Alonzo King LINES Ballet’s Madeline DeVries can move with both liquid grace and razor-sharp precision. A Southern California native, DeVries grew up training at the Santa Clarita Ballet Academy in Canyon Country, CA. She later studied at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School’s professional division on full scholarship, and spent summers training with Houston Ballet, The […]
We’ve all been there—smack in the middle of the improv portion of an audition, when suddenly our brain freezes over. All the creative movement born out of story telling and honest expression becomes the same right-battement over…and over…and over again. Yikes!đź™… Here are four prompts to help you break that dreaded right-battement cycle. Use them […]
What do you get when a former rhythmic gymnast joins forces with a skilled hip-hop dancer/choreographer? A jaw-dropping performance that will have you hitting repeat. We’re in awe of this dance routine—performed by Nathalie Fauquette (the rhythmic gymnast) and Sofiane Tiet (the hip-hopper)—which merges hip-hop and contemporary in an effortlessly fresh fusion. And the cinematography […]
With every signature Graham contraction, Martha Graham Dance Company principal PeiJu Chien-Pott’s power emanates from her core and ripples through her body, to the point that you start to feel your own breath stop and start with hers. Add her picture-perfect lines and classical technique, honed at the Taipei National University of the Arts, and […]
Kyle Abraham is on fire. In the past few years, he’s been named a 2013 MacArthur Fellow and honored by Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and the Ford Foundation. College dance departments across the country can’t get enough of the young choreographer—and neither can major dance companies: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, The Martha Graham Dance […]
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 […]
In a mirror-less dance studio, your teacher asks you to move as if you’re in the shower and the hot water has suddenly disappeared. What do you do? You twitch, you vibrate. You can almost feel that freezing-cold water pelting your shoulders. As you shiver, you imagine how that movement affects each molecule in your […]
Move to your dream city, sign with a company, live happily ever after: That’s the fairy tale for many aspiring professional dancers. But reality is often more complicated—and an increasing number of dancers are finding artistic fulfillment through freelance careers. Going freelance can be appealing to those who don’t have their hearts set on one […]