Come Dance With Me, part 2
Dance teachers have long known the positive effects of dance training: from improved concentration and grades to better physical health and better behavior. In recent years science has begun to back up what many in the dance field have known instinctively for decades. Read Part 2 of Veronica Hackethal’s article on educational dance programs that tap into the science while transmitting the artistic discipline of dance.
Come Dance With Me
Only recently has science tried to analyze how dance benefits the brain
and brings such joy. One theory holds that, like most exercise, dance
releases a cascade of feel-good chemicals in the brain. Dancing induces
the release of endorphins, the body’s natural pain killers that increase
pain tolerance and boost mood. Endorphins are responsible for the
euphoria experienced during a “runner’s high” and have a similar effect
on the body during dancing. Read on to see how dance educators are using dance to stimulate these brain-boosting effects in children and teens.
Dance/USA Honors a Legend: Philadanco’s Joan Myers Brown
Joan Myers Brown has had an extraordinary career. The founder of Philadanco!, one of Philadelphia’s preeminent dance companies, as well as the driving force behind both the International Conference of Black Dance Companies and the International Association of Blacks in Dance, Myers Brown has lent her artistic guidance, her nurturance of many dancers and
choreographers, her visionary leadership and grace under fire to many in the dance
field. On June 13, she will be honored by Dance/USA for her contributions to the field. Read this personal account about Joan from long-time Philadelphia dance critic Merilyn Jackson.
Sharon Luckman Receives the Dance/USA Trustees Award
Sharon Gersten Luckman, former long-time executive director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, will receive the Dance/USA Trustees Award June 13 at its annual conference in Philadelphia. Catch up with Luckman in an interview with arts journalist Karyn Collins on what makes Ailey such a successful dance organization, what other companies can learn from the Ailey company success, and where she sees the field in the future.
Dance Visionary Barbara Weisberger Celebrates her Ernie Award and More
On Thursday afternoon, June 13, during Dance/USA’s 2013 conference in Philadelphia, Barbara Weisberger, respected doyenne of dance, will
receive the Ernie from Dance/USA for her visionary leadership and contributions to the field. The prize,
named for the first recipient, Ian Ernie Horvath, arts advocate, dancer,
and founder of the Cleveland Ballet in his native city, is fitting for Weisberger as Horvath was both a colleague and a friend of hers. Read more about the woman who was Balanchine’s first child student and later the founder of the Pennsylvania Ballet.
EDA: One Piece of the Audience Engagement Puzzle, Part 2
Catch up on Dance/USA’s Educating Dance Audiences research and best practices with this report by EDA director Suzanne Callahan.
Reforming the Rules of Engagement, Round Two
This
moment of reformation [in the arts field] is not a threat … It’s an
invitation for us to think more expansively …. Yes, we have been
obsessed with the performance or the exhibit … [and] with
contextualizing or introducing audiences to [them] or with talk-backs.
But forward-thinking organizations are asking new questions.
— Ben Cameron, program director for the arts, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Speech for Arts Fund, Atlanta, December 2012
Read on to find out more about how Dance/USA through Educating Dance Audiences (EDA) has begun to harness new thinking to create new models for 21st-century dance organizations.
Diversifying Arts Institutions, Exploding the Canon, and Educating the Next Generation
Get to know Aaron Dworkin before he gives the opening plenary on Thursday, June 13, 2013, at 9:30 a.m. at Dance/USA’s 2013 conference.
How To Work With a Lighting Designer
The word “design” implies both planning and execution.
Many people
think lighting design is created in the technical rehearsal. This is
not so. Others see the myriad pieces of arcane drawings and paperwork
that surround the professional designer and think that they constitute
the design. Again, not so.
The lighting design is created in the
designer’s head over the course of several weeks before the production
loads into the theater. Read on for a perspective on working with lighting designers.
Letter and Apology to Dancers About To Enter the Dance World
So! Congratulations are in order. You’re about to graduate from your
dance program and enter into the real world. I hope you’re feeling
amply prepared, totally comfortable and at ease with the mammoth
transition to come.
…
Guys? … Oh. You’re freaking out? You feel
like you don’t have a clue what you’re getting into? How you’ll get paid
/ afford rent / find a place to make work / find auditions / get a job /
afford insurance / pay off your historically huge student loans?