The young dancer, who performed recently in Chennai, is a student of Uma Sathyanarayanan

Choreographer, dancer, and teacher Donald McKayle established a strong foothold for dancers of color by creating work that commented on social injustices, challenged racial norms, and conveyed the Black experience. As a member of the politically active dance collective New Dance Group in the late 1940s, he developed an emotionally rich choreographic style inspired by several dance techniques. Over the span of his six-decade career, he choreographed more than 90 works. Born in New York City in 1930, McKayle was introduced to dance as a teenager via a school dance club. After seeing Afro-Caribbean choreographer Pearl Primus perform at a […]

Dance teacher Shanae Sainsbury recalls staying up late, surrounded by towering piles of handwritten notes at her coffee table during evaluation season. With each student being evaluated on more than 50 elements—and upwards of 80 students—that’s what it looked like every evening for weeks. Yet, despite the time and care poured into each evaluation, the insights remained locked on paper, with no long-term record to track progress or patterns over time. When Sainsbury’s business-minded husband, Thane Pearson, observed this process, he sought out existing studio-admin platforms that might help. Sainsbury had used some of them herself, but she always knew […]

Last week at our DT+ Teacher Talk, I had the honor of being joined by not one but three very special guests—Dionne Figgins, artistic director of Ballet Tech; Bianca Zumbo Caryl, head coach of the Arizona State University dance team; and Nile H. Russell, director of education for the American Dance Festival—to discuss what audition panelists look for in dancers. If you’re striving to ensure your students’ success during this challenging time (who isn’t?), you’ll be privy to all of their insider tips and advice on the A-to-Z’s of everything audition-related—right from preparation to day-off performance to managing emotions when […]

When I first started at the University of Michigan, I didn’t know what to expect. Madame Penny Godboldo’s class on Dunham technique gave me a sense of groundedness and home. Before class would start, Madame Penny would look her students in the eyes to see where their energy was, then direct the class in a way her students needed. That is the definition of care, her class felt like a big hug! I am still in contact with her and carry so many of her beautiful nuggets.  Madame Penny told us that if you see somebody doing a great job, […]