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YDA Blog & News
The 51st Annual National Choreography Intensive will be headed up by Nelly van Bommel. Nelly van Bommel was selected as one of Dance Magazine’s ‘25 to Watch’ in January 2010. Her work has been featured in France, Taiwan, Canada and the US in major venues and festivals. A native of France, Ms. Van Bommel moved to the US in 2002 thanks to a fellowship from the Conseil Régional d’lle de France. Upon completion of the MFA dance program at Purchase College, she was presented with an Outstanding MFA Graduate Award for excellence. Ms.
Submitted by glvogelzang on Fri, 02/03/2012 - 09:37
Submitted by glvogelzang on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 07:26
The Regional Dance America National Choreography Intensive (NCI) is a multi-faceted program, providing dancers, emerging choreographers and seasoned choreographers the unparalleled opportunity to work, study and create under the guidance of nationally recognized professionals in the fields of music and dance. The NCI provides a vital training ground/working environment for choreographers and a one-of-a-kind experience for dancers to work within a variety of styles and train with some of the best teachers in the world.
Submitted by glvogelzang on Fri, 04/08/2011 - 13:59
AT THE NATIONAL BALLET SCHOOL of Canada, a group of 9 to 14-year-olds take turns presenting their choreography to an informal audience of parents, other students, and teachers. The children, however tentative, seem to take joy in participating in the creative process using a movement vocabulary they love.
Submitted by glvogelzang on Fri, 04/01/2011 - 12:40
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre soloist Christine Schwaner said she remembers the exact moment she suffered the first serious injury of her career, a bad left ankle sprain she sustained in a fall at 1:30 p.m., Dec. 16, 2008, during a rehearsal of "The Nutcracker."

"I slipped on the floor," she said.
"When I did that one, I did it good. When I fell, all my weight went on my ankle."
Submitted by glvogelzang on Wed, 03/23/2011 - 16:35
Heartland Youth Ballet, a performance group that is part of Robin Welch Dance Arts in Omaha, has been chosen to be Nebraska’s only member of Regional Dance America.
RDA, a national organization, fosters the education and growth of dance students, choreographers, directors and dance companies.
Students will have access to master classes, learn dances created by resident and guest choreographers, and meet other dance students at an annual four-day RDA gathering. This year’s gathering is May 18-21 in Pittsburgh.
Submitted by glvogelzang on Sun, 02/27/2011 - 19:41
They are the most important element of a ballerina's costume: Pointe shoes, which allow dancers to stand on the tips of their toes, can make the difference between an amazing performance and a dismal show.
So important are the pink silk shoes in the life of a dancer that most ballerinas will only ever wear established and trusted brands -- and for the greats of the ballet world, this brand is Freed of London.
Submitted by glvogelzang on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 16:03
Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis' strong acting brought Golden Globe nominations and Oscar buzz to their new film, Black Swan, but more importantly, the pair's grinding, slavish devotion to training for their roles as top ballerinas is bringing to light the pressure, tears and constant paranoia that real-life dancers so often face in pursuit of the art.
Submitted by glvogelzang on Thu, 01/27/2011 - 16:12
There is no other experience quite like Regional Dance America Northeast!
“Art does not flourish in isolation. It grows in an atmosphere of candor and sharing. By attending festivals RDA member companies gain a wider perspective about their current level and their potential for progress.”
Doris Hering RDA Director Emeritus and former Dance Magazine associate editor and critic
Submitted by glvogelzang on Mon, 01/24/2011 - 20:35
Margot Fonteyn once said that, if people knew the physical agony ballet caused its dancers, only those who enjoyed bullfights could bear to watch it.
It’s an agony that often leads to injury, and not only in ballet either: ballroom, hip hop and jazz and tap also rank as top-powered athletic activities carrying a high risk of permanently crippling effects. The spectacular crashes reported from Broadway’s tricksy new version of
Submitted by glvogelzang on Thu, 01/20/2011 - 20:31
It was just before 10 p.m. on a Wednesday night in Los Feliz, and the assorted filmgoers that had gathered to see "Black Swan" sounded as if they were attending different movies.
Nas Moinee, 23, had come for the dancing and the costumes and was dreading the film's scares. Peter Garcia, a longhaired, ball-cap-wearing 12-year-old attending with his mother, said he was looking forward to jumping out of his seat at the movie's spooky scenes.
Submitted by glvogelzang on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 22:00
New York City Ballet is creating a small and nimble touring ensemble in the hopes of broadening its appeal around the country and the world.
Submitted by glvogelzang on Tue, 01/11/2011 - 15:38
It is with great excitement that Regional Dance America announces the 50th anniversary of the National Choreography Intensive to be held July 18 through July 28 in Winston-Salem, NC. The National program, Choreography lntensive is a multi-faceted providing dancers, emerging
Submitted by glvogelzang on Fri, 01/07/2011 - 14:31
As 2010 draws to a close, many of us find ourselves looking back at the year that has passed, and looking ahead at the year to come. It's the time to think about what you have done, and what you will do. Regrets surface, and resolutions are formed to do better "next time".
Submitted by glvogelzang on Thu, 01/06/2011 - 16:37
Dance movies are officially cool again thanks to "Black Swan," the nightmarish thriller starring Natalie Portman that is set in the world of New York's classical ballet. The Darren Aronofsky film has been racking up award nominations while proving to be a surprise box-office success since its release this fall.
Submitted by glvogelzang on Tue, 01/04/2011 - 14:19
As if the life of a teenager isn't difficult enough, 17-year-old Aimee Fries is breaking a leg every day, metaphorically, of course. In ballet training since second grade, this St. Joseph High School senior and dancer in the Victoria Ballet Theatre says the balancing act of friends, family, school and dance is all worth it.
Keeping company
From when I was little, I've always thought about being a dancer professionally and hoped I would be able to do that. I know I want to dance in college and then probably dance with a company, but I'm not sure about teaching.
Submitted by glvogelzang on Wed, 12/22/2010 - 15:18
Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker is renowned for pushing the limits of stage illusion. But I'm concerned they might finally have pushed too far.
They had me in it.
Yes, I "danced" in the ballet.
For Friday night's performance, I was aged 40 years or so by dint of wig and makeup, then stuffed into a unitard (!) to play a guest role as "Grandfather" in the ballet's hallucinatory Maurice Sendak version of the holiday classic.
Submitted by glvogelzang on Mon, 12/20/2010 - 13:32
Risa Jaroslow’s Partner Project is all about relationship. Not the romantic kind, but that kinetic, flesh-to-flesh thing that happens between dancers moving.
The piece started out rambunctious, with sounds of chasing and struggling. We craned our necks to look up at the (once condemned) balcony of St. Marks’ Church. Depending on your seat, you could see the source of those sounds: two scrappy people wearing parkas.
Submitted by glvogelzang on Sat, 12/18/2010 - 22:12
For many American children Christmas and “The Nutcracker” go together like candy and cane. You can’t walk into a supermarket in December without hearing Tchaikovsky’s music for the ballet, or at least some version thereof, and white-wigged Nutcracker dolls can be found at the 99-cent store.
Submitted by glvogelzang on Fri, 12/17/2010 - 20:02
DAYTON, Ohio — This city has gone bust more than once, so a contemporary dance troupe that has lasted more than 40 years may be the ultimate example of cultural survival here.
Submitted by glvogelzang on Thu, 12/16/2010 - 20:17
Days before the 'Nutcracker' premiere, three costume makers scramble to bring the Sugar Plum Fairy to life.
It's 8 a.m. on a frigid Tuesday, and wardrobe assistant Travis Halsey is already hard at work. He has been measuring and cutting fabric at the Joffrey Tower in the Loop for an hour before his boss, department head Marianne Marks, arrives at the building's third-floor workspace.
Submitted by glvogelzang on Wed, 12/15/2010 - 13:20
(Dec. 13) -- A dancer in the New York City Ballet's production of "The Nutcracker," criticized for looking "as if she'd eaten one sugar plum too many," said the review was embarrassing but she's moved past that single opinion and isn't looking for an apology.
Submitted by glvogelzang on Mon, 12/13/2010 - 21:43
"Black Swan," the new psycho-sexual thriller set in the world of ballet, follows the downward emotional spiral of a young dancer whose inability to separate art and life leads to horrific and bloody consequences.
The movie, directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, is seen as a top awards contender. Critics have been sharply divided, with some praising the extreme depiction of lunacy while others have been turned off by the same.

Submitted by glvogelzang on Sun, 12/12/2010 - 17:11
It was a big deal when Misty Copeland was promoted to soloist in 2007—the first female African American ballet dancer to reach that status at American Ballet Theatre in over two decades. In the last three years she has shone bright in repertoire ranging from avant-garde to pure classical and everything in between.
Submitted by glvogelzang on Sat, 12/11/2010 - 14:39
Snow lay in piles on the sidewalks in Salt Lake City, where I saw “The Nutcracker” danced in a theater that was two years old when Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes appeared there in 1917 and that was once a vaudeville house. In Houston the next day the temperature was around 65, and “The Nutcracker” was being staged in a grand 1980s opera house next to a bayou.

Submitted by glvogelzang on Fri, 12/10/2010 - 15:16
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Random Dance Fact
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The bodices of the dresses worn by the women during the Hot Chocolate dace in the New York City Ballet’s rendition of The Nutcracker, are decorated with small cameo pictures of the company’s founders, Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine.
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