Life in the Dance Lane

In case you were wondering, I haven’t abandoned this blog. I’ve been a bit busy…first with the Jewish High Holy Days and then with my second ACL surgery in 14 years. Yes…that fall down the stairs in New York ended me up under the orthopedic surgeon’s knife on September 29th (after a preliminary visit to Julian’s sports specialist and an MRI). I’ve been slowly recovering…more slowly than most ACL surgery patients since I had to have both the previous screws that were placed into my knee before (and the previous graft) removed before they could put in the new ones.

Anyway, life goes on in the “dance lane.” I’ve been home nursing myself back to health. I took a week off and then began doing a bit of work here and there. Then this week a big storm his Northern CA, our first of the season (a bit early), and that knocked our power out for three days. Oops. Time off for me…nice especially since I was coming down with whatever virus or flu my daughter was spreading around with her cough.

As for Julian, he’s, of course, dancing up a storm. Things are going well at TDC. He’s working really hard–still drawing on that NYC energy. He’s in all the pieces of choreography this year so far, although one choreographer probably won’t use him since he has to miss one of her sessions for a Nutcracker performance. Nutcracker is going really well. He’s very excited that he chose to once again do the San Jose Dance Theater production, since as the prince he is getting to do some great partnering. This is something really missing in his normal year-r0und training. He is also getting a few solos with some “guy” stuff thrown in. Additionally, quite a number of Sunday rehearsals are attended by Maximo Califano from Ballet San Jose, which means Julian gets somewhat of a private lesson with a male ballet dancer. He’s worked on an awesome lift last weekend, but Maximo wasn’t there to help; Julian hopes he’ll be there this weekend. Choreographer Marcie Ryken saw the lift in a Ballet San Jose production recently.

Julian is really enjoying the choreography track at TDC this year. It’s the first time he’s tried choreographing for others…or for himself really. I think the girls are really working hard doing very physical choreography–things Julian would choose to do himself. So far, however, his teachers have been happy with the progress he’s made and with the piece itself. I’ll write more about the process another time.

Other than that, Julian is doing better in school. He started out with a bang and recently lost his focus. I think a bit of being grounded has helped him regain that! He has a girlfriend now, and he has become somewhat “popular,” even hanging out with some popular jocks at the school. So, he feels he has turned a corner when it comes to his social life. However, he was sad to discover that his little group (just two girls really) ditched him at the beginning of the year. I think that propelled him into some other groups, though, and even some kids who really disliked him before are beginning to like him.

I chalk all of this up to this past summer in NYC and at American Ballet Theatre (and at Broadway Dance  Center). I think the level of confidence he developed and the degree of determination with which he returned made a huge difference in how he saw himself and how others saw him. When he was clear (or clearer) about who he was and where he was going, I think his energy changed and people started treating him differently. Not that he didn’t know this before, but his commitment was different. And they felt that.

So, all in all…things are going well in the dance lane, I’d say. I promise I’ll try to get another guest blog post up soon. I still have to transcribe my interview with Denise Wall…but I will, I promise!

Free Ballet Classes Draw Boys Into The Studio

I recently was asked to write a short sidebar on how to get boys into the dance studio and keep them there.  (The piece will appear in an upcoming issue of Dance Teacher magazine.) One of the things I stressed was that studios should offer free or discounted classes for boys, as well as scholarships. Additionally, of course, they should offer boys-only classes.

I just found this article on Boys and Ballet about the Oregon Ballet Academy. They offered a free class for boys.

The boys comment on what they do together in class – things likes jumps and push ups. They say it’s like a work out in the gym. You know, boy stuff. Of course, they also learn to lift and turn the girls and make them look good.

The result:  The Oregon Ballet Company’s Nutcracker ended up with 20 boys in the Russian dance this past year!

I hate to say “I told you so,” but….I told you so!

We’re Cracking Nuts to Get Ready for the Nutcracker…and to Produce T-Shirts for Holiday Gifts!

OMG! Julian’s Nutcracker performances are this weekend already. When he performed with Ballet San Jose, the performances were the week before Christmas (Or was it for two full weeks?), but we came back from Thanksgiving in NY to a crazy tech week schedule. Thank goodness I’ve completed my 30-day writing blog. And we don’t even just have his performances to worry about. I’ve got a friend in town – coming a day earlier than expected – to teach some Kabbalistic drumming classes I organized for him. So, I’m on duty for that most of the weekend. (I see the Nutcracker Friday night.) My daughter is in the Christmas parade with her synchronized swimming team on Saturday. My hubby is doing security for the Nutcracker on Saturday morning. I think we’ll sleep well on Sunday night.

Now, the biggest thing for Julian seems to be whether or not his new boots will work for the Russian dance. He forgot to try them out at rehearsal yesterday. (I’m so glad I stressed about getting them here on time for tech week…) They aren’t ballet shoes but actually jazz shoes on the bottom. After that, he only needs to worry about landing on his feet for the flip he does during that dance. He actually runs up and puts one foot in the hands of the other boy and gets thrust into the air, where he does a flip. Imagine someone who runs up a wall and flips over and lands on his feet. It’s much like that. He’s landed badly a few times, but never on his head.  A few times he’s touched the floor with his hands. Now he has to do it in these boots that will feel totally different on his feet. I hope they will help. Then, of course, there are the other jumps, leaps, turns, and regular old ballet moves he has to do in these non-ballet shoes.

As for the T-shirts I promised you for Christmas…I haven’t forgotten. We ran into a few hitches. The artwork is ready to go to the printer now, and we will see if we can get them produced quickly enough to allow for arrival in time for the holidays. We will price to accommodate priority shipping, I promise.

I am proud to say that my talented daughter, Ariel, was able to design three shirts based on sayings that I came up with! This is the beginning of “My Brother Can Dance Designs©” by Ariel Amir Lacey. I’ll tell you the sayings, and you can ponder the pictures… “Real men lift,” “This is my playing field,” and “The beats go on.” If we get enough T-shirt orders, she will transfer the designs to sweatshirts and sweat pants as well.

That’s it for today…Hopefully, I’ll have artwork to show you in a few days – by next week at the latest, and I’m assured that the shirts can be printed in just days if necessary. So, keep your fingers crossed!

Be Careful What You Ask For…

First, let me comment on the comment from last post concerning competition. This is a hot topic. Competitions have so much going for them, and so much going against them. I want to say one thing: They shouldn’t be about how many rhinestones are on the costume. They should be about technique and performance. Period. Even Julian said that he didn’t understand why you even got judged on your costume. He’s right. I’ve seen some of the best senior performers compete in simple dance clothes that showed of their body and their lines. And that’s what competition should be about. Lines, bodies moving correctly. Technique. Of course, you have to be a good performer. If you get up on stage and fall to pieces, no one will notice your excellent technique. The two go together. But who cares about the costume. And those booty shaking numbers and skimpy, lingerie outfits on 6 year olds…give me a break. That’s not dancing. And, as far as I’m concerned, it’s far from technique.

Okay, onto today’s real message: At Julian’s performance review we asked that he get to work on the “boy stuff.” Well, be careful what you ask for; you just might get it. He’s been working not only on Thursday’s with Mark Foehringer in the advanced ballet class ( just Julian and Mark while the girls get on their pointe shoes and then with the girls while they are doing pointe class) but also on Tuesdays in the advanced ballet class on jumps and tours and that sort of thing. On those nights, Julian comes home exhausted and the next day he can hardly walk when he gets out of bed! He’s working so hard.

Yesterday, Mark showed him some videos of a guy doing some really hard moves during a ballet (Swan Lake maybe) and told him that this was something he’d seen Ramon Moreno, principle dancer at Ballet San Jose (who Julian has danced with and taken lessons from) perform. Then he asked Julian to do it. All the while as Julian jumped, Marke yelled, “Higher! Higher!”

Julian smiled as he told me all of this. He isn’t unhappy that he has gotten what he asked for.  And I guess Mark isn’t unhappy with Julian’s performance to date either. Or at least that’s Julian’s assessment of the lessons.

Unfortunately, between hip hop choreographers coming in, Thanksgiving break, and a tech week for Nutcracker, he won’t be doing the “guy stuff” with Mark (at least not on Thursdays) for almost a month. I guess his body gets a rest.