So, You Want to Be a Dancer?: The Ultimate Guide to Exploring the Dance Industry (Be What You Want) - Softcover

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Laurel van der Linde’s first career was as a ballet dancer. Trading her pointe shoes for character pumps, she segued into Broadway musical theater, dancing in A Chorus Line, Annie, My Fair Lady, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. She also worked with legendary choreographers Gower Champion and Michael Kidd. Moving behind the scenes, van der Linde began her work in sound as a director/producer of audiobooks, working for such publishing houses as Hachette, BBC AA, Brilliance Audion, and Full Cast Audio, and she is the director of the voiceover school at the Famous Radio Ranch in Los Angeles. She is also an instructor of creative writing for children at UCLA and has published four books for kids. She has two sons, Gower and Gavin, and breeds and trains Arabian horses on her ranch in Valencia, California.

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So, You Want to Be a Dancer?

1

Dance Like the World Is Watching: A History of Dance

Do you remember the moment when you first thought you wanted to dance? Maybe a friend suggested the idea, or maybe your mom or dad took you to a class to see if you might be interested. Now, do you remember the moment when you realized you must dance? That was the truly pivotal moment, the one when you discovered who you really are. It is easy enough to want something but much harder to turn that desire into a reality. Only those who must have something will succeed at achieving it. You will overcome all obstacles and beat the odds to get what you want.

And if you want to be a dancer, you will face challenges. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to become a dancer. It is a career that demands the utmost in commitment; this is not an easy life. But if you must have it, then you will meet those challenges head-on and you will be fulfilling your passion.

And that is a wonderful life.

QUIZ

Break a Leg! A Dance Career Quiz

1. In my spare time I like to

A. Swim or do yoga

B. Watch movie musicals

C. Go to the mall

D. Make snacks for my friends or help my parents make dinner

E. Read dancer biographies

2. At school, I am known as

A. The athlete

B. The one with the organized calendar and binders

C. The one who talks all the time

D. The one who likes to help when someone gets injured in gym or has a cold

E. The one who is the first to finish an assignment

3. My idea of a great birthday present is

A. A new leotard or jazz pants perfect for dancing

B. Tickets to a Broadway musical

C. A new video game

D. A cookbook

E. A new book about dance

4. My favorite television shows are

A. Any of the dance competitions like So You Think You Can Dance

B. Glee

C. Once Upon a Time or Face Off—anything with great costumes and makeup

D. Iron Chef, Master Chef, or Chopped

E. Sports analysis shows

5. I am happiest when

A. I am in the dance studio

B. I am watching a great television show

C. I am shopping for new clothes

D. I am helping my parents in the vegetable garden or tending to our windowsill herbs

E. I am reading

6. I like to read

A. Sports magazines

B. Anything I can find about dance and dancers

C. Scripts

D. Food blogs

E. Nonfiction books

7. My favorite movies are

A. Happy Feet

B. Footloose

C. Monsters, Inc.

D. Ratatouille

E. Mona Lisa Smile

8. My favorite place to be is

A. Performing in the school musical

B. In the art studio

C. Working behind the scenes on a school play

D. Eating at a great restaurant

E. At a bookstore



9. My favorite class in school is

A. Gym

B. Choir

C. English

D. Science

E. Social studies

10. I like to listen to

A. Anything that gets my feet moving

B. Broadway show albums

C. Music from famous ballets

D. Online kids-radio cooking shows

E. Podcasts about arts and culture

If your answers are mostly As, Bs, and Cs, then you may be interested in a career onstage or behind the scenes, as a dancer, artistic director, or marketer.

If you answered mostly Ds, you may be interested in being a part of a dancer’s team, as a chiropractor or a nutritionist.

If you answered mostly Es, you may be interested in being an art critic or in photographing dancers.

To Dance Is to Be Human

What is this compulsion we have to move? Are we trying to match our feet, our fingers, our lungs to our heartbeat? Are we trying to connect with the rhythms of the earth? What is this need, this hunger, this passion . . . to dance? The cave paintings and other records of ancient civilizations show dance at the center of human culture. Early people did not consider dance as entertainment but as an essential form of expression. The ancient Egyptians and Greeks incorporated dance into their religious rituals. The Greeks deified dance by honoring Terpsichore, their muse of dance, praying to her for inspiration so that their dances would please and bring them closer to the gods. India and Japan shared this philosophy, and we see their influence centuries later in the works of the founders of modern dance.

The Complex Steps of Asian Dance

Classic Indian dance is made up of three parts: natya, which is the drama of the dance; nritta, which is the rhythm; and nritya, which is the communication of the dance. At first, Hindu dance was taught by gurus or holy men charged with passing on the dances to their students, who would, in turn, pass them on to their students. But given the size of India, there were certain “regionalisms” that crept into the sacred dances. In the southern part of India, the temple dancers were female, their lives dedicated to the service of the gods, so their dancing was soft and alluring. In contrast, the dances in the southwest were hard, and the dancers appeared to be going into battle. The north showed off elegance while the northeast style was delicate and refined. A dancer portraying Shiva, the main god of the Hindu religion, was often cast as the Lord of the Dance, dancing the world into creation.

BY THE NUMBERS: INDIAN DANCE

The movements used in Indian dance are very specific—and numerous. Above the neck, there are:

• Thirteen positions of the head

• Thirty-six glances

• Seven movements of the eyes

• Nine flutters of the eyelids

• Seven quirks of the eyebrows

• Six twitches of the nose

• Seven shifts of the chin

The neck has nine movements, and there are twenty-four hand gestures, in addition to separate movements for legs and feet. All of these must be coordinated with the music into an intentional dance. Far more complicated than patting your head and rubbing your stomach or walking and chewing gum at the same time!

The dances of Thailand incorporate many of the elements of Indian dance but in ways unique to the Thai people. Before a dancer can perform the traditional dances, he or she must pass two tests. The first requires mastery of a combination of nineteen basic movements. The second requires the dancer to demonstrate balance and composure in the body by dancing to both fast and slow tempos. After passing these tests, the dancers are then qualified to dance solos in one of two different types of theater.

Thai men are accompanied by a male singer who narrates the story while an orchestra supports both the dancers and the storyteller. The costumes are elaborate, made of breathtaking gold-and-silver cloth and with traditional spire headpieces; and this style of Thai dancing is only performed at the royal court.

Thai women perform the lakon. The stories for this type of dance came from Thai legends as well as more formal histories. Like the female temple dancers of India, these dancers move in ways that are very feminine, slow, delicate, and refined. And the costumes are stunning, with plumed fans and beautiful fabrics used as props, and set pieces to tell the story.

INSPIRATION FROM ACROSS THE OCEAN

Choreographer Jerome Robbins took his inspiration from lakon, a dance Thai women traditionally danced, to create “The Small House of Uncle Thomas” ballet for the second act of the Broadway musical The King and...