When Kamille Upshaw arrived at The Juilliard School in 2007, she’d been a competition dancer for a decade. “There was still a bit of a stigma about competition dancers,” says Upshaw, who attended Baltimore School for the Arts and trained at Spotlight Studio of Dance in Millersville, Maryland. “We were seen as being all about […]
No two dancers’ career paths are exactly alike…which is actually pretty great! Equally great: New kinds of opportunities are constantly cropping up in the dance world, along with new skills necessary to book them. (Did anyone really know how to make a self-tape before 2020?) But in an industry that seems to quick-change faster than […]
In a year that couldn’t possibly get any more bonkers (we wouldn’t be surprised, though), the world needs smart, resourceful, and creative people more than ever before. And who does that description remind us of? That’s right…dancers. It may seem like jobs for dancers are scarce these days, but in reality, there are plenty of […]
Towards the end of your first semester as a dance student, you’ll participate in something that resembles an exam. Whether your school calls it a jury, a placement, an evaluation, an assessment, or an appraisal, the structure remains roughly the same: You take class in front of all of your dance professors, they scribble furiously […]
If there’s one thing NYCDA Executive Director Joe Lanteri knows how to do, it’s make dreams come true. This was obvious at last night’s New York City Dance Alliance Foundation Gala, “Destiny Rising,” at The Joyce Theater. It was an evening of passionate performance by tons of crazy-talented dancers, many of whom grew up as self-proclaimed “NYCDA babies.” […]
My first Friday night at New York University, two second-year dance majors had some of us freshmen follow them through SoHo to a tiny triangular street corner. There was nothing there but a one-story building that looked ready for a demolition crew. I didn’t know where we were or why. Then Savion Glover climbed onto […]
You know what I love? Smart dancers. Do you know how you can become a smart[er] dancer? Go to college! I love dancers who make the decision to continue their education after high school. I know it’s not for everyone—some dancers want to get their professional careers kicked off right away, and hey, any ambition […]
[portfolio_slideshow nowrap=0 height=500 thumbs=true timeout=4000 showtitles=true showcaps=true showdesc=true]