Find out how to plan and implement an effective and inclusive class program, tailor your teaching strategies to meet the needs of students with different disabilities, and be adaptable and intentional about your approach, whether you teach in a K–12 setting, private studio, or community dance program, in our next DT+ Teacher Talk, “Best Practices for Working With Students With Disabilities,” on Thursday, March 20, at 12 pm EDT. In this live hour-long Zoom discussion, Dance Teacher’s editorial director, Reanne Rodrigues, will be joined by experienced dance/disability educators Kay Gayner and Sandra Stratton-Gonzalez to bring you all the insight you […]
Helping Students Prepare College Audition Solos
Earning acceptance into a college dance program requires more than solid technique and well-rounded training. Most schools ask students to present a brief solo as part of an audition—and this solo can carry a lot of weight for decision-makers. “The solo is when we get to see dancers being themselves,” explains Pamela Pietro, chair of the dance department at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. “They get to show us who they are and where they shine.” What makes for an effective college audition solo? For starters, it will display a dancer’s assets while highlighting their individuality and […]
What My Teacher Taught Me: American Ballet Theatre Principal Skylar Brandt on Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky
Ever since I was 8 years old, I’ve worked privately on the side with various coaches. I’ve been with Irina and Max the longest out of all the coaches I’ve studied with; maybe seven or eight years now. I call them my ballet mom and dad. They have completely transformed my dancing. I grew up watching them, of course, because they were principal dancers at American Ballet Theatre, so it’s very much a full-circle moment. Irina and Max are very nurturing and are always available to me, which is beautiful because it shows they really care about me as a […]
Athriya Krishna Balaji effectively wove stories from the epics in her Bharatanatyam performance
The young dancer chose to highlight episodes that led to the major battles in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata
Kavita Ramu chose Arunagirinathar’s popular Tamil verse to begin her dance performance
Guru K.J. Sarasa’s disciple Kavita Ramu drew from traditional repertoire to present a recital with a fine sense of rhythm and flourish
How Indian classical dance celebrates love
On Valentine’s Day, four classical dancers — Navia Natarajan, N. Srikanth, Divya Devaguptapu and Amrita Lahiri write about how they have explored and interpreted Sringara Rasa, the expression of love
‘Mughal-e-Azam’s genesis is in theatre’: Feroz Abbas Khan on the grand spectacle’s return to Delhi
As Mughal-e-Azam returns to charm the Capital for one last time, director Feroz Abbas Khan lays bare the emotional and aesthetic nuts and bolts of the grand spectacle
Sometimes the Best Way to Move Forward Is to Stop Dancing
I’ve been an anxious person and a perfectionist for as long as I can remember. I was devastated over an A-minus on a test, I would stretch until I cried, I would go over a dance I knew well a million times consecutively before going onstage, and my brain concocted endless worst-case scenarios. As a child, I didn’t understand what anxiety was; I also didn’t understand that it can reach a level that exceeds a body’s capacity to manage it. I began dancing at the age of 3 and continued through my high school graduation. In 2014, I moved to […]
EF_FEMININITY – Trio Version: An artistic journey delves into the inner feminine
The piece delves into the concepts of femininity, hyper-femininity and effeminacy through their documentary dance performance
Meet Yamilée Toussaint, the MIT Grad Introducing Young Girls to STEM Through Dance
As an engineering student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yamilée Toussaint was sometimes the only Black woman in her class. After she graduated, she decided to change that, and, in 2012, combined her dual passions for science and dancing to create STEM From Dance—an institution based in Brooklyn, New York, with programs across the country. Toussaint was named a Top 5 CNN Hero in 2024. Dance Teacher spoke with her to learn about her journey of empowering girls in STEM through the power of dance. Congratulations on your CNN Hero award. How did it feel getting recognized for your hard […]