From Dance Teacher

By Michelle Vellucci

Rebecca McGregor’s high school guidance counselor told her she’d never make a living teaching dance in the K–12 sector. At the time, there were only three full-time high school dance teachers in all of Vermont, her home state, and no dance programs in any of its elementary or middle schools, aside from guest-artist residencies.

McGregor studied dance in college anyway. And not only did she prove her counselor wrong by landing a job, but, in a twist of poetic justice, the school that hired her—Lyndon Institute—is her alma mater’s rival.

The private high school in the rural  community of Lyndon Center, VT, (about 80 miles northeast of Burlington) is where McGregor has spent the past six years building a dance program and cultivating relationships with teachers across the state to ensure that dance in Vermont thrives. “I took it upon myself to make connections with the other dance teachers out here and find ways of bringing us together,” she says.

First Steps

McGregor started dancing in her hometown of St. Johnsbury, VT, at age 8. When a Costa Rican dancer named Liliana Cubero moved to town a few years later and took over the local studio, McGregor began taking class several nights a week, as well as assisting with baby classes and teaching a summer dance program. Through Cubero, she discovered a healthy approach to movement. “I knew that was what I wanted to do,” she recalls. “I wanted to teach.”

Fast-forward to McGregor’s senior year of college, when she traveled throughout Vermont to research school dance programs. “I learned that no one in the dance field knew of each other,” she says. “It became my goal, if I ever got a teaching job, to increase dance awareness and opportunities in schools.”

Her chance came earlier than expected, when her mom spotted a newspaper ad announcing that Lyndon Institute was looking for someone to start a dance program. Though she still had a semester of student teaching ahead of her, McGregor decided to interview for the position just for practice. Two weeks later, she was offered the job. “They waited a semester for me to finish my degree,” she says.

Anatomy of a Dance Program

McGregor started teaching part-time in January 2003, and by the end of the year, she had attracted enough students to support a full-time position the following September. Today, there are about 80 in the dance program—not too shabby for a rural school with a population of 623.
“My students are from all learning levels and socioeconomic backgrounds,” she says, noting that dance has given these children another way to succeed in school. Headmaster Rick Hilton agrees. “It is a delight to see her students strive for excellence, achieve it and receive the approval of the community,” he says. “Rebecca’s stage is a joyful place.”

Classes take place in the school’s historic Lyndon Town House, a sunny, spacious building with high ceilings and wood floors. McGregor teaches two sections of Dance I in the fall and Dance II in the spring, as well as yearlong courses in jazz and lyrical ballet. Her well-rounded curriculum covers history, technique, choreography and principles of anatomy and kinesiology.

As the school’s only dance teacher, McGregor feels it is essential to expose her students to guest artists as often as possible. “Each semester, I try to bring in people who do things differently from me so that my kids can learn something new and get experience from different teachers,” she says.

Serious dancers may audition for Pulse Dance Company, a troupe for sophomores, juniors and seniors. Company members perform and teach in local elementary and middle schools and participate in talent shows and competitions. McGregor also offers independent study courses tailored to students who are planning to continue their dance education in college.

LI’s after-school tap club and dance club, which explores styles from various cultures and time periods, such as bellydance and swing, are geared toward recreational dancers. “It’s about trying to excite kids about moving their
bodies,” McGregor explains. “We let loose and ham it up.”

Reaching Out

When McGregor started her program, she decided to befriend the local studio owners rather than try to compete with  them. The gesture paid off. “The other teachers are very supportive,” she says. “They want their students taking class with me.”

She communicates regularly with the studio teachers, sending her syllabi and weekly outlines to those with students in her classes so they know exactly what she’s covering. “I make it a point to connect to studio teachers so they feel I’m trying to stay on the same page,” McGregor explains. “We share ideas. It’s important for us to connect and talk about the students, because that’s how they’re really going to progress.”

To connect with dance educators and students on a broader scale, McGregor founded the Vermont State Dance Festival. Now in its sixth year, the annual event brings about 150 teachers and students from around the state to the LI campus to participate in classes and performances. In addition to offering professional-level classes, it allows dance teachers from throughout Vermont to meet, collaborate and learn from one another, McGregor says.

Meanwhile, nearby elementary and middle school students get a taste of LI’s dance offerings, thanks to visits from members of Pulse Dance Company. And each spring, McGregor invites other schools and studios to participate in a benefit recital. Four schools took part in last year’s show, and she’s hoping for a few more this year. Admission is free, but donations are accepted; the proceeds go to organizations that promote child wellness. “We usually have about 500 people in our audience,” she says. “In the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, where hunting is the biggest sport, that’s pretty exciting.”

Looking Ahead

One of McGregor’s plans for the future is to encourage local schools and dance studios to get involved when guest artists come to town. “It would be great to establish a rotating schedule,” she says, “and have dancers from other high schools and studios participate in the master/open classes offered by the artists in residence.”

After running the show solo for the past six years, McGregor says she’ll eventually start delegating certain responsibilities—though she admits she often feels she could keep going forever. “I could easily work on lessons and choreography 24/7 or until I fall asleep in motion, because I am passionate about my job,” she says. “I love seeing the students grow physically, cognitively and socially.”

For now, she’ll continue forging ahead, doing what she loves. “Rebecca possesses that essential quality of great teachers: a passion for her academic discipline,” says Hilton. “Her lessons instruct her students, but her example inspires them.” DT

From Pointe

The Joffrey Ballet Artistic Director Ashley Wheater gives an insider’s perspective on what directors want to see.

What should dancers include in an audition DVD?

Everyone’s at different places in their career and what you include depends on that. If you’re just coming out of school, you need to be able to show some good center work, including adagio, good pirouettes, jumping, batterie and on up. It’s ok to include some barre work, but don’t spend a lot of time on it. With women I really want to see pointe work: how they roll up and down. For the men, I like to see big jumps, including double tours and double assemble; fifty percent should be partnering work, no matter whether you’re at the principal level or in the corps.

I also want to see a good classical variation, and good contemporary dance. Show you understand contemporary movement, whether it’s Taylor, Graham, Horton, etc. Sometimes with audition tapes I see a dancer do a lot of tricks but I don’t know if they can move across the room. I really want to see how you connect movement and how musical you are. Show your personality. Make sure you’re performing enchainements as opposed to just exercises.
Is there anything you’d like to see in more audition DVDs?

It’s really nice when the dancer introduces themselves at the very beginning of the tape. Ballet is so much about who you are, it’s important see a dancer’s personality.
Is there anything you don’t like in an audition DVD?

It’s difficult when DVDs come with a long explanation like, “I’m the second one from the left in the third formation.” Try to be as clear as possible who is auditioning. Also, I want to know what year the footage is from. It has to be current.
What should dancers wear in the DVD?
No black tights. It makes it really hard to see in a video. Women should wear a light colored leotard and pink tights. I like guys in grey tights.
How long should it be?

Around 15 minutes.
Can you tell when dancers are trying to camouflage certain weaknesses?
Yes. The material should be as interesting as you have the ability to perform. Choose a variation that shows you to your best advantage. Don’t change the variation. It just shows you can’t do the hard steps.
From first turning on the DVD, how long does it take for you to make a decision?

I’m pretty attuned to what I like. I can decide fairly quickly whether a dancer appeals to me. Directors are usually quite clear about what they need for their company. Sometimes we’re looking very specifically for a small woman at the soloist level. A lot of kids don’t understand that. Nonetheless, I almost always watch the whole DVD. If someone is really talented but I can’t hire them at that time, I’ll call them to give them advice for finding a great company for them.

Right now it’s a fragile time. The arts are struggling along with everyone else. Looking for a job in ballet is hard work. You have to be ready for it and understand what it is to work in pointe shoes for seven hours, look after yourself, eat well and pick up choreography quickly. Companies don’t have the luxury of having people hanging around and not being used.

From Dance Magazine

By Lynn Colburn Shapiro

Jan Erkert is a dancemaker, teacher, and head of the Department of Dance at University of Illinois, Urbana/ Champaign. As artistic director of Jan Erkert & Dancers from 1979 to 2000, she began exploring the concepts of yield/push and reach/pull to differentiate qualities of effort and the focus of energy. This exploration of directing energy became the basis of her teaching philosophy. While a professor of dance at Columbia College Chicago from 1990 to 2006, she received the 1999 Excellence in Teaching Award. Author of Harnessing the Wind: The Art of Teaching Modern Dance, Erkert is a popular teacher in the American College Dance Festival Association of both students and faculty. Her naturalistic movement style evokes the primitive, with a seemingly effortless ballet underpinning. Lynn Colburn Shapiro observed Erkert’s classes and spoke with her during a June guest residency at The Dance Center, Columbia College Chicago.

Why did you have the students roll across the floor? It’s based on movements of infants. Yielding to gravity––not flopping, but finding the yield and push––the students begin to discover that yielding isn’t always about the places in your body you’re thinking about. I’m asking them to wake up their nerve cells and touch sensations.

If I yield in a grand plié, I also have to reach. I ask the students to imagine the same yield and push related to a jump, to see it in their mind’s eye. I want them to feel the oppositional pulls of earth and sky resonate in the bones, and let weight and momentum carry the impulse.

How does your use of everyday gesture figure in teaching technique? I start pedestrian and lead them into more skilled, stylistic actions. They know how to walk, and they know how to swing their arms in opposition. They’ve all practiced that. Then I can begin to guide it. The more advanced the class, the less the pedestrian actions––although when I teach professionals I go back to pedestrian. I see it as a full circle, and they have to work like hell to do it.
How can students apply your concepts to other aspects of their training? For example, the concept of yield: In improvisation, I have them first write in a notebook about their lives. Where do you yield in your life, and where don’t you? Then we practice yielding with each other. Yield is an idea full of life and psychology as much as an actual physical force. By flipping back and forth from everyday life to physicality, students can take the concepts beyond my classroom.
You have such strong ballet technique. What do you tell students without that background? My whole learning trajectory after ballet was for connectivity, flow, and understanding. I had to give up ballet temporarily to find that. I remember teaching when I got out of college, saying to students, “Throw it away! Throw it away!” And one of them asked, “How do you throw it away if you don’t have it?” I had to build students up while unleashing them, get the spine and core working first, the legs later. If I get the spine connected, the rest comes from that––like a starfish. I’ve learned to do that through Body-Mind Centering, anatomy, kinesiology, yoga, and Alexander Technique.

If you do one form too much for too long, you get frozen into that style. That’s why we do ballet day after day. You get better at doing ballet, but it can stifle creativity.

How does your choreographic process carry over into your teaching? Idea-based exploration is no different in technique than in choreography. I did a piece about love. Where does it reside in the body? Is it in the heart? In the stomach? What comes if I move from the heart or the stomach? When you do a spiral, think of actually twisting your heart. The image of moving your heart first is really different from moving in a muscular-skeletal way.
How does your class prepare a student for the stage? I make them stand still for a God-awful three minutes! You have to be able to be still. You can’t be present if you’re fixing your hair, scratching your nose, or pulling up your tights. All dance training is about focus and concentration. You need to have presence in the body to be that absolute, charismatic thing onstage.

I see very accomplished dancers who aren’t grounded in themselves. They somehow manage the steps and have the outward form, the adoption of style without the principles behind it. Or I see peripheral showmanship. They’ll do a modern split leap but there’s nothing inside. The everyday gestures get dancers back inside themselves. The great ones, like Baryshnikov, embody a sense of technique from the inside out. That’s where I’m going. I want that to be dancing.

Germaine Salsberg lives to tap. In addition to being on faculty at Broadway Dance Center for over 20 years and teaching at STEPS on Broadway, she’s worked with Tony Award–winner Danny Daniels on the Broadway and national tours of Tap Dance Kid and has privately coached actors, including Liza Minnelli on the film Steppin’ Out. With a reputation for instilling a strong technical foundation through rhythm elements, it’s no wonder she recently released a CD of music for tap class. Along with pianist Kevin Cole, the two created Tap Tunes: For Tap Class and Practice. “I feel it is my obligation to acquaint students with different styles of tap. Therefore, I utilize different types of music,” says Salsberg. “Music choices need to be interesting enough to dance to, but not overwhelming.”

Artist: Gene Krupa
Song/Album: “Hodge Podge,” V Disk
“This is an oldie but goodie. It’s really a big-band sound, but it’s not so over-arranged that it takes over. It’s not real fast, but it has the Gene Krupa drive. Good for style, time steps and combinations that could incorporate a musical theater or big-band style.”

Artist: Jo Jones
Song/Album:“Jive at Five,” The Everest Years
“I did some work with Sarah Petronio in Paris, who is so swinging. She introduced me to the music of Jo Jones, a jazz drummer from the ’60s and ’70s, and boy does he swing, too! I love other songs on this album as well, so check out the entire album. The music is good for combinations—it really forces the students to listen and syncopate.”

Artist: Kenny Burrell
Song/Album: “Midnight Blue,” Midnight Blue (The Rudy Van Gelder Edition Remastered)
“This is a medium swing that keeps a very even tempo, and it goes on long enough to do long exercises (shuffles, double shuffles and triplets) at a relaxed pace.”

Artist: Jeff Golub
Song/Album: “Cold Duck Time,” Do It Again
“I fell in love with this song and found out it’s actually a jazz standard, but Golub arranged it in a jazz/funk mode. Warning—there is a variation in phrasing where he throws in a 12 measure once in a while, as opposed to the standard 8 measure. Not a fast-paced song, but there’s lots of room for double time and paddle and roll work.”

Artist: Oscar Peterson & Milt Jackson
Song/Album: “Work Song,” Very Tall
“I started using this song many years ago—and I used it and used it and used it! It’s great for warm-ups utilizing articulations and single-sound warm-ups for beginners, and I even choreographed a competition piece to it. It’s strong and driving, easy to hear, with a
certain amount of musical variation (not tempo) that keeps it interesting.”

Artist: Jane Monheit
Song/Album: “Taking A Chance On Love,” Taking A Chance On Love
“I often shy away from using vocals, because it comes across as too many elements with the tap sounds, music and the voice all at the same time. But Monheit is such a great jazz singer, and this song gives such a lift to the students. It really swings, has a great instrumental break and is quite peppy without being overly fast.”

Artist: Natalie Cole
Song/Album: “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” Unforgettable: With Love
“Cole’s voice really adds to the instrumentation. I use this all the time for my basic and beginner combinations. It is slow enough for them but does not drag and isn’t boring. It has a great musical break, and the students really listen—sometimes they even sing along.”

From Dance Spirit

By Alison Feller

As the co-executive producer of “So You Think You Can Dance,” Jeff Thacker has seen it all. He’s watched dancers face-plant during the audition process, but he’s also witnessed the dancers who blew Nigel and Mary away. He’s here to tell you how to get your ticket to Vegas—
and for the hot tamale train.

Do:

• Dress to impress. It makes a big difference.

• Be as unique and memorable as you can. Show us something we may not have seen yet.

• Show us your charisma and character. Having a good personality is equally as important as excellent dancing ability.

• Come and enjoy the entire experience.

Don’t:

• Come unprepared. You never know what songs you may dance to or styles you’ll be asked to do.

• Dance in a style that isn’t your own. Be good at your own style, not bad at another.

• Wear hats or glasses that cover your face. We need to see you.

• Hold back. Just go for it and do your best.

From Dance Spirit

By Jacqui Gal

Awesome Aids: Becoming a teacher’s assistant can further your dancing and your career.

Have you ever wondered who those extra dancers are in the front of your class? They’re probably the teacher’s assistants. A TA is a young dancer who is chosen to help a professional instructor demonstrate or keep order during his or her class. The benefits: Being a TA allows you to spend extra time in the dance studio with your teachers while helping other students with their technique can actually help you to more fully understand your own critiques and areas that need improvement. So being a TA isn’t just a job, it’s a great way to bring you one step further in your dance career! Read on to learn more.

When Kate Ridge was 16, she got her first teacher’s assistant job traveling the country as a VIP with Dance Olympus workshop. Even though she was paying her own way on the tour, the connections she made were priceless. “I wanted to be as close to the instructors as I could to learn everything about being a dance professional. I was like a sponge,” Kate says. “The dance world is so small anyway, but for people to see what a hard worker you are from day one—it’s definitely a career opportunity.” For Kate, this time on the road got her a gig assisting at the EDGE Performing Arts Center in Hollywood!

Now Kate, 24, works as a teacher and choreographer at the Jean Hart Academy of Dance and the Shadowridge Dance Center in San Diego, and as a marketing administrative assistant for the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. She says she would never be where she’s today, were it not for the contacts she made as a TA.

Why You Should Try It

There are numerous reasons to ask your teacher if you can assist her class. “I learned so much through assisting:” Kate says, “How to pace myself in a 10-hour rehearsal; how to take care of my body; how to network with other teachers in the industry; how choreographers handle teaching five or more classes in one day while constantly remaining exciting and motivating; what to charge for my future dance jobs; how to edit music; how to plan a warm-up; and how to balance the busy life of a self-employed dancer with a personal life.”

Getting hired as a TA will also push you to reach your fullest potential. “It forced me to push myself every time I danced,” she says. “People were relying on me for memorization and clarification of the steps, so it gave me the drive to perform full out every time. I never slacked off.” Plus, it gave her the chance to dance front and center during class. “There’s way more space to dance in the front or on the stage in those crowded conventions or popular L.A. classes.”

What You’ll Have to Overcome

Being a TA will help you become a leader. For Jenny Wade, who dances at Rhythm Nation Studios in Bedford, TX, the transformation from student to teacher happened rapidly and unexpectedly. When she was 15, her dance teacher stopped her in the hall and asked her to help out in class. It began spontaneously, she says. “He just said, ‘Hey, come in here and help me.’”

For the first six months, Jenny assisted as a favor to her teacher. But after racking up some experience, she was given her own class of little ones to teach, and she started earning $15 an hour for her efforts. After a year, she was making $20. Because the process was so sudden, it made Jenny, now 17, revaluate her priorities. “I had to step up into that leadership position. I thought, ‘I can’t be playing around anymore. I have to be more serious.’ I had to realize what it really entailed.”

While teaching younger students was no problem, Jenny was a little nervous about helping in a class of dancers her own age, even though they were less-advanced than she was. But when the time came to step into that role, she found her fellow students willing to listen because their relationship was based on mutual respect. She gave corrections but didn’t talk down to them. “It wasn’t like I was on a power trip, or trying to be mean,” she says. “They knew that I was just trying to help.”

Tapper Justin M. Lewis had a similar experience. He remembers it was difficult to connect with students his own age at first, but eventually his years of dancing experience won out: “The students look at me as a professional who knows what he’s doing.” Looking back, he says it’s a bit like the experience of being onstage; at first you might be nervous in the wings but the minute you start to dance—or in this case, teach—you come alive. And after three years of assisting, Justin is now on the brink of his career dream: running his own studio.

From TA to Studio Owner

Like Jenny, Justin began at age 15 and worked for no pay. One year later, he was earning $30 an hour and teaching two or three classes a week at Silver Spring, MD’s Knock on Wood where he studied tap. Along with being a TA, Justin kept dancing and performing (mostly with his studio’s youth ensemble group Tappers With Attitude) until the managing director of Studio Bleu, Kimberly Walsh Rishi, happened to catch one of his performances and got in touch. “I thought she just wanted me to come in and help her teach classes,” says Justin. What he wasn’t expecting was the super-close working relationship the pair quickly established. “I talk to her daily,” says Justin. “She gives me insight into how her extremely successful studios work and the opportunity to meet some of her investors.”

Right now, Justin is majoring in performing arts management at Columbia College in Chicago. But he and Walsh Rishi have already begun planning their first joint venture. “Within the next couple of years, she’ll start her third studio in Virginia and she wants me to be the operating manager when I get out of school. I had no idea what I was getting into when I first met her,” Justin says. One minute he’s tapping out a few steps, “next thing you know, she’s helping me to run my own studio, which is my big dream in life.”

Jacqui Gal is a freelance writer living in NYC.

Competition season is upon us, and this is such a great experience for dancers, but it can also be very stressful.  I have come up with a list of competition essentials to help dancers get through this crazy time.

#1 – Get plenty of sleep.  If you are not well rested, there are greater chances of injury and forgetting choreography.  Get at least 7 hours of sleep the night before you compete so you can be refreshed and ready to go in the morning!

#2 – Always eat something.  Your body depends on food to give you energy.  If you are performing all day, you are going to need plenty of energy to perform your best.  Make sure to eat plenty of fruits and light carbohydrates.  Stay away from junk food and heavier foods that may make you feel too full.

#3 – Always have an extra pair of tights.  You never know what can happen when dancing on stage, and there is always a chance that you will get a big run in your tights during a performance.  If those are the only tights you have, you will be stuck with them for the rest of the competition.  Another mini tip: Have clear nail polish on hand; if you put this around the run, it prevents the hole from getting bigger.

#4 – Make sure to wear blush and lipstick.  The lights on the stage can make a dancer look very pale.  Wearing lipstick and blush will bring color to your face and not drown you out on stage.

#5 – Warm up and stretch properly.  A dancer should always warm up and stretch before any type of dancing to help prevent injury.  Many dancers forget to do this during competition because they are very busy with costume changes and running their choreography back stage.  Try to arrive at the facility early so you give yourself plenty of time to warm up and stretch.  This will lower the risk of injury during the performance.

#6 – Relax and stay confident.  Try not to panic before you go on stage;  just let all of your hard work and practice show in your performance and you’ll be fine.  The more confident you are in yourself, the better you will be;  for competition and for the rest of your dancing career.

Competing is a great experience for a dancer; it can teach you many things that you can use now and throughout the rest of your life.  But most of all, have fun!

Hello Everyone!

My name is Shelli, and I’m here to answer your dance questions! But,  I guess the best place to start is to give you a little history about myself.

To begin, I wear a LOT of hats in life.  Like most moms, I am completely twisted and pulled in all directions, at all times.  I am a mother of 3 amazing kids (I know we all say that…but they really are).  My kids are very close in age but for the next month I don’t get to look completely insane and tell you that my kids ages are 21, 21, and 19.  Until my baby turns 20 March 2^nd.  Then the head scratching begins when I say my kids are 21, 21, and 20!  So yes, I did have twins (boy & girl) and a 3^rd just 15 months later.  They are a dancer/business owner, a senior at Chapman University (Graduating with top honors), and a sophomore at Idaho State who also plays football for them!

But aside from a mother of 3, I am a wife of 23 years, a business owner for the last 20 years and the matriarch of my entire family. I am also a grantie (yes that’s spelled right) of 5 nieces, mother to my 4 dogs, 3 cats, 3 bothers, 1 sister and sometimes my Husband & my father.  I am also partner in a dance wear business with my daughter, and the PR & Special Projects Manager for Discount Dance Supply.

So what does that have to do with my knowing anything about dance and dancers?  Well, I guess it begins with my daughter.  She’s an amazing young woman who has navigated her way thru the maze of being a student, a competitor, a protégé, a professional, a teacher, a judge and a business owner…all in the world of dance.  So without a conscious effort dance and the dance world have been a very big part of my life for 15 years now.

What I would like to accomplish with blogging is to talk.  About every possible subject in the world of dance I can  speak with relative confidence about.  I know that as a mother of a dancer, there were so many moments that I needed a friend…a confidant…an advisor who knew the road I was on.  Hopefully I can provide some of this to you.  I have been through it all as a mother of a ballerina and now out there watching it all from different angles in the business world of dance and competitions.  So feel free to comment back to me…ask questions…give me your thoughts.

I want to leave you with some questions to begin the conversation….

What’s your goal in dance with your child?  What motivates you?  What motivates them?

Hello everyone!

I want to give a little thought to competitions, primarily how you cope when things go wrong.  A few weeks ago, I watched students from my studio compete in a competition, and most of the transitions from piece to piece were smooth and seamless, but the tension built up when one of my friends was about to go on and they turned on the wrong music.  The announcer said “Attention judges:  the next number will be …” The next girl stepped onstage and took her pose, but her music was wrong as well.  They had switched it with my friend’s piece!  Then came the awkward part where the announcer asked the dancer to please leave the stage.  My friend had to wait through about five dances before they straightened out the music and went back to her.  By that time, there is no telling how much her adrenaline and nerves had built up.  She did fairly well, but you could tell that she was past her peak as far as stress levels go.

I once fell during the Medora variation from Le Corsaire, right at the beginning of the piece.  When landing from a jump my foot slipped behind me (slippery stage + pointe shoes = disaster) so I catapulted forward and fell right on my face.  The audience gasped, but for some reason my mind was so calm and set on giving them a show, I bounced back up and didn’t miss a beat in the music.  The crazy part is, I look back and remember that performance as one of my favorites.  After that fall, there was nothing worse that could happen, so I just danced my heart out and the audience cheered at the end.  It felt great!  I find nothing more invigorating than giving a good show.

In my years of competing, I have had several experiences with mixed music, costume malfunctions, and falling flat on my face onstage.  The question is:  how do you cope when something goes wrong?  For me, it all comes down to mental preparation.  A few years ago, my parents gave me a motivational cd series called the Psychology of Winning.  That it my top choice when I need to get in “the zone”.  It’s not necessarily about winning, but having a mindset that anything is possible.  After all, you become what you think about most of the time.  I always perform best when I take a few minutes to be in a quiet place by myself, close my eyes, listen to my ipod, and get in “the zone”.  How do you prepare for competitions and deal with mishaps?  Embarrassing stories welcome!

-Lizzy

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all entering a great 2nd week into February. I’m about to embark on my 4th week of school, and the semester has been so busy already! I mentioned in the last blog some of the projects I’m working on this semester so I thought I’d update you all regarding them.

First, I’m performing in “Showing 4″, which is one out of the 5 “showings” we have featuring work by student choreographers. I’m in a piece choreographed by Mandarin Wu, who is a 2nd year MFA and graduated from UCI for her undergrad. We actually know each other through mutual people including my future sister-in-law, Genevieve, because they worked together in LA this past summer. Anyway, Mandy (short for Mandarin) is choreographing a pointe piece, and I’m very excited and scared to perform it all at the same time. It’s been a long while since I’ve performed pointe on stage so I hope that I don’t fall on my face! We will be performing this piece next week – Feb. 18th and 19th. Wish me luck!

My next project I’m working on is a piece I’m choreographing for the MFA 1 concert. All 1st year MFAs get their own concert to feature choreographic works if they wish. I am choreographing a piece set on 6 women, and it is going to be FIERCE. Here’s a little preview of their costumes (still a work in progress…and was custom made and sewn by my MOM, Monica Chua – my Mom is the best!!! :

Don’t they look so awesome! The piece is also set to music composed by Elias Constantopedos (who also composed my solo from last semester) – the music is a fusion of a Baroque fugue mixed in with electronic sound. I wanted to have this regal and courtship look to the piece, and the music suits the choreography perfectly. You can preview a rehearsal video here – just remember it’s still a work in progress:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP5voHFwoWU

This piece will be premiering in 2 weeks – Feb. 25, 26, 27th. The show is FREE so if any of you readers are in NYC and would like to come to this performance or the one above then come to 111 2nd Ave, 5th floor. Both shows are FREE! I am so looking forward to this performance because not only are my mother, her boyfriend, and my grandmother coming to see the show, but my fiancé, Chester, will be here too! This will be the first time Chester has come to see me here in NYC so I’m so excited!!!

Lastly, the third project I’m working on is for my Choreographers, Composers and Designers class. I’m working with two other ladies, Julia and Wen-Jen, and we are collaborating with set designers, a costume designer, and music composer to choreograph and produce a work. It’s been such a brain-filled experience so far because everyone has such great creative input and ideas that when I walk away from our meetings my brain hurts! Our concept deals with technology, and how it affects our communication – whether it helps or leads us to miscommunication. We are working within that realm, and if you start thinking about technology and how it is taking over our lives this can become a very broad and deep topic. However, we want to keep this piece light-hearted and somewhat humorous. We will be scaling down and concentrating on specific communication through the use of social networking like Facebook and Myspace and how that can affect relationships between 2 or even 3 people. We have 1 female and 2 males in our cast so we might try to work out some kind of love triangle or something to that extent. We are still in the very beginning stages of this project so I will keep you all updated. Here’s a poem that we found that inspired our concept for this piece (it’s actually really funny):

http://www.jamesshuggins.com/h/tek1/rememberwhen.htm

I will keep you all updated on my many projects coming up this semester. Hope you enjoyed reading and hope you have a great week. Thanks!!!