Where the Heart is

Reprinted from Dance Magazine.

Alisa Mittin and Makenzi Rasey breeze through the air in remarkably tight unison, considering the freewheeling quality of Mittin’s choreography. While the pair have been dancing together since they were 5, this is their first performance as a duo. It’s a New York debut of sorts—Buffalo, New York, that is, their hometown. The piece, titled Prelude to something that might possibly happen in the future but we are not quite sure what that is yet, says quite a bit about their current state. Mittin and Rasey, who both graduated from California Institute for the Arts last year, lacked funds to try to build dance careers in a bigger city, so they returned to Buffalo to live and dance.

Young people have found work scarce in dance meccas such as New York and San Francisco, while smaller cities like Buffalo and New Orleans have welcomed home a new crop of BFAs to revitalize their dance ranks. Living with parents and looking for what’s available in their hometowns can be a smart strategy for many a dance major. Home comes with a temporarily free roof, support from friends and family, and considerably lower living expenses.

Mittin, 23, dreamed of performing in Johannes Wieland’s company. She got good feedback from the choreographer during a long audition workshop, but a spot in his next project never materialized. Without funds to stay in New York City, Buffalo became her next destination. At CalArts she had dabbled in choreography but remained focused on dancing and performing. “When I got home, I realized if I wanted to make something happen, I would have to be the one to do it,” she says. “It’s exciting and surprising to create my own work.” Having Rasey, her dance chum since childhood, help her out has been a great source of support. “We finish each other’s dance sentences,” quips Rasey, 23, who is elated to have Mittin make work on her. “Since we trained together, our improvisations feel so fluid and easy.”

Both dancers graduated with big tuition debts, so while continuing to dance Rasey works as a paralegal, and Mittin waitresses and works in a thrift shop. Rasey remembers getting the grim figures about the job market during her senior year. “I got very nervous,” she says. “I had never planned on moving back, and I’m still a little jealous of friends who ended up in New York.” She lived with her parents for a time to save money but eventually moved to Allen town, a trendy Buffalo neighborhood. “It’s tricky being at home after being on your own,” says Rasey. “I’m not used to having someone to answer to again.”

Some dancers hit their stride quickly once they return home. Kristen Frankiewicz’s whimsical solo I’m So alone, danced in spike heels during the Big Range Dance Festival at Houston’s Barnevelder Theater last June, seemed to be saying, “Here I am, deal with it.” After graduating from University of Texas at Austin in 2007, Frankiewicz, 25 and a Houston native, had set her sights on San Francisco and earning a place in contemporary dance company ODC. She made it through several audition rounds but ended up without a job offer, so she opted for Plan B and headed home.

Before long, Frankiewicz landed a spot in Suchu Dance Company, one of Houston’s leading postmodern troupes, and began to choreograph on the side. With her first good review in hand, offers to make work are starting to trickle in. After saving enough money, she now lives in The Heights, an up-and-coming neighborhood just minutes from downtown. Thanks to scholarships and grants, Frankiewicz has no tuition debt, so she can support herself teaching and dancing, and enjoy the low cost of Texas living.

Home is not always a familiar place; there can be an element of the unknown in returning. Cities don’t stand still. The last time many of these 20-something dancers lived in their hometowns they were in high school, studying at their local dance studios. Growing up, Frankiewicz never strayed far from her suburban home. With Suchu based at Barnevelder Movement Arts Complex, the indie home for dance and theater, she’s at the center of Houston’s creative hub. “The Houston I found when I got back was a huge shock,” she says. “I’m home all right, but it feels like a whole new place, populated with artists of all genres.”

Likewise Mittin and Rasey found a newly revitalized city when they returned to Buffalo, and discovered a whole tribe of young people who have relocated there. “It’s really exciting to meet dancers who are not from Buffalo,” says Rasey. “There’s a spark here; I find I’m looking at the city with new eyes.”

Moving back home means something different to Maggie Lynch, a New Orleans native, who witnessed Hurricane Katrina’s devastation. Lynch hoped to join Diavolo Dance Theatre, a contemporary company in Los Angeles, after graduating from Louisiana State University in 2008. She did an intensive with the company, but ended up heading home to New Orleans. After taking part in the Katrina clean-up process, Lynch found herself wanting to continue the rebuilding effort. Now Lynch dances with Tsunami Dance Company, one of the city’s more established modern companies, and supports herself waitressing and gets help from her parents. “I am really growing as a dancer in Tsunami,” says Lynch. “Being part of what’s happening in New Orleans is an amazing opportunity. The dance scene is just now picking up steam.”

But there are unanticipated challenges to being the ones to build a dance scene. Finding a good dance class in smaller cities can be tough. “It takes sheer force of will to stay in shape,” admits Mittin, who was recently invited to take company class with choreographer Jon Lehrer’s new company, based in Buffalo. “Still, there are no open ballet classes for us.” Rasey misses the communal atmosphere of the dance classes she took in college. “Class is like the glue,” she says. “We have found other dancers needing class, so we are thinking of starting our own teaching collective.” Lynch solved the no-class dilemma by enrolling as a continuing education student at Tulane University to study with John Allen, who also choreographs for Tsu nami. Frankiewicz has been lucky to find numerous classes in local dance studios, in addition to Suchu’s company class.

Returning home is not without regret for what could have happened. “I still have to fight a sense of defeat,” says Frankiewicz. “But I am driven to make the most of my situation.” Mittin and Ramsey keep in contact with college friends who have found work in New York. “I have mixed feelings; I get a bit bitter sometimes about the horrible timing of when I entered the job market,” Mittin confesses. “But I want to start something right here in Buffalo. I am pushing myself in different ways than I would have had I moved to New York. Sometimes I’m overwhelmed by my Buffalo pride.”

While none of the dancers we spoke to has ruled out moving in the future, for now, being part of a hometown dance renaissance holds a unique source of empowerment. Someday, they think, people may talk about how the recession had the unexpected benefit of reshaping the cultural landscape in their cities and they will have been part of it. “Maybe we can shine a light on dance that people might not otherwise see in cities like Buffalo,” reflects Mittin. “As long as we are dancing, does it really matter where?”

Update: Alisa Mittin has moved to Atlanta where she is guesting with Core Performance Company. MaKenzi Rasey has moved to California.

 

Dance and Fashion

Nozomi Iijima in the Houston Ballet’s production of “Divergence” choreographed by Stanton Welch

Fashion and dance have been tightly joined in a pas de couture since Louis XIV first put his feet in fifth position. The subject is on my mind because the Houston Ballet is performing George Balanchine’s masterpieceJewels this weekend (7:30 p.m. tonight and Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday) with sumptuous costumes by the legendary Russian designer Barbara Karinska.

Balanchine’s bejeweled wonder rocked the ballet house in 1967 when it premiered, and does so again at the Wortham.

Karinska’s contribution is as distinct as Balanchine’s bold lines. Emeralds feature calf-length tulle skirts conjuring the Romantic era. Rubies’ flared skirts give off a sassy, fiery energy, while Diamonds’ classical tutus evoke Imperial Russia. Each ballet comes adorned with the corresponding gems.Jewels, considered Balanchine’s launch of the revolutionary full-length plotless ballet, may be the quintessential match between choreographer and designer.

Who needs a story when you have this much bling?

“Although numerous designers have created costumes for Jewels, Karinska’s are classic,” Stanton Welch, Houston Ballet’s artistic director, says. The Russian designer re-engineered the shorter, fluffier “power puff” tutu, now a standard in ballet companies around the globe.

Before Karinska turned to ballet, she crafted gowns for nightclub performers and even the wives of the Soviet elite during the Lenin era.

After leaving Russia, Karinska collaborated with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo for Balanchine’s Cotillon. While creating numerous designs for the Ballet Russe, she still found time to dress the burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee. In Hollywood during the 1940s, Karinska costumed such stars as Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Judy Garland and Ginger Rogers, winning a 1948 Academy Award for Joan of Arc.

Eventually, Karinska settled at New York City Ballet as Balanchine’s costume muse, where she reigned for decades. Her designs, needlework and fabric choices were known for being both supremely durable and danceable.

Danceability is key when working with a fashion designer, who may not be familiar with the demands of the trade. Welch has always had a keen eye for good design.

“Working with fashion designers is really important and quite common in ballet; It’s also exciting,” admits  Welch, who has designed costumes for several of his own ballets, including, Maninyas and Indigo. ”There was a time when all the big names wanted to design for ballet. I even have a photo of my mother (Marilyn Jones) wearing a Christian Dior Black Swan tutu on my mantle.”

Welch has had his own dream design teams. Vanessa Leyonhjelm made a deconstructionist statement in Welch’s heavy metal ballet Divergence, which featured tutus fashioned out of mesh from air-conditioning ducts with Gaultier-like leather bra cones.

“Working with Vanessa was an extraordinary collaboration,” Welch says.

To arrive at the somber tone of his post-9/11 ballet Clear, Welch turned to Michael Kors for minimalist flesh-tone body-clinging look, creating a pared-down, vulnerable atmosphere.

Welch hopes the fashion/ballet connection is making a comeback. New York City Ballet’s Jenifer Ringer looked ravishing in the J. Mendel gown on the August Dance Magazine cover, while Valerie Gladstone’s story chronicled the fashion pairings of such legends as Martha Graham and Halston, Twyla Tharp with Norma Kamali, Jorma Elo with Ralph Rucci, among numerous others.

Fashion action continues locally with Dominic Walsh Dance Theater dancerRachel Meyer wearing a silk and chiffon gown from Chloe Dao’s Mini Collection when she hits the red carpet to pick up her Princess Grace Award. The dress features a black and pale pink lattice work bodice, an asymmetrical shoulder, with a low back and open sides. Dao describes the dress as “tough, cool and sexy.”

In step

As dancers are young, mostly tall and gorgeous, is it any wonder that no art form has influenced fashion more than dance?

Check out the fashion-forward crop at the New York City Ballet. Stunning. Who wouldn’t want to dress up like these stylish people?

Ballet flats, over-sized bags, wrap-around sweaters and skirts, lace-up shoes are some of the better crossover choices. Flashdance-style torn T-shirts, leg warmers, booty shorts and tutu-shaped skirts should have never left the studio. Drew Jacoby, the leggy ballerina of Jacoby & Pronk, last seen in Houston wowing Dance Salad fans, offered her opinions on the best andworst of dance fashions on her Dance Pulp blog.

She wasn’t too thrilled with Bjork’s feathered swan dress for the Academy Awards.

I know it’s a scary thing to get fashion advice from a gal who wears sweater sets, but listen up beautiful, young Hollywood things, only ballerinas should wear tutus. OK, maybe Natalie Portman gets away with it in Black Swan, but that’s only after logging in some serious hours at the barre. Even Sarah Jessica Parker couldn’t pull it off during the opening credits of Sex and The City, and don’t get me started on Lara Flynn Boyle’s misguided tulle for the 2003 Golden Globe Awards.

If I see one more middle schooler in booty shorts I will call your mother. Those are for your jazz classes dear ones.

Welch agrees that there’s a constant flow of fashion ideas from the studio to the street.

“We were just remarking that the men seem to be wearing torn T-shirts again. We used to do that. I notice a strong dance influence at the gym and in the Olympics,” Welch says. “But really, I don’t know what people are wearing these days on the street because I spend all my time with the dancers who are making the trends.”

Listen to dancer Olivier Wevers, artistic director of Seattle-based upstart troupe  Whim W’Him, who I recently wrote about along with Melody Herrerain my dance vacations story.

“Ballet is constantly creating new visuals that are relevant to the period we live in, so is fashion,” says Wevers, who is also a principal at Pacific Northwest Ballet and a frequent collaborator with designers. “Both have classics that won’t ever go out of style.”

Jewels is just that, a timeless classic.

Reprinted from Culturemap.

 

College Before Career

Published in the October/November 2010 issue of Pointe Magazine

Peng-Yu Chen

Photo by C. McCullers

Traditionally, ballet dancers bypassed college to maximize their dancing years. But for today’s generation, earning a degree before auditioning for the corps has become a smart move. The right undergraduate program can be an opportunity to grow intellec t ually, polish up technique and work with major choreographers. Even more importantly, it can offer experiences that will help you mature as an artist. Sure, there are trade-offs to sacrificing four years of prime performing time. But for some dancers, college can be just what they need to make the leap from student to professional.

Peng-Yu Chen

Age: 28
College: SUNY Purchase
Company: Atlanta Ballet

Why College: Coming from Taiwan, it was the most direct way for me to get a visa to the U.S. Also, college is expected from most Asian families—mine might have had heart attacks if I told them I was going all the way to the other side of the world to find a job right after high school.

Why SUNY Purchase: I saw the student company perform in Hong Kong and knew it was where I wanted to go—it was the only place I applied.

Best Part: In college, you learn different styles much faster. I was exposed to so many choreographers. I danced works by Balanchine, Paul Taylor, Doug Varone, Mark Morris, Jacqulyn Buglisi and Lin Hwai-Min (of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre).

Hardest Part: I didn’t speak English very well at first, so academics were difficult, but the professors helped me. I didn’t party or have a regular college life. I had to work really hard, but that’s what I was there for. Purchase prepared me for what I’m doing today—and now I get to enjoy life.

Extra Opportunities: In addition to getting a BFA in dance, I also got an arts management certificate, which will one day be useful when I finish dancing.

Advice: Before I started at Purchase, I didn’t think I could get into a ballet company. Although I had a strong ballet base, I had never put on a pair of pointe shoes or done any partnering. Remember that a lot can happen in four years.

Michelle Mahowald

Age: 25
College: Indiana University
Company: Ballet Arizona

Why College: I wasn’t ready to join a company—I needed more training and fine-tuning.

Why Indiana: The program functions exactly like a company: After academics in the morning you have company class at 11 am, and rehearse until 6 pm.

Best Part: The teachers really made an investment in me. They polished me up, cleaned my technique and looked at the details, especially my weak points.

Favorite Subjects: Piano, which is mandatory at IU and so important for dancers. Half of our job is music! English literature, especially Shakespeare, was another favorite.

How College Helped: I learned what I wanted out of a professional life, so I felt more mature when it came time to select a com pany. Because we were able to perform a diverse repertoire at IU, I knew that I enjoyed classical work the most and wanted to join a company that was mostly classical but occasionally performed neoclassical or contemporary repertoire as well.

Age Concerns: I didn’t feel age was such an issue because the IU program is designed to be completed in three years. I was more concerned that my technical experience surpassed my performance experience. When I got into Ballet Arizona I was still green.

 

Advice: Try to think beyond a career in dance and find a program where you can earn a double major. As we all know, a dancer’s career can be short-lived and somewhat unpredictable.

Annie Breneman
Age: 30
College: University of Utah
Company: Ballet West

Why College: I auditioned for companies all over the U.S. during my senior year of high school but didn’t get any job offers.

Why University of Utah: I was hoping to join a company, so I liked that they have strong connection to Ballet West.

Age Concerns: After my second year I became an apprentice at Ballet West, which let me dance and work on my degree at the same time, so I wasn’t so concerned about age.

Hardest Part: Dancing while being in school made the days rough and long. I was always two minutes late to company class, which was stressful. It was good, though, for me to have a focus outside of the ballet world. Education gives you new perspectives and more depth as a person and a dancer.

Favorite Subject: Kinesiology. Seeing how the muscles pull the joints to create the movement we do every day was fascinating to me.

 

Extra Opportunities: I took the requirements to go to physical therapy school. I would love to work with dancers some day. I’ve never missed a show because of an injury—I like to think that I’m both a lucky and smart dancer.

Advice: Keep auditioning while you’re in college. You want to keep your audition edge so that nerves don’t get start to get in the way. Unfortunately, in the dance world, jobs are rare. If you’re offered one, jump at the chance, because you can continue your education almost anywhere.

David Neal

Age: 25
College: New York University
Company: Richmond Ballet

Why College: Coming from Casper, Wyoming, where there are six other guys in the whole state pursuing dance as a career, I was not ready to hit the professional scene. I also love academics and didn’t want to give that up.

Why NYU: I knew I wanted to dance but wasn’t sure whether modern or ballet was the right fit, so I liked that NYU wasn’t geared toward one genre. Also, they have an impressive ballet faculty, including former American Ballet Theatre and Houston Ballet dancers.

Best Part of College:  I was able to do work by Dwight Rhoden, Bill Young and Merce Cunningham. Merce even came to watch us—that was pretty awesome and one heck of an opportunity. I also had access to the grad students, many of whom had already had professional careers.

Favorite Classes: Dance history. It helped me understand the full-lengths, and the distinction between Classical and Romantic ballets. Women were more ethereal in Romantic ballet. Knowing that shifts my approach to partnering: I see myself catching a woman as she tries to fly away rather than lifting her. I also enjoyed taking classes in eclectic subjects like the History of Western Judaism.

How It Helped: Before college, dance was just about the thrill of athleticism. It has much more meaning for me now. It’s almost a spiritual experience, and that’s what I try to share onstage.

Advice: College helps you figure out what kind of dancer you want to be. I went in thinking I would end up in ballet, but first I wanted to see what else was out there. I found my place within the dance world. If I had gone straight to an apprenticeship, I wouldn’t have had that.