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August 19, 2011
Free day of dance at Butler
![comedance_hula3[1].jpg](http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/shared-blogs/austin/fitcity/upload/2011/08/free_day_of_dance_at_butler/comedance_hula3%5B1%5D.jpg)
I felt like a buffalo in a cloud of gracefully swaying hula dancers a few years back, when I dropped in on a hula class at the Butler Dance Education Center for a story I was writing.
Despite my lack of dancing skills, I had a blast lurching around the classroom at the downtown Austin school.
That’s why a notice about Ballet Austin’s upcoming Come Dance! 2011 caught my eye.
Adults and kids age 8 and up can stop in to try out an array of free dance classes from 2-6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 28. The event celebrate’s the fourth anniversary of the opening of Ballet Austin’s downtown Butler Dance Education Center, 501 W. Third St.
The lineup of free classes includes ballet, ballet fit, Broadway fit, contemporary, contemporary choreography, hip hop, hula, three types of jazz, modern, Move Your Axis, Samba/Brazilian, tap, theatre dance, Turbo Kick and West African. Kids classes include kid’s beginning ballet, kid’s Broadway jazz and kid’s hip hop.
Everything is free and no registration is required. For more information go here.
That Turbo Kick one sounds cool, by the way. It’s a combination of kickboxing and dance moves choreographed to high energy music. (Can you say cardio workout?) No experience required, they tell me. It’s a new offering.
To introduce it, the school has scheduled a free Turbo Kick-Off class for 5:45-6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 23. RSVP for that class here.
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December 14, 2010
Nutcracker review criticizes dancers' weight
Should ballet dancers be judged for their body size and shape?
New York Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay thinks it’s part of the job.
In his Nov. 28 review of the New York City Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker,” he wrote that Jennifer Ringer, who played the Sugar Plum Fairy, “looked as if she’d eaten one sugarplum too many.” He also wrote that Jared Angle, the Cavalier, “seems to have been sampling half the Sweet realm.”
Read the entire review here.
Harsh words, and they illicited a harsh response from some readers who bombarded him with email and phone calls.
It turns out that Ringer, who looks pretty slim in photos I’ve seen, has a history of eating disorders.
But Macauley later stood up for his critique in an interesting column.
He points out that no one was upset with what he considered a much more severe criticism, his opinion that they danced “without adult depth or complexity.”
He also notes that far fewer people were upset with his description of Angle than Ringer. And how was he to know she had battled eating disorders?
Read the entire response here.
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December 25, 2009
Nutcracker experience rocked!
I had a blast playing Mother Ginger in the Austin Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker this year.
The view from atop a 12-foot skirt — part of the Mother Ginger costume — was stupendous.
And did I mention the royal treatment I got? I hung out in a dressing room complete with a star-shaped sign that said Mother Ginger before the show and during intermission. My sister suggested I demand bottles of Perrier and a dozen white kittens, but I was thrilled with the refreshments provided…
The dressing room is where the magic — in the form of thick blue eyeshadow and penciled-in eyebrows that looked like cigars — happened. After the makeup went on during intermission, I climbed up a stepladder and into the costume. Someone snapped a red silky outfit with large bosoms on, and buckled a gigantic Carmen Miranda-style hat brimming with candy canes and sugar plums onto my head.
Yikes!
When they wheeled the contraption out on stage, I went wild, flapping my arms and hamming it up as a dozen kids dressed in red and white suits scurried out from under my “skirt” to dance.
Let me tell you, three and a half minutes seems like an eternity under the bright lights.
My sisters came in from out of town to watch, and my dad and his wife joined the party, too. My friends even organized a pre-show cocktail party.
It’s not every day I appear on stage at The Long Center. Thank God.
Every year, the ballet selects members of the community to play the guest role. No dancing or theater experience required. I was honored to be selected.
Here are some (scary) photos from the night’s festivities.
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August 22, 2008
Free day of dance
Itching to put on your dancing shoes? Ballet Austin will celebrate the one-year birthday of its Butler Dance Education Center and Community School with a free day of dance classes and other activities from 2-6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7.
Besides four hours of open classes, the center will host demonstrations in the Pilates studio, contests and sneak peaks of the upcoming production of “Not Afraid of the Dark: The Show That Glows!” with an appearance and music by Joe Scruggs .
The Butler Community School, which opened in 2007, was conceived as a hub for movement, where everyone is encouraged to express and explore. Classes include Pilates, yoga, dance fitness and open dance ranging from ballroom to jazz and hula to hip hop.
The downtown facility, located at 501 W. Third St., houses Ballet Austin’s Community School, Academy, AustinVentures StudioTheater, and professional company along with the artistic and administrative staff. For more information about “Come Dance! 2008”, go to http://www.balletaustin.org or call 476-9151.
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES AND EVENTS:
2-3 p.m. Theatre Dance, Hula, Ballet Fit, Creative Movement (ages 3-5), Youth Division Ballet 3-4 p.m. Hula, Teen/Adult Ballet, Pre-Ballet (ages 5-7), Intermediate Division Ballet, Pilates Mat 4-5 p.m. Jazz, Broadway Fit, Feldenkrais, Creative Movement (ages 3-5), Pre-Professional Division Ballet 5-6 p.m. Hip Hop, Modern, Pre-Ballet (ages 5-7), Tap, Hatha Yoga
BALLET AUSTIN’S 2008/09 SEASON
Sept 20-21, 2008: “Not Afraid of the Dark: The Show That Glows!â„¢ at The Paramount Theatre Oct 24-26, 2008: Inaugural season opener at The Long Center Dec 6-23, 2008: The Nutcracker at The Long Center Feb 13-15, 2009: Hamlet at The Long Center Mar 26-Apr 5, 2009: AustinVentures StudioTheater Project May 8-10, 2009: Cinderella at The Long Center
