Writing Highlights

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Reporting/Previews

• Houston dancers find a lot to like – and hate – in Black Swan (CultureMap)
• A Few Firsts for Neglia Ballet (Artsvoice)
• Second Annual Texas Dance Improvisation Festival (Dance Source Houston)
• Translating Cultures –- Yasuko Yokoshi’s Tyler Tyler Weaves Japanese and American Dance (DSH)
• THREE at the CORE: A Conversation With Sue Schroeder, Artistic Director of Several Dancers Core

Criticism

• LehrerDance: Buffalo Welcome to Roam in Houston Any Day (Dance Source Houston)
• Houston Ballet Introduces Three Winning Works (DSH)
• Untangling the Fringe Festival, Weekend One (DSH)
• Freneticore Declassified (DSH)
• A Travesty! This Review 100% Recycled Material (DSH)

Interviews

• Profile of an American Icon: A Few Words With Paul Taylor (Dance Advantage)
• Role Of A Lifetime: Returning To Dance As A Mom (DA)
• Attitude and Strong Technique Make Allison Miller One to Watch (DA)
• Have Your Barre and Eat It Too — A Real Food Snack Bar for Dancers (DA)
• First of All — A Chat with Prix de Lausanne Winner Emanuel Amuchastegui (DA)

How-To/Instructional

• 5 Ways to Get Out of Your Dance Teaching Rut (Betterfly)
• Helping Dancers Deal With Disappointment (DA)
• 15 Ways to Activate Brain and Body During Summer Break (DA)
• How To Discuss Problems With Your Studio Director and Be Heard (DA)
• 15 Things The Pirouette Pixie Can’t Do For You (DA)
• and many more…

Shuffling Off To Buffalo

I recently penned a preview of Romeo and Juliet for Neglia Ballet Artists, a Buffalo dance company. The article is now live at ArtVoice. Below is an excerpt:

Sergio Neglia and Silvina Vaccarelli in Romeo and Juliet. (photo by Gene Witkowski)

Collaborators blend dance, music, and story to present Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet

Though Neglia Ballet premiered their Romeo and Juliet in 2008, this marks the first time it will be performed with live music. “There is no comparing a performance with live music to a performance with CD,” says Halt. “The actual sound of the music is so much richer.”

Indeed, the audience and the dancers are more keenly aware of the details of Prokofiev’s score, one of ballet’s most lush and lyrical orchestrations, in a performance with live musicians. “My favorite music is when Juliet has a moment of clarity before her tragic end and at that moment she resolves to do what she has to do. The melody of the bedroom pas de deux, the lovers’ farewell, is repeated but much stronger and somewhat desperate. For me it is the climax of the score,” observes choreographer Sergio Neglia, who is also the production’s Romeo.

Unlike other ballet narratives, which can have sketchy storylines and a variety of musical interpretations, Prokofiev provides a “roadmap” through Shakespeare’s very familiar plot. “The music tells me exactly what needs to happen in Romeo and Juliet,” says Neglia, who like Prokofiev, sticks closely to the original character-driven tragedy. Adds Halt, “Sergio is a great storyteller and is quite remarkable in conveying what he wants. When he demonstrates the character, he is the character.”

Neglia often takes on several of these roles almost simultaneously during his choreographic process, admitting that this can sometimes drive his cast crazy.

Read the full article: http://artvoice.com/issues/v10n9/dance_feature#ixzz1FfGKiEuP

CultureMap Contributions

B movie or Super Bowl escape?

Houston dancers find a lot to like — and hate — in Black Swan

Natalie Portman calls the film “a conversation piece,” and Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky’s dark riff on ballet, certainly has the dance world talking. The movie captivated the attention of …

 

Five (Plus) Questions

Encore: Jane Weiner’s Village of Waltz returns with a new attitude

Jane Weiner can describe Village of Waltz in three words: Community. Magic. Ensemble. Making Nancy Wozny’s Top 10 of the decade, Village of Waltz has also been described as …

 

Houston Ballet’s precious Jewels is a real gem

Bling isn’t really my thing. In fact you might even say I’m ornamentally challenged. But when the curtain lifted like the lid of a fine jewelry box, revealing …

See them all at CultureMap Houston

Today’s Summit on Arts Journalism

more about “A National Summit on Arts Journalism …“, posted with vodpod

Interruptions at DanceAdvantage.Net

I sincerely apologize to anyone who has tried to access Dance Advantage and has not been able to do so. The site should be up and running again very soon. I had no warning myself of this interruption in service so I am wringing my hands until its return. Until then, I have temporarily stopped routing of the old version of the blog (hosted at http://danceadvantage.wordpress.com to the danceadvantage.net domain.

What that means is that, though this situation is unfortunate, it may be a great time to check out the archives and past posts which can still be seen at the former location. You can still search the blog and look through the quick topics for items that might be of interest. The entries are all there, up through late March when I migrated my blog to self-hosting. So, please, have a look around. You may want to hold any comments you have until after danceadvantage.net is fixed, however. When it is, this “old version” will once again be routed and typing in its url will take you to danceadvantage.net.

If you visit danceadvantage.net and see that it still looks a bit odd, is not loading, or worse – you see nothing, please try again later.

Thank you for your interest in the blog. Please feel free to contact me via http://nichelledances.wordpress.com OR through the contact form at http://danceadvantage.wordpress.com (both will work). There is a real person behind danceadvantage.net and I do my very best to answer your questions. I appreciate your patience!

Nichelle