25 to Watch 2018: Connie Shiau

Watching Connie Shiau dance feels uncannily similar to watching a cat attack its prey. She’ll stealthily draw out a movement, building suspension, then charge into the next phrase so fast that you never even see how she got from point A to B. But this Abraham.In.Motion dancer offers much more than just playful musicality. Although […]

Abraham.In.Motion: Passion, Purpose & a Quirky New Setup

It’s the end of a long rehearsal day for the dancers of Abraham.In.Motion. They’re reviewing phrases of a new work, Dearest Home. It’s a pretty typical rehearsal scene. Some dancers cluster around a laptop trying to piece together steps learned long ago. Others review choreography together, working to figure out who remembered which arms correctly. […]

5 Self-Promotion Mistakes You Should Never Make

From dancers to presenters to directors, no one in dance is exempt from the task of building an audience. But keeping up with email, social media and other marketing efforts can chip away at precious time spent honing your craft. Add in the fear of coming across as vain or self-absorbed, and it can be […]

When Your Collaborators Actually Live in a Different City

For artists working outside of cities with well-established arts scenes, the lack of a creative community can be disheartening. To combat that, Knoxville, Tennessee–based dancer-choreographer Harper Addison founded The Iteration Project, an online platform through which artists from anywhere in the world can connect, experiment and converse. The structure is simple: Every Monday, TIP sends […]

Ballet, According to Justin and Misty

Ballet Across America returns to The Kennedy Center this week with a twist: programming curated by American Ballet Theatre principal Misty Copeland and New York City Ballet soloist/resident choreographer Justin Peck. It’s a unique opportunity to get inside the heads of two of the most influential figures in American ballet today—so what companies and choreographers […]

Why Dancers' Skills Are More Valuable Than Ever

It’s not uncommon to hear dancers planning for their “second act”: what they will do after their performance career ends. Wrapped into this term is an assumption that the skills a dancer has developed are valueless in other work environments. But as the rest of the world panics to create a workforce that will withstand […]

One Dancer, Two Jobs

The mechanics of arts administration have historically stayed outside the studio, with dancers responsible for doing the dancing, and little else. “There was a massive separation between ‘church and state,’ so to speak,” says Uri Sands, choreographer and co-artistic director at TU Dance in Saint Paul, Minnesota. But today, small dance companies seem less likely […]