Today I’m starting a new series on ze blog, in hopes of sparking a bit of tutu talk.  Ballet is evolving so rapidly right now- it’s important to continue the dialogue!  Let me know what you think in the comments section below.  Without further ado, some conversations on dance being had this week…

“We are so passionate about what we do that sometimes we take for granted what we are physically capable of doing…The emotional effect on your well being not just as a dancer but as a human being, it’s like someone who is a writer, just can’t come up with letters- not even words- but letters…Everything you know about how to be- it’s like breathing, you wake up in the morning you go to work, you go to dance.  You wake up all the sudden in the morning and you can’t do that.” -Patricia Delgado, Conversations on Dance Podcast

“Dance should celebrate our humanity, not an artificial ideal imposed upon us by individuals frightened by what constitutes the natural shapes of the feminine physique.” -Alberta Ballet artistic director Jean Grand-Maître, The Cult of Thin, Dance Magazine

“Ballet dancers are not collections of bones and muscles moving from one beautiful pose to the next. Dancers move because they need to, and they move to bring an audience out of themselves and to show people what music looks like. Ballet should display the best that any human body—no matter its type—can do: huge physical acts of strength and stamina linked together and combined with artistry to create a moment of art. This moment exists while that beautiful human body is dancing, then ends when both the music and the body are finally still.  And then the applause can begin.” -Jenifer Ringer for Dance Magazine

“A forlorn Qualley excuses herself to an empty lobby. She looks around deep in thought, then stares directly at the camera …before getting her fucking freak on…Along the way she flys through a giant Kenzo eye made out of flowers, has a ballet moment in an empty theater, and also finds time to kill a man.” -Kyle Munzenrieder on Kenzo’s latest perfume ad, W Magazine

“Pictures are worth a thousand words, and videos can be worth a million. When students are able to see a dancer who has trained to perfect their craft, that visual goes a long way. It becomes effective by giving them an idea of how they want to continue their training in order to accomplish their own goals. It’s a way for our dancers to tap into some good habits. Then, teachers are there to warn students not to take on the bad habits.” -Simon Ball on technology and social media in dance education, for Jack Rabbit Dance

photo by Darian Volkova