Imagine you’d never danced a day in your life, and then you woke up one morning and said, “Let’s do it.” Who would you call to guide you through this new, foreign world? Kyle Hanagami, obviously—which is exactly what Ashly Perez, a video personality and producer at BuzzFeed, did. Perez recruited Hanagami to turn her […]
These days, tap dancers can reach huge audiences through social media, where videos from stars like Chloe Arnold and Sarah Reich have gone viral. But in the 1920s and ’30s, the best way for tappers to gain a following was to have an act on the vaudeville circuit, which allowed them to perform in theaters […]
Here at DS, we’re big believers in our Sunday #MomentofZen. It’s important to take a day to recharge and prep for the week ahead, especially when it comes to setting goals. Which is why we thought it was the perfect time to introduce our Sunday Spotlight Roundup. Maybe you’ve been wanting to master a new […]
The Joffrey Ballet’s Christine Rocas and Rory Hohenstein in In the middle, somewhat elevated (Herbert Migdoll) There I stood, center stage, during a performance of William Forsythe’s In the middle, somewhat elevated. Rehearsals for the ballet had been tricky. I’d felt self-conscious and hesitant about its stretched-to-the-limits choreography—particularly the passages of improvisation—in the studio. I […]
Every ballet dancer has a pointe shoe prep process that’s akin to a sacred ritual. And while some modifications are meant to make feet look prettier, the most critical tricks help those precious shoes last as long as possible—because at $60 to $100 a pop, they have to. We rounded up some of the best […]
The signature cupped hands of the celebrants in Primitive Mysteries; the clawed hands of Medea in Cave of the Heart—“Graham hands” are unmistakable and create next-level drama. Each thrust or flick enhances Graham’s larger-than-life characters. “Martha marveled over the possibilities of the hands,” says Terese Capucilli, a former Martha Graham Dance Company principal dancer who […]
Sore muscles and stiff joints are par for the course when you’re a dancer. But sometimes persistent (and painful) pinches appear—and stick around. Never pain is a common occurrence, but it requires more work than a quick rollout and dose of over-the-counter pain reliever. We broke down a few of the most prevalent types and […]