Interview with Duncan Cooper (Part 1): Your Son’s Dance Education

I first met 38-year-old Duncan Cooper when Julian attended the New York City Dance Alliance convention in Santa Clara, CA, about a month ago. I was impressed with the choreography he gave the boys during his session. And Julian loved the choreography.

So, I decided to approach him and ask if he would write a post for my blog or let me interview him. He agreed to the latter, and this past Sunday we had an hour-long phone conversation. I’m going to relay most of what Duncan told me in a few separate posts.

First, let me introduce you to Duncan Cooper. Duncan started dancing at the age of five, when he began taking ballet classes at Richard Thomas’ New York School of Ballet. At the age of 13, Duncan received a full scholarship to train at the San Francisco Ballet School. In 1989, bypassing the obligatory apprentice year, he was made a full company member. At 22, after three knee surgeries, he left this position and later took on a position as principle dancer with Dance Theatre of Harlem, where he danced for nine years.

In addition to teaching for NYCDA, Duncan now offers master classes around the country and teaches as part of the faculty at Alonzo King Lines Ballet in San Francisco, CA, both for the company and for its MFA program. He also offers choreography, occasionally performs and is involved with Athletes for Kids. For more information on Duncan, I suggest you visit his website. (Check out the awesome photos in his gallery…)

What Type of Dancer Does Your Son Want to Be?

The first thing Duncan stressed during our conversation was that boys must decide at some point what type of dancers they want to be.  He asked me what Julian wanted to be, and “a professional dancer” was not an adequate answer.

“Do you want to be successful in Hollywood? Do you want to be a dancer on Broadway? Do you want to be a ballet dancer?” he queried. These are the questions our sons must answer.

While it’s important for children to define the area of dance they want to pursue as early as possible, and pursue it, he did qualify this by saying they must still learn as much as they can about all types of dance. “Of course, the concern is to be a jack of all trades and a master of none,” he said. “You want to be a jack of all trades and a master of at least one.”

Knowing many styles of dance leaves a boy open to discovering not only his talents but the opportunities available to him. “Even though you may want to be one type of dancer, you may be talented in another style and you may get opportunities in the other. You may want to use that as a bridge to something, or you may find out you want to that go in another direction,” Duncan explained.

Taking Your Son’s Dance Education Outside The Dance Studio

1. Find Out About The “Real World” Of Dance

If your son has figured out what type of dance he wants to pursue, then its time to take his education outside of the studio. As a parent, you must pick up the challenge to educate your dancing boy about the “real world” of dance, according to Duncan.

At this point, you must encourage your son to research what dance companies exist that specialize in that form of dance and how one goes about having a career in those companies. This may be hard for young boys, say 13-16, to understand, but he says parents must begin helping them understand the concept of “making a career, making a paycheck, and being sustainable” with their dancing. In otherwords, you (and I) must help your son develop a plan, or a career strategy.

Help your son understand the difference between “working” for a large, mid-range or small dance company. “In a small company dance, you might dance more but have less work weeks out of the year,” claimed Duncan. “You may not get the benefits you get in a larger company or in a union company, such as medical and dental benefits. Most kids have no clue about the importance of these things.”

2. Research The Types Of Dance Companies He Might Want To Join

As part of the self-education process, boys also need to search out people who have done what they want to do and look at the structure of how those dance professionals accomplished that goal. Did they go to college or start working immediately? Did the majority of dancers with one company come out of Juliard or some other college or dance company?

If your son, like my son, wants to become a contemporary ballet dancer, for instance, Duncan said, “He needs to spend a lot of time in books and on the Internet searching for contemporary dance companies. He should look up Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and Complexions Dance Company, and Compania Nacional de Danza (National Dance Company of Spain). A lot of ballet companies are not doing just ballet,” he added, and are bringing in contemporary choreographers as well.

3. Learn About (And From) The Dancers Who Paved The Way

Also, Duncan suggested that young male dancers educate themselves about great male dancers and great dancers in the style of dance they want to pursue. “Look up great dancers on the Internet, like Rudolph Nureyev, Mikhail Barishnikov, or Martha Graham. Find out what their careers were like. Read a biography about them. Becoming a professional dancer is not just about learning a tendu and plie; it’s about learning how the game is played and who’s played it.”

4. Learn to Network

Don’t let your son stick to the Internet or even to books about great dancing role models. Make him start talking to real, live people. “Pull mature dancers aside and ask questions,” Duncan recommends.

“Let [your sons] know the importance of talking to their dance teachers not just about tendu and plie but about how do I go about becoming a professional dancer,” he said. “They have to learn to network now as a young adult. They need to ask the questions. Don’t be shy! Taking a dance class is not just about taking a dance class. It’s about learning to communicate with the adult staff that is giving the information beyond just the information they are supposed to offer. Never be afraid to ask a question; no question is too stupid…Go beyond, ‘Thank you, class was really good.’ Ask, ‘If I want to go here, what do you think I should do,’” he suggested.

Become A Star By Doing Homework Inside And Outside The Studio

There’s more: Our boys have to learn how to go after what they want. Despite the fact that there are less boys out their fighting for spots in companies than girls, they still have to fight for those spots. They can’t just assume they will get them or that they will be noticed.

“You want to go out there and not wait for anybody to give you anything. It’s really like anything else in life. You can get a degree in college, but if you don’t know how to be street hustler you aren’t going to last very long unless someone chooses you to be a star. You’ve got to individually make decisions about how you are going to go up there and take a hold of that,” said Duncan.

How is your son going to ensures that he becomes a star? By doing his own homework inside and outside the studio, according to Duncan. “The more you do our own homework the better you are going to be.” 

For example, if your son wants to dance Gisselle, he should learn the story, watch someone great dance it, figure out how he would dance the part, and learn the part before being asked to dance it. If he wants to become a better dancer, he should watch the other kids in his classes who are better than he is and make note of what they do differently and then go home and practice it in the kitchen. And he should watch what the boys who aren’t as good as he is are doing and make note not to do those things either. He should come home for a convention and practice the choreography he learned in the kitchen figuring out how to do it better.

“There is really no excuse. Get out of the MTV world and get into the subject matter of what you want to become,” concluded Duncan.

I’d add that we need to get our son’s off of Facebook and MySpace and find a website with great historical information about dance or great videos of great dancers, and encourage them to spend time there. I know our dancing boys don’t have a lot of free time (mine is lucky to have a Sunday morning to lounge in front of the television for a few hours), but I have found that Julian is always eager to watch a good dance video with me on the computer or to watch a film about dance on the television. It’s easy to make this type of education a family affair.

As for getting them to take the bull by the horn – to network, to ask the questions, to read and study, to go for what they want, I suppose that comes with age and desire and a whole lot of parental encouragement, support and patience. Like them, we parents have our work cut out for us.

More from Duncan in the next post.

 

 

Does Your Son Tap? Keep His Feet Healthy!

I recently wrote an article for Dance Teacher magazine on how to keep tappers’ feet healthy. Previously, I wrote an article for them on how to keep dancers’ feet healthy, but tappers are a bit unique; they use their feet in more ways than most dancers, and their feet take a lot more pounding as well.

While I can’t share the information in that article here – you’ll have to purchase it when it hits the newsstands in a week or two – I can direct you to a little bit of  “overflow copy” they couldn’t use in the magazine and posted instead on line. It actually contains a really essential exercise to help create a cushion for all that impact a tapper’s feet are subject to and how to stretch – something a lot of tappers (especially boys) don’t do before dancing – to avoid injury. (Also, the exercise, called “doming,” was recommended for ALL dancers by the experts I interviewed for my story on keeping dancers’ feet healthy…hint, hint.)

To read this web exclusive, click here.

Check back here for some great information from ballet superstar Duncan Cooper. I interviewed him for a whole hour, and he gave me some super information…enough for at least three posts! I’ll be transcribing the tape and writing, and I hope to post something in the next few days.

Make Choreography Your Own (Take 2) and Social Networking for Dancers

My fellow blogger, or Nichelle  Strzepek, has posted a superb response to my post, and the ensuing comments, about when and how to make choreography your own. It’s well worth a read. You can find it here: http://danceadvantage.net/2009/04/16/make-it-your-own/

You also might want to go check out her website, Dance Advantage. It’s a great resource. Dance Advantage is an online resource for and about dance students, teachers, studio owners, and parents. New articles that relate to the education of dancers, primarily focusing on the study of and training in concert dance forms like ballet, jazz, and contemporary, are added all the time. Nichelle writes about dance as a way to share her thoughts and passion for dance art and education. Dance Advantage strives to provide high quality information that will supplement students’ in-class learning and experiences as well as inspire and support teachers in their work.

By the way, there are two dance registries out there…both run by guys…you might also want to check out.  By this I mean social networking for dancers! One is called Dance Register, and it is run by Julian’s old tap instructor, former Tap Dog Anthony LoCascio. He also has a blog. Then there is Dance Stage, run by a nice young dance student who performs in a pre-professional company in Oregon (and hopes to move to LA soon to dance). And of course, Dance Advantage has a number of great networking opportunities through its Dance Advantage Interactive site.

So, get your boys off of FaceBook and MySpace and onto some dance-related social networking sites. You might try them out yourselves -especially those at Dance Advantage. You’ll find some amazing information there!

Do A New York City Ballet Workout at Home!

Anyone found this yet? On YouTube you can access a whole series of videos produced by the New York City Ballet. I found only the New York City Ballet Workout 2. That means there must be a New York City Ballet Workout 1. Now there is no excuse for our boys to slack off when they don’t have ballet class. And you know how they love to be in front of the computer screen. Now they can stand, not sit, in front of the computer screen and do a ballet workout! Technology at it’s best.

I couldn’t seem to put the video in the blog for you to watch, but you can access it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUJOh6rcoQI

I also found a variety of videos on how to increase flexibility. Simply plug in those search words; you’ll find a woman from ExpertVillage.com who slowly goes through a variety of stretches. (Again, couldn’t post the video itself, find it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha6P16sMVCA

I’m sure your boys will enjoy surfing YouTube for videos as much as mine. And maybe they’ll actually use some of what they learn from the videos. It’s got to be better than just watching music videos…unless they start choreographing to the music!

Meeting Debbie Allen and Experiences at DADA

We took off for LA on Tuesday morning, skipping dance on Tuesday (and a Passover seder on both the first and second night — Wednesday and Thursday – of the holiday) so we could make it to UCLA for a tour by afternoon. That was the start of three days of intensive college tours primarily for my daughter, although Julian did get a brief tour of UCLA’s dance program and of California Institute for the Arts dance program on Thursday as well. University of Southern California, our Wednesday tour, doesn’t offer a dance major, so he went off to Debbie Allen Dance Academy (DADA)  instead.

While UCLA offers a unique world arts and culture approach to dance, which didn’t interest Julian because it wasn’t technical enough for his tastes, Cal Arts is interesting for anyone wanting to come out as a triple threat. The school doesn’t offer a musical theater track, but in addition to dance, students have the opportunity to study drama and voice. Unfortunately, Julian didn’t feel this dance program was for him either. Of course, he’s just a freshman at the moment. He has time to decide. I just thought I’d kill two birds with one stone and let him tour these schools at the same time as his sister.

The highlight of his three days in Southern California was his time at DADA, otherwise known as The Academy. (Mine was probably meeting Debbie Allen herself, although I think this was a highlight for both Julian and my daughter, Ariel. We felt so honored.) Besides taking an advanced ballet class taught by Vitaly Artuishkin , formerly of  the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, he also took a men’s ballet class and a modern class taught by Debbie Allen’s daughter. However, I think what he enjoyed most was his time spent with other male dancers.

Not only was he never the only boy in the class, he did get to take ballet class with a group of boys. Additionally, when he was waiting for me to come pick him up or if I had dropped him off early, he was able to go into a studio with one or two other boys and work on break dancing moves and just “mess around” and practice with “the guys.” And these guys all spoke the same language.  They may have been discussing how to do a windmill — something Julian was pleased to learn — but when the instruction from a fellow dancer came with ballet terms. No where but at DADA would you find that, I thought, at a place where the boys are learning everything from hip hop to ballet to modern to tap to silk (that form of dance done hanging from long strands of fabric).

And, according to Debbie Allen, she knows male dancers are unique. She told me she does not require that they wear tights for ballet…at least not initially. She let’s them ease into tights as they feel ready.

Julian fared well next to the other boys in his classes at DADA. However, while his turns were shown off in both ballet classes, his inability to get his splits and his general lack of flexibility were more than apparent. I don’t know how much of that is due to his huge growth spurt — at least 6-8 inches in the last 8 months — or to something else. He’s never been very flexible. He’s never been able to do a split. And this doesn’t seem to be improving. I know his muscles and tendons can’t keep up with his bones at this point, but he’ll need to do something to improve his flexibility, and this will set him back with his placement at American Ballet Theatre this summer. (Maybe I’ll ask some experts for advice on how to help boys improve their flexibility and post it here.)

Speaking of which, my husband found an article published in the New York Times a few years ago about a boy who attended the ABT summer intensive. The reporter made it sound more than difficult: The boy suffered from shin splints, blisters and toe nails pushed into the nail bed… Yet, he danced on. I hope Julian finds it a little less wearing on his body.

According to this article, the ABT summer intensive dancers are placed by audition once again when they get there. They are given numbers and put through their paces. They then are placed by “colored” level. This seems appropriate. No special treatment, just placement by ability.

We are still looking for a sublet in New York. Prices are outrageous. I’m looking forward to six weeks of working and playing in the city, though. I remember my time working in Manhattan quite fondly.

Off to LA and DADA

It’s spring break here, and I’m taking both my kids down to Los Angeles. My daughter needs to tour a few colleges down there, and while she is checking out the costume design programs, Julian is going to check out their dance programs. We’ll visit the University of Southern California and then UCLA and California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts). The latter two have dance programs. Julian is a bit young to be college shopping, but the universities don’t seem to mind.

Actually, interestingly enough, while we can’t seem to get anyone specifically from the costume design programs to talk to Ariel, both schools have been happy to get someone from the dance department (in fact, the head of the department) not only to talk with Julian (despite his young age — he’ll be a sophomore next year) but to show him around and let him look in on some dance classes. I’m sure this is because dancers really need to see the level of dance to make up their minds about what school they want to attend. In other words, I doubt it has anything to do with him being a boy.)

While we are in LA, we’ll have one day when Julian has nothing to do: the day we are at USC. So, I’m going to drop him off at Debbie Allen’s Dance Academy for a morning ballet class and then take him back there again in the evening for a boys’ ballet class, a modern class and a tap class. I’m very excited to have him take class there; in particular, I was told the boys’ class is very good and, of course, very small. 

Other than that, all quiet here. If anyone else’s son is having a quiet week because of Easter and Passover, you might want to encourage him to write an essay for http://boysballet.wordpress.com. They now have a post on their home page with the following guidelines:

     1. Please do not submit an essay without your parent’s knowledge.
     2. We would like to know how old you are.
     3. Do not use your full name. Something like “Chris, Boston, Ma.” is all we need.
     4. Your email address is private and we don’t want to know what it is. Instead use an address such as “Chris@nomail.com“
     5. The subject of your essay should have something to do with dance.

     6. The essay can be a page long or just a paragraph.

     7. Pictures are welcome and a great addition to your essay. Just include the URL(s) in your post. The URL(s) will remain private (we will upload the picture to wordpress). 
     8. Please check your essay for spelling and grammar before you submit it.

    

To submit your essay just “copy” and “paste” it in the comment box below. Comments are “moderated,” so we will see them before they are published.

We will review all contributed essays and may edit them for content, grammar and spelling. Once a essay is approved, it will be posted on the front page.

I’m going to encourage Julian to write one, but with starting to get ready for finals and still trying to get his grades up…all while rehearsing for Copellia and his concert performances, I’m not sure it will happen any time soon.

 

Good Resource for Boys and Dance

One of my most avid readers and supporters has been dance teacher and fellow blogger Nichelle Strzepek of www.danceadvantage.net. I see so many people showing up at this blog from her post about boys, called “Let’s Here it For the Boys,” that I’d like to not only return the favor but turn your attention to the great information in that blog post. (There’s also an interesting comment from Camille worth reading.)

Here’s the link:  http://danceadvantage.net/2008/10/22/lets-hear-it-for-the-boys/

You’ll find a link in that blog post to an earlier one she wrote called “Encouraging Boys to Dance.” Here’s the link to that one as well: http://danceadvantage.net/2008/04/26/encouraging-boys-to-dance/

Enjoy!

Visualizing the Dancer You Want to Become

I was reading a post at BoysBallet.wordpress.com, called Being Billy Elliot that is from a story written by Nancy Stetson for the Florida Weekly that talks,  about ballet dancer Stephen Hanna’s role in the Broadway musical Billy Elliot. Hanna plays the grown up “Billy.” The article describes a scene in which Billy is imagining himself as older and the two — the younger “Billy” played by one of  three different dancers each night (Kiril Kulish, David Alvarez, and Trent Kowalik) and Hanna — do a pas de deux.

Reading this reminded me of a really valuable practice used by many athletes that our dancing boys can use to help them in so many ways — with their performances, competitions, technique, and general advancement in the art form. What is this practice? Visualization!

As I’ve said before, I’m a big human potential and personal growth proponent. So, I know or have used a lot of the tricks of this trade. However, visualization is one that has been used so successfully by so many athletes. And it’s so simple. You simply develop a really clear picture of yourself doing whatever it is you want to do successfully. If you want to perform your dance perfectly, you see yourself doing so. Or you imagine yourself in the spotlight taking your bow with all the people clapping and yourself feeling like you danced the best you’ve ever danced. If you want more flexibility in your hips (since this is an area in which boys’ bodies often are tight), you can visualize — or imagine — your hips being very flexible and allowing easy movement or the muscles stretching easily as you move and stretch. You can see the muscles like rubber bands or taffy… You get the idea.

I don’t know why I didn’t think of this technique before, but reading that article and seeing the picture of the older and younger Billy made me suddenly realize how easy it would be for boys (or girls) to visualize themselves achieving their dance goals as a way of helping themselves actually do so. This is not enough, obviously. They have to train and strengthen their bodies, but will help. It’s another tool in their toolbox.

If you don’t believe this works, ask some professional athletes. Or listen to some motivational tapes from Brian Tracy or any number of human potential and personal growth teachers in a variety of arenas (business, sports, spirituality). Or take my word for it. I did a fire walk once, and all we did for two hours prior to putting our feet on those glowing coals was visualize being on the other side with our feet in buckets of cool water. And guess what? I walked across those coals not once but twice without even the slightest burn on my feet.

Anyone can use this technique for anything. You can visualize yourself having a successful job interview or dance audition. You can visualize yourself having a good outcome to a confrontational communication with someone or to a conversation with your teenager about homework or grades.

There’s one caveat to this, however: The visualization is more effective if you can actually feel what it would be like to achieve the outcome you desire. If you can get a sense of being in that lime light with the applause and feeling like you’ve never danced better, if you can really feel the pleasure of muscles that are supple and flexible, if you can feel the relief of a communication gone well and the honest and love that were shared in the process, if you can feel the sense of achievement of landing a new job or being told your got the  part after an audition. The key is to combine your thoughts of what you desire with the feeling of having it. In other words, while you are visualizing what you want, feel it as if it had already happened. It shouldn’t feel like an “I wish” scenario happening in the future but rather like something happening right now in this moment.

I hope Julian and I will be able to go see Billy Elliot while we are in NYC. We are in the process of looking for apartment sublets at this point (if anyone knows of one).