Conversations on Dance

This week we are happy to bring you our full conversation with celebrated Choreographer, Pam Tanowitz, from the 2019 Vail Dance Festival.  We spoke with Pam from a Live panel event at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center in episode 140 and we were thrilled to be able to get some time to speak with her more in depth about her career and work.  As a choreographer, Pam Tanowitz is known for her abstract treatment of classical and contemporary movement ideas. Her work is deeply rooted in formal structures, manipulated and abstracted by her until the viewer sees through to the heart of the dance. In 2000, Tanowitz founded Pam Tanowitz Dance (PTD) to explore dance-making with a consistent community of dancers and has since choreographed works for some of the world’s most renowned dance companies, including The Martha Graham Dance Company, Paul Taylor American Modern Dance and New York City Ballet. She has been commissioned by The Joyce Theater, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Vail Dance Festival, and many other leading arts institutions. Today we talk with Pam about how she studied choreography, what inspires her, how she works in the studio, and about her work created for the Vail Dance Festival. This is  book Pam references towards the end of the episode: Pas de Deux: A Textbook on Partnering. This episode is brought to you by Yumiko, the Town of Vail, and The Veyette Virtual Ballet School (veyettevirtualballetschool.com).

This week we are joined by our friend, Kate Penner. Kate received her early dance training from Arlington Center for Dance, now BalletNova, in Arlington, VA and participated in the Kennedy Center’s Dance Theatre of Harlem Residency Program and Exploring Ballet with Suzanne Farrell.  She attended and graduated from Harvard University, where she worked with Heather Watts and Damian Woetzel, performing ballets such as George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments, Serenade, and Who Cares?  Upon graduating, Kate has enjoyed a freelance career in the Boston area. Kate has taught ballet and math as a faculty member of both Boston Ballet School and Harvard’s Department of Mathematics, and has been a part of the Vail Dance Festival team since the start of Damian Woetzel’s tenure as Artistic Director in 2007. In this episode we discuss the article from the Guardian in November 2019 that asks, “Does ballet have a race problem?” Kate offers her thoughts and reactions to this topic that has been at the forefront of discussion in the ballet world over the past few months. Conversations on Dance is sponsored by Yumiko (yumiko.com) and The Veyette Virtual Ballet School (veyettevirtualballetschool.com).

Over the past few weeks we have been examining different college dance programs including Indiana University and St. Mary’s College’s LEAP Program. This week we are concluding our higher education series on Conversations on Dance, with an in depth look at the University of Southern California’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. We are joined, for a second time, by the program’s vice dean and director, Jodie Gates. We first spoke with Jodie in episode 137, where we talk with her about her distinguished career dancing with Joffrey Ballet, Frankfurt Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, and guesting with companies around the world. Today we have the opportunity to hear more about her work at USC Kaufman, her role in helping to found the program in 2012, what students can expect from the program, and where their graduates are now. For more information on USC’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance visit kaufman.usc.edu. This episode is brought to you by Yumiko (yumiko.com) and The Veyette Virtual Ballet School (veyettevirtualballetschool.com).

This week we are continuing our higher education series on Conversations on Dance by introducing you to an incredibly unique program.  Today we chat with Stephanie Miller, the Associate Director at St. Mary’s College’s LEAP Program.  Stephanie began dancing at the age of three, and received her BA in Dance from Saint Mary’s College, as well as an MFA in Choreography and Performance from Mills College.  She danced primarily with Paufve Dance from 2002-2011, and has performed with several other Bay Area dance companies. In July 2017, she returned to her alma mater to step into the role of Associate Director for the LEAP Program or Liberal Education for Arts Professionals. LEAP is a program that brings higher education to current or former professional dancers with 2 or more years experience, in a way that works with students’ busy schedules.  Stephanie tells us about her personal experience in dance, how the LEAP program came about, her role in the program, and how the program is looking to expand in order to serve more professional artists.  For more information visit https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/leap. This episode is brought to you by Yumiko (yumiko.com) and The Veyette Virtual Ballet School (veyettevirtualballetschool.com).

Last week, in episode 168, we talked about Michael’s coming out of retirement for Nutcracker guesting. Unfortunately due to scheduling, this episode was cut short, so in a BONUS episode this week, we are finishing that chat, and taking a few detours along the way!

Welcome to the Conversations on Dance higher education series.  Over the next few weeks, we will be talking with individuals from different college  dance programs across the country.  This week we are joined by Carla Körbes, former Pacific Northwest Ballet Principal Dancer and Associate Professor of Music in ballet at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.  Carla was born in Brazil and in 2000, she joined the New York City Ballet as a member of the corps.  In 2005 she joined Pacific Northwest Ballet where she would dance as a Principal Dancer until her retirement in 2015.  Since retiring, she worked as associate artistic director for LA Dance Project, before accepting her position at Indiana University. We talk with Carla from the 2019 Vail Dance Festival about her position at the University, what the students’ curriculum and daily life is like, and how these dancers are uniquely set up for company life.  For more information on the program, visit music.indiana.edu.  Listen to our last chat with Carla about her career from 2017 in episode 55.  This episode is brought to you by Yumiko (yumiko.com), The Town of Vail, and The Veyette Virtual Ballet School (veyettevirtualballetschool.com).

Nutcracker may be over, but this week Rebecca and Michael sit down to catch up and discuss Michael’s Nutcracker gigs. Rebecca asks Michael about coming out of retirement for his return to the Nutcracker this past December. We chat about how he prepared, what the rehearsal process was like, and we get nostalgic over other Nutcracker memories from years past. This week we are happy to welcome a new sponsor, Veyette Virtual Ballet School. Be sure to check them out: veyettevirtualballetschool.com. As always, thank you to Yumiko for their continued support of COD: yumiko.com.

We are back from our break and want to wish everyone a happy new year!  We have a lot of exciting things coming up that we can’t wait to share with you.  Please subscribe to this podcast through your favorite podcast app to stay up to date on all our newest episodes. This week, for our first episode of 2020, we are joined by Hope Boykin, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Dancer, from the 2019 Vail Dance Festival.  Hope is from Durham North Carolina, and attended Howard University.  She was a student and intern at the Ailey School before going on the join the company.  She was an original member of Complexions, was a member of Philadanco, and received a New York Dance and Performance Award, or Bessie Award. We talk with Hope about her journey with dance as a youth, the challenges she faced, her now 20 years with Ailey, her work as a choreographer, and her personal podcast.  Hope brings such light and optimism to this chat, and we can’t wait to share her with you! This episode is brought to you by Yumiko (yumiko.com) and The Town of Vail.

This week we are joined from the 2019 Vail Dance Festival by Joseph Gordon, New York City Ballet Principal Dancer.  Joe was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and began his dance training at the age of five at The Phoenix Dance Academy. He began studying at the School of American Ballet during the 2006 summer course and enrolled as a full-time student that fall. In August of 2011, Mr. Gordon became an apprentice with NYCB.  He worked his way through the ranks for the next 7 years and in October 2018, he was promoted to principal dancer.  We talk with Joe about how his job at New York City Ballet came about, some of his first opportunities, his 6 years in Vail, and some of his favorite memories from the festival. This is our final episode of 2019.  Thank you to all of our listeners for your continued support during our 3rd year of Conversations on Dance.  We will be on a break over the holidays and will return with an all new episode on January 6th.  See you in 2020. This episode is brought to you by Yumiko (yumiko.com) and The Town of Vail.

This week we are joined from the 2019 Vail Dance Festival last summer by Charlotte Landreau, dancer with Martha Graham Dance Company.  A native of France, she trained first as a rhythmic gymnast, where she was the third in France.  With her sights set on the Olympics, an injury forced her career trajectory to shift.  She attended the Béjart School in Switzerland, studying acting and dance, before coming to NYC to study at the Martha Graham School.  She joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in 2013.  She speaks with us about how her training as a rhythmic gymnast influences her dance career, the challenges of seeing the career she dreamt of slip away, how she made a quick transition into the dance world, and how she connected so deeply with the Graham technique. This episode is brought to you by Yumiko (yumiko.com) and The Town of Vail.

This week we are joined from the 2019 Vail Dance Festival this past summer, by Christopher Grant, New York City Ballet dancer.  Christopher was born in Jamaica, Queens. He began his dance training at the School of American Ballet (SAB) in 2002.  In August 2015, he became an apprentice with NYCB and joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in August 2016.  We talk with Chris about his training, the struggles of moving from student life to company life, how he hopes that he can set an example for students coming through the school, and his second year at the Vail Dance Festival. This episode is brought to you by Yumiko and The Town of Vail. YUMIKO’s new Holiday Collection is the perfect way to get winter-ready this season!  The Holiday Collection ships within 2-3 days.  Available to order at www.yumiko.com.

This week we are sharing with you a live podcast recording from the 2019 Vail Dance Festival. Here we speak with Visual Artist Kenneth Parris III and dancer Melissa Toogood on Tuesday July 30th, 2019.   Kenneth had many of his Merce Cunningham paintings and drawings featured throughout the festival this year, and many of these pieces feature Cunningham dancer and his wife, Melissa Toogood. We sit down to chat with this duo about their artistic partnership and their relationship to the works of Merce Cunningham.   This episode is brought to you by Yumiko (yumiko.com) and the Town of Vail.

This week on Conversations on Dance, we talk with dancer turned photographer, Erin Baiano from the Vail Dance Festival. If you follow Vail Dance Festival on social media, it is Erin’s beautiful photos that tell the story of the festival, from rehearsals to performances.  Erin grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and attended the School of American Ballet before joining American Ballet Theater.  She danced with ABT for 6 years before retiring from the stage.  She quickly found a love for photography and was rented by culture photographer, Paul Kolnick.  Her work has been published in Vanity Fair, Time Out NY, Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, New York Magazine and various other publications.  Hear Erin talk about her dance career (including her role in the movie, ‘Center Stage’), about how she became interested in photography, how Paul taught her how to photograph dance, and her role at the Vail Dance Festival. This episode is brought to you by Yumiko and the Town of Vail.

This week we are joined from the 2019 Vail Dance Festival by Adji Cissoko, dancer with Alonzo King LINES Ballet.  Adji grew up in Munich, Germany where she trained at Ballet Academy Munich. She attended the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre on full scholarship, before joining the National Ballet of Canada in 2010. In 2014, she joined LINES Ballet. We talk with Adji about her training, her long audition process to find the right company for her, how she shifted her goals for her career, and why LINES Ballet is the perfect place for her. This episode is brought to you by Yumiko (yumiko.com) and The Vail Dance Festival.

This week, on Conversations on Dance, we are joined by Eduardo Vilaro, Artistic Director of Ballet Hispánico. Eduardo recounts his early years adjusting to New York City life as a Cuban immigrant, what it was like building his first company from the ground up, and how Ballet Hispánico has carved out an identity for itself that is unique in the dance world. Ballet Hispánico, America’s leading Latino dance organization, returns to the Apollo Theater on November 22 & 23 to celebrate the power of the Latina voice with works by all female choreographers. This season includes the world premiere of Anabelle Lopez Ochoa’s ‘Triburones,’ as well as the return of ‘Nací’ by Andrea Miller and Michelle Manzanales’ ‘Con Brazos Abiertos.’ Tickets begin at $13.50 and are available by phone at (800) 745-3000 or online at www.apollotheater.org. This episode is brought to you by Yumiko (yumiko.com).