Conversations on Dance

Latest Episodes:

(53) We’re Back and Heading to the Vail Dance Festival Aug 01, 2017

Show notes

Our Conversations on Dance summer break is over, and we are back with lots of exciting news and new episodes coming soon. On August 4th, we are headed to the Vail Dance Festival in Colorado, for live events, master classes, and to record podcast episodes. We will be bringing our listeners behind the scenes with tons of bonus content that you will not want to miss. Then, on August 12th and 13th we will be in Orlando teaching master classes at DanceWear Corner, our sponsor’s superstore. Hear what else is new with COD, as we get back into the swing of things for August.

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(52) Georgina Pazcoguin, Soloist with New York City Ballet & Broadway Dancer Jun 26, 2017

Show notes

As part of our New York Tour, we went to the apartment of Georgina Pazcoguin, Soloist with the New York City Ballet. Georgina grew up in a large family in Pennsylvania. In 2001 she attended the School of American Ballet for the year, became an Apprentice in 2002, and a corps member the following year. In 2013 she was promoted to soloist. Georgina has spent time performing on Broadway while continuing her ballet career: appearing in the 2016 “Cats” revival, “On the Town,” “A Chorus Line,” among others. This extra-curricular element to her career isn’t the only thing that sets her apart. She has said that though she loves being called a ballerina, she sees herself as the complete antithesis of the stereotypical ballerina. So she says, “think of me as the rogue ballerina.” As we sat with Gina in her apartment, we created a video of our interview. She sits across from us doing exercises for her knee that she recently dislocated, with her crutches in the background. To watch our interview, visit Conversations on Dance’s YouTube Channel. Today we talk with the Rogue Ballerina about what it was like to dance in New York in the aftermath of 911, what challenges she came up against in her first years in the company, how she created a niche for herself, and how she works to break out of it.

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(51) Part III: Edward Villella, Founding Artistic Director of Miami City Ballet Jun 19, 2017

Show notes

Welcome to our third and final installment with Edward Villella, founding Artistic Director of Miami City Ballet and former Principal Dancer with the New York City Ballet. Today Edward talks at length about the founding of Miami City Ballet, what he learned from Balanchine about being an Artistic Director, and how he kept his dancers in mind every step of the way. Join us at the very end of this episode for his lightening round, where he reveals what ballet he would want to dance if he could come back to the stage tomorrow.

If you missed any of our previous episodes withe Edward, please tune into episode 47 and 50 for parts 1 and 2.

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(50) Part II: Edward Villella, Balanchine Dancer and Miami City Ballet Founding Artistic Director Jun 12, 2017

Show notes

Welcome to our second installment with Edward Villella, Balanchine Dancer and founding Artistic Director of Miami City Ballet. Edward was hired into the New York City Ballet by George Balanchine in 1957 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 1970. Balanchine created many famous roles on Edward including Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Rubies section of Jewels, Tarentella, and many others, which we discuss today. Edward became quite famous, not only for his dancing, but his innumerable TV appearances during his career including “The Ed Sullivan Show” and an appearance on “The Odd Couple.” After his dancing career, Villella founded the Miami City Ballet in 1985 and would remain at the helm for 27 years, developing it into a world renowned company (which we will discuss with him in Episode Three.) Today Edward talks about working with George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins and he tells us how he saw it as an important role to share ballet with the American Public, and how he still does.

To catch up on our first installment with Edward, tune into episode 47.

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(49) Jennifer Homans, Founder and Director of The Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU Jun 05, 2017

Show notes

This week we are pleased to welcome Jennifer Homans, Founder & Director of The Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University. Jennifer is well known in the dance world for being the author of Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet, named one of the ten best books of the year by The New York Times and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Before publishing Apollo’s Angels in 2010, she studied at the School of American Ballet and danced professionally, most notably with Pacific Northwest Ballet. As her career came to a close she decided to complete a higher education, graduating from Columbia University with a BA, and holds a Ph.D. in Modern European History from New York University. For this interview, we met her in the beautiful Center for Ballet and the Arts offices at NYU as part of our New York Tour. We talk with Jennifer today about her personal journey in the dance world, how ballet became her scholarly pursuit, Apollo’s Angels, and if she in fact still believes that ballet MAY be a dying art form. To learn more about the Center for Ballet and the Arts, please visit balletcenter.nyu.edu or find them on social media. Fellowship applications open August 1, and public programming resumes in the Fall.

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(48) Ezra Hurwitz, Filmmaker May 30, 2017

Show notes

This week we are joined by filmmaker, Ezra Hurwitz. Following a seven year career with Miami City Ballet, Ezra retired from the stage to study film and business strategy at Columbia University. Since beginning his work as a dance filmmaker following his time at Columbia, he has created viral videos for numerous clients including San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theater, The Kennedy Center, and most recently the New York Times. Ezra’s work has been featured in publications such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly, and the Huffington Post to name a few. Be sure to follow our social media accounts this week as we share some of Ezra’s amazing work. Today we talk with Ezra about his decision to leave ballet, his time at Columbia, how he got his start in film, and what’s next for him.

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(47) Part I: Edward Villella, Balanchine Dancer & Miami City Ballet Founding Artistic Director May 22, 2017

Show notes

This week we present our first episode recorded on our Conversations on Dance New York Tour sponsored by DanceWear Corner. Today we start with the first of three installments with Edward Villella, Balanchine Dancer & Miami City Ballet Founding Artistic Director. Edward was hired into the New York City Ballet by George Balanchine in 1957 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 1970. Balanchine created many famous roles on Edward including Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Rubies section of Jewels, Tarentella, and many others (tune into Episode Two to hear him speak more in depth on these specific ballets.) Edward became quite famous, not only for his dancing, but his innumerable TV appearances during his career including “The Ed Sullivan Show” and an appearance on “The Odd Couple.” After his dancing career, Villella founded the Miami City Ballet in 1985 and would remain at the helm for 27 years, developing it into a world renowned company (which we will discuss with him in Episode Three.) Today we talk about his start in ballet, his time at the New York Maritime Academy, how he came back to ballet, and his early years in the company.

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(46) Rebecca and Michael, Live from Columbus May 15, 2017

Show notes

This week we are publishing our very first podcast that was recorded live with an audience. This episode was recorded in March following our full day of master classes in Columbus, Ohio presented by Ballet in the City. This particular “Conversation on Dance” is directed at the students in the room who we had just taught for 3 hours, and their parents who wanted to sit in on our recording. These young and hungry students were a huge source of inspiration for us that day, and we felt so lucky to talk to them about our careers and experiences and to share our love of ballet with them. In the end it was quite a long episode, so we have edited the content down for time.

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(45) Karolina Kuras, National Ballet of Canada Photographer May 08, 2017

Show notes

This week we are joined by Karolina Kuras, Photographer for the National Ballet of Canada. Karolina was born in Poland where she spent her early years before her family moved to a small town outside of Toronto. As a child, Karolina was always surrounded by art, as her mother is a painter, and her father a musician. Kuras began ballet classes which she loved, but found her shyness kept her from enjoying the stage. After playing around with a camera, she found a new source of artistic expression, and by the time she was 19 she had started her own photography business. She shot weddings and babies, but found she wanted something more. Now residing in Toronto, she decided to pursue a passion project of photographing ballet. The National Ballet of Canada soon got wind of her work, and now employs her as the company’s photographer. We talk with Karolina today about her upbringing surrounded by art, her time spent dancing, how she came to find photography, and what defines her aesthetic.

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(44) Adriana Pierce, Choreographer May 01, 2017

Show notes

This week we are joined by Miami City Ballet dancer Adriana Pierce. After training at the School of American Ballet and dancing as an Apprentice with The New York City Ballet, she joined Miami City Ballet in 2010. Throughout her schooling, Pierce directed and choreographed numerous musical theater productions for a local theater group in New Jersey and first premiered her balletic choreography when she created two pieces for the School of American Ballet’s Annual Student Choreography Workshop under the guidance of Peter Martins. In past years she has created works for the O, Miami Poetry Festival, Miami Chamber Music Society, the Knight Concert Hall, and for a collaboration with The New World Symphony. In November 2014, Pierce was chosen to participate in New York Choreographic Institute’s fall session, and in 2015 was selected to participate in the Resident Fellows program with the Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University. Pierce created a new work for The Ashley Bouder Project which debuted at New York’s The Joyce Theater in August 2015. Today we speak with Adriana about her choreography, launching a choreographic career, the challenges women in choreography are facing, and the recent New York Times article on the subject.

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