Becky croise derriere 2

Arabesque à terre in the eye of a storm

August 29, 2011
It’s called petit allegro – the swift and agile footwork that enables ballerinas to dodge falling debris during a hurricane. Ignoring Mayor Bloomberg’s order to stay indoors and watch SYTYCD reruns this weekend, Becky, visiting from England, decides not to let a little hurricane spoil her trip to New York. Leaping over a fallen tree branch, she finishes in an arabesque à terre croisé de [..]

TriptychBallet

Houston, We Have Lift-Off

August 22, 2011
A ballet dancer is constantly renegotiating her relationship with gravity; we rise on pointe as an expression of our desire to fly. Joie Brown’s beautiful watercolor triptych illustrates two important aspects of a dancer’s technique: Well-developed arches of the feet, coupled with the ankle mobility needed to position the ankle bone over the toes en pointe Dancers aren’t born with these f [..]

Burning man port de bras

Burning Man Survival Guide for Dancers

August 17, 2011
Will there be ballet at Burning Man this year?  Ballet to the People interviewed some veterans who passed on these survival tips for dancers: Dancing in that low humidity can be lethal: hydrate well. Coconut water is the fashionable hydrating drink right now, ve [..]

Anthony McHale adopts a princely demeanor on a cliff overlooking the St. Lawrence Seaway

Anthony takes the 4th

August 6, 2011
Anthony takes a break from rehearsing an Indonesian adaptation of ‘Swan Lake’ on the Big River to demonstrate an open 4th position croisé. Think of the open 4th position of the f [..]

American Ballet Theatre alumna Cristina Escoda, partnered by Adrian McHale of Ballet Populaire de l’Île du Cerf. Cristina models Ballet to the People’s regulation Hello Kitty practice T while both dancers favor flip-flops when rehearsing on cliffs. Please do attempt this if you are not a trained professional. (Photo courtesy of Sam Watson, Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy Bujumbura, Burundi.)

Thousand Island Arabesque

August 5, 2011
[caption id="attachment_368" align="aligncenter" width="584" caption="American Ballet Theatre alumna Cristina Escoda, partnered by Adrian McHale of Ballet Populaire de l’Île du Cerf. Cristina models Ballet to the People’s regulation Hello Kitty practice T while both dancers favor flip-flops when rehearsing on cliffs. Please do not attempt this if you are not a trained professional. (Photo cou [..]