Posts Tagged ‘Broadway Dance Center’

Still Dancin’ Up a Storm in New York City

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

Julian began his final five days of dance classes today. We started off at Steps on Broadway, where he saw several girls from ABT and a boy from Complexions. As we were leaving, he ran into one of his best friends–a boy from ABT. The dance world is small. I was surprised to see that Julian was not the only kids who had decided not to take a break after the intensive.

He did one less class than expected–first, he forgot his tap shoes and we had to return to the apartment to get them, second, he has a pulled muscle in his abdomen that has been bothering him. So, three classes seemed enough for today. Last year he took 4.5-6 hours of class a day…another week of self-inflicted intensive. He’s gearing up tomorrow, though, and it looks like he’ll be focusing on ballet, theater jazz, tap, and hip hop with a little contemporary thrown in for good measure. A well-rounded program, no? I’d have stayed away from ballet, but he was told to improve his technique, so…And it looks like we’ll be buying a Steps class card after all and not using up all of the Broadway Dance Center card after all.

Teachers Julian plans to take class with at Broadway Dance Center and Steps are:  Sue Samuels, Luam, Kelly Peters, Wilhem Burmann, Alexander Tressor, Camille A. Brown, Barbara Duffy, Ray Richard Pierlon, and Ray Hesselink. Check them out! Today he took with ABT Soloist Craig Salstein, Tracie Stanfield, and Cartier Williams (who replaced Michelle Dorrance, one of Julian’s faves from last year…but most of the hoofers are at tap festivals at this time of year).

By the way, Julian tried out his new tap shoes, the Jason Samuels by Bloch, which Jason Samuels Smith designed, and he loves them. Bye bye Miller and Ben’s. We loved supporting our Israeli tappers and tap shoe designer/producers, but Julian says these shoes are comfortable, soft, light, airy, and sound great. He had no blisters after an hour and a half of barefoot tapping the first time out with them tonight.

I hope some of you made it to Central Park for this event tonight. One thousand ballerinas were expected to gather and break a Guinness World Record by simultaneously standing en pointe for one full minute. This was a benefit for the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club performing arts program, with 100% of the $10 suggested donation goes to the program. (Sorry I didn’t publicize this earlier; I had no Internet connection most of the day and only found out about it this afternoon.) I would have liked to have seen all those ballet dancers on point for a good cause. We didn’t make it. Julian had a tap class at about that time at Broadway Dance Center. Maybe if we’d been going up to Steps…

That’s it for tonight.

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Posted in dance attire, dance studios, Teachers | No Comments »

Happy Belated National Tap Dance Day!

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Well, I’m a bit late, but that’s not unusual for me when it comes to wishing friends and family birthday and anniversary wishes. So why should it be any different for national tap dance day?

Anyway…Yesterday, May 25th, was National Tap Day! So, hurray for tapping!

I can still remember Julian when he was just nine or 10 years old going to play with a friend. I’d just dropped him off and was sitting in the car watching until he got into the house. Julian had rung the bell and was waiting for his friend to open the door. As he stood there, he did a tap dance.

Julian has always loved tap dancing. He doesn’t do as much of it any more, although he and I both wish he did. His focus is on ballet these days–and this blog tends to focus more on ballet than other styles of dance, since ballet forms the foundation of most dance styles. When we are in New York for the ABT Summer Intensive Julian actually does a lot of tapping, especially with Michelle Dorrance if she is around. Last summer he also had a private lesson with Jason Samuels Smith, which was awesome. I have videos of the warm up…OMG. I didn’t think he’d survive the lesson based just on the warm up.

Tap is a wonderful art form. The dancers feet become instruments. Julian has tapped with some of the best…and they are a delight to watch and listen to. I understand that it is much more difficult to make a living as a tapper than in some other areas of dance. (I’ve been trying to get a tapper to write a post for me, but I’ve had no luck yet. I’ll keep trying.)

If you are thinking about getting your son involved in dance and aren’t sure how to start him out, sign him up for a tap class. Boys love tap! It’s all about making noise –well, music –with their feet, and they think that’s cool. They can be loud! They think that’s cool, too. Plus, they don’t have to wear any special dance clothes. More studios have boys’ tap classes than any other types of all-boy dance classes to boot.

Here’s a great article on how tap got a national day of it’s own. Enjoy!

By the way, the photo is of Miller and Ben tap shoes. They are great! That’s what Julian wears (the Jazz Tap model in black). You can get fitted for them by Avi Miller or Ofer Ben at Broadway Dance Center in New York, where they teach. Take class from them if you can; it’s like a comedy act. They hold mikes, play the piano…lots of fun.

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Posted in boys dance classes, jason samuels smith, tap | 1 Comment »

Salim Gauwloos (Part 1): Classical Training Helps in Hollywood

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

As many of you know, while Julian and I were in New York City last year, he spent a week taking classes at Broadway Dance Center. One of the highlights of that week were the three classes he took with Salim Gauwloos, who many people know as “Slam.” Julian even gave up the chance to dance with Broadway choreographer Joey Dowling on the second day of Slam’s class, insisting that he wanted to continue with Slam’s series instead. He never regretted the decision for a moment.

I asked Slam at that time if he’d be willing to contribute to My Son Can Dance and he agreed to answer some questions for me. It’s taken me this long to follow-up with Salim, who graciously offered answers to every one of my questions.

Before I give you the great information he offered, let me tell you about Salim. Bear with this long bio, because I want you to get a complete picture of the varied skills this man possesses as well as the different experiences that make up the scope of his career. If any dancer sets a great example of being a jack of all trades and master of all of them, it’s Salim. Julian aspires to be just like him. (And, yes, you will find some wisdom from Salim at the end of the bio—and more to come in the next post.)

Salim’s career began when he began training in his native Belgium at the Ballet of Flanders in Antwerp. At the age of 17, Salim auditioned in Belgium for a scholarship to the prestigious Steps Dance School in New York City. Out of the two thousand dancers that auditioned, Salim was one of the two dancers who were awarded the scholarship.

In 1990, he began an association with Madonna. (Yes, THE Madonna.)  He is most famous for his performances in The Blond Ambition Tour and the documentary film, Truth or Dare; he has also performed in several of her videos, such as Vogue, Hanky Panky and Holiday (live).

In addition, he has performed in music videos for the most popular artists in the entertainment industry. Also, he has worked with Mia Michaels’ company R.A.W and with Margo Sappington’s Company The Daring Project. In a different venue, he performed in New York City Opera’s productions of “Salome,” “Daphne,” and “Candide.” Plus, he has performed on Broadway; his credits there include Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida on Broadway, and Mambo Kings, The Workshop.

Salim has acquired a reputation as not only as an extraordinary dancer but also as an exceptionally gifted choreographer. He was selected to showcase his choreography in the prestigious Ballet Builders in 2002, 2004, and 2006. His work choreographing the number for Aida’s performance at Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids won “Gypsy of the Year 2003.”

He presented two world premieres set on Orlando Ballet under the artistic direction of Fernando Bujones, which received rave reviews. The contemporary solo titled “Coming of Age” that Salim created for Joseph Gorak ( who is now a member of ABT but was the all around winner of the Youth America Grand Prix 2006) was performed at the Gala “Stars of Today meet the Stars of Tomorrow” held at City Center.  In 2007, he created a piece in Buenos Aires titled “Between Hope and Fear,” which was presented as part of Argentina?s Mozarteum Program 2007, and has set a piece on the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company titled “11:11.”  In 2008, he won the choreography award at the YAPG in South Carolina and presented a new work titled “The Room” at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford CT.

Salim has been invited as a master teacher to Ballet de Monterrey in Mexico, as well as Amsterdam Dance Center in Holland, Arena21 in Zurich and ImpulsTanz in Vienna. Most recently he choreographed the Wella Trend Vision ?09 Campaign shot by world-renowned photographer Alexi Lubomirski, as well as the Sebastian Trilliant Campaign featuring Charlotte Ronson, shot by Robert Lobetta.

Pretty impressive, no? He knows his way around a ballet studio, a Hollywood video shoot, a Broadway stage, a YAGP competition, and more. So, who better to offer some words of mentorship to our sons…and to us parents as well? So, without further ado, here’s what Salim has to say:

1.  At what age did you start dancing, and why did you begin dancing?

I started dancing at age 13 in my native Belgium. First, I was a gymnast, and I loved it, but at the same time I was starting to take jazz classes. My jazz teacher told me that I should audition for the Stedelijk Instituut voor Ballet, a prestigious ballet school in Antwerp. I did, but didn’t get in the first time. I auditioned a second time and then got accepted. From there my intense ballet training started for six years.

2. What style of dance did you do with Madonna and with other performing artists?

While working with Madonna, I did a blend of a lot of different styles—jazz, modern, classical, some hip hop, and, of course, voguing. But the amazing thing was that we mostly all came from a ballet background; only one dancer was a hip hop dancer.

For other artists I worked with at that time, like Aretha Franklin or George Michael, the style was funky but still very technical.

3. Did your earlier classical training help you succeed in your work as a back up dancer and on videos? Did you have training in other styles as well?

Of course, it did! While I was training at the ballet school, I was also training in Graham and jazz.

The classical ballet gave me beautiful lines, and the Martha Graham technique and jazz made me really strong.

I think what made me successful was my ambition and drive. I was always in the dance studio, never really happy, always wanting my body to do more and better.

[Come back for more from Salim! Next post: How to succeed on Broadway.]

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Posted in Dancing in Hollywood, Salim Gauwloos | 2 Comments »

OMG! Home 2 Weeks and No Time to Write!

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

I have to apologize to any faithful blog readers! I have been back from New York City from two whole weeks, and I have not had a minute to write a blog post. In fact, I should be working on a column for Movmnt magazine or editing for a client right now, but I figured I better right something soon or no one would bother continuing to read this blog!

Re-entry into normal life in California was a bit odd for Julian and I. We really found it quite odd to be back home after seven weeks in the city. That said, life was not normal. My stepson arrived just one and a half days after we got back, and Julian immediately went back to taking evening classes at Teen Dance Company.  Plus, we had to juggle my daughters internship schedule, which took her in the opposite direction to the University of California-Santa Cruz; TDC is in Mountain View in the valley. Between doing things with my stepson and reacclimating to driving every day and every which way, my work began to pile up. It was a bit crazy.

The first full weekend we were home, Julian received a text message from a fellow TDC company member asking if he was auditioning for Mark Froehringer‘s Nutcracker in San Francisco. Well…we had thought about doing so, but it wasn’t on my radar…at all. In fact, I haven’t been using my daytimer at all. So, we jumped up and showered and drove like a bat out of hell into San Francisco.

Now, the woman who choreographed the Nutcracker Julian was in last year has already been emailing us as well. She’d like him back, although at 5’7″ or more, I think he’s a bit tall for Fritz. (She says he can do more this year; last year he also did the Russian dance.)

Give me a break, though…summer’s not even over and we are thinking about a performance that happens in December. And for Julian, it’s another hard choice: Dance with friends or dance with a professional company. (He was asked to do some awesome partnering during the audition in San Francisco…) For my husband and I, it’s also a hard choice: an hour and a half drive to San Francisco every Friday and Sunday from mid-September until mid-December. (And I was all excited that my daughter is giving up swimming, which means we finally have Friday’s free, since TDC doesn’t have classes on Friday.)

Anyway…back to NYC. I promised to tell you about the great teachers Julian danced with there, in case you should happen to find yourself at Broadway Dance Center. Some of the ones he liked the best were guest teaches, however. By far, he enjoyed contemporary classes with Slam the most. Slam, otherwise known as Salim Gauwloos brings to his teaching and choreography not only his technical ballet training but also his experience as a dancer with Madonna. Yes, he was a big MTV star and her touring dance partner. Yet, he now choreographs for the likes of ABT and the Orlando Ballet. Julian took three classes with him, and loved his choreography and working with him. It didn’t hurt that Salim noticed him and commented on his technique, even using him to demonstrate in the second and third class. (Sorry…had to brag a bit.)

Staying in the contemporary vein, he really enjoyed a class with James Tabeek, who was in the 1st national tour of the Broadway show Wicked,  and appeared on Broadway in Taboo and Beauty and the Beast.

Julian took two jazz classes with BDC favorite and staple Sheila Barker. He adored her class and her. She came out and gave me a hug and a kiss just for being Julian’s mother! (By the way…I got a hug and a kiss from Slam as well, which I think I enjoyed more.) He worked super hard in her class and she corrected him a lot. I highly recommend her class to anyone wanting to take jazz. (By the way, I think I mentinoed that Julian took two Broadway jazz classes at Alvin Ailey with Sue Samuels, mother of tapper Jason Samuels Smith. They were fabulous as well, and I highly recommend her and a trip to Alvin Ailey if you can make it. However, she teaches beginner classes at BDC.)

On to hip hop, which Julian had the most fun taking at BDC. He tried several class, always looking for “old-school” hip hop rather than “MTV” hip hop. He loved classes with Bam and Leslie Feliciano and Kelly Peters. He also enjoyed one with Luam, although that wasn’t as old school as he enjoys. These classes were all packed…I mean packed. Luam’s class had 72 people in the studio at one time. (Again, he was sorry not to take Jared Grimes class, but he was away.)

I’ve already covered tap; check older posts for information on that. Julian really didn’t do any tap the last week — and no ballet. He had done those two art forms for six weeks. He stuck with contemporary, jazz and hip hop that final week in New York.  And he had a blast and got great feed back from almost all the teachers at BDC. He kept up in even the most advanced classes, and his newly-improved technique was noticed. So, overall, a success all the way around.

Plus, he returned home without injury. The heel issue healed up and never  came back.  He never had another bout of dehydration. Success.

This week he completed six hours of dance per day again. TDC had its annual summer dance intensive. He also took a master class at a local studio taught by Sonya Tayeh of So You Think You Can Dance fame. We had met her in New York City. He had his picture taken with her, and it’s now his Facebook profile photo. How cute is that?

The TDC intensive culminated on Friday with auditions for the company. Unfortunately, a few of last year’s members didn’t return, but we have some great new dancers who auditioned and made it into the company. The company is still a bit small, but we hope to gain a few more in the next few weeks or in December. (If you know any teens in the Bay Area – CA looking for a great studio that focuses on dance as an art form and on contemporary, modern and classical ballet, please send them to TDC for an audition. They can still join the company, although they might not be in all the peformance pieces this fall.) The kids also study tap, pilates and a little jazz and hip hop.

Julian is in the company again, and he made it into the first three pieces of choreography, so he is very happy. He will miss a few of his friends who didn’t return this year, but he actually has a few friends joining him from other studios that he knows. So, I hope it will be a great year for him.

Today he’s in the studio all day learning choreography fo ra modern piece. Tomorrow the same. This week, he will miss most of the tap festival in San Francisco to attend choreography sessions at TDC instead, but we might get a few classes in if he’s lucky. It had been our plan to attend most of the week.

Oh, and I’m waiting for MRI results on my twisted knee from that first weekend in NYC. So, think some positive thougths for me!

Okay…that gets you up to date. Off to a running start. I never even got a chance to catch my breath.

Next, a post not from me but form someone from Julians distant past…and then one from Denise Wall!

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Posted in dance studios, Nutcracker, Resources, summer dance programs, Teachers, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Last Day in New York City

Friday, July 31st, 2009

As I write, Julian is enjoying the last 30 minutes of his last class at Broadway Dance Center, an old-school hip hop class. He’s taken so many great classes the week, I can’t begin to even write about them — at least not right now. I’m too exhausted! I can’t imagine how he isn’t tired, but then again American Ballet Theatre’s intensive put him into some superb shape.

He danced for three hours on Monday, five on Tuesday and six on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. He’s taken tap, hip hop, jazz and contemporary classes. No ballet…enough of that after six weeks, but he was super happy to find some turns in his contemporary classes. We’ve been very happy with the instruction at BDC. I’ll write more when I get home about the particular teachers he enjoyed. And he and I were both happy to have him complimented in all his contemporary and jazz classes. It seems his classical ballet training is paying off.

So, tomorrow we get back on a plane and head home. Back to normal life, whatever that is.

I’ll elaborate a bit more on our experience when I’m back on home ground. Right now, I’m going to watch Julian do some hip hop, something he rarely gets to do in California.

[By the way, thanks for all the great comments I've received since in NY!]

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Posted in dance studios, summer dance programs, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Late July Missing Teachers and a Report on Pilobolus

Monday, July 27th, 2009

We are back from my mother’s and back at the dancing. Julian and I were disappointed to discover that all of the teachers he was hoping to dance with this week are gone, namely Michelle Dorrance, Jared Grimes and Derrick Grant. What a bummer. It seems that last week of July is not a great week in that sense for dancing in NYC. Many of the tap teachers take off for tap festivals around the country and other teachers are on tour as well.

Julian took a class with Glenn Douglas Packard instead of Jared Grimes. Not too shabby…He has worked with some of the biggest acts in entertainment including Pink, Marc Anthony, Missy Elliot, Nelly Furtado, Whitney Houston, Usher and Liza Minelli. He was even honored with an Emmy nomination for his artistic direction on Michael Jackson’s 30th Anniversary Celebration at Madison Square Garden. It wasn’t Julian’s favorite style of hip hop — more MTV style, as he calls it — but he knows it’s worth learning that, too, especially from someone so well known.

He had a great class with Jim Sutherland, in place of Michelle Dorrance. I don’t know anything about him, though.

Tomorrow we go off for some tours of NYU and information sessions with someone in the dance department there. Maybe knowing exactly what the dance program is like and what it takes to get in will inspire Julian to do better in school this year. A mom can only hope…

Then back to Broadway Dance Center for more  classes.

We saw Pilobolus last Saturday night. Great show! Their other dance group, Dog-it, did all the shadow work they are famous for…one very long piece. And then Pilobulos did several other pieces. They do the most phenomenal partnering work. Other than that, I don’t know that I’d call it dancing per se. I think it’s more like gymnastics. I suppose it’s a hybrid maybe of dance and gymnastics. Very interesting to watch, though, and Julian got lots of partnering ideas.  We were glad we went.

Julian spends all his time texting his ABT friends. I think he’ll really miss them.

I’m not sure he has a good way to stay in the tip-top shape he’s in right now all year long. With school and all, he just doesn’t have the time to dance six or seven hours a day with the same type of intensity that he did this summer.

Next week I’ll have a blog post from Denise Wall, I hope, and one from Julian’s first male dance teacher!

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Posted in hip hop, tap, Teachers | No Comments »