Romeo and Juliet

On Friday I attended the National Ballet's production of Romeo and Juliet... in the standing section! What an experience!  

But I promised to talk about theatre/literature and the ballet. This season the National Ballet has two Shakespeare plays and a Chekov play. Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and the Seagull are all being adapted into ballets. This is an interesting thing for a dance company to do, especially since these three plays are considered classics in the theatre world and are often taught in high school english classes. The great part about seeing these stories in this format is that the story is distilled to it's basic plot and emotional content. No "to be or not to be" to contend with here! Language in classics like these can often be a big hurdle, especially if the story is a new one, which is why seeing the ballets can really help understanding. By getting simply the plot and an exagerated emotional portrayal the plays quickly open up to new readers and difficult language becomes a lesser issue.

Student Post - "The Studio"

Last month our student blogger, Dryden, went to see The Studio at the Young People's Theatre. This was an interesting show that used a contemporary dance style to explore the visual arts, inspired by the work of artists such as Jackson Pollock and Jean Dubuffet. The show used a variety of mediums, from traditionally structured dance pieces to pieces that intergrated puppetry and video technology to literally and figuratively paint a picture. Here is what Dryden had to say about the show:

I recommend “The Studio” with four stars for sure! It was an incredible performance! I absolutely loved it!
The show was mostly about dances that were completely based on pieces of art work! In the whole show there were only four dancers.
It was a great show, and I love how the choreographer combined dance and art to come up with this great show. It was incredible! I overly recommend it!
 
 
After seeing the show, Dryden and I discussed the use of Ballet technique that we saw in the dancers, even though it was not a strict Ballet show, the use of space they used - including the backstage space and the use of video to show different perspectives - and how nice it was to see a cast with boy dancers as opposed to all girl dancers.
 
YPT has some great shows this season, including Seusical starting next week.
 
Check back later in November for more discussion of using dance to explore and learn about other art forms. We will be talking about the National Ballet's new Romeo and Juliet.

Alumni Post - Molly

Hello there Pegasus!

Let me count the ways…

When I started dancing at Pegasus in 1993 my 9 year-old self realized it loved to dance and it decided never to look back. I’m pretty proud of my 9 year-old self and I owe this wonderful place called Pegasus a lot for providing me with such an inspiring, warm and encouraging environment to move and grow in. I can easily say that I loved every minute of the time I spent being part of the Pegasus community and it definitely shaped the person I am today.

Now I am 27 years old and I work in arts education. I am a theatre artist and a teacher. I work at Soulpepper Theatre Company as their Education Coordinator where I support the running of all the theatre’s educational and outreach programming for youth. I love what I do because I see the value in providing opportunities for young people to freely explore and express themselves creatively. See how the Pegasus philosophy might have rubbed off? 


And just between you and me, I can’t seem to stop dancing… I take my tap shoes wherever I go! In 2008 I taught English in Japan and I incorporated tap dancing into all of my elementary school classes. It ended up being a pretty big hit and all of the students ended up tap dancing on the local news channel! It was great. This year I pulled out my tap shoes again and explored choreography with the youth in Soulpepper’s Summer programs.

So, thank you Pegasus, for encouraging and instilling a life-long love of dance in me and so many others. You’re a gem! Keep dancing all!

Molly

Free to be you and me

The dance world can be an intense place full of judgment and high physical and mental demands on youth. The pressures to have “the dancers body” or to be a “beautiful ballerina” are all over the place and can be quite hard for some young dancers to deal with… and rightly so.  

So what can be done to promote positive feelings and positive dancers?

Pegasus has long been on a mission to promote the healthy dancer. The healthy dancer respects and takes care of their body. We encourage our students to connect to their own body and to embrace the differences that make us all unique. Each of us can bring a different quality to our dancing because of these unique attributes and it is our goal at Pegasus to make sure students learn to cherish themselves for whom they are.

We should all feel free to be ourselves whether we are in the dance studio, in the dance school or out in the world! 

When to ditch the warm up gear

Ok, your dance uniform may not be the most exciting thing to wear. Plain leotard and tights, or black jazz pants. Warm up gear provides a fashionable variety… but dance teachers are not always one hundred percent behind it and inevitably they tell you to take it off long before the warm up is over. What’s the deal? When should it really come off and what kind of gear will teachers accept?

1)   If you are really using the warm up to it’s fullest potential (wink, wink) you should be almost sweating by the end of your plies! I know it sounds like you would have to do killer plies but it’s true. During a plie exercise practically every muscle in your body has to work, so if you put energy and focus into your plies it will warm up your muscles fast and furiously.

2)   That being said… sometimes dance studios are really cold, especially in winter, so it’s best to choose some warm up gear that teachers will accept. The main factor to look for is does it allow the teacher to clearly see what’s going on? The scary thing is that if a teacher cannot see what your muscles are doing you might be doing something that can cause serious harm to your body. So, choose gear that emulates your dance uniform only in heavier or knitted materials. Some classic options are below and often come in fun colours… however; most of your teachers will prefer a colour that matches your uniform.

 

 

Dusk Dances

Meet Ava, our student correspondent extraordinaire! Ava has been a Pegasus student for years and years. She brings joy to each and every dance class and we are so happy that she will be writing for our blog. Ava not only works hard in her dance classes but she is one of our dedicated Pegasus Performance Group dancers as well. Ava has a wonderful attitude and commitment in everything she does and we are excited to read her blog posts.

Dusk Dances 

By: Ava

The weather at Dusk Dances on Saturday night definitely DIDN’T put a damper on things. Even though it rained, many people came out to Withrow Park to watch 5 SPECTACULAR dance pieces.

The night started with music from contemporary string band “Moonshiner’s Daughter”.  The music got everyone on their feet, and grooving along. Lots of the little kids attending were running around, and dancing their hearts out.

After the music had finished up, our host Ryan Egan guided everyone to our first venue in the park to watch the world premiere of the piece “The Horlogium”. It consisted of a woman playing the accordion, dressed in a long, flowing white dress. Under the dress were four dancers who were actually ATTACHED to the dress. The concept of the piece was these four dancers trying to convince a businesswoman to join their dance. The piece had lots of humour, and the movements were staccato and jerky, which made you not know what was going to happen next.

The next piece was called “Strathcona High, Class of ‘56”. This piece was about three girls at their prom. At one point two girls grab two guys from the audience and dance with them as their dates. This leads to the other girl being upset that she doesn’t have a date. Overall, this piece was very comical and entertaining. This dance SCREAMED fun! The dancing and music were perfect! This dance was GREAT!

A piece called “Eugene Walks with Grace” was next. It was a reinvention of a piece from 1995. It was truly a BEAUTIFUL duet. I loved how the two dancers seamlessly moved from fluid to sharp movements. This piece was FANTASTIC!

The next piece was called “BoxSet”, and it was my personal favourite. The three dancers used 5 boxes of different sizes in their routine.  They had lots of acrobatic moves in the dance. For example, jumping off the top of one of the boxes! The thing I loved was that they were so in sync, and so rhythmical. It was WONDERFUL!

Last but not least, was the piece “Bao”. It was an African Rhythm dance that was full of energy. The four dancers were accompanied by African drummers, who were AMAZING! The choreography had lots of intricate hand and foot movements that were very intriguing. This was a GREAT dance to end the night.

Overall, Dusk Dances was FANTASTIC, and I highly recommend that everyone attends next year!

How to Prep for Fall Classes

Haven’t danced all summer? Haven’t used any of those muscles? Does September usually mean more than just going back to dance classes? Sore, tired, achy muscles that seem like they will never go away? Well… you’ve got time to prepare yourself!

September is still a few weeks away, which means this is the perfect time to start doing some exercises and stretching at home to help your body get back into the groove.  Here are some tips for slowly preparing yourself for the fall:

1.     Plies – the first exercise in most Ballet classes for a reason! Plies work all the muscles in the legs, including the muscles you use in dance but not really anywhere else. Do some simple demi-plies and grande-plies in each position and hold your arms in second position to get the arm and back muscles engaged as well.

2.     Stretch! How often we forget to stretch. START SLOW. If you haven’t stretched in a while you will not be as flexible as the last time… that’s the way it should be, so slowly work up to your previous abilities.  Stretching should always be done when the muscles are warm. The best time for this is after you’ve walked home from the subway (or any form of exercise), just had a warm shower or as soon as you wake up (that is unless you like to sleep in a freezer!).

3.     Once you start classes, if you’re muscles are sore, try an Epsom salt bath. It is the tried and true remedy for those achy muscles.