The Ailey School Intensive: Summer in the Empire State

When I was eight or nine, my uncle would bring me to dance shows every month. I now realize how lucky I was to attend these performances.  Some pieces may have been a bit over the comprehension of my age at the time (a.k.a. deeply experimental contemporary choreographies not standing a chance beside the Nutcracker and Giselle.) In a particularly experimental season in the Montreal dance scene, I was becoming mildly weirded out by dance. That's when I saw the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform in Montreal and I was completely captivated. I still remember how beautifully the dancers moved, and that was over ten years ago!

The name stayed in my head since, so recently I decided to see if they had a professional school. Turns out they have even more than that! They have a summer intensive for aspiring dancers!

What is it all about?
The intensive offers students from the age of 16 to 25 daily modern technique classes alongside other courses that offer complementary skills (such as yoga, body conditioning, jazz, etc...)

Tech Specs
It usually runs from the end of June to the beginning of August and requires 2500$ tuition fee, 50$ registration fee and 45$ Physical Therapy service fee for a total of 2595$ for a little over a month of training at 12-15 classes per week. If you pay in advance, you may be eligible for a discount. Also, it's to be noted that the intensive requires an audition. See more info on their website here.

Note: With a valid, readable passport, Canadian citizens can stay in the U.S. for up to six months without requiring a visa (hence, covering the summer intensive hassle-free). 

C'mon, who ain't inspired?! Just listen to Jay-Z, he knows best. 

DIY: Dance Fund Jar

Ok so it not a huge secret - the career of a dancer is not the one that'll the most likely secure you a monetary fortune. Good for you if it does, but I think we'd best go in it simply because we must. We need to go in it because that feeling cannot be shaken, that the dancing and the experiences that go with it just HAVE TO happen.

So that's why I bring to you the DANCE FUND mason jar craft. It's a cute way to collect your spare change and put it together towards something bigger. You know as they've always said: Pennies turn into a dollar (although we don't have the penny anymore!!!) and dollars into a hundred dollars and hundreds into... well you know and so on. Maybe your house guests would like to lighten their pockets too ;)

Basically you just need to draw out a design and glue it into the a jar. I think Rubber Cement is your best bet to get it to stick and not make your ink run. You could do like me if you're having trouble getting it to glue instantly: roll up a rag into the jar and place a heavy-ish item on top of that rag.

So there there you go! Your that closer to pay for dance supplies - or even your whole tuition!

Speaking of tuition, check out the Resources page! I've listed some interesting schools that'll help you ace your dream school's auditions. You don't want miss them!

Late Bloomers in Dance Turned Pro

Part of being a late bloomer in dance includes dealing with the non-believers (including oneself). Being a late-blooming dancer does make a difference and wishfulness alone will not make it happen. In regards to that, there are three points I'd like to address. Ps. I've enclosed a link in this post to an article all about late-blooming dance pros, read this post to find it hihihi

1. For starters, how about we do this simple exercise: Take what you see as a weakness (in this case, having started on your career path later than most) and turn it into strengths. For example, having decided to pursue dance later in life I begin the journey having already developed a maturity through real life experiences. I can directly transpose this to the decisions I make and the actions I take, which in turn will direct me towards success. Also, having some catching up to do develops in me a strong drive and a solid determination to improve in order to reach the opportunities in life that matter to me.  


2. I can now channel all of these advantages into making pristine actions towards my goals and detach myself from the outcome. This not only saves my energy from being spent on dealing with unnecessary pressure, but it also enables me to have 360 vision of the opportunities around me, whether they are directly linked to dance or not.  Who knows where life will go with this path, but when actions are taken with genuine heart in them, the journey is bound to be interesting.


3. There actually exist late-blooming dance professionals. Take David Zurak for example, who started his first dance class at age 23. There are more of those, though rare, that succeed. They succeeded because 1. they actually went for it 2. they went for it with intense determination, time and effort. (check out some more late-bloomin' pros here)

So whenever you're self-douting, think of these points up there. I don't believe that all who try will succeed, man, even dancers who started early on don't make it, but sometimes you've just got to at least give it your all (and I mean really, your ALL). Who knows where this path will bring you and which people it will lead you to meet. That's why it's important to love the journey and not the end destination.

Now tell me, what weakness have you transformed into strengths today?

Up your chances of bumping into The Doctor

Hey! I'm back with yet another prep school.

This time it's in Leeds at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance! I haven't been able to get a hold of as much info on the program as for the Copenhagen school; there is much more info on their full-professional degrees, but judging by their quality, I have reason to believe their foundation course is of high standards as well.

Sorry I couldn't help it. I know the Doctor's got nothing to do with this but my mind went all England>BBC>Doctor Who...

The course is recognize by the government. As it appears to be an Acces to Higher Education programme which categorizes at Level 3 in the National Qualifications Framework, it not only allows you to apply for a student visa, but it also lets you work 10 hours per week. Ouf! I hope I got that right. Please correct me if I'm making no sense.

I think it's something to look into, especially as a citizen of the a country of the Commonwealth Nations (ahemm, hello Doctor! Former british colony, Canada, may I interest you in a visit??) it may end up being easier to get a visa there rather than, say a residency permit in Denmark.

Something to consider finally, as stated on the UK Border Agency website: "[for a course that is] More than 9 months [in] Outer London or anywhere else in the United Kingdom [you need] First year of fees (8631$ CAD with current conversion) and £7,200 [11 300$ CAD] to cover living costs for 9 months in the United Kingdom." So that totals to 19 931$ CAD. Ok, let's make that 20 000$. Looks like a big amount, but when you consider that with all that money you've paid rent, food, life, tuition... ain't so bad really.

I hope that was some food for thought for ya, I think it's worth a moment of your time to look into it.

More on the foundation course here.

Who Are La 2e Porte à Gauche?

I'm gonna jump straight into it: It's been years that I've been looking for a tactic to successfully practice style consistency, to stay true to my initial mission statement in instead of trying to spread myself thin across the board (best way to drain your energy!!).

I've recently discovered a dance organization that stays consistently in line with their mandate and executes it beautifully and ingeniously. I think that this is born from a genuine belief in one's mission statement. 

The organization is called La 2e Porte à Gauche (L2PAG) based in Montreal. All of their creations bring emphasis and questioning to the relations amongst the dancers and their connection between the space and the audience. They also strive to have the art of dance known by the greater public, not just those who show interest in dance and art.

4quART (extraits) from La 2e Porte à Gauche on Vimeo.

Whether they're creating choreographies to be performed in the display windows of La Maison Simon or they're having the artists share an apartment for a month and creating a work tailored to an in-house (quite literally!) performance, they're always up to something that deals with space, dancer relationships and audience involvement. Who could forget the work called pARTy where an entire night at the club was choreographed? And how they brought Le Bal Moderne to our province? 

I strongly invite you to check out their website to learn in more details what all their projects are about!

http://www.la2eporteagauche.ca/

Montréal Danse au Bal Moderne

Après avoir lu plusieurs articles sur le Bal Moderne, je trouve l'idée tant fabuleuse que je suis en train de me demander si je ne serais pas bien la seule qui ne savais pas c'était quoi avant aujourd'hui! Au cas où il en aurait d'autres comme moi qui auraient 'passé à côté d'la track' toutes ces années, bah je vous fais un bref compte rendu de mes trouvailles.

Samedi 10 décembre 2011, Party de Noël de Circuit-Est Centre Chorégraphique

Chorégraphes : Katie Ward, Sylvain Émard et Les Soeurs Schmutt // Photo: Johann Schlager

Qu'est-ce que le Bal Moderne?

Durant la soirée Bal Moderne, les invités apprennent de courtes chorégraphies préparés par des chorégraphes professionnels. Celles-ci sont créées pour être accessibles à tous niveaux d'expériences (même le niveau -45321345 donc pas d'excuses!) Si c'est une occasion immanquable de danser avec des chorégraphes connus pour certains, pour d'autres c'est un cadeau d'initier son corps aux merveilles inattendues de la danse.  À Montréal, c'est La 2e Porte à Gauche (mentionnée dans cet article précédent) qui s'en occupe. Cependant, le Bal Moderne fût initialement créé par Michel Reilhac en 1993 pour le festival Paris Quartier d'Été. Ç'a été un grand succès, attirant une foule de participants au pied de la Tour Eiffel pendant plusieurs étés consécutifs. 

Le Bal moderne de La 2e Porte à Gauche from La 2e Porte à Gauche on Vimeo.

Quand sont les prochaines opportunité d'y participer?

Les trois prochaine soirée du Bal Moderne

24 août 2013 - 16h: Site Collège Gérald Godin, par l'arr. L'Île-Bizard-Ste-Geneviève

Chorégraphes: Emmalie Ruest, Marie Béland, Andrew Turner

24 août 2013 - 18h30: Site du centre Henri-Lemieux présenté par l'arr. Lasalle

Chorégraphes: Hélène Langevin, Geneviève Gagné, Milan Gervais

8 septembre 2013 - 11h: Parc Wilfrid Bastien présenté par l'arr. St-Léonard

Chorégraphes: Emmalie Ruest, Geneviève Gagné, Andrew Turner

J'espère vous y voir! Je vous ferai un compte rendu lorsque j'aurai assisté à l'une de ces soirées.


Ps. Voici les articles que j'ai trouvé les plus intéressants/utiles à propos du Bal Moderne


http://www.la2eporteagauche.ca/bal.html ---> Répond aux questions les plus fréquentes à propos de la soirée


http://www.balmoderne.be/history-bal-moderne ---> Detailed history of the Bal Moderne

http://www.lequai-angers.eu/fr/saison/danse/bdd/sid/354 ---> "[...] le Plaisir d'être ensemble en dansant."

Preparatory Year i København

So here's a pretty exciting idea: One year of full-time preparation for higher education in dance IN COPENHAGEN. I kind of forget that a lot of people 'round here haven't got much of a clue about Denmark, but I assure you, it would be an interesting voyage, should you decide to take this road.

I must warn, the journey into Danish residency is a long and bumpy one, unless you are from the EU/EEA (which I know less about, but I think it will be much easier, if not plain easy).

So know where you stand, but aside of that, I've e-mailed back and forth with them and it makes me think I would love study there. I like that they get their students involved in the dance community outside of school context by participating in festivals and street shows.

"1-year pre-education programme for contemporary dancers

The pre-education is specifically aimed at highly talented dancers with the ability and motivation to radically enhance their skills in contemporary dance. The students from CCDS has a strong success rate. Since the founding of the school in 2005 every student, who has wanted to continue their dance career, has been accepted either to higher dance educations or into dance companies."

 Here is a few links to get to know them better and see for yourself if this is an option you'd like to consider. Their new site is beautiful!

School's profile

School's Blog with student written articles

Dance Class Excerpt


Copenhagen Contemporary Dance School EXAM 2011 from Cph Contemporary Dance School on Vimeo.

There you go, hope this tickles your curiosity and that you look a little more into this !

Ps. I have done more research on residency in Denmark as a Non EU-EEA citizen than more probably should have, so if you have any questions, drop me a line and I'll try my best to direct you to some resources.

Vi ses snart ;)

You Need These Dance Hair Accessories Holder

Or at least, I'd like to think you do! Alright so here's the thing: I've got a confession. I kind of like hiding inside my messy/cluttered spaces. The fact is, however, that those kinds of areas are not optimal to keep a mind clear and on the ball. Something I'm aiming for this year in order to CONQUER THE WORLD (heh…small feat.)

I'm going to start by tackling a pressing issue: not having a hair tie on hand at all times, especially in dance class. My problem is that I'll have literally a whole pack of hair ties in my bag and then one by one, they will slowly disappear until one day, I reach for one AND THEY'RE ALL GONE. That's why I've devised a back-up plan. Scroll down and see for yourself!

It's not genius or rocket science or anything, mais je m'trouvais cool. Voilà! I have some more dance DIYs coming up such as DIY tutu, a special 'Dance Fund' jar and some more fun stuff.  [SUBSCRIBE TO KNOW WHEN NEW DIYS COME]

More DDIYs comin' your way, keep checking back :)

The Trick To Reaching Your Goals

This following guided meditation is deals with a massively important aspect of launching a career in the creative field. It addresses a solution to overcome difficulties that apply to areas of work that provide many uncertainties. I think you will find this highly useful.

Firstly, though, why meditate? 
I think meditation is undervalued sometimes. In reality, for such a seemingly small exercise ('seemingly' being the key word here) meditation can bring so much clarity and understanding to life and situations. We are completely submerged into doing life and going through the motions every day that it becomes insane to never sit back and shut your brain off to the bombardment of life these days. The initial tactic of frantically brainstorming to find ideas, thoughts and solutions is disproved when suddenly, as we rest our minds, great ideas and thoughts spring effortlessly to the surface. A Sensei in college would always say something like: " You can't force muddy water to clear up, you just have to let the dust settle at the bottom. " (Ok, so it sounded way better when he said it, but you get the idea.)

In Munich near the Olympic Stadium  - Taken by Natacha Viau - Please note the man painting in his undies in the background.

So back to dance now. This week, I am sharing this meditation with you because if you've read the story of me, you know that I've shied away from pursuing a career in dance for various reasons before. That's why out of all people, I understand that it's easy to make excuses for why we can't get to what we truly, deeply want because such strong feelings can be overwhelming. This stops now! I realize that this life path presents much hard work ahead and obstacles and tough times. As it's been said many times, if life were easy, it'd be boring.

This meditation is about sticking to your commitments. It will help clarify for yourself the goals you've set and make attaining them actually happen (forget about all those long faded New Year's resolutions, this is a brand new start!)

Download this guided meditation
Click here to access the guided meditation site from the Chopra Center. It's the 12th from the top.

Let me know what you think of it!

Préparation aux Études Supérieures à Montréal

Durant la saison d'auditions qui s'annonce au Printemps 2014, nous avons bien évidemment tous l'envie de nous démarquer par notre talent, notre technique et la petite étoile qui brille dans nos yeux. Par contre, le cas y est parfois qu'il nous manque un petit quelque chose parmi ces trois aspects. Pas de soucis! Si, comme moi, vous êtes complètement décidés à réussir dans le domaine de la danse, il y a des ressources là pour vous.

From the left: Alice De La Gavouyère, Myself and Camille Trudel-Vigeant // Photo by: Marc Blanchet

L'École de Danse Contemporaine de Montréal offre un programme préparatoire à la formation supérieure. 

Elle est offerte aux danseurs entre 15 et 20 ans qui ont déjà une base en danse. À raison de 7h30 par semaine et 850$ la session, les étudiants auront accès à une équipe de professionnels de la danse qui donneront des cours de technique, improvisation et chorégraphie.

Pour plus d'infos, veuillez consulter leur site web ici. Si vous êtes dans le coin de Montréal, je vous le conseille fortement! J'ai fait le programme que pour une session et j'ai énormément progressé en tant que danseuse et en tant que humaine, sérieusement! I'm goin' back for more in September, for certain!

Pour plus de de formations préparatoires du même goût que celle-ci, je vous invite à consulter ma page de Ressources.

Tout le meilleur dans vos démarches vers une magnifique carrière!

Keep on truckin' :)

Quick and Clean: Smoothie Bags

Bon, c'est temps pour une autre confession: je trippe pas super gros sur les salades. Je sais que les 'leafy greens' sont LES aliments à intégrer dans une alimentation saine, mais bon. C'est la réalité des choses. Il y a cependant toujours plus d'une façon de faire dans la vie. Cette fois-ci, le moyen est PARFAIT. Smoothies verts ! Pourquoi c'est parfait? Car on ne goûte pas les légumes. hihihi.

Voici un lot de bananes (pour 1$ !! Alimentation pour étudiants pauvres 101) qui sont certainement en mode décomposition. Mais pas de trouble! On va les faire congeler. Ensemble. Heh. (creepy moment). Le meilleur c'est de les faire congeler sur une plaque sans qu'ils se touchent pour ne pas faire des motons de fruits.

Ensuite, il s'agit de créer des combinaisons de fruits dans des sacs pour le congélateur que tu pourras ensuite juste lancer dans le mixeur, ajoute du lait de soya (ou autres non laitier) et les épinards (ou la bette-à-carde... ou le chou frisé...) Et voilà! Ça ne prends qu'une minute ou deux.

Bon, en tout cas, je me sentais bien dans l'humeur de prendre pleins de photos de mon pré-smoothie. Première fois que ma colloc me voit prendre des photos de ma bouffe... soudainement je me sens un peu bizarre d'être là à arranger mes baies congelées et mes épinards dans 45000 différentes positions, mais bon, le sentiment passe bien vite.

Rapidement, avant de partir, je voulais vous mentionner que je vais regrouper tous mes idées bouffe/recettes ici pour vous rendre la vie facile!

À plus tard!

How Soul and Body Meet in Dance

Natacha Viau, Füssen, Germany - On our way to the Neuschwanstein castle

This is an important one. What attracts me the most about dance is that it directly links the body to the soul, the two most important items we are given as individuals. In dance, the body needs the mind to actually create, to invent dance and in return, the mind relies on the body to express itself, without extensions. So what happens when one of them is impaired or under-par? The other is equally affected. That's why it's so important as a dancer to...

1. Take care of your body - sleep, fresh air, nutritious food, injury nursing, rest
2. Improve your physical abilities - dance classes, body conditioning, stretching, cardio
3. Take care of your mental health - (again) sleep, meditation, laughter, rest, leisure time
4. Develop your creativity and your ability to freely express yourself - contact improv, other performing arts classes, attend dance performances

Which of these four points you need to work on? What's your plan to improve? Which do you excel in?  What's your trick? Sharing is caring :)

Ps. Slowly I'll be linking the above terms to posts that I am concocting lovingly for y'all so keep this post bookmarked to have your mind/body care package all in one place. 

Nat Aux Olympiques

Bah du moins, au Stade! C'est shooting date de 2011 si ne me trompe pas, avec des pointes un peu molles et une caméra un peu vieille. Les temps ont changé depuis, mais l'idée reste la même: étendre la danse afin d'englober d'autres moyens d'expression artistique.

École de Danse de Québec: Programme Mise à Niveau

Every Saturday of the month of August, I will be posting an article about a preparatory dance program that aims to bring dancers' skills up to the level of completely acing higher education auditions. 

The articles will be in French on some Saturdays, and English on others. There are resources out there to help us live out our dream career and I absolutely want you to know about it!! Just as I promised!

First up is the full-time program at l'École de Danse de Québec in Québec City (duh.) It's been difficult to access information on this school on the internet. Beside their website, it's a bit like they are non-existant on the web (big no no these days... they should know by now that people have grown weary of picking up the phone and calling or worse: showing up in person (face to face contact?!?! AH!!)

Belle affiche sur le site de LEDQ - cliquez-la pour accéder au site!

That being said, the program curriculum seems to offer all that an aspiring dancer needs to move on to the next step in professional dance.

En gros

• Frais de scolarité 2500$ plus l'inscription qui est de 200$.  
• 4 heures de cours/ jour (en moyenne) 
• Deux sessions

Je vous laisse leur site web pour y avoir plus de détails.  Même si je n'ai pas beaucoup d'info, je voulais vous partager puisque la ville de Québec est magnifique et le programme semble être une case de départ. Si vous êtes dans le coin de Québec, ça peut valoir la peine de voir en personne ça l'a l'aire de quoi.

BJM: Cadeau en culture Montréalaise

Drôle de soirée hier (ou bien, il y a quelques soirs… puisque je n'ai toujours pas internet dans l'appart, c'est pas toujours évident… petit secret: j'écris présentement cet article sur TextEdit hihihi). Je me baladais tout bonnement en direction du spectacle des BJM au Théâtre de Verdure et voilà que je vois deux de mes anciens collègues de travail qui eux aussi s'étaient croisés par hasard. Voilà, avec mon petit peloton de coïncidences, je me dirigeai vers le parc Lafontaine et ce fût une bien agréable soirée inattendue.

En tout cas, pour en venir au sujet de toujours: la danse! Wow wow. Je n'avais jamais vu les Ballets Jazz de Montréal avant, mais maintenant je peux affirmer avec confiance que je retournerai les voir aussitôt qu'il m'est financièrement possible (hier c'était gratuit! J'espère que TOUT LE MONDE en a profité. Quel beau cadeau!) L'impression que j'ai eu personnellement est que ce fût un spectacle gracieux, exécuté à la fine pointe du corps humain. Parfois humoristique, parfois grave, toujours pensé.

Une autre première pour moi était le Théâtre de Verdure lui-même. J'ai apprécié le changement d'une salle intérieure. L'ambiance était différente… comme si la scène était imprégnée de la vie donnée par tous les passants du parc.

Cela dit, je vous laisse avec quelques liens pour d'autres spectacles gratuits ou 'student-budget friendly'.

Soupe du Jour - 1er août - Production Fila 13

Corps Anonymes - 1er + 8 août - Katya Montaignac et le groupe O.D.N.I.

Le Bal Moderne - 2 + 10 + 20 août