Thursday, April 24, 2014

Words of Wisdom From an Older Dancer


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by Keesha Beckford, article from The Huffington Post

1. Treat class, and your every opportunity to dance, as a gift, as a special time for you.
2. Leave your emotional baggage outside. Let class be your chance to think only about you. Let it be your therapy. Let it heal.
3. Listen to every correction given. Try to implement it, even if it wasn't given to you.
4. Take a correction to the nth degree. Your teacher can always pull you back.
5. If you don't understand the correction, ask.
6. A dance class is a lab. Experiment continually. Never do it the same way twice.
7. Even if doing so is outside your comfort zone, stand in the front sometimes. Your teacher is only human. She or he may move students around, but if it seems that you don't want to be seen, you just might not be.
8. Don't worry about her feet, her extension, how many turns he does or her natural alignment. Work with what you have. Celebrate your gifts, while working your damn-est to overcome any shortcomings.
9. There is only one you. You can't work to your fullest potential trying to be someone else.
10. Competition and knowing the strengths of other dancers is healthy, as long it is a motivating force, not a defeating one.
11. Know your history, and learn from the past. Don't dismiss the choreographers and techniques of the past as "old school." That movement was visionary for a reason, and it serves as a foundation for what interests us now.
12. While there may be a few exceptions out there, every teacher has something to offer. Never write anyone off because you don't like her build, style, attire, body decoration or manner.
13. The dance world is maybe two degrees of separation. Always be diligent and respectful. Word about bad behavior moves faster than a Balanchine petit allegro.
14. While your teacher should be respectful, she or he is not there to be your friend, but to make you a better dancer.
15. If you can find teachers whose class speaks to you, and where you are both complimented and thoughtfully corrected, you are very lucky indeed.
16. Believe that pushing through and learning something in that weird, boring or super-challenging class will pay off. In the New Dance Order of America these days, the versatile dancer -- the one with a solid understanding of several techniques -- gets the prize.
17. There will always be bad days. Do not be defined by them.
18. Push yourself. Hard. But acknowledge when you have done all you can, at least for the time being. Sometimes the epiphany, the breakthrough, comes later.
19. Immediate gratification is rare. When it happens it is the result of years of training. The fun and the joy are in the struggle.
20. Keep dance in perspective. Know that you can still be a smart, loving, fantastic person with a great life even if one day you can't buy a decent pirouette.
21. It is never too early to gain a firm grasp on somatic concepts. If you wait too long to develop this beautiful mind, your body might be an unwilling partner.
22. Feats of nature, contortion-esque flexibility, oodles of pirouettes and sky-high jumps are dazzling. But remember that dance is communication. Dance is artistry. Keep in mind the power and potential of small and simple movement.
23. Did I say to treat every chance to dance as a gift?

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Wonder Woman!




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So last night we had an actress friend over for drinks.  She’s currently in a long-running musical production, and was quick to point out her part’s performance challenges.

“I’m doing a number and there’s so much smoke on stage, I can’t see the conductor.  Another time, I’m singing behind a scrim, and have to make these huge movements so I can give the orchestra tempo. I’ve got one exit that is downright terrifying.  I never know if I’m going to be catapulted into a backstage brick wall! And before one entrance, I’m bent over like a hunchback, because my wig is like, four feet tall and I’m crammed into a space half my size, and it’s kinda hurting my injured leg. I’m supposed to be able to act during all this, fer Christ-sake?”

Here’s typical example of how musical performers are frequently overwhelmed by the amount of craft needed for performance. Conducting an orchestra while behind a scrim and suffocating in smoke is a craft! Often, skills required on the musical stage become so numerous that acting becomes secondary, and a far second at that. This topic is rarely if ever discussed in modern dramatic texts or classrooms, yet these are the first problems every musical performer faces once out in the marketplace, and for decades after. In performance, my friend has to prioritize differently than actors in film or on the dramatic stage:

1.) Find oxygen, BE ABLE TO BREATHE! Surrounded by smoke, it sometimes feels like you’re in a steam bath, and frequently difficult to breathe, never mind see.

2.) DON’T GET HURT!  In the musical theater, long before performance excellence, safety is every actor’s first concern.  Like in sports, injury is part of our game. Although often accidental, you don’t  add to those odds ignoring instances that can be made safer. DON’T smash into the wall!

3.) DON’T LOSE TEMPO with the orchestra!  When you’re off, you’re off, and the audience can always tell.

4.) In this chaotic circus, ACT AS WELL AS POSSIBLE.  Even try to have some fun, and improvise a bit (Good luck with that!)

This list defines the difference between libretto performance and acting in other mediums.  Other actors rarely have to deal with this stuff, and never must they handle it eight shows a week, four hundred times a year. My friend is well-crafted.  She has decades of experience, and an array of acting tricks and techniques.  Even with all these tools, at times she finds acting on the musical stage difficult, even impossible at times.

Imagine trying to do her performance without firm grasp of libretto-craft.

This is why it is so important to KNOW craft rules and techniques, rather than to only be able to guess at them. Most performers don’t have firm grasp of craft, and crumble under pressures this actress overcomes eight shows a week.  Without craft to rely upon, even under no duress acting well is impossible. Without craft, acting well while surrounded by a cloud of smoke is doubly impossible (if there is such a thing.) Yet no matter how absurd the obstacles, my crafted friend makes acting well not only possible, but probable.

That’s the importance of craft and experience, and only one of those two performance essentials can be taught: Craft!

-Burke

Monday, April 7, 2014

PUBLISHED!

Musical theater, broadway, acting, acting training,
Finally, an acting book for Show People!

Stanislavski Never Wore Tap Shoes (Musical Theater Acting Craft)” teaches the craft of acting in the musical theater. It is the first such text written by a seasoned musical stage artist.

Burke Moses is a thirty-year stage veteran, and has played leading roles on Broadway, London’s West End, and at most of the major summer stock, regional theaters, and touring houses in America. He is best known for originating the role of Gaston in “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.”

Let’s learn our craft, shall we?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JJ729J0