Search results for: Gillian Murphy

Set and Reset/Reset Teaching Trisha Brown at the University of Minnesota By Camille LeFevre   “Peak, squiggle, step, step, around, pop up, break,” Wil Swanson sing-songs quietly, as he leads three young men in the University of Minnesota’s dance program through a phrase of Trisha Brown’s seminal work, Set and Reset (1983). “This arm pierces […]

Like the satin of new pointe shoes or a flaming Firebird costume, makeup helps create stage magic. From flesh-toned innocence to provocative, kohl-lined eyes, it can enhance natural features or transform a woman into a fantastical creature. Even though the effect is undeniable, the steps between mirror and stage are often glossed over, as habit […]

Fashion may be fickle, but tutu chic is bigger than ever these days. While singing star Björk caused a sensation draped in a white tulle dress with a swan’s head wrapped around her neck at the Academy Awards in 2001, French designer Christian Lacroix continues to churn out haute couture balletic frocks of organza and […]

Young dancers might dream of dancing Juliet to their lover’s Romeo or traipsing the world together on tour. But what happens when that fantasy becomes reality? Seven couples—some in long-term pairings and some in the early throes of passion, some who dance together and some who don’t— describe what it’s like to juggle the professional […]

While tutu chic may be in vogue now—French designer Christian Lacroix’s latest made-to-measure gowns sport ostrich-trimmed hems and sparkly puffball skirts of organza and tulle—the archetypal ballerina costume wages war in the contemporary dance world with anther fashion contender, the skirt. Indeed, “to bare (the leg) or not to bare,” that is the question.   […]

“You’re inviting the presence of the Lilac Fairy, so turn your palms up,” says ABT’s artistic director Kevin McKenzie as he demonstrates a magisterial circular walk. In a studio at the company’s headquarters on lower Broadway, he’s testing out choreography on the men portraying the fairies’ cavaliers in the Prologue of The Sleeping Beauty. In […]

Marcelo Gomes is the guy all the girls want to dance with.     In a studio at American Ballet Theatre headquarters in Manhattan, principal dancers Marcelo Gomes and Julie Kent greet each other with a hug and peck on each cheek as Gomes asks about his pal William, Kent’s 2-year-old son. Moments later the […]

Dancers and floors have an ambivalent relationship, but new technology is improving it.     A herd of thundering tappers stamps across the floor at Debbie Allen Dance Academy in Culver City, California. Leaping, spinning, and sliding, they are euphoric as they pound out complex rhythms on a surface that gives with each landing, responding […]