Kat Wildish on The Kiner Hour

My teacher Kat Wildish was interviewed yesterday on The Kiner Hour's "Let's Talk Dance with Ashani Mfuko." She discusses her own performing and teaching career, as well as Black Swan, the Jennifer Ringer epic, and the importance of cross-training. Check it out above or here - yes, it's an hour long, but even just hearing a few minutes is inspiring.

Works & Process Livestream PNB Performance

I *love* that there are more and more opportunities nowadays to view dance events without actually being there. Between ballet companies abroad showing in local movie theaters and livestreaming online video, it's very exciting.

Works & Process at the Guggenheim will be livestreaming Pacific Northwest Ballet's program, "Giselle Revisited" this Sunday, January 9 at 7:30pm. How wonderful! I missed PNB when they were in town last year and really wanted to go to this...but I'm glad we'll get a peak! And "Giselle" is one of my favorite ballets ever, so this should be a good one.

Carrie Imler, the gorgeous Carla Körbes, James Moore, and Seth Orza will be dancing, with panelists including Peter Boal, Doug Fullington, and Marian Smith.

You can tune into the livestream Sunday here.

Clips from ABT's New Nutcracker

I was waiting to write about ABT's Nutcracker because I had hoped to see it once again (I went opening night), but that didn't happen. Hopefully this week I'll find time to say a few things (I really liked it!) but for now, here's a video I came across on Facebook that shows some clips from the show...I like that they show so much of Marzipan. Ratmansky's Marzi is something I'd *love* to dance...

Exit 12 Dance on Reuters

I've been dancing/working with Exit 12 Dance Company since February and I'm so excited to see today's Reuters interview with our director, Roman Baca! Check it out above as he discusses the piece "Homecoming," which we performed in August and also in May in Connecticut.

I'm on the left at 2:12 dancing as the mother!

Nutcracker in 3D

Has anyone heard of this? Looks interesting...no dancing though. How can you have Nutcracker without ballet?!

DancePulp: Breaking Into Broadway

If you haven't seen the DancePulp series of interviews from fierce freelance dancer Drew Jacoby, check it out! I really enjoyed the ones featuring ABT's David Hallberg and Daniil Simkin.

This one above features a dancer from The Lion King on Broadway. Jealous!

'Going the Distance' but Not Enough

I can't say I'm turning into a movie critic - mostly because my taste in film is very specific and, um, narrow. Haha if you're not a classy musical or an unrealistic romantic comedy, I won't have it :)

But since I have time to see more movies while recovering I may as well share my opinions.

Yesterday I hobbled out to see "Going the Distance" with Drew Barrymore and Justin Long. This was one I was really looking forward to after seeing the poster and previews. Somehow any semi-sweet film taking place in New York City automatically looks promising (in my book, anyway). But...it didn't quite go as far as I wanted it to.

Read the Times review and synopsis here. They liked it better than I did.

I'd give it 3 of 5 stars.

Need a laugh?

This worked for me...

"Scientists identify moves that make men irresistible on the dancefloor."

First White House Dance Event

Really sorry I missed the live stream of this (couldn't they have let me watch in the hospital yesterday? Haha). Dancers from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York City Ballet, Paul Taylor Dance Company, and The Washington Ballet performed at The White House hosted by Michelle Obama.

This must've been so exciting for all who danced. Last winter just around Christmas week the Obamas had a small group of Rockettes perform for them privately and it was SO thrilling for our entire show! It was a first for them. I was a little disappointed they didn't want a ballerina bear to grace their presence, too. Haha!

It's nice that they honored Judith Jamison. Because I'm always taking class at Ailey I see her in passing on occasion and she is so statuesque. Actually the day I went to the Ailey PR office to see my Times article for the first time in print I ran into her, literally. I look like a student in the school and I was on the office floor where they're not allowed so she was like, "What are you doing up here?" but friendly. I explained who I was there to see and she let me in. Haha that's my big Judith Jamison story. It was the icing on the cake at the time.

Watch the archived video above :)

Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy, take from here

Performance Videos + Rehearsals Start Tonight

Just got the first clips of last weekend's Performing in New York Showcase. This was "Tarantella" based on Bournonville's ballet "Napoli" staged by my teacher Kat Wildish. These are mostly adult students who may otherwise not have the chance to really perform. I had just a small part towards the end because it was my last show on the evil achilles.

Renowned ballet teacher Kat Wildish created the Performing in New York Showcases to give her eclectic adult students at The Ailey Extension a rare opportunity: the chance to perform real classical repertoire in a professional theater in midtown Manhattan. The shows, held 3 weekends per year at The Ailey Citigroup Theater, have grown from serving just a 20-person studio audience in 2008 to being sold-out successes. Small professional troupes and open class students in other dance styles join the passionate, international cast. Kat believes every dancer deserves to achieve their dreams of performance, no matter their age or level. Her open-level repertory workshop of weekly rehearsals provides top-notch insight and coaching to professional and beginner dancers alike.

I'm assistant director of these shows basically - so I do A LOT. Besides most of the administrative stuff, I also helped stage "Giselle's Friends Dance" with Kat. My job was basically to big time clean up little details, since we only had 3 weeks of rehearsals. Video below...I'm really pleased with it and proud of everyone :)

I also performed with Exit 12 Dance Company in this show, but that video will come soon...

If anyone - ANYONE - in the city is interested in participating and performing in our November show, they start rehearsals tonight at 9pm at Ailey! Obviously I won't be there for a few weeks to help, but it's so worth doing if you've ever dreamed of performing classical ballet and thought you'd never have the chance. More info and signup here. 4 performances on Thanksgiving Weekend at The Ailey Citigroup Theater. Mark your calendars!

new dance videos

Dance Magazine and the other big dance publications recently launched a new website where user can upload their own dance videos. It seems like a youtube just for dance, which makes sense given the amount of dance videos already up online.

Check it out.

experiment with video

So as I am in the process of trying to create an audition video to send out to a few companies, I'm starting to learn more about video and the web and such. I TRIED to upload part of our little February student showcase to youtube, but the quality is just awful. I have a link to a better version uploaded by my friend who actually filmed it and knows about this stuff...but here's my sad attempt at this video business.

The dance is the Goblet Dance from Swan Lake...

back to the movmnt

Tonight I went to a meeting at movmnt magazine to prepare for the next issue. I'm super excited to say I have 3 article assignments this time! Should be fun even though it's lots of work with a pretty quick deadline (few weeks anyway). If you haven't already purchased your copy of the most recent issue (see cover above) YOU SHOULD GO GET IT. Haha.

That was just one highlight of my busy day...I literally was nonstop going all around the city today and finally got home at 10pm - my first breather all day. Rehearsal this morning went well. There was a guest watching from Paris Opera Ballet, who might teach a master class before rehearsal someday next week. That should be interesting.

Right from there I went to the New Yorker again. Pretty much a typical afternoon there...

Then had to stop by school to take care of some little errands (applying for 2 senior awards I was nominated for...hah) before heading downtown to movmnt.

After the meeting I met a friend nearby...the one who shot video footage of me in class last week so that I can put together an audition video. He helped me download all of the video to my ipod so I can look it over and see what else I need (and if I like it or not...). Thankfully, after a week off to free my mind from seeing it, it looked better than I was expecting. I absolutely despise watching myself dance, haha. Or do anything on film, for that matter. But it wasn't QUITE as bad as I had pictured in my mind. We watched a bit of it together, but I have to sit down and go through the whole hour long clip and see. Ugh. I'm glad I'm finally getting this done though.

Anyway, I'm exhausted from a nonstop day. Even though it's only been a 4 day week for me thanks to my travel back from Salt Lake City, I feel like this week was busier than all of last month combined. Crazy. But good!