Your son has been dancing at the same studio for some time now, and he’s doing great. However, you’re wondering when he should venture out to dance conventions, intensives, and competitions—or maybe even to the occasional private lesson or class at some other studio. We tried to get Julian “seen” by other dance professionals as […]
Our First Regional Dance America Experience
We returned from Regional Dance America (RDA) in Los Vegas a week ago. We haven’t had a break. My husband, Ron, flew in from Germany the day before we left and flew out to Missouri to care for his mother a day after we returned. Julian had rehearsals up until the evening before we left […]
Happy Mother’s Day to All Dancin’ Boys’ Moms
This is a special blog post for all those dancin’ boys’ moms: Happy Mother’s Day! You deserve some credit, appreciation and…time off. Without your support, where would your dancin’ boys be–even if they won’t admit to your part in their success? So, enjoy yourselves today and give yourselves a pat on the back. As for […]
Joey Dowling on How to Succeed as a Dancer (Part 4)
After it’s all the training has been completed, one question remains: Will the dancer get a dance job? Will he make it through the audition and into a company or a show? What can a male dancer—or any dancer for that matter—do to increase the odds of becoming a successful professional dancer? And what does […]
Interview with Duncan Cooper (Part 4): The Issues and Difficulties Faced by Male Dancers (How to Make Choreography Your Own)
Last, but definitely not least, here’s part four to my interview with Duncan Cooper. If you don’t remember who Duncan is, please go back to this post to read the brief bio I offered in the part one. Working on Flexibility and Weaknesses Continuing my conversation with Duncan, I wanted to know if he often saw the […]
Interview with Duncan Cooper (Part 3): Develop the Ability to Move with Emotion and Be Inspired by Dance
Amidst the hustle and bustle of tecnical rehearsals for Los Gatos Ballet’s Copellia and last-week-before-techical-rehearsals for Teen Dance Company’s 10th Anniversary Spring Concert, not to mention my daugther’s regional synchronized swimming meet in Sacramento this weekend (and my work), I’ve finally managed to finish transcribing the tape of my interview with Duncan Cooper. As promised, […]
Interview with Duncan Cooper (Part 2): Need For Technique & Movement that Tells a Story & Portrays Emotion
Sorry for the delay in writing another post. Things have been a bit crazy at my end. I had a trial period for a writing gig I didn’t get (which took up an enormous amount of time for four weeks). I’ve been gearing up my new column at Examiner.com. Plus, we’ve had time spent on […]
Boys Working Together at NYCDA
I am happy to report that Julian had a blast at the NYCDA convention despite his reluctance to go. He loved the teachers, the choreography and the competition. I had a blast, although I was only there on Saturday night for the competition and on Sunday, and here’s why: I had such fun watching the […]
Getting Ready for Another Convention: NYCDA
I didn’t write this week, because we didn’t have much going on. The company turned its focus to preparing for the NYCDA convention, where they will once again compete. Julian’s not too excited about going to this convention. He says three in a row was too many. Plus, he wanted to attend a dance the […]
Do Development Stages Affect Boys' Dance Ability?
We’re back from The Pulse. Julian is tired, happy to have danced with some great choreographers and to have learned some cool choreography, and a bit disappointed not to have won a scholarship of any sort. I know…I know. The scholarship isn’t important. Tell that to Julian. He had several choreographers talk to him and tell him he was […]
Convention Choreography: Make it Your Own or Not?
Today I have to admit that I was called to the carpet by a reader, a young man who feels I’ve written about him, and rightly so. I didn’t name him, but I guess he felt “described” well enough for someone to notice. And he also pointed out that I had made a few judgements […]
Preparing for Going Solo Performance and Copellia
Things are gearing up again. Julian has been practicing an old routine of his from a few years ago called “Hats” for solo studio performance on Thursday. We didn’t realize that he could actually perform in this event, so he didn’t prepare a solo. (We’ll know for next year.) So, he pulled out his very-successful […]
Conventions and Sore Ankles
This past weekend Julian and the rest of the Teen Dance Company dancers went to the Nuvo dance convention. Julian had a blast hanging with his buddies from TDC and seeing some old friends from other studios. He also saw some friends from school or from the Nutcracker performance he was in last December. Additionally, […]