature, with the ability to view his work in a modern context sometimes denied. The screenings of the ballet clearly indicate the importance of preserving the history of dance, not only to continually appreciate and enjoy it, but also for today’s dance generations to build the future of the sector. Balanchine’s inspirational work will become further influential to dance practitioners of all ages, techniques and standards, due to the universal subject nature of the production.

The live performance will be filmed at the Lincoln Centre in New York on 13^th December, which will be beamed over to the UK using fibre optic satellite technology. The film will be edited and produced then distributed by Omniverse Vision, following the phenomenal success of the Phantom of the Opera 25^th Anniversary Concert and Les Miserables 25^th Anniversary Concert in more than 1500 cinemas. The production will be featured in around forty screens in selected cinemas including Odeon, Showcase, Vue and other independents, giving the UK an immeasurable festive treat.

It is arguable that this truly is the ultimate production of The Nutcracker; with unbelievable value for money, the chance for UK ballet and Balanchine fans to witness a hugely talented company perform a classic Christmas work during the holiday season is priceless. The New York Times calls the New York City Ballet’s production of this festive ballet “the unique, original and inimitable Nutcracker”, with Tchaikovsky’s incomparable score, hundreds of dazzling costumes… and a million watts of illuminated excitement.

Katherine E. Brown, NYCB’s executive director, said “we are thrilled to bring this beloved holiday production to what we hope will be the first of many opportunities to present New York City Ballet’s extraordinary repertory in movie theatres throughout the world”, adding great anticipation to the company’s ‘visit’ to the UK. Elizabeth Scott, the Lincoln Centre’s Chief Media and Digital Officer, added “Lincoln Centre pioneered the use of broadcast media to bring the magic of live performance into households throughout the US. We’re pleased to take this next step and give movie goers across the globe access to this classic performance, emblematic of the superb offerings on our renowned stages.”

The award-winning Lincoln Centre provides millions of American television viewers with live performances every year, having collaborated with the Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts to launch its newest distribution channel, Lincoln Centre Digital Productions. The Lincoln Centre’s sixteen-acre campus houses eleven prestigious cultural organizations, additionally the Juilliard School, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and the School of American Ballet.

NYCB is widely acknowledged for its enduring contributions to dance, committed to promoting creative excellence and nurturing a new generation of dancers and choreographers. Through their anticipated cinematic connection with the UK, audiences will become privy to immense talent, both in terms of choreography and performance. For many, this opportunity will be the first of its kind, with the hope that there will be many similar ones to take advantage of, and develop dance further both internationally and inter-culturally.

Tickets are now on sale – please visit www.cinestage.co.uk

Jessica Wilson

Intern Jessica Wilson is a final year student at Middlesex university in London, studying Dance Performance. Jessica reviews London shows for the Society of London Theatre’s initiative for 16-25 year olds, TheatreFix, writes features for A Younger Theatre and blogs for Cloud Dance Festival, with additional press responsibilities. She has completed many marketing internships, the most recent at English National Ballet.

Jessica has also previously interned for SOLT, East London Dance and the ISTD dance examination board. Jessica is a National Youth Dance Ambassador for Youth Dance England, focusing on young people’s access to dance. She is extremely passionate about opportunites for young people enabling them to succeed and hopes to continue advocating this in the future through a variety of means.