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Category: Dance

  • Dancers at a Wedding

    I went to a wedding this past weekend where, as is typical, many of the guests were dancing. What wasn’t typical was that a large portion of the Louisville Ballet were guests. One of their members was the bride and they performed a dance for her to Abba’s Dancing Queen. The men were in suits,…

  • Unreasonable Diets

    Dancers, especially ballet dancers, have to be strong, flexible and (typically, for the aesthetic norms of the form) lean. Extra weight also provides added stress on joints (especially during jumps and on pointe) and can impede partnered lifts. For many dancers, particular during adolescent body changes due to hormones, this need to have low body…

  • On Dance Moms (Not the TV Show)

    When I was a child and teen in dance, I had a mother who cared about and who was invested in helping me to progress as much as possible as a dancer. But I did not have a Dance Mom. A Dance Mom goes beyond ally and facilitator and takes on the role of personal…

  • The Joy of the Unexpected

    Dances are planned from beginning to end but they often end up somewhere unexpected. One can’t predict all the stumbling blocks, such as a misplaced stage light or a broken shoe strap, that lead to necessary workarounds. There are also unanticipated moments of surprise and joy, such as being able to hold a balance pose…

  • Happy Dance

    Have you ever received some hoped-for good news (getting a promotion or raise, your crush calling you for a date, a game win or something else) and broken out into a spontaneous happy dance? Perhaps it looked like one of these: Happy Dance GIFs – Find & Share on GIPHY. Or perhaps it was your…

  • Perfect Lines

    Dance can be accessed and appreciated in a number of different modalities, from the lived experience of the dancer to the audience-member spectator who does not have sustained and expert dance training and exposure themselves. If you think of dance as something that comes from the inside out you are more likely to think of…

  • Perhaps Dance Is Not For Everyone

    I have a friend and colleague (“C”) who is is getting married soon and there will be a first dance. His fiancée (“D”) is a professional dancer. C is not a professional dancer. Nor does he consider himself to be a dancer of any kind. But he loves D, and he wants to participate in…

  • Dancing in Music

    Dancing in music is an immersion experience. It’s not reducible to either conforming dance movements to beats of time or a layering a visual component on top of an audible score, although of course it can be both of these things. Dancing in music is like swimming in a way that makes use of, or…

  • A Dancer Is Not A Person Who Dances

    What’s the difference between a person who dances and a dancer? Let’s start with a person who dances. A person who dances: Will socialize with non-dancers. Might have short hair or long hair. Listens to their body’s cues, and stops when something hurts. Will consider nutrition but does not diet. Is a “normal” person. May…

  • A New Pair of Pointe Shoes

    A needle and thread, a match, a razor blade. A needle and thread sewing elastic ankle bands and ribbons. A match melting ribbon edges before they unravel. A razor blade scratching the slippery shanks.   Sweating, blistering, and bleeding in shoes that are softening, softening, softening, perfect, too soft!   At the end of the…

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