Students will develop their dance skills and learn the theoretical basis for communicating through movement. Student learning includes creating dance; scientific and safety principles, the historical development of dance; the development of an aesthetic appreciation of dance by participating in dance class, rehearsals, and performances; and the specialized vocabulary of dance criticism.

The human body is the dancer's instrument of expression. Understanding how the body works can help a dancer stay in shape, improve performance, increase confidence and add longevity to his or her performing career. It can also help a dancer avoid injury. If an injury does occur, knowledge of human anatomy can contribute to a safe process of healing and recovery.

This lesson will introduce students to the History the Nutcracker Ballet by P.I. Tchaikovsky. They will learn and listen about History the Nutcracker Ballet by P.I. Tchaikovsky through the resources provided. 

REMIX- Added accessibility enhancements.This lesson will introduce students to the History the Nutcracker Ballet by P.I. Tchaikovsky. They will learn and listen about History the Nutcracker Ballet by P.I. Tchaikovsky through the resources provided. 

This lesson will introduce students to the History the Nutcracker Ballet by P.I. Tchaikovsky. They will learn and listen about History the Nutcracker Ballet by P.I. Tchaikovsky through the resources provided. 

In this lesson, the flat back sequence will help lengthen and strength the torso of the dancer. In addition to the lenthening and strengthing the torso, the flat back sequence will help students to understand how to engage the core muscles to improve upon strength and appliation of the core in dance technique.

In this video, Ailey Extension Director Lisa Johnson-Willingham demonstrates a lateral sequence that can be taught to a variety of levels of dancers.

In this lesson, the students will make a creation using colored construction paper and then be able to produce and express a correlation between their particular creation and different qualities of movement, by transfering their feelings and/or emotions into a movement combination.

This lesson is designed to follow the Creating Movement Sequences lesson. in this lesson students will create simple 3 part choreographies based on selected sentences. The choreographies will include action words, punctuation and expression.

This video contains movement exerpts and interviews with tap dancer and choreographer, Michelle Dorrance, as she receives a prestigious Jacob's Pillow Award.

It's that time of year! Time to see what amazing dance is happening at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival this summer! Every year, companies around the world send footage to edit the festival overview, a promotional video aimed at sharing the exciting dance shows coming to the main theaters at the Pillow in the summer season.

This free video resource is curated by America's longest running dance festival. Click artist, genre, or era to find dance clips spanning from the 1930's to today.

Hanayagi Sukekatsumi (Michiko Kurata) has been performing traditional Japanese dance for 30 years. She studied “kabuki buyo,” a popular dance form derived from kabuki, under several masters of traditional Japanese dance in Japan. “Kabuki buyo" originated in Japan more than 400 years ago among the female street performers in Edo (modern day Tokyo) and has spread throughout all social classes since. Ms. Kurata has performed at numerous cultural shows and has been giving lectures at local colleges on traditional Japanese dance.

Juan Tamad is a lazy character from Filipino Folk tale. Tikling Birds in the rice fields are one of the inspirations of the Filipino Folk Dance, the Tinikling. This animated short explores the possibility that Juan Tamad and his lazy encounter with the Tikling Birds witnessed the origin of the Tinikling Folk dance!

Characters from all walks of life come together in a new collection of vignettes by Judith Jamison examining the joys and complications of human relationships. Original jazz compositions by the musical iconoclast Eric Lewis and costumes by the award-winning designer Paul Tazewell are inspired by a series of drawings by Jamison that depict these characters ordinary and sometimes extraordinary lives.

Judith Jamison’s stunning, Emmy Award-winning 1993 tribute to Alvin Ailey uses explosive, full company dances and quiet solos to illuminate Ailey’s humanity and the dancers’ unique qualities. Narrative recollections from dancers are arranged by the multi-talented actor/playwright Anna Deavere Smith.

In 1984, Judith Jamison created Divining, on a major company for the first time at the request of her mentor, Alvin Ailey. Jamison wrote in her autobiography, Dancing Spirit, "Divining is mysterious, its title suggesting a search or quest." The ritualized ballet is set to a score that incorporates North African, Central African and Latin rhythms.
"The African-inspired rhythms are also Ms. Jamison’s springboard. Divining suggests an abstraction of African dance here refracted into reductive modern-dance treatment. Ms. Jamison’s perspective comes from the avant-garde, her images are streamlined, clean and striking! Ms. Jamison knows how to make movement flow through the entire body."
-Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times
-Performed by Ailey II.

The 1982 article covers a program at the famous Judson Theater called "Judson Dance Theater Reconstruction." It discribes the importance of the theater and those who performed in it. It also contains descriptions of several famous works performed at the theater.

This is an article on the School of American Ballet's annual end-of-the-year workshop. This year marks the 50th annual performance workshop, and the article describes the origins of the workshop, making connections between the past and the present.

Behind every successful dance production you'll find: Inspiration, hard work and discipline,
good planning, communication and budgeting, creativity, rehearsal, an appropriate venue, effective publicity, and an audience. Students will be introduced to every aspect of how to take dance to the stage as well as who is involved in the process.