Today’s guest post is written by another dancin’ mom, Lindsay Clinton. She writes about finding the courage to let her dancin’ boy out from under her wing so he could fly toward his dreams. The blast occurred at 8:30 a few blocks from Charlie’s New York City home. He immediately responded to my text, “I’m […]
The Life of a Freelance Dancer
Freelance dancer. Most young dancin’ boys don’t think about the freelance life as a career option. However, for some, this is a choice. For others it’s a necessity—at least part of the year. In the United States, the dance season is short. Most dancers must freelance during the eight to fourteen weeks the company is […]
How to Become a Good Partner (from a Ballerina’s Perspective)
Partnering. It’s a huge part of a male dancer’s job. For some, partnering feels difficult and they hate it. For others, it’s comes naturally, and they love it. No matter where you or your son fall on this spectrum, it’s necessary to become a good partner to succeed in a dance career. Male dancers who […]
Dancing Des Grieux: An Artistic Director’s View
It’s not often a dancin’ mom gets to have a long chat with her dancin’ son’s artistic director—especially when he dances professionally. However, I had the unique opportunity to interview Aaron Watkin, the artistic director at SemperOper Ballett in Dresden, Germany, just after my son, Julian, danced the biggest role of his career, Des Grieux […]
A Young Male Ballet Dancer’s Perspective on Performing Manon
This past November 2015, my son, Julian Amir Lacey, premiered in the lead role of the three-part ballet, Manon, produced by SemperOper Ballett in Dresden, Germany. This famous ballet was choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan, and the MacMillan Foundation chose Julian to perform the principle part in two of six performances. Julian danced the role of […]
Finishing the Ballet Season in Style
The curtain came down yesterday on the 2013-2014 Semperoper Ballett season. This marked the end of Julian’s first year in the corps de ballet for a major European ballet company and his first year fully employed and living in his own apartment in Dresden. Due to an unfortunate event just three minutes or so into […]
How to Watch Julian Dance This New Year’s Eve
If you read my last post about Julian’s big television debut, you might be wondering how to actually watch his performance on live German television from wherever you are this New Year’s Eve. And I promised to provide you with the link once I had it. Now I finally have two links that should work; […]
My Dancin’ Son Get’s His Television Debut
It’s rare these days for me to be able to “show” you Julian dancing in Germany. However, recently he was chosen as the lead in a short, new piece to be aired on national German television. During the filming, some “unofficial” photos were taken that I was given permission to use. I suppose I could […]
See Nordic Lights in Germany
I recently took another short trip to Germany to see Julian dance in a SemperOper Ballett premier. We were thrilled to see him dance in Nordic Lights, October 25 and 27, three contemporary pieces by Swedish choreographers. We arrived in Germany to a text message asking if we would make it to Dresden by 1 […]
Mark Foehringer on Preparing a Dancin’ Boy for the Professional Dance World (Part 1)
My husband and I firmly believe that one of the things that makes Julian such a good dancer is the variety of dance training he received but, in particular, the years of contemporary dance training coupled with his classical ballet training. This also makes him a more marketable dancer. Of course, a dancer most have […]
Wilhelm Burmann Talks About How Boys Can Succeed as Dancers (Part 3)
This is the third and final part of my interview with Wilhelm Burmann, who many professional and aspiring professional dancers take class from daily at Steps on Broadway in New York City. Willy has trained the best of the best in the New York dance community. From corps members to principles and soloists to Broadway […]
Wilhelm Burmann Talks About How Boys Can Succeed as Dancers (Part 2)
It’s been over a month since I posted Wilhelm Burmann Talks About How Boys Can Succeed as Dancers (Part 1)—or anything else here on this blog. I apologize. My life has been crazy. You’d think it would be calm and simple without my dancin’ boy at home. Life works in mysterious ways, and just as […]
And the Show Goes on Without the Dance Mom (and Dad)
Today is the big day. It’s 1 a.m. in California as I write this but already 10 a.m. in Dresden, German. Julian is in company class by now. Semperoper Ballett will likely rehearse today and then the company opens the season tonight with La Bayadere. My son will go on stage i that beautiful opera […]