Developing a Dancer’s Toolbox: The Art of Collaborative Choreography

Guest writer: Jaclyn Youngblood, Academy Intern

If dancers at the Houston Ballet Academy Summer Intensive Program are still hungry for a challenge after training in classes for seven hours, they have the opportunity to try their hands at choreography. This year marks the thirteenth annual collaboration between Houston Ballet’s Academy and the American Festival for the Arts (AFA) Summer Music Conservatory, a musicians’ summer program of a similar caliber to the HBA Summer Intensive Program.

The end goal of the collaboration is to create an entirely student-produced performance: one HBA student choreographs a dance to music composed by one AFA student, with dancers cast from the upper level of the HBA Summer Intensive.
Last week, two Houston Ballet Company members, Joseph Walsh and Kelly Myernick, joined Education Outreach Coordinator Chase Cobb to speak with the potential AFA composers about developing a common language across artistic worlds. Dancers and musicians each have a specific vocabulary they use to express ideas and imbue meaning; finding a shared language is crucial for collaboration.

Exploring new ways of communication isn’t the only challenge AFA and HBA students face. During the collaboration, students must compromise and learn to take their own ideas and adapt them to their partner’s vision. Cobb said one of the most beneficial aspects of the program is giving students a platform to engage the creative process.
One HBA choreographer, Luis (Colombia), said he applied to choreograph because he wanted to take advantage of the collaborative aspect of the program. Cast as a dancer in last year’s HBA-AFA performance, Luis said he was looking for a new challenge this year. “I wanted to test myself on the next level,” he said. “I like the idea of working within time constraints and understanding what is realistic within the creative process.”

To catalyze that creative process, the HBA and AFA leadership teams for the project (Academy Associate Director Shelly Power and Cobb, and Aaron Allen, respectively) facilitated a meeting at the Houston Ballet’s new Center For Dance on June 23 between the student composers and student choreographers. Cobb said that was the only organized meeting of the composers and choreographers. After the meeting, Power, Cobb and Allen paired the students—with input from the students, though ultimately making the decisions they deemed best—who then exchanged contact information for future online collaboration.

Myernick and Walsh, fresh off their own choreographic workshop experience, urged students to take advantage of technology to aid their remote collaboration: video-conferencing over Skype, sending YouTube vidoes to show examples of music and style.

The dancers are cast by lottery, with each choreographer requesting the number of men and women their piece requires. Summer Intensive level 8 students receive their casting assignments today. The first recording of the composer’s piece will be sent to the choreographer on July 6. Initial rehearsals with the music and cast begin on July 7 and provide an opportunity for the choreographer to give feedback to the composer before the second, and final, recording is due on July 13.

The student productions will be performed at Pershing Middle School on July 22 at 7 p.m. For more information about the performance, check the AFA website.

Getting to Know You: Our Summer Bloggers

Guest writer: Jaclyn Youngblood, Academy intern

In addition to a weekly update about the extracurricular offerings of the Summer Intensive Program, we’re bringing you a series of video interviews with some of our dancers. In Weeks 1, 3, and 5, you’ll hear from our dedicated video bloggers, Allie and Lauren. In Weeks 2, 4, and 6, you’ll find montages of dance-related videos, like “What’s In Your Dance Bag?” (Week 2) and “Keeping Your Balance: How Dancers Stay En Pointe” (Week 4).

Allie is a Level 6 student from Arizona. This week, she explains what écarté is and why she loves wearing pointe shoes.

Lauren is a Level 7 student from Iowa. In her interview, she talks about the unique experience of “being the art” and how proud practicing a difficult role makes her feel.

Stay tuned!

-Jaclyn

Just Add Pilates: Developing a Dancer’s Toolbox

Guest writer: Jaclyn Youngblood, Houston Ballet Academy Intern

Dancing isn’t the only intensive aspect of the 2011 Summer Intensive Program. One of the goals of the program, especially under Academy Associate Director Shelly Power, is to offer students a comprehensive variety of classes and tools that will enhance their life experiences, even if they don’t pursue careers as professional dancers.

One way the program seeks to provide that balance is through the Pilates program. Students can sign up for five half-hour appointments throughout the course of the summer with one of four Pilates teachers. I spent a few minutes with one of the teachers, Jo Yost Ulrich, a former Houston Ballet company member, to find out more about the Pilates program and what makes it so successful.

Ulrich said the classes are kept small—no more than 3 students are scheduled at a time—on purpose; each student receives meaningful attention and an opportunity to work one-on-one with the instructor. This summer, 75 students are taking advantage of the Pilates program.

Body Conditioning Room at Houston Ballet Center for Dance

As with all cross-training programs, Ulrich said the Pilates training enables students to strengthen already developed muscles while targeting harder-to-reach muscles, too. It also balances out the muscle-work they do in the studio to prevent over-training and injury.

The students are shown some basic Pilates exercises, a sort of “highlights reel” of tools they can use on their own.  It is helpful for the dancers to see they don’t need to have expensive equipment to take care of their muscles and bodies.

 “The ability to do self-maintenance and have these tools to take home is invaluable,” Ulrich said.

It’s clear the dancers appreciate the opportunity to have small-group appointments. I intercepted three dancers, each of whom participated in the Pilates program last summer, on their way out of their appointments. Charlotte (TX) said having an instructor coach her through the exercises helps her understand how each muscle works. Erica (TX) looks forward to her Pilates appointments because she knows they will be tailored to the needs of her body and muscles. Alana (TX) said she likes that the training in her Pilates appointments translates to the work she does in class.

“This year, we have a packet with explanations and pictures of the exercises so we can work on things on our own, too,” Charlotte added.

Ulrich said the Pilates training in its current form has been part of the Summer Intensive Program for about 10 years. She has been a Pilates instructor for seven summers and has enjoyed seeing the extracurricular offerings grow during that time. She mentioned one newcomer to the alternative class list this summer: Dance Fitness with Sarah Irvine. The class is a way to develop strength, flexibility and cardiovascular health. Ulrich said the goal is to create a stronger base so dancers can focus on what’s most important: for example, focusing on technique in technique class instead of working on baseline breath capacity.

“The more we give them new knowledge, the better they can take care of themselves,” Ulrich said.

Championing health and wellness is the best way to prepare dancers for the future, whether that future is on or off the stage.

-Jaclyn

Ms. Youngblood is interning with the Houston Ballet Ben Stevenson Academy for the summer. She is currently a senior at Rice University, studying history and political science. She will be posting blogs about the 2011 Summer Intensive Program twice a week on a range of topics, like career studies and nutrition classes. You can also look forward to a video interview series with some of the dancers participating in this summer’s intensive. You can stay updated via our “Meet the Dancers” series on Twitter at www.twitter.com/houstonballet.