Almost any choreographer will tell you that finding the right music for dance is the hardest part. Unless you have the great fortune to work with a composer or are creating for a specific song, finding that exact piece of music that matches your concept can be maddening. It used to be something I dreaded. […]
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We’ve all seen those amazing dance photographs – high extensions, flowing clothes, unreal shapes as they jump. But then you go to the studio to take your own pictures, and somehow, it’s not at all the same. The postures aren’t as strong, the shapes aren’t clear. What’s going on?? And how can you get those
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Since the pandemic, more and more performing arts are going online. However, filming dance requires a fundamentally different approach than performing it live. I would even suggest that dance films are almost a whole other medium, as it requires thinking more like a filmmaker than a performer. That is, at least, what I learned when
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When I lived in Seoul, I trained and performed with a company that regularly worked with disabled dancers, and helped coordinate one of their initiatives, the Korea International Accessible Dance Festival. Here in Pakistan, I’ve done a few projects with differently abled dancers, in particular More Than My Gender and multiple collaborations with visual and
Dos and Don’ts of Working With Disabled Dancers Read More »
In a few past blogs I’ve pointed fingers at the more disappointing areas of the dance industry. It’s a bit strange that dance, unlike other art industries, has sort of avoided deeper scrutiny into its more unjust and discriminatory practices. Of course criticism does exist, and the academic field of dance studies has turned its
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I used to joke that if you are an artist, you’ll have an existential crisis at least once every six months. It’s not really that funny, though, because it’s so true, and depending on how things are going I might have several crises in a much shorter timeframe. I think for an artist, questions like
5 Ways to Combat Artistic Existential Dread: Mental Health for Artists Read More »
Once you start working professionally you’ll start hearing about the branding. You need to have a brand, be a brand, brand yourself, blah blah blah. If you’re not tired of it already, you will be soon! It can be very challenging to try and figure out how to represent yourself as a business. This is
How to Brand Yourself as an Artist Read More »
I’m sure there are many people who are a bit confused by the genre of performance art, which can range from the baffling to the bizarre and everything in between. Sometimes it seems to overlap with performing arts in some way, and sometimes it’s on its own planet altogether. There is, however, a clear difference,
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It should not come as a surprise that dance and contemporary dance, while often seen or celebrated as a connecting feature of humanity, has been used for colonial purposes. Whether that’s controlling who dances and why in colonized countries or ongoing barriers around who can do what style, it’s really only in the past couple
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They say the hardest part is getting started. While having a training plan for dance doesn’t completely solve the problem, developing a routine and a consistent plan that you can follow does help. That’s what I’m here to help you with (hopefully.) Of course, what kind of training plan you make and how you make
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Let’s be real: stage fright isn’t just for newbies. It’s something that can continue, even with experienced performers and public speakers. Stage fright can come in various levels and affect people in different ways. For some it can be almost incapacitating. I don’t usually get nerves before performances anymore, but I’ve also been performing for
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It’d be nice to think that even as a beginning choreographer, I’ve always been great. That I was a wonderful choreographer and leader and my dancers have always loved working with me. Of course that can’t be true. Especially at the beginning of my career I made a lot of mistakes, both interpersonal and artistically.
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When it comes to hubs for contemporary dance, most people you ask will say the US and Europe. They might be able to identify cities like New York, Amsterdam, or London. Generally, we assume that contemporary dance is a western thing, and when it appears globally, it’s in festivals or these western companies touring. I
Hubs for Contemporary Dance Abroad that Will Surprise You Read More »
Whether or not you are a professional dancer, dance fitness and training is a great way to stay lean and healthy. That doesn’t mean that a weekly Zumba class at your local gym is going to change your life. Even dancers also approach dance training incorrectly and end up losing strength even while practicing or
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This is one of the most common questions people ask me: how old is too old to start dancing? Perhaps they think that there is a universal age after which companies will not consider dancers, or that there is a single way of approaching dance training. So of course, my answer is always, it depends.
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While there are certain hubs around the world for dance, there are also many dance opportunities abroad. You can develop an excellent dance career in other countries. Or, you could find other dance opportunities abroad that you might not get in your home country. A few things to note before we begin: I’m writing this
Dancing Beyond Borders: Dance Opportunities Abroad Read More »
A performing arts career is not typically advised by your local high school guidance counsellor. They’re the sort of careers you expect parents to frown at, long dinners with extended family asking when you’ll get a real job. Of course, that is all normative bull**** if you ask me. The truth is that a performing
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I know what you’re thinking – dance degrees are probably useless. There are many reasons: dance careers are short, it won’t be recognized by anyone but dance companies, etc. However, the situation is a bit more nuanced, and that’s what I’ll be looking at it in this article. To start with, I’ll talk about the
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Over the years there have been various dance fitness crazes. From Five Rhythms to Zumba, there’s always some new version of moving to music that the fitness world has picked up. It makes sense, after all, it’s lot more fun to jive to the beat than squats. Dance performance, on the other hand, seems to
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I’ve discussed solo dance performances in this blog before, focusing on how they work and the stories we can tell. Today, however, we’re looking more generally at characters in solo performances, whether it be dance, theatre, mime, film, or other performing arts. This is applicable for all kinds of situations, from creating or choosing monologues
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Have you ever been to a dance performance and left thinking, what was that all about? You aren’t alone – I’ve seen a lot of performances that are almost stubbornly obtuse. Sometimes that’s deliberate: the whole philosophy of post modern and contemporary dance was all about creating movement for movement’s sake. NO meaning should be
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When you are building characters for the stage or the screen, movement is hugely important. It’s probably more important for stage as the screen is more focused on the face and tighter frames, but nonetheless understanding how movement works for characters is a great skill to have for any actor. I also think it’s important
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Stage presence and stage persona are both terms used, sometimes interchangeably, in the performing arts. They don’t mean the same thing, however, and refer to different skills. Still, both are great assets for any performing artist, and indeed, having a strong stage presence is something that could be make or break for performers. While some
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When you enter the world of being a professional artist, you need to have something that makes you stand out from the crowd. Even if art remains a hobby, having a distinct artistic voice is something that people talk about a lot. But what is it? How do you get it or find it? How
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Solo performance can be a scary thing, but it has its advantages. I’ve been performing dance and dance theater solo for close to six years now and know from experience that preparing for solo performances requires its own storytelling techniques, and there are some things that work better than others. This article is a quick
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Improvisation is one of the best skills I ever learned in performing arts. And yes, I mean skill! It’s something that you can learn and get better at. As a performer, I use improvisation both in my studio practice and performance. There are some dance styles which are entirely based on improv, such as contact
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