Bruised toenails, sprained ankles, mental blocks—you name it, dancing is tough. In fact, techniques such as ballet, can take a bigger toll on your mind and body than professional football. Fortunately, it/’s more possible than ever to avoid injuries and reach your potential if you/’re up-to-date on the latest scientific news from around the world. […]

Once, the novelty of receiving a resume package that included a video was enough to help any dancer stand out above the rest. These days, dance companies routinely use audition videos to pre-screen talent, so it pays to create a video that has impact. “I tend to make up my mind pretty fast,” says Anthony […]

Energy drinks like Red Bull, Rock Star, Monster, and Amp fall into the category of performance enhancers. Weekend athletes often use them. But while all dancers are athletes, all athletes are not dancers. Performing choreographed steps demands the fine-tuned articulation of many aesthetic ideas.     A great sports performance enhancer does not necessarily translate […]

Astaire & Rogers Collection Volume 2 DVD; set $59.92; each $19.97. “The new fast-stepping dancing pair!” announces the trailer for Flying Down to Rio before showing a snippet of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers doing the Carioca in a glamorous nightclub. It was 1933, and Flying Down to Rio was only the second film that […]

Last August, Los Angeles Times dance critic Lewis Segal published a diatribe titled “Five Things I Hate About Ballet.” Although his approach was somewhat clumsy—like the guy at a family reunion who drinks too much and blurts out why he hates his relatives—he brought up a number of debatable issues that prompted a response from […]

Never mind the “It’s-opening-night-and-I-forgot-to-rehearse” nightmare. What haunts dancers most is the specter of having to leave their art behind. There comes a day when all dancers must relinquish, in some form, the thing they love most, because they can no longer meet the rigors of the professional world or they have to reconcile themselves to […]

Teaching a stilt-walker how to pirouette on pointe and gracefully undulate his arms may not be part of Diana Levy’s job description as Dance Director of the Metropolitan Opera. But there she was, last fall, in a sub-basement studio at the Met readying him to take on the role of a wing-flapping, 12-foot flamingo in […]

Skimpy rehearsal periods, wretched studios, lousy music tapes, dancer injuries. You think choreographers have problems now? Ha! Those traditional vexations pale in comparison to the challenge of confronting the ego of a genuine opera diva. Yet dancemakers are taking the plunge and besieging the world’s opera stages. In some of the most prestigious opera houses, […]