On today's episode of 'Conversations On Dance', we are joined by Emmy award winning choreographer, Joshua Bergasse. Joshua tells us about breaking into the theater world as a choreographer, how collaborating with other creative teams impacts his work, branching out into television on the hit show 'Smash', and the full circle moment of first performing in West Side Story and now staging the choreography in the current Lyric Opera of Chicago production, running now through June 25th at the Lyric Opera House. Ticket available at lyricopera.org. VAIL DANCE FESTIVAL TICKETS ON SALE ..read more

This week on Conversations on Dance, we are happy to bring you a chat with our friend, Damien Johnson. The topic of today’s conversation was suggested by one of our listeners who was looking for us to delve into male specific training and some of the issues that arise that are different from females in the field. Damien is a permanent guest faculty member at The School of American Ballet, and a sought after teacher who is certified in the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum in Pre-Primary-Level 3 as well as classical Pilates through Power Pilates. It was just an ..read more

This week on Conversations On Dance, we sit down with Charlotte Ballet director and international choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo. We spoke with Alejandro about his first season of programming for Charlotte Ballet, how important freedom and risk taking are to the choreographic process and his plans to make the company an integral part of the city's identity. If you are in the Charlotte area, you can catch the company's choreographic lab from June 9-17. To subscribe to the company's 2023-24 season, visit charlotteballet.org.  THIS EPISODE'S SPONSOR: Energetiks specialize in c ..read more

Today we are bringing you another re-release from the early days of 'Conversations On Dance', this time with author Jennifer Homans. In this episode today, first recorded in June 2017, we spoke with Jennifer about the book she prior to 'Mr. B' titled 'Apollo's Angels' which chronicles ballet's entire history, as well as her own history as a dancer and her founding of Center for Ballet and the Arts in NYC. Listen to episode 318 with Jennifer on her book 'Mr. B' Get your copy of Jennifer's books: Apollo's Angels - https://amzn.to/3WD9h2T Mr. B - https://amzn.to/3IInO7L LINKS: Website: c ..read more

Today on 'Conversations On Dance', we are joined by choreographer Justin Peck to discuss his new work for Houston Ballet 'Under the Folding Sky'. Justin talks about how seeing the art work of James Turrell in Houston provided a jumping off point, how he's waited for almost a decade to use the ballet's Phillip Glass score and what it's been like to explore an epic scale of dance in this work for 24 artists. If you are in the Houston area, you can purchase tickets to see Justin's new work on houstonballet.org. 'Under the Folding Sky' runs on the 'Divergence' program alongside works by Aszur ..read more

We are going back into our archives from the first few years of the podcast and re-releasing some of our favorite episodes. Today we are restoring our 2016 interview with the legendary Balanchine ballerina, Patricia McBride to our feed, and if you missed it the first time, now is the perfect time to catch up. Patty, as she is affectionately referred to by her many fans, peers and students, tells us some truly memorable stories about a legendary time for dance in America with her signature radiance and charm. This episode was recorded in 2016 when Patricia was in Miami working with Miami City ..read more

This week on Conversations on Dance, we are joined by author, Alice Robb, whose memoir, ‘Don’t Think, Dear’, chronicles her experiences as a young ballet student. We talk about the creative process for the book, her decision to include far reaching studies on pain tolerance, dancer psychology, and other subjects to give context to a dancer’s life and experience, and the book’s place in recent high profile conversations that have arisen about whether, or how, problematic ballet’s past and present really are.  Alice’s book is available on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3nZkYEt THIS EPI ..read more

Today on 'Conversations On Dance', we are joined by choreographer Justin Peck to discuss his new work for Houston Ballet 'Under the Folding Sky'. Justin talks about how seeing the art work of James Turrell in Houston provided a jumping off point, how he's waited for almost a decade to use the ballet's Phillip Glass score and what it's been like to explore an epic scale of dance in this work for 24 artists. If you are in the Houston area, you can purchase tickets to see Justin's new work on houstonballet.org. 'Under the Folding Sky' runs on the 'Divergence' program alongside works by Aszur ..read more

We are going back into our archives from the first few years of the podcast and re-releasing some of our favorite episodes. Today we are restoring our 2016 interview with the legendary Balanchine ballerina, Patricia McBride to our feed, and if you missed it the first time, now is the perfect time to catch up. Patty, as she is affectionately referred to by her many fans, peers and students, tells us some truly memorable stories about a legendary time for dance in America with her signature radiance and charm. This episode was recorded in 2016 when Patricia was in Miami working with Miami City ..read more

Today on Conversations on Dance we are happy to bring you a panel discussion on a very special project: the reimagining of La Bayadère. Joining us are Phil Chan, of Final Bow for Yellowface, Doug Fullington, dance historian and musicologist, and Sarah Wroth, Associate Professor and Chair at Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. The trio talk with us about the idea to reexamine La Bayadère for a 21st century audience, how they are transforming the ballet while preserving it's history, and Indiana University's important role in it's creation. THIS EPISODE'S SPONSORS: Ballet Bird is a ..read more