I saw my dance teacher from Topeka, Kansas recently as her daughter was in New York for ABT’s teacher accreditation program. I danced in her company, Ballet Midwest, in the early 1980s and, although I did not pursue dance as a vocation, I …
Category: Greatest Hits
Dance Photography
Above photo: Da’ Von Doane, Dance Theatre of Harlem-Over the past year, I’ve been fortunate to photograph seven ballet events in New York. I’ve captured dancers during curtain calls for the past 10 years, but never during live performances; this …
Pointe Shoes Part II:
Gaynor Minden
Above photo by Eduardo Patino courtesy of Gaynor Minden. As a former dancer, I’ve always been fascinated by pointe shoes. Like most guys, I’ve never worn pointe shoes, but have been intrigued by the strange rituals that women go through, …
Pointe Shoes, Part I
Above photo courtesy of Freed of London. Think of classical ballet and a woman dancing in pointe shoes immediately comes to mind. Pointe shoes were originally designed to allow women to appear weightless in Romantic era supernatural, otherworldly roles as …
Why Do Ballet Dancers Turn Clockwise?
Above photo: Creativity103.com The Winter Olympics are approaching and figure skating will be a main attraction. While watching skating several years ago, I noticed that almost all skaters turned in a counter-clockwise (CCW) direction. This contrasts to ballet in which …