Tap City Coming Full Circle

American Tap Dance Foundation co-founder Brenda Bufalino’s works restaged at New York’s annual tap dance festival
by Mary Staub
Encore Magazine
http://encoremag.com/?

In 1986 Tony Waag co-founded the American Tap Dance Foundation together with Brenda Bufalino and the late Charles ‘Honi’ Coles. Fifteen years later, he launched New York’s annual tap dance festival, Tap City (runs July 6–11). This year, he received an NEA grant to revive two of Bufalino’s works—The Haitian Fight Song and Buff Loves Basie Blues. Waag’s work comes full circle this July, when the two pieces will be performed at Tap City’s main event at Symphony Space on July 10. Waag recently shed light on Tap City, from past to present.

How did Tap City come about?
I had just come back to New York after doing a sixty-city tour. At the time there were tap festivals in Brazil, Germany, Helsinki, Chicago, and there was nothing going on here in New York. It was like a revelation. I called Gregory [Hines, one of Waag’s mentors] and he said if I did a tap festival in New York, he would help. “What do I gotta do to help?” he asked. I said “just be there and perform and teach.” I needed his stamp of approval. With that sort of support everyone else just fell into line.

What has Tap City achieved since then?
It spearheaded a whole new movement of activity. It inspired people to do similar things. A lot of people have realized that they can create an event. A kind of festival circuit is starting to mobilize and things are moving in a much bigger sphere. People are connecting internationally.

How does this reflect on tap overall?
Tap is starting to get more support as a legitimate art form. People in general aren’t exposed to it like they were in the 30s and 40s, but slowly people are seeing more. Critics have gotten much better, too. They have more knowledge going in than before, but I wish people were writing more about tap so that people know more about it.

What are some common misperceptions about tap?
That it’s not serious and is just for fun. Then people think, “Oh, it’s really easy,” because the whole art is to make it look easy. Also people do think of it as male art form in general. They think it’s a black, old, male art form. When Savion [Glover] and Gregory [Hines] came along, people thought, oh maybe it’s a young black art form. But there are a lot of female practitioners, too, who never get acknowledgement. It’s communal and it’s open to anybody at any time. You can start when you’re 90. You can weigh 300 pounds and be an excellent tap dancer. You can mix it with any style and people won’t say it’s not tap dance. It’s a social dance with music, dance, singing—the world needs that. Tap brings people together.

See www.atdf.org for details on classes, workshops, performances, tap jams, and more.

TAKE Dance Company at Dance Theater Workshop

The age-old struggle with life’s impermanence successfully inspires dance
by Mary Staub
Encore Magazine
http://encoremag.com/?q=article&id=483

In 2002 Takehiro Ueyama, a former Paul Taylor dancer, was among those singled out by Jennifer Dunning in the New York Times as “a dancers to watch.” “Mr. Ueyema brings a soft and silky calm and sunny sweetness to everything he does,” Dunning wrote. Today, Ueyama, who is originally from Japan, brings that same silky calm and a mixture of Eastern and Western sensibilities to his choreography. His newest work, Footsteps in the Snow, premieres at Dance Theater Workshop when his now five-year-old TAKE Dance Company begins its fifth New York season on July 30th.

At a preview showing last May, Jill Echo, a TAKE dancer, introduced the piece saying, “It’s about trying to believe that after you leave this life there’s an imprint left behind.” Footsteps, though, plays with transience and permanence on more levels than one—impermanence in snow, impermanence in life, impermanence in death.

Although an age-old struggle and a subject which has inspired infinite works of art, Footsteps commands one’s attention once more and offers a complete, engrossing glimpse of what this struggle can mean. In it dancers glide, slide and softly step through snow, seemingly trying to make a mark in their transient terrain. They faintly, sadly roll, kneel and glance skyward, palms faceup, trying to catch every fleeting moment. Even in mismatched warm-up clothes, the nine dancers in Footsteps bring to life an engulfing landscape which visibly affects both those onstage and off. Music by Arvo Pärt further augments the mood of subtle sadness.

‘“We would come into rehearsal upbeat and chatty and every time we’d leave we’d feel all depressed,” Echo warned before the showing. But depressed is too strong a word. The figures in Footsteps emit a persevering hopefulness, never letting the transience of one moment prevent them from seeking permanence in the next. Again and again, they traverse the snow sweepingly and smoothly, sometimes in solitary searches, sometimes with the support and strength of others.

Also on the program at Dance Theater Workshop will be the New York premiere of Shabon, set to music by Steve Reich, and the creation of which was documented by filmmaker Damian Eckstein in A Year with TAKE Dance. Ueyama’s carefree Linked (2008) and Love Stories (2008), a three movement pas de deux, will complete the programs.
Through August 2nd.

Dancer Magazine Backstage

by Mary Staub — Jun 27, 2008

Naoko Nagato entered the world of costumes and dance fully by chance ten years ago when her sister-in-law needed a last-minute costume designer. At the time, Nagato worked in the pharmaceutical industry translating documents and laboring in labs. She had designed some of her own clothes, even made doll dresses as a child in Japan, but had no formal training in fashion. “I used to make my own clothes, but was never interested in the fashion industry,” Nagato said from her home and studio in downtown Manhattan. “I agreed to help my sister-in-law just to see what would happen.”

What happened was a review in The New York Times that commended her creations. Soon thereafter, Nagato’s phone started ringing with costume queries from others, and within just three years she quit her job in pharmaceuticals to focus fully on costumes. Initially, the hardest component of her new creative career was asking for money. “At first I didn’t think what I made was worthy of others, just good for myself,” Nagato said with a laugh. “To one client I said an amount of money that I thought was fine for the work, and they gave me double.”

Though chemistry may seem far removed from costuming, Nagato sees at least one clear connection. “Both places you have to believe somehow that what you envision is going to work,” she said. “With costumes you know what you want it to look like, and then you try to make it work. In chemistry you believe there’s a treasure in the liquid, and you must find out whether it’s true.”

Photo by Naoko Nagato

When Nagato watches dancers during rehearsal, the movement and meaning of the piece paint images in her mind of what fabric, shape or shade of color ought to adorn them. This past March she worked with the Zimbabwean choreographer Nora Chipaumire in New York and costumed a piece of hers which spoke of some of her struggles living in that country. Nagato saw a combination of African-American street wear combined with subtle flavoring from Zimbabwe.

“When Nora was rehearsing I knew I wanted to see one of her legs – I wanted to see skin – but I knew the other leg should be in a regular pant,” Nagato explained. “I wanted something like the big hooded jackets you see on the street but not store-bought from Gap because that wouldn’t be Nora. I wanted one sleeve longer, the back open, the hood very styled; it had to say ‘Nora’.”

The key to any successful collaboration, Nagato claims, is communication: she includes her clients throughout the course of creation by deciphering the choreographers’ often seemingly conflicting verbal input and translates that into textile, tone and shape. “The choreographer hires me because she doesn’t know what to do – she knows she wants a purple look, but she doesn’t want purple,” Nagato said. “They’ll say things like ‘stay away from an African image, but still it should have an African image.”

After designing initial drafts using a mannequin in her home, Nagato brings in the dancers themselves for alterations and adjustments. This is one of the aspects she enjoys most. “One inch here makes a dancer look good, one inch there makes her look bad,” Nagato said. “I can tell when a dancer is becoming happier and happier with what she wears and I love to see that. Dancers work so hard in rehearsal and deserve to look good and feel good onstage.”

Nagato’s respect for and admiration of dancers and choreographers resonates throughout her work and words. The dance community, she says, where people are so determined to achieve so much with so little is vastly different from her past work in biochemistry. “The people are what make it so interesting,” Nagato said. “In the other industry I didn’t have anyone I wanted to talk to for hours on end. There, we work in the lab right next to each other, but nobody cares what happens beyond those walls. In dance, communication is still as important as dancing and I’m fascinated by how nicely, humanly, people grow up in this community.”

The Growth and Expansion of a Confident Choreographic Voice

Veteran dancer and choreographer Camille A. Brown back at Joyce SoHo with new work
by Mary Staub
Encore Magazine
http://encoremag.com/?q=article&id=458

Every time the 29 year-old dancer and choreographer Camille A. Brown sets out on a new creative voyage she embarks from a different challenge. For her latest work, which premiers at the Joyce SoHo on June 4, Brown’s challenge was love.

“I’m always trying to push myself and I was thinking about everything I have created,” Brown said this past April. “I realized that I hadn’t really done a piece about love, except for a solo, but never anything with partnering. Also, the dancers are speaking in this piece. A lot of what I do is pedestrian and sometimes I ask the dancers to speak during the creative process because it’s important that they hold on to their real reactions. This time what they were saying really made sense, so now the process is in the actual performance. I think of them as people who happen to be dancing, not dancers dancing.”

Brown, a veteran dancer of Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, self-produced her first solo show at the Joyce SoHo just two and a half years ago and has evolved considerably, both in breadth and intensity, since then. Not only can her voice now reach farther thanks to commissions by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Hubbard II and Philadanco, among others, but her voice itself is more defined.

“I can see my own voice when I’m creating and I know what I want,” Brown said. “And I always pray that people see my voice come out. I do ask for input from people whom I trust. Sometimes I take their suggestions and a lot of times I now don’t. I have to have confidence in my work, without being cocky.”

Cocky is the last thing Brown comes across as. The dancers she works with, for example, are all long-time friends and acquaintances whose participation it becomes clear she appreciates immensely. “We were friends before we were in this situation [of choreographer and dancers] and that helps a lot because as choreographer you put yourself in place of vulnerability,” Brown said. “I have to be able to ask ‘can you try this?’ without wondering what they’ll think. I think about it like a community. When you have great space things will flow, whether or not they work, things are still flowing.

Her modesty is equally apparent in her approach to audiences. “People are gonna take what they take from my work,” Brown said. “I try not to force people. It’s important that they get a story, but if they have a different interpretation, that’s cool.”

Through June 7.

The Meaning of Mozart

Dancer Pascal Rioult’s Great Mass in C Minor
by Mary Staub
Encore Magazine
http://encoremag.com/?q=article&id=418

In recent years the French-born choreographer Pascal Rioult has choreographed mainly early 20th-century composers like Ravel and Stravinsky. For his newest and first evening-length work, though, Rioult, a former Graham-dancer with his own now fifteen-year-old company, has tackled one of the great choral works, Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor. Rioult recently explained why working to Mozart is a return to his own roots, why Mozart represents hope for mankind, and what distinguished working with such a monumental composition.

What drew you to Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor?
I’ve been thinking about doing a mass for a long time. I’ve always been partial to choral music. My mother was a singer in a choir. From my most tender age I would go to bed and fall asleep with her singing in her beautiful soprano voice. Mozart has always been very important music to me because I always felt you go to him when you have a bit of a down; you put Mozart music on and most of his work just kind of cheers you up.

What is it like moving from more modern composers back to an 18th century work?
It’s true that in the past few years I’ve been working mainly with major pieces of classical music. Many from the early 20th century. One reason I’ve done that is not only because their music is great, but I wanted to learn my craft from their craft. You learn a lot by listening and working with their music. It really prepared me to go backwards. In a sense it’s back to the future. After learning so much from these 20th-century composers I’m prepared to tackle this kind of difficult and monumental piece.

What distinguished working on an evening-length work?
You need to have this sense of continuity in what you create from beginning to end. You want to keep the variety that’s in the music, but also have a strong sense of unity. You’re taking the audience on a journey and you have to make sure you don’t lose anyone along the way. On top of that, add that you want it to be a spiritual journey. If you have a story to tell it’s different than if you just want to touch people and think and feel things.

And what is this particular piece about for you?
It is a celebration of human nature and hope. There is something divine and glorious in all of us that we only touch once in a while. We all have that inside of us. That’s the only reason why there’s hope in humanity. And this piece shows that.

Rioult’s new work runs April 14th–19th at the Joyce Theater and will alternate with a program featuring older works of his to Bach, Stravinsky and Ravel.

2009 Flamenco Festival

Encore Magazine
http://encoremag.com/?q=article&id=378
Rhythm, passion and dexterity at City Center, Skirball Center and Carnegie Hall
by Mary Staub

Flamenco is best experienced in intimate surroundings, in dimly lit Andalusian bodegas with wood tables and chairs, hidden away in narrow side streets, tapas and red wine flowing until morning. Here, the duende (soul force) of flamenco is inescapable and permeates an audience fully. Here, the rhythm of the bailaores (flamenco dancers) sends your heart racing, the passion of the cantaores (singers) takes your breath away, the dexterity of the tocaores (flamenco guitarists) sends chills down your spine.

But not everyone can go to Spain.

Thus the Flamenco Festival is bringing Andalusian artists to large-scale New York theaters, including to City Center and NYU’s Skirball Center, for the ninth year in a row this February. Although flamenco often appears more distant, deliberate and orderly in the proscenium theater, this year’s artists—who hail from rich flamenco backgrounds and include the flamenco dynasty of
Los Farruco—promise to transcend the barrier the stage setting often creates.

Antonio Montoya Flores (El Farruco), the patriarch of Los Farruco until his death, came from a traditional Spanish gypsy background and began performing gypsy dances at markets as a child.
Later, when performing flamenco from his gypsy tradition in more typical theater settings, he was disinterested in ostentatious showmanship, and together with his family focused fully on embodying the passion the art form demands. Farruquito, El Farruco’s grandson, conceived and directed this year’s program, which features multiple family members who are well-known in their own right.

Antonio Gades, also from a flamenco family, is a flamenco legend of a different sort. He created and brought popular shows to major theaters worldwide, and is said to have made flamenco palatable to a wider audience. His “Carmen,” which began as Carlos Saura’s award-winning film by the same name (in which Gades collaborated and starred), is here being re-staged by the Antonio Gades Company, a company established shortly after Gades’s death to continue his legacy.

Smaller festival productions include “La Puerta Abierta,” in which dancer Isabel Bayón, born in Seville, Spain, responds to the cantaor Terremoto. And in the concert “Noche de Sevilla” the cantaor Arcángel represents a new generation of flamenco masters and incorporates jazz and international elements in his music. He’s appearing alongside the dancer Rosario Toledo and pianist Dorantes.

For each of these artists, flamenco is a deep-seated family tradition, and what they bring to the stage is nourished by those who came before them. And, as with most family traditions, flamenco takes on a unique flavor—and duende—dependent upon what lineage an artist is from. Enjoy sampling them all this month!

On the Record with Alyson Stoner (Dancer Magazine)

by Mary Staub — Nov 10, 2008

Alyson Stoner is just 15 years old, but already she’s danced for Missy Elliott and Eminem, done voice-overs for “Lilo & Stitch,” “W.I.T.C.H.” and “Pompoko,” co-hosted on the Disney Channel, acted in commercials, and appeared alongside Steve Martin in “Cheaper by the Dozen,” among a slew of other appearances. She teaches hip-hop in L.A. and is singing in her own first music video, to be released early next year on the Disney Channel. Here’s how she got where she is today, without losing sight of who she’s always been.

Do you remember when you took your first dance steps? I was the pipsqueak who constantly danced around the house. I transformed any fireplace or back porch into a stage. Really, I've been dancing since the day I could walk.

And when did any “formal” training start? When I was three, I enrolled at the O'Connell Dance Studio in Toledo, Ohio, under the direction of Betty, Julie and Joanie O'Connell. Julie had an extensive background in Broadway performances so in addition to developing proper technique, I was also taught to truly perform and learned stage presence. Obviously, that proved to be extremely valuable because my current career depends on those skills. I took jazz, tap, ballet—the standard foundational styles.

The O'Connell's allowed their advanced teen members to instruct certain classes of mine. Immediately, we 3-5 years olds listened to them, because they were "older kids" and "cooler than cool." Every instructor came to class smiling, so I linked dancing and music with joy and happiness—that feeling hasn't left since.

What is one of your most memorable moments from back then? Being backstage during a 30-second costume change. It was exhilarating and completely nerve-wracking, but it all paid off once I hit the stage.

And what made you start taking modeling classes, also in Toledo, at such a young age? Modeling had become another after-school activity to add to the list. I had already played on many sports' teams, and took dance and gymnastics classes; modeling was no different. I simply got to class on time, trained my hardest, practiced at home and reached for the stars. Always being on the go helped prepare me for life in L.A.

So, when did you relocate to L.A. and was that a big change? I was seven. Margaret O'Brien, of the Toledo modeling school I went to, took a group of students, including myself, to the IMTA convention. After various events, a couple of agents noticed my potential. Luckily, my family was able to manage a temporary trip to L.A., where I could try out the biz for awhile.

Alyson Stoner and Roshon Fegan of Disney Channel's "Camp Rock" host "Freestyle Jam" to teach viewers rockin' dance steps from the Disney Channel Original Movie.

Photo by Richard Cartwright

Then I found Millennium Dance Complex in L.A., which had classes open to the public. My first dance class was a master class by Wade Robson. Soon thereafter, I found a hip-hop class taught by 10-year-old Lindsay Taylor. I started as a student, but now I actually help teach the class. Lindsay and I have grown to be really close, especially because we share the same interests and abilities.

How have you managed to keep up with school and family life with all of this? I enrolled in a home-schooling program that allowed me to complete curriculum at my own pace, so I actually graduated high school at fourteen. Before then, I was accepted into a junior college at thirteen, and I plan to get my general education there, and move on to an Ivy League. As for my family, they're the reason for my being, and their support is where I draw my strength from, so I definitely make time to spend with them.

When did you realize you wanted to make performance your career? Up until “Camp Rock,” I considered performing to be a hobby. After booking a Disney Channel Original Movie, I realized that I had a special opportunity to use my gift and share it with people all around the world. At that moment, I knew this was something I wanted to pursue for the rest of my life.

One of your first major jobs was to co-host the Disney Channel. How did you get this position? I auditioned of course! We definitely didn't "know" people in L.A. In fact, we kept to ourselves for the first six months in L.A. My agent submitted my resume, the casting office made an audition appointment, and I booked the job fair and square. If you know my family, everything we do is well-worked for and earned. We don't expect anything to come easy.

Were you nervous? I never considered hosting to be an unusual job for an 8-year-old. I was doing what I loved and having fun. I wasn't nervous, because I'd always learned to step up to the plate and challenge myself.

How have you managed to stay grounded with all the glitz and glamour that surround you? I keep my relationships with family and friends as strong as possible, because they got me where I am. My parents encouraged me to try new things, and if I was ever disappointed, envious or negative, they'd show me why it's important to work hard, be happy for others and always see the glass as half-full.

What might you say to other dancers who hope to get to where you are some day? Keep your focus on the craft—don’t get caught up in glory of success that comes along with it. Be focused on doing your best, and don’t be worried about success. Success isn’t measured by how many people know your name, but by how many lives you touch. It’s important that kids, teens, adults understand that depending on the work that you put in, that’s where you will go. What you sow is what you will reap.

Do you have role models? Natalie Portman is hard-working and well-educated, which is what I aspire to be.

And how do you balance out your busy life of performing? My busy life of performing—haha. I don't know any other way of living. I'm a firm believer of making the most out of every day. I rest when I need to, but only to refuel my body for the upcoming tasks and challenges.

Is there anything else you could imagine yourself doing? I could imagine myself doing anything. I don't want to limit myself to this culture's expectations or ideas of what occupations are good and bad. I plan to stay in the industry. However, if I'm supposed to be in a cubicle, then I'll happily work at a desk for a living.

What are you currently working on? “The Alyson Stoner Project” is a dance-instructional, hybrid music video melding many forms of entertainment into one. I've designed my own dance shoe with Bloch Dance Apparel Corporation. “Phineas and Ferb,” “Kung Fu Magoo” and “Kingdom Hearts” are three animated projects I'm a part of. My first music video, where I’m the singer, will air on Disney Channel around the beginning of the year. I'm training vocally, working with songwriters and producers and continuing to teach dance on Friday nights.

And what would you like to work on, or who would you like to work with, in the future? As long as I feel comfortable watching my scenes next to my grandma, I'll know the jobs are age-appropriate and beneficial to my career. I'd love to tap with Savion Glover, perform with Mia Michaels or record a song with Phil Wickham.

Where do you see yourself in ten years? The possibilities are endless. In ten years, I see myself doing whatever I'm supposed to be doing. The future is not in my hands. All I can do is make the most of each moment—each day.

Work Performance: Jill Johnson’s “The Copier” for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet (Dancer Magazine)

by Mary Staub — Oct 14, 2008 (Dancer Magazine) 

Humanity is brought center stage in Jill Johnson’s dance installation “The Copier” performed by Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet in New York this August. During the 40-minute event, Cedar Lake dancers gently glide from preparatory warm-up into full-out performance, and in so doing, blur the boundaries between intuition and intention, individuality and conformity.

When you first walk into Cedar Lake’s warehouse-style theatre, it is unclear whether “The Copier” has already begun. Exposed brick walls, visible lighting structures overhead and an absence of spectator seating give the event a no-frills feel. The sense of storeroom starkness is further enhanced by the constant electronic whirr of a computer, copier or maybe a shredder. This industrial drone subtly switches to birdsong and city sounds throughout David Poe’s richly varied musical score.

Fifteen dancers distractedly stretch, roll their shoulders and mark simple steps on a t-shaped, curb-high platform in the center of the room. Dressed in fancified training gear – women in short shorts and lacy tops, men in colorfully clashing shirt-pant-and-sock combos – they might be rehearsing and making sure they remember their moves; or, this may be part of the show.

But within minutes, 15 individual stories begin to captivate and intrigue, and whether it’s preparation or performance ceases to matter. One man sits on the ground, legs stretched nimbly before him, and gently massages his calves and purple-socked feet. With increasing vigor, as arms, torso, shoulders and head become part of the story, this preliminary rubdown gives way to full-bodied narrative.

Cedar Lake dancers, Nickemil Conception, Acacia Schachte and Oscar Ramos
Photo by Julieta Cervantes

Throughout the room, individuals tentatively tell movement tales that build into life stories. In the opposite corner, a pedestrian woman extends a leg, reaching farther and farther, as though trying to overstep a gigantic puddle of water. Eventually she jumps, turns, and jumps again, her body coiling as though trying to circumvent a pillar.

Like people on a busy market square, sometimes these stories intersect. When one woman glances up from her own absorbed day, she catches the eye of a passerby. Tentatively a conversation develops wherein movements are mimicked and experiences are mirrored.

“By choice, force, or design, we copy others every day;” Johnson comments in program notes. “We stand in lines, forward e-mail, repeat overheard slang and opinions and follow trends. But of course we are all individuals and as such are inherently different from each other even when we do the same thing.”

On Johnson’s market square, or city sidewalk, occasionally everyone falls into step. Like a military regiment, they march forward, backward, halt and start again. But when two women start to break rank, others slowly follow suit, and again separate stories subtly ensue.

Throughout “The Copier” dancers repeatedly break the boundary between performance space and audience. They dash through the crowd to rest against walls, leaving just single stories as the central focus. Although we’re told – again in program notes – that dancers and audience will share the same sphere, and that the audience is encouraged to move through the room, this rarely occurs. The set-up, with all movement center stage, creates little incentive to change one’s perspective, and only outside the boundaries of the platform stage in our sphere could any sharing of stories truly take place.

Cedar Lake’s dancers transform contorted twists, body ripples, distant gazes and quiet stances into human stories. They alternate between individual absorption and interaction with others. If spectators truly became part of their sphere, they might experience the dance within everyday life, and the force to fit in, more acutely. But perhaps that’s not needed, because as it stands, Johnson’s “The Copier” already presses us to recognize the rhythm and ritual of our own daily lives.

Jazz Outside the Box with Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal

Dancer Magazine
http://www.danceruniverse.com
by Mary Staub — Oct 10, 2008

When Louis Robitaille, the artistic director of Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal in Canada, starts selecting a new dancer to have join his company, the care he conveys makes it seem as though he’s searching for a new member of his family, not ‘just’ his company. The task is trying, and it’s not for want of well-trained dancers. Robitaille sees plenty of dancers, both male and female, who can technically perform the company’s repertoire with ease. But what Robitaille needs is more than technique. Character, competence, and company compatibility must come in concert for Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal.

For young dancers striving towards a career with a company such as [bjm_danse], Robitaille emphasizes the need to gain versatility and variety. “I believe a lot in ballet technique as a foundation, but then it’s important to be exposed to as many experiences as you can – hip-hop, street dance, folklore, jazz, modern and especially also improvisation are very important,” said Robitaille. “Choreographers today are using all these skills and the more you know, the more you are familiar with, the better. You have to be a complete artist.”

The other piece is more personal. “I’m not just trying to find a good dancer, but also a good human being,” Robitaille told me this past August in New York. “It’s difficult. And the problem is also that I’m difficult. I’m very careful when choosing new dancers because our group is so small and I have to be careful the chemistry is good. I’m always attracted to personality in a dancer.”
With a company that consists of just twelve to fourteen dancers, and a commitment to extroverted, accessible works, the dynamic between dancers onstage greatly flavors every performance. The energy between dancers, combined with the enthusiasm of the individuals, infuses each work with a defining dash of spice or sweetness, joy or happiness.

“I am now looking for a male dancer and I have a very difficult time,” Robitaille said. He had come down to New York from Montreal for a few days two meet with two dancers he was considering. He had seen them in Montreal more than once and had liked their approach and appearance. But Robitaille always needs multiple meetings to truly determine whether a dancer fits in with the rest of the company.

“When people audition, they may be good aesthetically for the company, but Louis [Robitaille] always has them come back several times also to give them a chance to talk with the current dancers and see how they interact,” said Katherine Cowie, a dancer presently embarking on her fourth season with [bjm_danse] (as Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal has been re-branded). “We spend so much time together, so it’s really not good if you get off on the wrong foot. We’re very social with each other and loose during rehearsals. We talk a little bit, we chitchat, we hang out outside the studio.”

Cowie had just returned from [bjm_danse]’s tour to Brazil and was relaxing with company-member Christina Bodie at her home when we spoke. A perfect example of her point.
It is not just the small size of the company that makes character crucial, but also its spirit. Since its inception, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal has propounded a style of dance that is vibrant, joyful and accessible. The dancers convey exuberance and can create it in their audience. It is this enthusiasm that no doubt today gets them booked onto stages across the country and also internationally. What today serves as selling point, though, was at first a hurdle.

In 1972, three individuals of varying background - Eva Von Gencsy, Eddy Toussant and Geneviève Salbaing - founded Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal with a core group of dancers from a local studio that excelled in jazz. Its origin, as its name suggests, is thus in jazz and its repertory used to be mainly to jazz music. But not everybody was happy when jazz dance came to the Canadian concert dance stage and the company struggled for numerous years. It had difficulties claiming a spot alongside jazz’s more solemn sisters of ballet and modern.

“At the beginning, in the 70s, the people who are from the milieu of dance, the dance professionals from ballet and modern, had a certain reaction, a bad reaction about the company,” said Louis Robitaille. “The company had a rough time to settle itself in Canada. It was hard to get financial backing through the government. What the company did was almost pure jazz, and for them jazz was commercial. But then in time the company took its place in Canada – mainly because it gained recognition outside of Canada. So, slowly, the opinion changed, but I mean slowly.”

Since then a lot more has changed.

When Robitaille took over as artistic director of [bjm_danse] ten years ago, he began branching out. Having studied at the company’s school a quarter-century earlier, Robitaille is well aware of the company’s roots. After his initial studies at the school, though, he himself went on to a more classical career dancing professionally with Grands Ballets Canadiens. He also founded his own company, Bande à Part, which emphasized bringing the works of young choreographers to the stage. When he took on leadership of [bjm_danse], the company had just rotated through several artistic directors within less than ten years. The company was thus slightly out of focus. Robitaille refocused. He slowly began breaking the boundaries of working purely in jazz and starting striving towards a more expanded notion of what jazz can be.

“I started dancing myself with jazz lessons and I like jazz a lot,” Robitaille commented. “I love Bob Fosse and am a big fan of that style. But that was thirty years ago and doesn’t reflect what dance is today. It was very important to me to express something that was very actual, contemporary, today.”

So Robitaille stuck with the spirit, but expanded in style. The company now works mostly with what Robitaille calls ‘a new generation of choreographers,’ artists in their 30s who have already gained a certain reputation. Recently these artists have come to include Rodgrigo Pederneiras of Grupo Corpo in Brazil, the Canadian-born Crystal Pite, and Aszure Barton, artist-in-residence at New York’s Baryshnikov Arts Center and also Canadian-born. Although each of these artists brings in his or her own style, the underpinnings of jazz still speak strongly.

“Louis [Robitaille] is very aware of the company being the Ballets Jazz,” emphasized Barton, who has worked as choreographer-in-residence at [bjm_danse] for over two years. “He’s trying to broaden that and break away from being just a jazz company. He’s bringing in contemporary choreographers. He understands that the company is there to entertain the audience, but also has integrity and wants the work to exist on an artistic level: ‘yes we’re the Ballets Jazz and we entertain, but I want you to have your own vision.’ He’s very aware of both sides and makes you, as a choreographer, very aware of both sides when working with the dancers. It’s a good balance.”

Throughout its evolution jazz dance has undergone multiple incarnations and has a rich history. Jazz dance’s oldest roots reach deep into African soil. Its seeds were first imported to the United States, across the Atlantic, on slave ships. During the first half of the 20th century, jazz dance came to encompass anything from tap dance, to the Charleston, the jitterbug, boogie-woogie and lindy hop. Katherine Dunham brought a fusion of African, Caribbean and jazz to the concert dance stage in the 1930s and 40s. And ultimately modern jazz dance as we know it today, and as taught in dance studios across the country, was popularized by the likes of Bob Fosse with Broadway shows such as Chicago. Allowing jazz to change and evolve is part of its very nature, and [bjm_danse] has just taken this development one step further. Bringing in young blood was one way of ensuring that its soul would live on.

“The artists I work with are very influenced by everything that’s going on in all art forms, not only in dance,” said Robitaille. “Barton, for example, uses a lot of theatricality. She likes to work with each personality in the company and go deep into the soul of a person and get at a character. That brings a theatrical aspect to creation. This means the [dancers], have to be very flexible and very diverse. They have to be open-minded. I would say this is an evolution of the company, but not a drastic change.”

“He’s interested in contemporary work, but keeping the essence of jazz and the energy to bring it to an audience,” Barton summed it up from a creator’s perspective when speaking to me from Australia in August. “He loves rhythm and spirit, which exist in jazz music, but the repertory itself of the company [has broadened].”

For the [bjm_danse] dancers, it’s the energy that marks the company.
“We love just to burst onstage and often our directors tell us to be a little more calm and cool,” said Cowie. “We’ll try to find moments where we look at each other and give each other energy when it’s not choreographed. It’s like a little game we play and every evening it’s a little different.”

The overall works brought into the [bjm_danse] repertory today range from ballet, to modern, to street dance, ethnic dance forms, hip-hop, and back to the company’s original jazz. During his own career as a dancer with Grands Ballets Canadiens, Robitaille used classical technique to work in a range of styles. With that company he danced everything from classical masterpieces, to traditional modern by artists such as José Limón, to works by contemporary choreographers including William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, Nacho Duato and James Kudelka.

“I liked the challenge of mixing classical technique with a more contemporary approach to movement and aesthetic,” said Robitaille.

It was only natural for Robitaille to branch out into more contemporary aesthetics when he took over at [bjm_danse]. The technical foundations of the company are classical, like his own, and all dancers are thoroughly classically trained. Most, too, have a solid background in jazz. What they all also share, though, regardless of training, is an exuberance and energy that rubs off onto anyone who watches. Their technique and precision allow them to be fully free.

“What I like about this company is that the choreography doesn’t feel technical,” said Cowie. “We’re not thinking about technique, but are instead thinking about the energy – where it’s soft, where it’s hard. We’re as precise as possible so that we can also add our own voice. It’s easy to just emulate moves, but we’re all a little bit different because of where we decide to put emphasis.”

But it’s not just technique that allows these dancers to be free, stressed Barton who, herself, has created two major works on them. It’s also their familiarity, ease, and acceptance of one another.

“The dancers are so comfortable with each other that they can play around, try things out, make fools of themselves and don’t have to worry,” said Barton. “That’s often how some of the best material can develop. Their humble, open, and there’s not much ego in the company. It’s not the scary ballet mentality where everyone’s out to get each other. They’re a really awesome, open group of people. How they interact and work together is super supportive. The Men and women are very tight and there’s no negative energy in the studio.”

Today, [bjm_danse] is one of Canada’s best-known dance companies and well-known throughout the world. Their last season took them from Germany to South Korea, Italy to Brazil. And although it’s no longer pure jazz that they bring to the concert dance stage, the spirit of jazz is clearly still there.

“Jazz is expressive, very free, and allows the dancer to be more natural, where classical ballet is more rigid,” Robitaille said. “Still today, the company is nothing dark, it’s everything but dark and cerebral. We’re very physical, joyful, expressive, very bright, very accessible, but it still reaches a beautiful quality. Where we are now has been an evolution from the beginning. Dance evolves so fast that it was only normal to go ahead and make what we do [fresh] while trying to respect the heritage of the company.” While nodding to the past, [bjdm_dance] lets jazz dance evolve into the future. But this is not to say that a purer form of jazz dance is no longer relevant. On the contrary.

“I think all disciplines nourish each other and have an important place,” said Robitaille. “For example, not everybody has a body to do pure classical ballet. So what are you going to do? Stop dancing? No. You just find what works for you, whether jazz, hip-hop, modern, or whatever. All disciplines are important for their own reasons.”

Larry Keigwin’s “Elements” (Dancer Magazine)

by Mary Staub — Aug 29, 2008

In Larry Keigwin’s newest work, “Elements,” inspired by the elements of nature, cabaret and concert dance coexist. Keigwin + Company performed this four-suite work – comprising “Fire,” “Water,” “Earth” and “Air” – in their Joyce Theater debut this July. In numerous short vaudevillian vignettes, Keigwin brings comedic lightness to the proscenium stage and sets seemingly frivolous, entertaining acts to a broad range of music: from Mozart, to Cole Porter, to Philip Glass, to Patsy Cline singing “Crazy.”

Throughout “Water” – encompassing “Shower,” “Sea,” “Spa” and “Splash” – carefree characters strut or dance around in white towel cover-ups as they alternate between camp comedy skits and synchronized, demanding, lyrical movement sequences more typical of the theatre dance stage.

In a spoof on spas, a male spa-goer (Alexander Gish), his hair wrapped high in a turban-shaped towel, repeatedly shoots his arm out to demand a bottle of water from the spa attendant offstage. Gish poses effeminately, throws his head back with revelry and guzzles with glee. The scenario repeats itself again and again to the syrupy voice of Marcela Cortes Galvan singing “Que Será de Mí.” After emptying his last bottle, Gish eventually prances off stage in high-heeled shoes.

At the Joyce, a man in high heels is still enough to keep many spectators entertained and elicits audible laughter. But Keigwin is not completely clear in what he’s trying to convey. Is this buffoonery a mockery of our indulgent cultural habits (spas) or criticism of our culture’s consumption (bottled water) or even a protestation against the seriousness that modern dance often sets forth.

Is Keigwin just playing with props, or making a point?

“Fire” and “Earth” are less direct in their interpretation of the elements. “Fire” takes the quality of burning into the human realm. Egos burn for attention as three dancers inspect themselves in an invisible mirror. Or, a diva desperately runs to display herself in an ever-shifting spotlight. Or as Samuel Roberts gives a comical, yet impressive, rendition of a dainty hip-hop dance to “Walk It Out,” he becomes a heartthrob flame.

“Earth” is also trod upon lightly by varying forms of lizards as they creep across Astroturf in “Gecko,” “Chameleon,” “Dragon” and “Iguana.” Keigwin is known for creating entertaining and engaging dances that often mix the highbrow and the lowbrow, the intellectual and the popular, the professional and the amateur, and “Elements” leans strongly on the side of levity.

During the “Fly” section of “Air,” pilots and stewardesses with carry-on suitcases hurry to catch their planes, jovially wave one another good-bye, give a harmonized version the life vest routine (well-known to any air-traveler), and frequently break into more abstract choreography of triple turns to arabesque extensions. The company dances exceptionally, both technically and theatrically. Set to Jim Webb’s “Up, Up and Away,” “Fly” has to be performed with convincing cheeriness, and Keigwin’s dancers, which include Keigwin, manage to do so without neglecting skill.

“Wind,” the final vignette of the final suite, at first seems to leave humor behind, not an unwelcome move after a night filled with frivolity. The dancers ebb and flow through space with a texture that effectively mirrors Philip Glass’s “Channels and Winds.” They hypnotize through sound and movement. As the pitch and intensity of the music increase, the multitude grows; as they decrease, space gets more room. The movement creates an invisible wind that can nearly be seen. Keigwin almost bursts his own bubble, though, when he finishes with yet another bit of playfulness and drops about 40 bright pink balloons from the sky.

Keigwin clearly knows how to entertain. He also knows how to create visually and musically hypnotizing worlds. When combined with care, these two facets effectively enhance one another.

One Love:Tabitha and Napoleon Take on Life, Love, and Hip-Hop Together (Dancer Magazine)

by Mary Staub — Aug 29, 2008, originally published in Dancer Magazine

The hip hop choreographers, teachers and directors Tabitha and Napoleon D’Umo, are in love – both with their work and with each other. Their steps and style are well-known to any commercial dance enthusiast. The two, a happy husband-and-wife team, have judged on television shows including “So You Think You Can Dance,” choreographed for “America’s Best Dance Crew,” hosted Rock the Reception, and worked on the tours of recording artists such as Celine Dion, Ricky Martin and Christina Aguilera.

But their path to hip-hop prominence was far from planned. Tabitha first dabbled in dance in small studios in her hometown in New Jersey, where she learned her initial steps of ballet, jazz and tap. But hip-hop – especially in the form of a career – was still far from site.

“You couldn’t take hip-hop in any old dance studio at the time, so I only started doing hip-hop in college,” Tabitha, said during a few minutes in between rehearsals in a phone interview from California. “I always thought dance was something you did recreationally, as a hobby. Little did I know that opportunities would present themselves.”

She encountered hip-hop on the college dance team at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas where she was a communications major. It was there, too, that she met her future husband and partner, Napoleon D’Umo, pre-med at the time studying cellular and molecular biology. Napoleon, a California native who grew up in B-boy culture in the early 80s, had pretty much left dance behind until he saw what Tabitha had been learning in dance class – hip-hop.

“I said ‘I can do that’ and started taking class too,” Napoleon told me on the phone while driving to his next rehearsal in L.A.

Soon thereafter they made the cut for a hip-hop company, Culture Shock, and slowly began choreographing, teaching and team-teaching workshops for the company too. They taught classes at the local gym – at first for just $10 an hour – and choreographed industrials – at first for free. By graduation, though, they’d become the authority in all things hip-hop in Las Vegas, and it was then that they realized hip-hop might become a career.

Photo by Peter Randolph

“We both loved what we did, and when we graduated we said, ‘Why don’t we give it a shot?’” Tabitha said. “We rolled the dice, took a gamble and have been very blessed.”

They loved what they did, and each other, so they got married and moved to L.A. about 10 years ago to stake their claim in the more competitive world of West-Coast dance.

“It was like being a little fish in a big pond again,” Tabitha said. “We had to network all over again and learn how to swim in the big pond.”

They’ve been swimming – yes, sailing – along together ever since. With their influences reaching far beyond West-Coast venues to nationwide endeavors and more, what was a pond has since become an ocean. To observe the duo in action, you can watch any one of numerous networks and shows this fall. On TLC’s “Rock the Reception” they’ll be teaching husbands and wives to be (often with no previous dance training) to pull of some elaborate moves at their own wedding festivities. Or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, catch their craft with professionals and travel to any one of Celine Dion’s stops on her current U.S. tour, co-choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon – from New York to Cleveland and beyond in September; from Sacramento to Vancouver and beyond in October; Chicago, St. Louis, Omaha, Denver, and elsewhere in November; Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe in 2009.

One might wonder how two people could be partners, both in work and life, 24/7, with endless high-caliber commitments and choreographies traveling across the globe, and still be entirely enamored. But Tabitha and Napoleon seem to have made it work.

“We work together so much; it’s weird doing even an interview separately,” Napoleon said with a tone of admiration. “And when we teach we vibe off each other. I’ll start a joke, and Tabitha will finish it. I’ll start choreographing, and she’ll continue. We don’t plan it like that; it just happens.”

For a more immediate experience with the couple in action, they’ll be touring to a range of cities with "Shock the Intensive" and "Monster’s of Hip Hop." You might catch them in Atlanta, New York, Mobile, Pittsburgh, and beyond (for more details tours and events, go to the links below). In October and November, they should be headed to Canada (Toronto, Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver). There, they will be on faculty at "Coastal Dance Rage," where there will be a variety of offerings for both dance students and teachers. If you’d like to organize a more personalized encounter with Tabitha and Napoleon in your own studio, and get a feel for their working passion, you can contact them directly (bookings@nappytabs.com). In all likelihood, their enthusiasm will rub off. Even by phone, it’s easy to tell that the two of them are elated and enthusiastic about what they do and the people they do it with.

“We’ve been working hard for 10 years in this field. You can’t look for quick fix,” Napoleon said. “You can’t do this because you want to be famous or make money. You’ll have bad times and good times, and you have to do it because you’re passionate about it.”

Where Are The Female Ballet Choreographers?

Dancer Magazine
Jul 31, 2008 – By Mary Staub

In all likelihood, if you have ever taken a ballet class, about 85 percent of your fellow dancers were female. This tends to be true whether you are an eager 6-year-old conscientiously stretching your leg forth in tendu at the bar, a BFA student at the Ailey Studios in New York practicing a triple tour en l’air, or anywhere in between. Across all ages and state borders, in today’s field, the beauty of ballet still speaks more strongly to girls.

However, fast forward a few years, and look at who has gone on to choreograph, present on major stages, and run major companies, and the landscape looks dramatically different. Of 59 major ballet companies – those with budgets of more than $1 million – just 20 percent are run by women, according to data compiled by Dance/USA, a 26-year-old organization that serves as a national dance hub. The other 80 percent of our nation’s big ballet companies are run by men –look at San Francisco Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet throughout its history, to name a few.

“There is a definite difference between different communities and different genres of how gender breaks down,” says John Munger, director of Research and Information at Dance/USA. “But looked at overall there is definitely a degree of gender bias, and it is clearest in ballet.”

Furthermore, of the twelve women who do run big-budget ballet companies, eleven were company founders, according to Munger. This means that just one woman, Victoria Morgan at Cincinnati Ballet, has been appointed. By comparison, of the 47 men at the helm of these major companies, 41 have been appointed.

“My hypothesis is that these large ballet companies are past their founding generation,” says Munger. “They are driven by a hiring process at the top, not by the dance field, but by a board of directors who are highly corporate and highly conservative.”

Down on the ground in Philadelphia, Christine Cox, a former dancer with the Pennsylvania Ballet, now co-runs and choreographs for her own small-budget contemporary ballet company, BalletX. Like many other former professional ballerinas, she has taken note of the imbalance on larger stages and has found her own way to respond – actively, engagingly, creatively.

“I’ve worked with lots of choreographers as a dancer and it stands out that throughout 20 years I can count on one hand the women,” Cox says with a tone of slight astonishment. “How is it that 90 percent in the studio are women and later you find so few women running companies? I’ve discussed this with others in the dance industry and it’s true on Broadway, everywhere. I thought it would be a compelling story to have an all-female choreographers program – and I’m not a woman activist trying to make a point here. This is just an observation.”

The female choreographers project also includes panel discussions with dancers, choreographers, researchers and audience members, who together will look for their own explanations for the imbalance. Similarly, Deborah Lohse in New York - who danced for Sacramento Ballet – has taken a proactive approach.

“I think I felt my observations gave me permission to be more aggressive,” Lohse said. “Creating my own company was the best way to address the imbalance.”

Lohse started choreographing and created her own contemporary ballet company, ad hoc Ballet, partly because she saw limited opportunities for ‘real women’ in most ballet companies. At 5’10,” she knew first-hand how difficult it could be to get jobs in ballet if you did not fit the physical ideal.

“I wanted to create works for women like those I know - not just those who can be cute, innocent, dainty - and give a female perspective on the female ballerina body,” Lohse says. “A lot of ballerinas still believe they need to be physically beautiful to get the job. I’m not interested in that, but want to tell stories about women who do not live up to the ideal, and show things that are seemingly ugly and show that they’re really quite beautiful.”

Lohse recently gained insight into certain discrepancies between how men and women seem to scout for students. On a recent arts exchange program at North Carolina School of the Arts, Lohse was the only female artistic director on a panel of directors and choreographers from across the country.

“Men and women do approach business differently,” Lohse says. “I watched how the others scouted for students and it was very different from how I was looking at students. They were looking more for technique and body type. I didn’t even know what I was looking for – I just knew I’d recognize it when I saw it.”

As much as people like to feign that in our 21st-century – supposedly progressive – society, gender equality is the norm, anyone with just a touch of truthfulness knows this is not so. Men and women are still met by different expectations and come upon different hurdles, this is as true in the wondrous world of ballet as amongst the corporate crowds of Wall Street.

“Our society is still more confident with men being in managerial positions – it’s our culture,” says Janis Brenner, a board member of the Gender Project, an eight-year study group that tried to get to the bottom of gender discrepancies in dance through interviews and surveys with dancers, choreographers, presenters and directors. “It’s a societal thing and the dance world is simply a micro-cosmos for the way the larger world works.”

The results of the Gender Project have brought no clear conclusions, but highlight multiple issues that factor into the overall equation. One is that men seem to ‘manage’ companies differently than women, and overall, their way of management is still seen as ‘better’ – more practical, less personal.

“Maybe men have more management skills and it is easier for them to manage 100 people as a choreographer,” says Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, one of the choreographers Cox is bringing to Philadelphia to create dances on BalletX for the all-female choreographers project. Ochoa, who danced with Rotterdam’s Scapino Ballet for seven years, is now a full-time freelance choreographer based in the Netherlands.

“What I notice as a choreographer when working with 100 people [is that] I am trying to make everyone happy. Men care that the business works well, not so much whether everyone is happy,” Ochoa said light-heartedly in a phone conversation from the Netherlands. “As long as the business is good and things look good, then for them things are good.”

Differential treatment of boys and girls in ballet starts at an early age and seems another reason men and women take on different roles later in life. BalletX’s Cox, like most women, realized this early on. She studied at the schools of the Joffrey Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and Pennsylvania Ballet, and at all schools, as can be expected, most of her classmates were female.

“When I was training to be a dancer the men stood out because there were so few of them,” Cox says very matter-of-factly. “There’s so much competition with women that it requires perfection, intense focus and drive. With men you need maybe 50 percent of the talent that females have, and focus. This is just our culture.”

Unless thousands of little boys suddenly start yearning for ballet, the preconceptions and treatment are unlikely to change. Lay-people continue to view boys who lean towards ballet as un-manly, which continues to discourage interest. Within the ballet world, in contrast, men are relied upon greatly. They are continuously encouraged, pushed to develop bold stances and voices and move forward.

“In ballet classes young women are taught to be obedient, while men are taught to jump and be bold,” says JoAnna Mendl Shaw, a co-founder of the Gender Project and teacher in the Ailey/Fordham BFA program in New York City. “The subterranean message we get is that men are expected to be bold and courageous, and certainly in American culture that’s what advances – and as a choreographer, surely a bold voice is more likely to get noticed. Women are not brought up to fight for what they want.”

Cox’s initial tentative turn to choreography is thus archetypal.

“I started choreographing hesitantly,” Cox said “It’s strange that although I’m a very confident performer, there’s a high level of doubt in my choreography. But I would hate to give into my fears and doubts. If I did that I would never have built my company.”

Although there are numerous women choreographing works of contemporary ballet and running their own companies, it continues to be true that these companies are smaller, with smaller budgets, performing on smaller stages, to smaller audiences. Just browse the seasonal brochures of Jacob’s Pillow, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, or any other venue and you will soon see who is presenting whom where (or go to www.dancenyc.org and look at research/studies for a more detailed analysis).

Cox in Philadelphia, Lohse in New York, and Ochoa in the Netherlands – like many others - speak of these issues very matter-of-factly: a curiosity, not a complaint. Brenner and Shaw of the Gender Project point out that there is no easy ‘solution’ for the situation and that nobody in particular is at fault. There are too many factors: societal expectations of boys versus girls, reliance on male management, the lack of little boys in ballet, the fact that giving birth – at least temporarily – takes women out of dance, and so much more.

Cox, herself, expects to give birth to her first child just around the time of the female choreographers project in July and her life in dance is becoming more difficult as the time approaches.

“I am trying to choreograph and I’m seven months pregnant,” says Cox. “It’s difficult. I’m not in my body like I am used to and can’t do movement as I’m used to, and sometimes I don’t have the energy to improve and build material. I’m going to see what happens once I do have a child.”We can only hope that all these women continue to creatively confront the current status quo in their contemporary creations. Perhaps being aware of the obstacles female ballet choreographers face is the first step in preparing ourselves and our students, both male and female, to help create a more even field for dancing in.