A good portion of my dance training involved dance exams. In the case of tap, I even had to memorize step definitions. “Tap: strike the floor with the ball of the foot, releasing it immediately.” Or, “Shuffle: a combination of…
How to Understand Contemporary Dance Shows
Last year, I watched Yvonne Ng once dance a duet with Robert Glumbek at The Registry Theatre in Kitchener, Ontario. It was called “Stone Velvet,” and is a well-known piece within the contemporary dance world. I loved it. To me,…
How Essentrics® Fits with My Writing Business
by Christine Peets, Captions Communications Your first question might be, “What is Essentrics®?” The answer: a fitness program designed to re-balance the body through simultaneous stretching and strengthening all of the muscles and rebalancing the joints. Now, your second question:…
Writing Novels about Dance
Canadian writer Lori Wolf-Heffner talks about the problems she had writing novels about dance.
Svetlana Dvoretsky: The Woman Behind Theatre
A Russian-Canadian Impresario Have you ever heard of the word “impresario”? That’s someone who organizes and maybe even finances performing arts events, including concerts, plays, ballets, operas, and more. It’s a very risky profession, and likely not one taught in…
What Is Flamenco Dance? Myriam Allard Answers
Continuing With Flamenco Last month, I wrote about Bonnie Masina, a woman who took up flamenco dance at age 50. This month, I ask the question: What is flamenco? And Myriam Allard, co-founder of and dancer and choreographer with La…
Exploring Creativity by Exposing Yourself More
Engage With Your Art Form Theatre guru Trevor Copp has a bowl of theatre tickets, roughly 1,200 of them. The bowl makes its stage appearance when Copp judges the Ontario Drama Festival (formerly the Sears Drama Festival): it contains one…
Flamenco at 50: “It’s too easy when we age to give up. I don’t agree with that.”
Starting Dance Past 50 When I turned 40, I suddenly cared about aging. Always active in my younger years through dance, and proudly displaying a photo of me doing the splits still at age 37, turning 40 suddenly made me…
Alejandro Álvarez Cadilla: How a Dancer Becomes a Producer
With Change on the Horizon, Cadilla Moved Towards It Life is full of transitions, and I won’t bore you with a list of all the usual ones. But as you explore your creativity, remember that transitions can happen here, too….
Watching Artists Grow Up
Getting hooked on to a group part way through their career is liking getting sucked into a syndicated novel series like Nancy Drew. You get to discover what came before while you wait for what comes next. Last night, I got…