Dance With Teachers

in this episode we take you back to NYC where we sat down with Dominique Robinson before stay at home orders were in effect. Dominique talks about her company Pizarts. Part of her company’s focus helps students who want to experience a gap year.

In this episode Dominique explains all the offerings her company has for students and teachers alike. I caught up with Dominique recently to find out how her company has adjusted since the start of the pandemic and Pizarts will be hosting the first virtual dance gap year in July. Teachers of this program are from all over the world and when this is all over they will have a week long retreat with all of their virtual participants.

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@dancegapyear

www.dancewithteachers.com

www.dancegapyear.com

In this episode we take you to Miami where we sat down with Sara Lavan at the last National Dance Education Organization’s conference in October 2019.

Sara Lavan is the founder of Local Motion Project where she serves as Executive and Co-Artistic Director. She co-creates, curates, and co-facilitates programming including: movement classes, continuing education, youth dance school, creative community workshops, and school residencies.

Sara has been published in Dance Magazine, Dance Teacher, and Dance Studio Life. She has presented at The National Dance Education Organization’s annual conferences, is a faculty member with the Dance West Virginia Fall Festival, facilitator of professional development for Arena Stage, has served as commissioner with the Alexandria Arts Commission and is a presenter with the Kennedy Center’s Changing Education Through the Arts program.

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@localmotionprojectva

www.dancewithteachers.com

www.localmotionproject.org

In this episode we speak with Lite Feet dancer Ki-Nen in New York City. You might be very familiar with Lite Feet, or you may just know it as the dance you see on the subway, but there is so much more than that.

In this episode Ki-Nen shares a wealth of knowledge about the history of Lite Feet, the names of the movements and vocabulary, the importance of the music, and fashion as well as the shoes Lite Feet dancers wear.

I’m so stoked I was able to sit down with him and pick his brain about the Lite Feet community and culture. Get ready to dive into the world of Lite Feet and soak up the knowledge with our next guest, Ki-Nen.

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@kidashnen

www.dancewithteachers.com

In this episode we hear from Anna Mansbridge. Anna is a choreographer, dancer and educator, originally from Australia and the U.K and now resides in Seattle, WA. She has been on the faculty at the Creative Dance Center, Seattle, since the Fall of 1999 teaching all ages.

Before we start this week’s episode I want to speak on the global pandemic we are currently experiencing. I encourage you to visit our website for resources that may support you and your students during this transition to digital learning. www.dancewithteachers.com

I have been creating and uploading videos on our site, but encourage you to reach out to us directly if you want the full video library. My email is [email protected] Within our videos you will see two different variations of the brain dance, which Anna describes in this episode. These are my personal variations of the Brain Dance warm up which was created by Anne Green Gilbert. This episode was recorded in Miami at the National Dance Education Organization’s Annual Conference so please excuse the background noise.

In this episode we hear from Bruce McCormick. He was a presenter at the National Dance Education Organization's Conference in Miami 2019. Bruce McCormick is an educator, choreographer, performer and scholar. He earned his BFA from the Juilliard School and his MFA from the University of Washington, where he has worked as Assistant Professor of Dance from 2015-2018. He currently is on faculty at the University of Southern California as an Assistant Professor of Practice in Ballet Technique.

Bruce shares the process he went through as a male choreographer working with three females at the start of the #MeToo movement. Through his process he empowered the women he worked with by giving them a voice.

Disclaimer: This interview was recorded while at the NDEO conference in Miami 2019, excuse the background noise.

In this episode we hear from Allison DeBono and Rex Tilton from Ballet West.

Allison and Rex met and fell in love while dancing in Salt Lake at the professional ballet company. They were featured on the television series Breaking Pointe, which followed the lives of the ballet dancers from the company. Since then they have grown as a couple and as dancers becoming a first soloist and a principal dancer. Together they started a family and their company artÉmotion. In this episode we talk about their personal and professional lives specifically about their company artÉmotion as well as how they have managed being new parents while remaining professional working dancers. As a Utah native I am thrilled to bring you two professional dancers and teachers from Salt Lake so here they are, Allison DeBono and Rex Tilton.

In this episode, we hear from Melanie George. Melanie George is a dance educator, choreographer, dramaturg, and scholar. In this episode Melanie tells us all about her own dance journey and how she found her love and focus for jazz dance. I ask her about her work in jazz under her project Jazz Is... She shares information about her website she created as a recourse for jazz dance teachers. We talk about the importance of jazz music, improvisation and the roots of jazz. Please enjoy this episode on Jazz dance with Melanie George.

In this episode you hear from our host, Victoria. She shares a group quiz she gave to her middle school students. She talks about how she uses the Depth Of Knowledge wheel and question stems to generate assessment and discussion questions. Also, how her students became more engaged in their assessment when they were able to discuss it in a small group.

In this episode, we hear from Kim DelGrosso. Kim is the co-owner and artistic director of Center Stage Performing Arts Studios in Orem, Utah. The studio recently won the highly competitive award for "Studio of the Year" in 2019, at The Dance Awards in Las Vegas.

Some notable alumni from this studio include contestants from "World Of Dance" and "Dancing With The Stars", such as Julianne and Derek Hough and Jenna Johnson.

In this episode, Kim talks about the three dancers associated with her studio who made the Top 10 on "So You Think You Can Dance" last season. She wasn't able to say their names at the time of the recording, but we know now that they are Stephanie and Ezra Sosa and Eddie Hoyt. Dancers from her studio are also dancing in the "High School Musical" productions.

It was fascinating to sit down with Kim and hear about how the studio has grown to become a top studio for producing working dancers. To start our second season of "Dance With Teachers," I bring you to the wonderful Center Stage Performing Arts Studio.

In this episode you hear a few names of some of our featured guests we will be having on season 2 of Dance With Teachers. New this season we will be launching our brand new YouTube channel. You can watch the raw footage of some of our season 1 interviews. We will also have video episodes released with some of new guests this season. Be sure to follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, as well as YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. Be sure to check out our website for additional resources.

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