As a student of Pilates teacher Romana Kryzanowska, I remember a teacher-training session a decade ago when a young instructor asked Romana why she never got bored of teaching the same exercises. Romana answered, “I am not teaching exercises. I am teaching a person.”  Catherine Earp. Photo by Debbie Troy, courtesy Kate Mattingly. This approach continues to motivate my work with Pilates––which I’ve been teaching for more than 25 years––and sparked my thinking about why Pilates training might be valuable for ballet teachers. Instead of approaching pedagogy as a script of steps or exercises, perhaps we could focus on dancers’ […]

Hridya Haridas, a disciple of Nirmala Panicker, added a novel folk element to his performance

The Platform 2025 in Bengaluru showcased January Low’s ‘Pending’ and Sooraj Subramaniam’s ‘Reflections of an Indian Dancer’, both of which shared a theme but explored it differently.

Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer Madurai R Muralidharan’s take on Kalidasa’s play stood out for its visualisation and teamwork

Students at Impulse Dance Academy in Greenwood, Indiana, discovered a major surprise when they returned from their holiday break: The studio’s 21-year-old flooring was gone, replaced with a new Duètte vinyl floor from Rosco.  “They were ecstatic,” Kerri Sullivan, Impulse’s owner, says of the dancers. “It’s been a game changer.”  Impulse Dance Academy received the Rosco dance floor from the company through a giveaway exclusively offered to Dance Teacher readers. After years of putting off what can seem like a daunting upgrade, the company’s gift helped transform Sullivan’s studio for many years to come.  A Dance Studio Desperate for a […]

The dancer infused her experiences as a mother into Subbaraya Sastri’s ‘Janani Ninnuvina’.

Point Park University’s dance program has gotten a glow-up. While dancers had previously trained in the dance department under the umbrella of the Conservatory of Performing Arts, they now have their own School of Dance. “This will allow us to bring in more students, and also create more programming and opportunities,” says Garfield Lemonius, dean of the School of Dance. The new school, which became official at the start of 2025, now hosts a commercial dance department as well as a concert dance department, and students have the opportunity to earn their BFA in dance with a concentration in ballet, […]

Rambert Grades has some new choreography for students to learn. The training organization, which provides syllabi and examinations in contemporary dance worldwide, recently added a collection of solos with a focus on storytelling for dancers to perform in their exams. The pieces come from four top choreographers: Matthew Bourne, known for contemporary takes on classic story ballets; Vidya Patel, who blends classical Indian and contemporary dance; Will Tuckett, who’s worked across ballet, opera, and theater; and choreographer Kate Prince’s ZooNation, which creates full-length narratives that incorporate hip hop and physical theater. There’s a new work for each level, from Grade […]

Bharatanatyam dancer Aishwarya Balasubramanian explored well the emotions of a nayika.