FUNDING FRIDAYS: BALLET NEO / SIDRA BELL DANCE NY

FRIDAY IS PAY DAY!! 

WHAT BETTER WAY TO BE GRATEFUL THAN TO PAY IT 

FORWARD TO THOSE WHO ARE KEEPING DANCE ALIVE!

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SIDRA BELL DANCE NEW YORK 
ONLY 12 DAYS LEFT! SUPPORT SIDRA BELL DANCE NY HERE

Through Kickstarter we raised $10,000 in the 2012 fiscal year. 

Help us do it again and perhaps surpass our goal!

SBDNY is a boutique nonprofit dance company based in NYC. We have just completed a banner year of educational programming and performances in Germany, Miami, Brazil, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Vancouver, Denmark, Istanbul, and Atlanta. We need you now more than ever to produce our 2013 home season from May 23-June 2 at Baruch Performing Arts Center which will feature the return of audience favorites and new works over the course of two weeks. Our KICKSTARTER campaign will help to cover the cost of the artistic and technical personnel needed to produce a successful season. Join us on this incredible journey!

In 2012 The Dance Enthusiast wrote: 

"Sidra Bell Dance New York , a "boutique company"(their clever description), 

has already pulled off what most small, independent dance companies in this city dream about - 

a full two-week season in one theater. Hallelujah and hats off to Bell and 

to the Baruch Performing Arts Center who will be housing her." 

Sidra Bell Dance New York
2 weeks / 2013 New York Season

Program A: Director's Choice
May 23-26: Thurs-Sat @ 8pm, Sun @ 7pm
STELLA (2012)/POOL (2011)
Duration: 75 minutes (with intermission)

Program B: New Works
May 30-June 2: Thurs-Sat @ 8pm, Sun @ 7pm
Nudity (2012)/.heterogamy (2013)
Duration: 75 minutes (with intermission)
Tickets: HERE or (646) 312-5073

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BALLET NEO

46 DAYS TO GO! SUPPORT BALLET NEO HERE

BALLET NEO is the company of director and choreographer, Kate Thomas.  Kate is also currently the Director of The School at Steps and teaches Advanced Ballet Repertory.

As an artistic director and choreographer, Thomas is known for creating ballets that range from deeply emotional personal stories to intricate interpretations of a wide variety of music. From "So What" set to Miles Davis's 1955 classic to "Requiem" set to Handel's Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (a "visceral portrayal of grief"), Thomas' work touches its audiences by applying intelligence, wit and a challenging ballet vocabulary.

Originally a modern choreographer, her work was presented at Dance Theater Workshop, the Westbeth Theater Center, the 92 Street Y, Ballet Arts at City Center, and Lincoln Center Out of Doors. Thomas' choreography took a new direction when she began creating works on pointe. "Dreaming Albemarle" a ballet in six sections was presented by To the Pointe as part of its 10th anniversary season. Thomas choreographed a segment of "Cinderella Dance, Cinderella Sing" for Lincoln Center's "Real to Reel". In 2008 Thomas was awarded inclusion in the "Ballet Builders" The New Choreographers on Pointe choreographer competition. Her ballet "Caution and Measurement" was performed at the Danny Kaye Playhouse April 12 and 13, 2008. "Caution and Measurement" depicts the darker side of intimacy and the loneliness one can experience in spite of it.

Thomas founded B.Muse Inc, a not for profit organization that supports her chamber ballet company Ballet Neo. B.  Muse Inc. has provided dance programs, lecture demonstrations and performances to schools in Harlem, the South Bronx, and throughout Upper Manhattan. B.Muse Inc. received support from the New York State Council for the Arts, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, Newman's Own Foundation, California First Foundation Citibank and others. Ballet Neo performs regularly as company in residence at the Riverdale Y in the Bronx, New York. The company will participate in annual benefit performances as well as offer full evening performances.

 

Ballet Neo is building an exciting evening of repertory of ballets, and is pleased to announce an award from the Harkness Foundation for Dance.  Never the less, they need you're support to make it all happen!

Six sections of their ballet, Appalachian Suites have been produced individually at venues throughout NYC including The 92 Street Y, Harkness Dance Center & Alvin Ailey Ciiticorp Theater. Your contribution will finally bring these sections together for the first time, as one whole dance family for an entire evening of repertoire.  This is an exciting opportunity for us to work together & we deeply appreciate your important role as one of our supporters! 

KEEP DANCE ALIVE! 

SUPPORT THESE AMAZING GROUPS NOW!

FUNDING FRIDAYS! Fund A Dancer!

Welcome to the inaugural post of my new FUNDING FRIDAYS Column.  As many of you are aware arts funding is being annihilated by the current government and as such we need to take matters into our own hands! The way I see it is if every pay day (that is, Friday!) we donate a few extra bucks to a few artists trying to keep the arts alive, then well, maybe just maybe, it will all come back to us ten fold!

With crowd funding being a major method to fundraising, I feel it only appropriate to add in a weekly column  that would enable dancers of all genre's to post on Madame B NYC and get the word out!  So!  If you want to post on FUNDING FRIDAYS, please EMAIL ME YOUR DETAILS BY THE MONDAY OF THE POSTING WEEK and your Funding Project will be posted on the following Friday!

Now to inaugurate this new exciting column, I will post this week's Funding Friday's today -- a full week in advance!  YAY!

BENJAMIN BRIONES BALLET
Click HERE to Fund!

Established in New York City in October 2012 by Choreographer Benjamin Briones (please see BIO ahead), Benjamin Briones Ballet provides a supportive forum for choreographers  and performers of all cultural and stylistic backgrounds to explore the endlessly diverse concepts and feelings that symbolic movement can convey. Founder/Director Benjamin Briones envisions his company as "an engine of creativity" that uses dance and the arts to engage minds,  ignite hearts, and shape social consciousness.

 

We are excited to be working on some new projects on our first season for what we need your help donating to this campaign. Your support will be so much appreciated.

 

1) We are thrilled to have received an invitation to perform in Mexico!

This summer, June 17-23, 2013, we look forward to presenting our company repertory internationally as we make our way on tour to Mexico.

Your contributions for this endeavor will help us with:

*Plane Tickets

*Transportation in Mexico

*Accommodations

*Dancers Payment and Per-diem

*Rehearsal space

TERRA FIRMA DANCE THEATRE

Click HERE to Fund!

Terra Firma Dance Theatre (TFDT), under the guidance of Artistic Director, Stuart Loungway, serves as a cultural think-tank for the dance landscape of New York. We promote an environment that cultivates dialogue and the exchange of creative ideas as exemplified through our dance performance, educational outreach and experimental theater initiatives. Our primary focal points are underserved populations and non-traditional theatergoers, in order to introduce them to the power of the arts as a life changing force. As a rapidly rising contemporary ballet company, the core of our work focuses on movement as the primary language of basic human interaction and communion.

In promoting a risk-free environment of diversity, TFDT emphasizes the value of dance as a medium to enrich, empower and engage all members of the community via its high-quality, accessible and affordable programming.

As vanguard caretakers of the art form of ballet, we actively seek to promote new audiences and heighten their awareness and willingness to move away from “traditional and typical dance models”. With a responsible eye to the future of ballet, we work to provide a progressive and contemporary experience, with the understanding that ballet will not look as it once has.

The interwoven philosophical, societal and political issues of the 18th and 19th centuries, that once informed and governed the creation and understanding of new dance work and art in general, no longer exist. It is with this notion in mind that we embark upon our mission to present a new and viable model that preserves ballet as a current and relevant art form, which carries the potential to provide a deep and long lasting impact upon its audience members.

Monday's Advice for World Happiness: IMPROVE YOUR ATTITUDE AND ALL THAT JAZZ!

Dancers of today need to be more versatile than ever and yet, in the ballet world, we tend to hyper-focus on Ballet! Ballet! Ballet!  But I ask: where would American Ballet be without Jazz?  Balanchine was obsessed and many of the ballet greats were avid Jazz dancers as well!  

So don't miss out on a perfect chance to dip your toes into some fresh water with this incredible opportunity with dancer and teacher, Bill Waldinger!  Bill  has over 20 years of experience in Luigi Jazz Technique and his passion is contagious! Offering a 2 week, 6 class workshop in Luigi Technique and Philosophy, Bill is gonna light up your attitude with this incredible class series geared to introduce to you to this great American form! And be honest? Couldn't your ballet technique use a little more HEAT?

B. says YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

SEE YOU TOMORROW 10am, at DANY! ($95/all 6 classes; $17/class drop in)
ALSO: APRIL 3,5,8,10,12!!!

B. INSPIRED The Sacred Feminine & The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo

It should serve as common knowledge that any woman who goes by ‘Madame B.’ loves all things feminine mystique, and thus, should come as no further surprise that my all-time favorite ballets come from the land of Massine with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo!

In a world overwrought with chisled abstractions of the feminine form dancing about rather vigorously, one can’t help but swoon amidst the lush landscape of the ballet under those dancers whose rounded arms and softened legs create movement described by Danilova as, “with perfume”. 

While this documentary states that it was Balanchine who declared that “ballet is woman” and Massine who was creating masterful roles for the men, a closer look tells an altogether different story……one that seems not only utilitarian of the feminine, but one that acknowledges the role of The Sacred Feminine to the inspiration of Man...and the role of Beauty, to the inspiration of Art.

Do tell, kind readers:  Have you ever seen a vision so absolutely lovely as this?

I imagine not.  

B.

WORKING DANCERS

As a self-supporting dancer in NYC the notion of being a "working dancer" takes on an entirely unintended meaning...usually one that announces that while you may indeed be working, you may of course NOT BE DANCING.  

I can't tell you my own struggle to try to dance even part-time!  In fact, I concluded by looking at my bank statements and calculating the number of classes I purchase, that I work so hard to try to find the time and money to dance, that I STILL, after many years in NYC, have not taken the number of hours of classes that equate to even two entire years of conservatory training.  And yet, I am competing with those conservatory kids all the same.  Yay.

Depressingly, asi speak to others, I am finding that is a conundrum all too many of us face -- both dancers and choreographers tend to arrive at the same question:

HOW DOES A SELF-SUPPORTING DANCER AFFORD TO DANCE? 

HOW DOES A CHOREOGRAPHER AFFORD TO
MAKE DANCES AND PAY DANCERS?

So if you are an actual self-supporting dancer, and by this I mean that you are past the age of receiving family support (or you never had it to begin with);  you have no trust fund; you have no prestigious conservatory affiliation that helps you "get an in"; if you are self-supporting in this regard -- as many of us are -- then this means that you need to get a "money job" to support yourself and to support your dancing. 

Now that seems easy enough in a big city -- especially in the beginning when you are driven on pure excitement -- but that excitement wanes once you realize that employers don't like the idea of artist-employees, and even if you are the most productive member of the staff (which lets face it, mostly artists usually are!), they offer little to no true flexibility.  Actually mostly it is the "semi-self supporting" who get those jobs.. those who can afford to take an enormously low-wage because they can essentially depend on support even as they seem slef-supporting.

Then you realize that all auditions are in the morning/afternoon (???!!!!!) and all classes/networking workshops are at times such as 2:30p-4:30p (an IMPOSSIBLE TIME for any self-supporting dancer!).

This all makes you realize that you are relegated to late evening work in order to just have the opportunity to get a paying job.

Then you realize all the evening jobs are too unstable to pay well, and often require working overtime into the wee morning hours, or they are for restaurants who are largely looking for "professionals" -- meaning career waiters. If you are not a career waiter you need to work the shifts the career waiters don't want: THAT MEANS OU ARE BACK TO SQUARE ONE: THE DAY SHIFTS! YAY!

This all on top of the fact that the expenses are enormous: Rent in NYC is easily at the very, very least $600 per month (for a room share! your own studio apartment will run you $1,400 and up), and dance classes, which are mandatory each day in order to keep one's skills at a competitive audition-ready level, are $18 a class (adding up to $200 per week) and then you have cross-training costs (the gym, Pilates, massage, physical therapy), shoe costs (for ballet girls, $80-$320/WEEK!) and food, the cost of dancing alone comes to a number close to a yearly wage. 
So you then set yourself to the task of juggling 3 or 4 jobs to try to finagle a workable situation for an opportunity to dance for what amounts to only a handful of companies that actually pay a living-wage large enough for you to quit all your other jobs.

HOLD ON, YOU SAY!!! A HANDFUL OF COMPANIES THAT PAY A LIVING WAGE? IN NYC!!!? 

YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!

Well dearies, YES! I am dead serious.

Even more! You often have to answer to your probing family and friends who are asking, so "where are you dancing"..."when are you going to get a real job?" "you chose this career!".. and on and on. (Why don't they ever say that to Doctors, Lawyers or Bankers who are out of work? Huh?)

The reality is that there are only perhaps 15 companies in NYC where a dancer can work and earn a living. There is Broadway, Paul Taylor, David Parsons, Mark Morris, NYCB, ABT, Bill T. Jones, NY Theater Ballet, Alvin Ailey, Galim (???)....and I am racking my brain to find more. 

Mostly, Choreographers -- even renowned ones! pay terribly little and use "pick up dancers" for each project. Even my own former employer, The Metropolitan Opera AT LINCOLN CENTER, hires dancers per each show. They offer no benefits, no health insurance -- nothing but that amazing opportunity to dance on one of the World's great stages.  This does satisfy the doubters for some time -- but how does one explain, simply, it's not so easy.  

So most dancers receive not only very little in terms of money -- but there is not even the guarantee that you will get more work after the show you are hired for is over. You may indeed, 90 percent of the time, have to go right back to square one -- you may have to take a ton of time off to secure a position somewhere that you hope one day will  reward you with honest to god flexibility! 

Add to this that for each job --  dance or "real world" -- there are literally 1000's of applicants! My first dance job there were over 400 girls auditioning and only 5 of us were chosen -- 2 of whom were our understudies!

The numbers are dire, folks! But before we go into full on Mad Dancer mode, let's look at it from the Choreographer's perspective:

If a Choreographer works with a mere 5 dancers and were to pay those dancers only $10/hour and rehearse a minimal of 2, 3-hour rehearsals a week that cost alone would be: $60/dancer per week, for a total of $300/week salary for the dancers. This of course does not take into account how difficult it would be for a Choreographer to get strong dancers who are willing to arrange their schedules (see above for the difficulty with that!) for only $60/week (this could only cover the cost of the subway for 2 weeks). Add into that the fee for studio space: $25/hour x 6 hours / week = $150/week. Already, we have a total of $450/week  just to get 5 dancers and space for 6 hours a week. Now we have to consider the need for space for the choreographer to work alone -- in order to come up with ideas and movement etc. So lets say another 4 hours a week at the very minimum: that's $100 more. 

Now we are up to a Choreographer needing at the very base minimum $550/week additional monies above his/her normal living expenses. That means at MINIMUM $2200 / month in additional monies.

That totals $26,400 of additional income per year! 

This includes NO extra rehearsals;
NO performance space rentals;
NO costume costs, etc. 

Maybe this means if you want to be a dancer or a choreographer you should either come from a wealthy, fully-arts loving, fully supportive background, OR be an investment banker? 
Unh-huh. That's the reality folks.
Clearly, we are in a place where it is nearly impossible for anyone who is not very-well-heeled and very lucky to even begin!

Yet still, the dance community complains about a lack of new choreographers, a lack of vision, a lack of new and exciting work to see, a lack of jobs, but nothing is said of the fact that dancers can't get ahead and new choreographers are having to compete with large companies with MASSIVE GRANTS and Patrons!

Each week we all spend the greens on Starbucks, on movies and magazines and such, yet when we have the opportunity to go and show support for those who, above all these obstacles are TRYING to create new dances and give work to dancers just like us, we all bail. Myself included. 

And this is exactly why I am trying to bolster us out of complacency and give some honest to god working dancers and choreographers a chance. 

ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 25th (LATER TODAY!) you (yes you!) will have the opportunity to go see working choreographer Chris Master's exciting NY premiere of "ghost of my legs" as a part of FLICfest'13 in Brooklyn. 

"ghost of my legs" is a work that explores a re-construction of an installation created while in residence at an art gallery in Iowa City in 2010.  It is an examination of remnant energies left from relationships past. As a means to anchor the narrative, "ghost" draws metaphoric parallels between these common human experiences and the phenomenology of phantom limb syndrome, a disorder experienced in amputees where the amputated limb continues to feel pain. Amputation and its connection to the existentialism of war, both public and private, are used here to give a precipice to the dance. People come and go, and we are investigating how these relationships, whether familial or intimate or professional, leave a lasting impression on the historical body and the sensorium.  Building something great, and taking it away, is at the crux of the work. With the recent disaster from Hurricane Sandy, battling in Israel, and the tragedy in Newtown, this piece is proving to be incredibly timely, and artistically all of the collaborators in this project aim to build a conduit to empathetic dialogues or exchanges between witness and performer.

So besides seeing new work on a riveting topic, you can actually support CHRIS MASTERS, WHO IS AN HONEST TO GOD WORKING CHOREOGRAPHER: That is: one who carries a full-time "desk job" so he can afford to create new dances on fantastic dancers. It is exactly his spirit of 'do what it takes' that offers freelance dancers opportunities to grow and to work = and offers audiences a wider venue to see work. Can't we all show some support? For $25 (4.5 Starbuck's Beverages) you can actually show crucial support for the Arts!
Chris is doing his part -- and so can't we all do out part too? 

Further it is not only Chris you are supporting -- but also  FLICfest, a dance festival developed in Brooklyn, that is dedicated to supporting  complete, evening-length work from established Modern choreographers. Over six nights, an array of choreographers will be presented in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn.   FLICfest (feature-length independent choreography) is the first Brooklyn-based dance festival dedicated solely to feature-length dances. Each night of the festival will feature complete works by two choreographers, as well as informal cabaret performances encompassing a wide range of styles. The festival's producers believe that a feature-length dance (50 – 65 minutes) is important for both the artist and audience who is committed to works that present an aesthetic, narrative or a situation that requires time to develop. FLICfest provides these visionary artists a platform to explore the depth of their vision and audiences more time to linger.

As more choreographers create work that integrates movement, visual and musical elements into a new form of dance theatre, the support system for such work is deteriorating. Now more than ever, self-producing artists cannot take on the costs of presenting wholly completed work of 50-60 minutes and instead focus on creating short works that fit into showcases. By providing a venue and support to choreographers who are willing to take the risk and follow the vision necessary to create feature-length work, FLICfest is positioned to take a leading role in the revitalization and sustainability of modern dance. 

All this goes to say that by reaching out and supporting these intimate, lesser-publicized events of those who don't have deep pockets, we are, as dancers and a community, taking back our right to work and utilizing our own power to expand our audience and our working opportunities.

ANYWAY! DON"T DELAY! GET TICKETS AT http://www.flicfest.org/tickets/

Show is at 7:30 PM. Doors open at 7 PM

TOI! TOI! TOI! 

B.  

IS IT ME ....?

OR IS IT ME!?

I am not one to brag but I just wanted to point out that TWO (not 1 but 2!) of my former interviewees have been promoted to PRINCIPAL DANCER this year!

Both Daniil Simkin of American Ballet Theatre and Remi Wortmeyer of The Dutch National Ballet have been promoted to the highest respective ranking   -- right up there next to Lagerfeld, Nijinsky and G-d.

As I understand it, I've got not one thing to do with the actual promotions -- but I do have the taste and foresight to see it all in advance.  In fact, as far as I was concerned they were already principal dancers in my mind..... so, never underestimate a woman with a vision!

Anyhoo, I wonder Who's Next? (SEE HINT HERE)

I just want to say that one glance at Simone's Port De Bras literally had me all out staring while she was taking some random class over at Steps the other day.

JesusChristSuperStar! SHE! IS! DUMBFOUNDINGLYGORGEOUS!

Anyhoo - Congratulations to the boys!  You've both had it coming for far too long!

B.

RUSSELL MALIPHANT IS IN NYC!

Russell Maliphant is playing at THE JOYCE THEATRE Dec 5-9th. 

I don't know what you have planned but whatever it is,  I assure you, it can wait!

You mustmustmustmustmustmust MUST! DROP IT ALL AND GO!  

Trust Me. You'll Thank Me.

That's all.

B.

GO HERE FOR TICKETS!