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 kind of flexibility issues with which my son, Julian, struggles. He has tightness in the hips, and can’t get his splits. Of course, he has grown about eight inches since last July, which means his muscles have not caught up to his bones, but he has never been very flexible.

Here’s what Duncan had to say: “Some boys are just naturally flexible…You have to do a lot of stretching. When I was his age [14], I warmed up for 30 minutes to an hour before class in the studio before the class began stretching. After class I would stretched to cool down.

“In dance, if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it. And if you don’t use it, you’ll never get it,” he concluded.

In general young male dancers need to know both their strengths and weaknesses and to realize, more often than not, they are presenting their strengths, he added. “But you need to work on your weaknesses. Often a weakness for some boys is flexibility. Some are very flexible. Some are good turners. Some are good jumpers, but they might not have the other two qualities.  To be well rounded in all is better than to be just good at one.” 

In other words, boys must not just focus doing the things that come naturally to them but on the things that don’t. They must practice these weak points until they become strengths.

The Male Mind or Psychological Issues that Affect Boys

When I asked Duncan if he thought boys had any unique psychological issues, he laughed and said, “Yes. Sometimes we joke around that men have shorter attention spans in class than women. Maybe it’s based on a kind of ADD male testosterone issue where they get so much testosterone that sporadically they are all over the place,” he commented. “The tendency is for them to have focusing issues, especially when they are together in groups.”

He went on to add, “Men are often more challenge than women, because they start dancing later then women do.” While they might find it easier to find jobs, because there are so few male dancers, they are often struggling to catch up with their female counterparts, who likely have been dancing longer.

While this engenders a desire to move fast, “going fast” tends to be a “guy thing” in general. I mentioned Julian’s desire to move up the levels at Ballet San Jose School more quickly than he was allowed, and the ballet mistress there, Lise LaCour, not allowing him to do so. Duncan responded that this attitude was not uncommon for boys, and he cautioned, “It’s not about going to the next or another level. It’s not about going through eight levels and you get a new Karate belt. It doesn’t work that way. It’s not about getting a trophy. It’s about becoming an artist.”

Likening this process to wine, he said, “You can’t rush good wine. Wine is going to develop on its own time. It’s the same with an artist.”

Men have to learn more than just how to dance well, and this takes time, too. They have to learn to be good soloists and, as mentioned in previous posts, they have to dance with emotion and be “matinee idols,” which means being great actors. Additionally, they have to possess the ability to be a lead dancer, which means carrying a production, such as a Broadway show, a contemporary piece or a full-length ballet. “For that you have to be a good dancer and a good partner,” said Duncan. “Men are notoriously bad partners.”

That comment led to a logical question: How does a young man become a good partner? “Good male dancers will listen to what their partners need. Each woman needs something different. They’ll also know the women’s choreography. If you know the woman’s part in partnering, you know when to pick her up and when to put her down.  Often guys rush through that. That’s part of the skill of learning not to rush,” Duncan explained.

Making Convention Choreography Your Own – or Not

On a different note altogether, I asked Duncan, who is on the faculty of New York City Dance Alliance, what he wants from convention attendees when he gives them choreography. When he gives the boys, for instance, a special piece of choreography, what gets a child chosen to be on stage?  Does he want them to make that choreography “their own” or to perform it exactly as he has shown them to dance it? Here’s what he said:

“I’m looking for individuality. I’m looking for them to show me something different in the movement that I haven’t seen in all the other kids. Just because you are going up on stage doesn’t mean squat. It might mean I saw you do something well, but I’m not always looking for the kid that does something perfect as a ballet dancer. Sometimes I’m looking for the kid who is learning the most, who is challenging themselves the most, and that isn’t always the person who knows ballet technique the best. I want to see someone who is stretching their learning curve, and that doesn’t always come from the person who can do perfect ballet technique.

“I bring people on stage that has different skills. One might be able to turn, one might have a great leap, one might be able to do the move and phrasing in a unique way. Each dancer has something special, but it’s not just about who gets up on stage, and that’s what I want them to see.”

Duncan stressed that while being in a room full of great dancers and working with new and inspiring teachers represents the upside to conventions, the downside consists of the plastic trophies and the competition to get chosen to be on stage. “That’s not ultimately what it’s about. Your trophy isn’t going to do you any good when you go to an audition. They’re not going to say, ‘Oh, you were the gold winner at New York City Dance Alliance.’ They don’t know who you are when you are at an audition for a Broadway show,” he said. Thus, young dancers – male or female – need to learn to interpret what goes on at a convention in a different manner, to see it in a different way, and to not let any part of the convention discourage them.

As for making the choreography your own, if the instructor says to do so, go for it! “If I say to make the choreography your own, you self-discover yourself,” Duncan stated. “Show me what makes you unique within the choreography. Don’t be afraid to step up and fail. Screw the choreography up. Sometimes you have to do that to get it. Stop trying to be perfect and please the teacher. Sometimes you try to please the choreographer or teacher so hard that you actually do a disservice to yourself. You are pleasing yourself. You need to be in the moment and work with that.”

Duncan described how the director at San Francisco Ballet would offer him tips when he was working on a turn, and the turn would get worse rather than better. “I was thinking he had the ultimate answer and not relying on what I know I feel when I do the turn. He wasn’t in my body. He didn’t ultimately know where my balance is. He could give me some clues to get there. That’s why I tell kids, ‘I’m not trying to get you to bake a new cake; I’m just adding some frosting to it.’ So don’t screw up what makes you great. Don’t lose your self identity as a dancer.”

Advice for Young Male Dancers Who Find the Road a Tough One to Hoe

For all those young male dancers out there, like my son, who constantly are faced with tough choices – sports or dance, conforming or being different, summer dance intensive or summer camp, fight or walk away when teased, Duncan had some words of wisdom to offer.

“That’s life. It’s hard. They’re feeling like, ‘I’m different than all the other kids.’ Often they are all taught to wear the same clothes – what’s trendy and cool. The down side to that is that the most beautiful thing is your uniqueness as an individual and as an artist. That’s a great thing. Do what you want to do. You don’t have to follow what rest of flock is doing. Be a male ballet dancer. Who cares what those other guys think? Do what you love; that’s a good thing. Don’t conform and confine, obviously within the constraints of what is good for you. If you want something in life, put yourself out there and go get it. I wish I had heard that more as a kid. But it’s not easy.

Duncan has faced some difficult issues and decisions as a male dancer as well. “I found having three knee surgeries by 21 years old hard. I thought I was the be all and end all, and I thought I’d be dancing for the rest of my life, and all of a sudden it was being taken away from me…That was very humbling,” he confided.

Additionally, he said, “It was difficult for me, because I was an African American dancer. As I got older I began to see that the image of a ballet dancer was European…This goes back to ‘I don’t look like everyone else,’ so now I’m not going to get the part. No, you don’t’ look like everybody else, because you’re unique. Or maybe that’s when I was a kid and I got beat up in school because I danced ballet. How does one deal with that? I ran to school every day. You can roll up in a ball and cry or you can get over it and move on.”

The fact that life is hard – maybe harder for male dancers (even though the girls tend to think it’s easier for the boys) – actually can become an asset. “If anything is easy in life then you probably won’t be the best at it, and you probably won’t know how to deal with things when things get tough. That’s big lesson to learn,” said Duncan.

‘Everybody is going to have their own set of challenges,” he says. When my son – or yours – finds himself in a room filled with kids who are all better dancer, without mom or dad to help him anymore, denied all the roles he thought he would – or should – be given, Duncan concludes, “That’s when he’ll find out what he’s made of.” That’s when knowing how to deal with life being hard (and not rushing) will come in handy.

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, here’s part 3 . If you don’t remember who Duncan is, please go back to this post to read the brief bio I offered in part 1.

Continuing my conversation with Duncan from where I left off in part 2, I asked him to tell me how boys can learn to put emotion into their movement. While a good teacher helps, of course, beyond that there are some things boys can do to help them find their emotional center, if you will.

Learning to Move with Emotion

First, Duncan went back to the idea of studying the greats, but he stressed actually watching them dance. He related this to watching a superb basketball player play the game. “You can’t really understand what it is to play at that level until you actually play at that level,” he said. “No matter how much you play or learn the technique, it’s a completely different thing when you watch Lebron James or Michael Jordan or Julius Irving. They elevate the game beyond a sport into an art.” Duncan explained that young boys aren’t going to understand that until they watch Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov,  Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, or Gregory Hines.

Stirring the Desire for Greatness

I’ve often wondered how you help a child—boy or girl—develop a desire for greatness.  “You can’t expect someone to naturally be great until it is stirred within them,” Duncan explained. “A pas de deux is a pas de deux until you see two professional dancers really do it to another level. A convention is just a convention until you go to a convention where you are completely surrounded by dancers at a completely different tier and teachers that are really giving.” That’s when something stirs inside a young dancer and they also go to the next level, they rise to the occasion or they rise to the tier of those around them. Or they simply feel motivated to dance like the greats who came before them.

“That’s why watching the greats that have gone before him is important. That’s why it’s good at conventions to see a young guy dancer doing 10 turns. Then you say, “Wow. It can be done.”  It motivates you to try to do it,” says Duncan.

I mentioned that we had sent Julian into the studio to do some dancing and choreography on his own in an attempt to help him “find himself” and that emotional center in his dance. Duncan commented, “It’s good to go do choreography himself, but it’s also good to get information to inspire himself. Have him find books on great male dancers. Or go on line and search on YouTube for great male dancers. Have him watch Danny Tidwell or Rasta Thomas, the young great dancers coming up there. He should see how they are doing it. And he should watch the older dancers.  When you see that as a young dancer, it changes you.”

The Need for a Good Teacher and Getting Past the Music

None of this replaces the need for a good teacher who can impart the knowledge of how to dance with emotion, but Duncan said that happens in the studio with the teacher rather than here in a blog. “You have to find a teacher who is really able to move the student and inspire them to do the things they need to do. It’s the difference between an okay teacher teaching a jazz class and a really great teacher teaching the class. The great teacher can  impart the information to the class correctly. That’s the worth of a great teacher or a great coach or a great choreographer.”

While connecting to the music also helps a young man learn to dance with emotion and to be inspired by his dancing, Duncan says boys have to get beyond the music and understand the phrasing and just “be” with the piece of music. You have to find the inspiration and emotion no matter what the music.

In the end, he said, “What you do inside the studio is just as important as what you do outside the studio.” All of this comes together to create a dancer and dance that become less about dance and more about art.

Next time: One last post with information from Duncan Cooper! This time Duncan discusses dance strengths and weaknesses, psychological issues, making choreography your own, and his personal view on the difficulty of being a male dancer.

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 National Dance Week events, apartment searches in New York (finally found one!), parent observation day at the studio, writing and sending out press release for the year-end company performance, and attempts to find decent ballet tights to keep Julian outfitted for the American Ballet Theatre summer intensive. This week at the studio we have student reviews. In two weeks, Julian performs in Copellia with Los Gatos Ballet (find out how to purchase tickets here)—which I have to miss because my daughter has her final synchronized swim meet in Sacramento— and the following week is tech week for Teen Dance Company’s 10^th Anniversary Concert (purchase tickets here). Then, of course, we have the concert, and the dance year officially comes to an end. Phew!

At least at that point we have a few weeks of “down time.” However, Julian plans to dance up a storm in between studying for finals so he is in shape for ABT. In fact, tomorrow he is meeting with two of his old teachers to work on conditioning. No rest for the weary.

I have not, however, forgotten that I need to post the second part of 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. While in the last post Duncan offered his strong opinion on dancers’ education inside and outside the studio, in this post he answers questions I posed about the issues he sees most commonly in male dancers.

Boys Must Slow Down and Learn Technique

I asked Duncan this question specifically, “What technical dance issues do you see most commonly in boys?” His response was short and to the point: “Lack of technique.”

 “So, how can boys resolve this issue?” I queried, of course, as a follow up. He answered, “The solution to that is to get into classes and to slow down and get the basics. With boys, lack of technique is more prevalent, because there are fewer boys interested. So, they often learn late about it and scramble. Like young boys just going into marshal arts, they wants to break bricks and do all these great tricks, but they don’t want to do any of the foundational work that’s required. They don’t want to sit on two logs for five hours; they want to take the easy route.”

When Duncan gives boys challenging choreography at conventions—something Julian, in particular, enjoyed about the classes he took with Duncan at NYCDA, he says few of the boys he sees in the room at conventions have the ability to do the moves correctly and “most of those boys have not earned the right to do those steps yet.” This brings up a common issue.

Expectations for Girls Are Higher

“Often we let boys do more than they should, because there are so few boys and we want boys so badly,” Duncan explained. “Women are often much better than boys, because there are more of them and we expected more of them. So, the technical level of what is expected of them is higher.” In other words, they rise to the level expected of them.

Be a Matinee Idol

Duncan said he also finds a need from boys to connect with their masculine side. “It’s not always just steps; it’s also your inner movement. I say to them, ‘Be a matinee idol. Be Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt.’”

Additionally, he said, “There is sometimes a loss of connection with them with musical phrasing. They rush through the music, so they don’t really hear the music. And then they need to relay that music in a matinee idol style.”

While dancing in a masculine way is a given, Duncan suggested boys watch Gene Kelly in any of the films he made. “Notice his charisma, his character. He’s a real man dancing on stage,” said Duncan. “Or watch Fred Astaire. See how they both relate to women and tell a story while they dance.”

 Movement Tells a Story

All of this is important, Duncan explained, because nine times out of 10 if you dancing in a show on Broadway or even doing a full-length ballet your movement tells a story. Boys need to learn how to have their movement tell the story of their dance or of their inner dialogue. “It’s not just movement for movement’s sake, because that gets boring,” Duncan said. “We want them to learn that their movements tell a story, whatever that may be, whether there is an actual story to the dance or not. If I make a gesture, it means something, it means something to you…We want them to bring their individuality out in the movement. We want it to be unique to them but we want them to stay within the framework of the choreography that the choreographer is giving them.”

No Movement Without Emotion

Duncan added that he would like boys to understand that there is no movement without emotion either. “I don’t mean be overly dramatic. But movement comes from emotional content. It’s not just this emotionless move. Whether you are relating to a women or the audience is moved by you. The greatest dancers can step onto stage and they haven’t done one step and the audience goes, ‘Ahhh,’ he concluded.

Note:Duncan had more to say, and I’ll hopefully have time to transcribe the last part of the tape and post another blog add this coming week.

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 boys prepare for and perform their “part” in the ballet class taught by Duncan Cooper. He had choreographed a special part just for the boys, which Julian thought was totally awesome — both the choreography and the fact that the boys had a part of their own. And during the class on Saturday, the boys congregated at the back of the room and began rehearsing together. They worked and worked and worked…and helped each other. It was not an individual effort but a team effort. Yes, they were each going to be performing the choreography as a solo act — and later auditioning alone (well…in a group but each as an individual), but they practiced it together as if it were a group performance. And that made their performance really something special. Some of the boys even shook hands at the end as they stood at the edge of the stage to allow the judges to write down their numbers (or not). It was awesome.

I commend Duncan Cooper….and the boys. Well done!

Also, I was thrilled that Julian seemed to have found something within that changed his dancing this weekend. He used his upper body better and was much more expressive with his dancing. He even said that he felt so much better in general about his performance. In fact, here told me several times how happy he was because of the way he had danced.  He felt he had made a huge step forward in his ability. He did receive a scholarship and felt proud to have been complimented by two teachers, but he said this was nothing compared to what he himself felt about what he had achieved. Those words, and his sense of pleasure with him self and with his ability, did this mother’s heart good. He finally realized what really matters — and it’s not that piece of paper he had in his hand when he came off stage (and that he may never even use). He even said that the scholarship really didn’t matter to him; he just felt great about how he had danced.

However, Julian hurt his heel dancing on the hard ballroom floor. He has had a problem with his heel before, mostly while he was in the ballet program at Ballet San Jose but not so much since he hasn’t been doing just ballet. The chiropractor said he strained it and should take it easy this week. No jumping or leaping.

Those conventions are really hard on the kids for that reason — the flooring at those hotels is really not suitable for spending hours dancing. I hear all kinds of stories about kids who end up with sore joints and backs afterwards. I suppose there is no where else to hold them, though. Where else could you fit so many kids into a room to dance?

On another subject, I had a great idea — don’t know why I didn’t think of it before — for this blog. For my other blog, www.writenonfictioninnovember.wordpress.com, I ask experts to write guest blogs for me during the month of November. I usually comment on the subject, too, but they offer advice and information. I thought, given that I’m not an expert on dance per se — I’m not even really a parenting expert although I have two kids and two step kids — I’d occasionally ask a dance exert to write a blog for me or to let me interview them. You see, my expertise comes from my experience as a dance mom raising a dancing son and from my research as a journalist and author into the lives of male dancers and into dancing in general. But I’ve never said I have all the answers. I just pose some questions, say what I think and maybe too often tell you what’s going on in my son’s dancing life — and in my life as the mom of a dancing boy.

So, to avoid some of the drivel (which I write when there isn’t much going on)…and to stay with my new focus on bigger topics…I thought I’d let the experts do a little talking now and then. In light of that, this past weekend I asked Joe Lanteri of NYCDA to guest blog for me a few times. (I’m not sure about the topics yet, but I will likely pose the convention choreography one to him.) I also asked NYCDA ballet instructor Duncan Cooper to either write a blog or let me interview him.

If anyone has suggestions on great male dance teachers that I should contact that you feel would be willing and available to write a blog or chat with me by phone, please let me know. If there are male dance teachers — or professional male dancers or older male dancers who feel they have wisdom to share — reading this blog, please contact me as well. And, as always, email me or post comments detailing the types of issues you have with your sons’ dancing or about men/boys who dance, so I can get these experts to address them. You can contact me at cpywrtcom@aol.com.

Recently there have been some people upset with my blog’s focus. I hope everyone will be happy with the new focus. I only want to serve those who read this blog. If you have suggestions on ways for me to improve what I’m doing, please feel free to contact me at cpywrtcom@aol.com.

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 Jewish organization he is just about to join is putting on that night. (Plus, he has a big English assignment due next Friday that he needs to do this weekend, and he won’t have any time until Sunday night. Needless to say, that class is his worst grade…and I won’t tell you how bad.)

Two weeks from now I’m going to take Julian to UCLA to see the dance department. My daughter will be touring the school and the theater department, so Julian will get a college head start and tour the dance department two years early.

While we are in LA, we might see if he can go to Debbie Allen’s dance studio for a class or two. We plan on looking into that this weekend. He won’t be able to make it down there for the tap festival this year, since it conflicts with Julian’s studio’s summer intensive, although we had hoped to go and maybe slip in a class or two with Debbie at that time. Instead, we’ll be at the San Francisco Tap Festival. Probably better for us, since we will have just gotten back from NYC after the American Ballet Theatre summer intensive. (By the way, we are now actively looking for a rental in NYC from June 13 through July 24 or 28. Let me know if you have any leads.)

Other than that, not much new here. I’ve been very busy with work. I’ll try to write more next week. In the meantime, we’re off to another convention bright and early tomorrow…have to be there at 7:45 a.m.

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 doing a good job, but no real “recognition.” To him that means he isn’t yet good enough.

I attended all of Saturday’s classes and the last class on Sunday. So, while I could only relate what Julian told me after the Nuvo convention, this time I actually analyzed a bit of what was going on when it came to choreography and how the kids interpreted it or “copied” it, and how they were, indeed, getting recognized. And now I can tell you what I think…or what questions came up for me…for whatever that is worth.

First, let me say, that there were some pretty awesome dancers there, especially when it came to the boys. Saturday was almost totally focused on hip hop classes. I thought some of these boys would disappear on Sunday, which seemed mostly focused on contemporary, but when I go there for the last class most of the boys were still in attendance. And most of them were just as good at contemporary as they had been at hip hop. (They did combine the advanced and pro class for that last class that I watched, because they were short one teacher; Mia Michaels was sick and didn’t show. I guess Julian is destined not to dance with her. Instead they had Brian Friedman for a second class.)

So, here’s what I noticed: First, according to Julian and from what I heard while I was in the room, at this convention all the teachers told the attendees to make the dance “their own.” That makes the question from my last post mute. And it gave the kids the freedom to learn the dance and then go beyond the basic movements. Most of the kids, however, did the choreography pretty much as taught. The difference between how one dancer did it and another and who got put on state and who didn’t (and who got scholarships and who didn’t) seemed to me to come down to the amount of energy, feeling, accuracy, and precision in the movements. The kids made it their own not so much through interpretation that changed the choreography in any way but in how much they bent their knees, how much emotion was portrayed in the movement of a head or hand, how quickly their torso moved, etc.

As I watched them move, and as I watched Julian, a question arose in my mind: Is it possible that a boy’s dancing  (or a girl’s) can be inhibited by their developmental stage at any given time? I think the answer is a resounding “yes.” And here’s why.

Let’s take a simple example first. One of the first dances the kids did on Saturday was to a song that was very sexual in nature. It was all about taking a girl home and having her do to the guy what he normally did to her. While the choreography could be done by anyone, the kids who performed it best, did so in a very sexual manner. They had the pelvic thrusts and the sways of the hips and the movements of the hands down the body down to a sexy art. (It’s a bit appalling actually to think that 14 and 15 year olds know how to dance this way…The room was filled with 14-18 year olds.)  More to the point, if a 14 or 15 year old (or 16 or 17 year old) doesn’t have the developmental wherewithal to know how to dance that way — to drum up the feeling to dance that way, they aren’t going to carry off the choreography well. Their performance is going to be missing something that a boy who maybe has had a sexual experience, or whose hormones make him feel sexual or sexy, or who has watched a lot of movies with sex scenes, or who simply is older and can relate to the words of the song will have.  Their movements will belie their knowledge, understanding and depth of feeling, while the other boys movements will be lacking. And I definitely saw some that were lacking in that way…and some that were not.

A less simple example comes when you have a kid whose developmental stage makes him insecure. Take your average freshman in high school, who is trying to fit in, find himself, and discover even a small sense of self-esteem.  The lack of these things will show in their dancing despite any superb technique or ability to mimic choreography or even make it their own. Their performance just won’t be as strong; it will wreak of all those insecurities they carry with them all day long, even if they feel fairly secure on the dance floor. Wherever they carry that insecurity — in their upper bodies, in their arms, in their shoulders — that’s where you’re going to see their dancing falling short and looking weak.

All this to say that the dancers I saw really “hitting it” at the convention seemed to have a maturity about them, a strong sense of self and a confidence that allowed them to carry out the choreography in a way that made you notice them. They were not only really going for it and making sure they got noticed, they were putting their heart and soul into the movements with a true sense of self.

This all became clear to me during the question and answer session. Someone asked what the choreographers looked for when dancers audition for parts in shows. Two choreographers responded. Tyce Diorio said something along these lines: “I look for people who are real individuals.” From this I took him to mean that that sense of individuality and strong sense of self comes through in their dancing.

Laurieann said, “Spirit is like a muscle, and you have to exercise it every day.” As she elaborated on this, what I took away was that as you exercise your spirit, strengthening your ability to bring your spirit forth in your dance (which means bringing more of yourself through your dance), you become a better and more unique dancer.

Both of these pieces of advice require confidence and a strong sense of self. (They don’t require a big ego; in fact, a large ego is usually a symptom of insecurity.) And many young dancers — boys and girls alike — are still trying to find their individuality, struggling against the pressure to conform in order to fit in, and their spirit. Thus, they may not have these qualities yet. They have to find their individuality; they have to know who they are, be okay with themselves, feel good about who they are even if they don’t fit in, even if they are different. They have to like — love — themselves. And then they have to dance in a way that expresses who they are.

I think Julian’s stuck in a developmental stage right now that isn’t helping his dancing. I suggested he go into the studio alone with his music and “find himself.” Actually, during the question and answer session someone asked if dance class or time spent dancing alone benefited a dancer’s education more.  I believe Wade Robson said, “Both are beneficial.” Julian doesn’t spend much time dancing alone.

Now, I’m not sure that dancing alone will help Julian find himself in school or socially, but it’s a start. One area at a time.

And for every boy that is still struggling to find himself, I wonder if the same advice doesn’t apply: Be an individual. Exercise your spirit muscle.  Go into the studio alone and find yourself.

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 that might have been uncalled for and inappropriate.

Well…it’s my blog, after all. I can say what I want here, but, as a mom, I don’t want to hurt the feelings of any young male dancers. That, of course, is not my mission. My mission has been to address the issues faced by young male dancers and their parents.

I guess I’ve not really gotten it through my thick head that people are actually reading this blog! When I started, there were so few readers, and now I have a steady following. I now must be more conscious of the fact that when I write about people, they might actually show up here one day…or someone they know might do so. Which doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be honest, but I should be more considerate and conscious of the fact that my words have an affect.

So, I’ve gone back and altered the blog post in question- deleted a few lines that, I agree, were a bit out of line and possibly pointed a finger at him in ways he might not appreciate. I looked over a few others to be sure that I had eliminated any information that might point a finger at any young person in particular.  I even changed a few things I said that I felt could be hurtful in some way.

And I offer here a public apology for any undue stress or upset I might have caused through my “unconscious” writing to this young man or to anyone else for that matter! All I really want to do is help and inform, and I didn’t do a good job of that with that post — or a few others. (I admit I was in a hurry and not really thinking through what I was writing. I’ll  try not to let it happen again!)

That said, I would hasten to bet that Julian is more than a bit appalled a lot of the time about what I write about him here. I reveal way more than he would like, I”m sure, in a very public manner. So, if anyone should be upset, it’s probably him! (I’m actually quite concerned about the repercussions this will have on him…)

As for the second issue this young man raised, I’ll address it, although I did bring it up already once: doing choreography “exactly as taught” or “making it your own.” Maybe it’s appropriate to put this subject up for discussion once more, especially as Julian gets ready to go to The Pulse and as other boys (and girls) are frequenting the spring convention circuit. Plus, it’s always important as our boys audition for anything at all, convention scholarships or parts in productions.

My understanding is that there is an appropriate time to make choreography “your own.”  If you are doing choreography as a group as, lets say, back up for a performing artist, you would all want to do the choreography in the same manner so the group has a uniform affect. This seems to be true for large hip hop groups, like the one I just profiled for Dance Spiritmagazine, Xtreme Dance Force in Naperville, IL.

However, in other pieces where there is room for a bit of individuality – that doesn’t take away from the overall picture (meaning one person’s interpretation of the choreography doesn’t draw your eye away from the other dancers in the ensemble making the piece not feel uniform) – it’s okay to take the choreography and “make it your own.” By this I mean, to make it fit your body and your movements and maybe to even interpret it a bit. I can see this in many modern pieces and tap pieces. For example, I see this at Teen Dance Company when the kids are given lots of different movements to do, each person’s part in the overall peice being fairly unique and different. I also see this in the pieces done by The North Carolina Tap Ensemble, which I also profiled for Dance Spirit, where each tapper does have a bit of a unique style of their own, but it doesn’t take away from the piece as a whole.

I have been told, however, that a dancer doesn’t want his or her moves to be too different from those of the other dancers doing identical, or even similar, choreography; his moves shouldn’t be a lot larger or smaller and they shouldn’t take her too far away or too close to the other dancers. It’s much easier for a dancer to make the moves his or her own when each dancer in a piece has been given a piece of choreography that is a bit different from everyone else’s. When everyone is being asked to do the same exact choreography, that is when it should be done in exactly the same fashion. That’s my understanding at least.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the kids at Teen Dance Company were specifically instructed prior to Nuvo convention notto make the choreography at conventions “their own” but to copy it exactly — meaning crisply, concisely, as taught, without any alterations or creative interpretation on their part. It seemed that students making the choreography their own – not dancing it exactly as taught but interpreting it and being creative with it – were the ones noticed at that particular convention. So, which is the correct tack to take in the convention situation? And which is the correct tack to take in other situations? Any experts care to comment?

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 piece, choreographed by ReMinD, otherwise known as Aristan Rinpoyla. When Julian competed this number, he won lots of awards for the unique choreography which is a bit like the movie “Mask;” each time he puts on a new hat, he dances a different type of hip hop.

While those who make the decisions about who performs what at the studio weren’t too keen on Julian doing a hip hop routine, they actually found the choreography “entertaining,” and allowed it into the show. Another point for ReMinD!  Julian has since been trying to get the piece back up to performance level. I’m not sure it will be quite there with just 2 weeks of sporadic rehearsals, but it will be okay.

Tomorrow, he begins rehearsals for Copellia with Los Gatos Ballet. Since tech rehearsals for this productin were in close conflict with Teen Dance Company’s concert tech week, we were afraid he wouldn’t get to do the performance. However, he’s been allowed to do it with the caveat that if his school work starts affecting attendance at TDC, he has to drop out of Copellia.

His grades are getting a bit better, I’m happy to say, and he’s only missed one assignment in 3 weeks or so. However, his honors English grade is in the basement (and that’s putting it really nicely). We’re hoping he brings it up so he doesn’t have to attend summer school. If that happens, he can kiss his ABT summer intensive scholarship and experience goodbye. That would be a shame.

This weekend he is off to The Pulse to dance with the choreographers of So You Think You Can Dance. He’s excited about that. Although he does get to work with Mandy Moore occasionally, and she isn’t with The Pulse, he hasn’t worked with Tyce Diorio, Mia Michaels, Shane Sparks, Brian Friedman, or Wade Robson before.

I’m hoping to get to the convention to watch as well, since I’d like to see these people operate myself. However, my daughter has a synchronized swimming meet on Sunday…Can’t ever be on a different day, can it?…so I’m going to miss a few of these choreographers in action. I’m sure Julian will have a blast, though.

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, he got to observe and talk with two other male dancer he has met previously

The TDC dancers had recently had an hour-long class involving instruction on how to work with choreographers. The gist of the class, according to what Julian told me, was to “copy” the movements and not to change the movements to make them “your own” unless told to do so by the instructor. Julian noticed another male dancer doing what he deemed “just the opposite” — in his eyes — and making it his own to a great extent. And this boy was rewarded by being put on stage. He was upset. And maybe Julianwas just jealous…who’s to know. Or maybe he was just confused given that he was told to do something, which received no recognition, while someone else did the opposite and did receive recognition.

Anyway, the kids had a blast at the convention, and they were given the opportunity to compete simply for the sake of “performing” and giving the company a bit of publicity. That turned out quite well, as they came in first and got high honors in every category in which they competed. Of course, the kids were thrilled. (Who doesn’t like to be a winner, even if it’s not supposed to be about competing and winning.)

However, in one of the numbers Julian was set down a bit harder then usual after a lift and turned his ankle a bit. Between that and his two tap numbers, he has a sore ankle ankle and foot today, so he stayed home from dance to rest it. He has rehearsals gearing up at the end of the week for their spring concert; he wants to be in tip top shape for that.

He got to take class with Travis Wall, an idol of his from So You Think You Can Dance. He loved his choreography and has wanted to dance like him since he saw him on television.

It’s been a year since Julian attended a convention. He has two more to go…