Articles
How Theater for Young People Could Save the World (Huffington Post)
Around the world artists are creating a new stripe of Theatre for Young People that combines the elegance of dance, the innovation of devised theater, the freshness of new plays, the magnetism of puppetry and the inciting energy of new musicals.
...theater is like a gym for empathy. It's where we can go to build up the muscles of compassion, to practice listening and understanding and engaging with people that are not just like ourselves. We practice sitting down, paying attention and learning from other people's actions. We practice caring.
Dancers on the poverty line (Crains)
The average professional dancer in New York City earns only $28,000 a year, according to a study to be released Monday by Dance NYC. The amount is just above the nation's poverty line. Of that income, just 55% comes from dance jobs, on average.
A Sharper Mind, Middle Age and Beyond (NYTimes)
January 19, 2012
When Dr. Lachman and Dr. Tun reviewed the results, they were surprised to discover that into middle age and beyond, people could make up for educational disadvantages encountered earlier in life. Everyone in the study who regularly did more to challenge their brains — reading, writing, attending lectures or completing word puzzles — did better on fluid intelligence tests than their counterparts who did less.
As it turns out, one essential element of mental fitness has already been identified. “Education seems to be an elixir that can bring us a healthy body and mind throughout adulthood and even a longer life,” says Margie E. Lachman, a psychologist at Brandeis University who specializes in aging. For those in midlife and beyond, a college degree appears to slow the brain’s aging process by up to a decade, adding a new twist to the cost-benefit analysis of higher education — for young students as well as those thinking about returning to school.
Erik says: There are a number of good studies that indicate that learning to dance and playing an instrument also challenges the brain in beneficial ways.
Could Beyoncé Get in Trouble for Stealing Dance Moves? (Slate)
Is it really possible to steal a dance? Evidence surfaced on Monday that Beyoncé may have cribbed dance moves from a Belgian choreographer, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, for her new music video “Countdown.” Certain scenes in the video do appear almost identical to a 1997 film version of de Keersmaeker’s 1983 work “Rosas danst Rosas,” both in terms of movement and design.
Dance games step into void left by other genres (USAToday)
When interest in music games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band declined, developers simply sidestepped and took a spin at making dance games.
Ballet replaces drugs for Fallen Angels dancers (BBC News)
Fallen Angels Dance Theatre was created to help vulnerable young people and adults who have experienced drug addiction and alcoholism through dance.
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE Winner Melanie Moore Explores Reasons for Her Success
A great article about the extra work it takes to become successful: She attributes it to discipline and work ethic, unsurprisingly. She said she and Marko, her partner for the first half of the season, were the only couple to rent studio space outside of the regular rehearsal space they were given by the show’s producers. She and Marko would go to the studio and rehearse for a few hours after hours at the regular rehearsal space were over.
A Generation’s Vanity, Heard Through Lyrics (NYTimes)
[It's interesting for dancers know the lyrical trend of contemporary music] Now, after a computer analysis of three decades of hit songs, Dr. DeWall and other psychologists report finding what they were looking for: a statistically significant trend toward narcissism and hostility in popular music. As they hypothesized, the words “I” and “me” appear more frequently along with anger-related words, while there’s been a corresponding decline in “we” and “us” and the expression of positive emotions.
Modern Masters (Dance Spirit)
Today the contemporary dance family tree has all kinds of offshoots, but its base includes four modern dance branches: the techniques created by Martha Graham, José Limón, Lester Horton and Merce Cunningham. Even if you don’t consider yourself a modern dancer, getting to know these foundational styles will make you a stronger, more versatile performer, and once you’ve been exposed to them you’ll find it easier to absorb the styles of contemporary choreographers. Here’s what you need to know about these fundamental modern techniques.
City Ballet A-Twitter Over Posts (WSJ)
New York City Ballet is set to become one of the country's first major performing-arts companies to govern its employees' posts on Twitter, Facebook and other social-media outlets.
