Tuesday Tunes: Dance Teachers and Their Tunes

by Lydia Tuesday Tunes

courneyjones2

 

Tuesday Tunes: Courtney D. Jones

R: How do you envision the future of dance?

C: At one point I was a bit concerned about the future of dance based on what I’ve been seeing lately.  I’ve been doing quite a bit of teaching young dancers, and initially I was disappointed with seeing a lack of knowledge and a lack of interest outside of what’s happening on reality television as it relates to dance or in the competitive market but I have come to realize and with help from my teachers and mentors, I’m understanding,  it’s my job to educate them as much as I can, to give them all the options out there and to step back and let them make their decisions based on that information. I just spent 3 weeks teaching at Bates Dance Festival Young Dancers Workshop and found those young artists to have a refreshing outlook on what’s currently going on for them in dance and what they see for their futures and I was pleasantly surprised that there was still an interest in concert and company work and that though many of them participated in competitive dancing, they were looking for more and were interested in studying dance in higher education and beyond. So I think, the future of dance as far as the next generation of young dancers coming up will be ok, now funding and support for this beautiful art, that is another discussion.

R: Where do you primarily teach?

C: The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts(HSPVA) and UH School of Theatre and Dance with a lot of guest teaching at numerous studios, intensive and workshops thrown in there.

R: How has dance influenced you?courtneyjones1

C:Well it’s my best language, movement I mean. I am learning to love my voice just as much as I love to move but there’s no denying that dance is my language. It’s the way I speak to people I love and people l don’t even know.

R: What is on your playlist when teaching a class?

C: It depends on my mood and what I’m teaching but Currently for my Modern Dance playlist:

a lot of Peter Jones

Gotye “Somebody That I Used to Know”

Gnarles Barkley “Crazy”

Rene Aubry “Salento”

George Kranz “Din Daa Daa”

Robert Glasper “Ah Yeah”

Emily King “Every Part”

Victor Y. See Yuen “Percussion for the Dance Technique of Lester Horton”

Chris Cawthray

DJ Snake & Lil Jon “Turn Down for What”

photos by Lynn Lane

Named one of Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch in 2012, professional dancer, guest teacher and actress Courtney D. Jones is a Presidential Scholar in the Arts for Choreography and a graduate of the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA). She began her professional career in Miami, FL with the Freddick Bratcher and Company Contemporary Dance Theatre while attending New World School of the Arts.

Ms. Jones is a proud graduate of SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Dance Performance and a minor in Psychology, graduating with honors. As a student she performed the works of Jose Limon, Mark Morris, Doug Varone, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Roger C. Jeffrey, Michael Foley, Heather Maloney and Kevin Wynn. After graduation Ms. Jones continued to work with the Kevin Wynn Collection and joined Jennifer Muller/The Works where she taught and toured internationally for four seasons.

With a growing interest in theatre she joined the cast of Show Boat in 2008 accomplishing a long-standing goal to perform at Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall and went on to join Broadway’s First National Tour of WICKED in 2009.

In Houston, Ms. Jones enjoyed four lovely seasons from 2010-2014 with Hope Stone Dance Company where she was the Assistant Director of Hope Stone Dance II (h.s.d. II) and has been seen in productions at Stages Repertory Theatre; Auntie Mame, Panto Pinocchio, In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play, Failure: A Love Story, Houston Grand Opera; Show Boat (swing), Die Fledermaus, The Passenger (Movement Director) and Theare Under The Stars; Urban Cowboy the Musical and A Chorus Line (Lois/swing) . She is also a highly sought after consultant teaching company class for Hope Stone Dance, Houston Metropolitan Dance Company, SUCHU Dance, Rice University Rice Dance Theatre and Urban Souls Dance Company where she also served as a guest choreographer for their 2012 season.

Ms. Jones is an Adjunct Faculty member at the School of Theatre and Dance at the University of Houston teaching modern dance, she is a consultant in modern dance, composition and repertory at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts while guest teaching at numerous universities, workshops and intensives. She is a proud member of the Actors Equity Association and is represented by A+ Actors of Texas.

*interview by Frame Dance social media intern, Rachel Kaminski

Tuesday Tunes: Dance Teachers and Their Tunes

by Lydia Tuesday Tunes
Happy Tuesday, Framers! For today’s Tuesday Tunes, we are joined by our very own Lydia Hance! 
 

Tuesday Tunes: Lydia Hance

R: How do you envision the future of dance?

Lydia Blog

L:  I envision the future of dance as being a larger part of everyday life—people “getting it” more.  I see people looking at me with understanding instead of confusion when I tell them I am a dance artist.  I see the definitions between genres of art continuing to blur and morph.  I see dance in every classroom in America, because people will finally understand it’s the perfect synthesis of mind, body, and emotion.  And as artists, we have to remember that we’re on the forefront as innovators.  We have to approach the world as art ambassadors.  It takes time.  We have to be confident, humble, and clear.  The way things are, we have to make our work, find out how to fund our work and defend our work.  It’s hard, it’s exhausting, but it’s the way it is right now.  We have to be consistent art warriors to get the future. (photo by Ashley Horn)

R: What has been the biggest dance challenge to overcome, in teaching or performing?

L: My biggest challenge has been my fear of making mistakes.  I take the privilege of teaching seriously and that fear was quite paralyzing when I started teaching.  But the more I observed great teachers, and the more I Facebook-20140707-044948learned from teachers who were playful and humble, the more confident I became that it is totally legit (and preferable) to know that you don’t know everything and the classroom is a place for teachers to learn as well.

R: What inspired you to form Frame Dance Productions?

L: Frame Dance Productions was formed out of my desire to connect dance with technology and create collaborative works.  I wanted to see culturally relevant, exciting dance that continued to innovate and shed the confines of what everyone expected of a dance company. I wanted to create a context that could evolve and adapt but could remain clear and organized.  The moment you stop DDH_5585changing is the moment you go backwards.  Just because it’s supposed to work, doesn’t mean it will—and we can create art that changes society from within, it shouldn’t exist outside of the system we’re in.

R: What music do you prefer to use when teaching a class?

L: When I teach I try to make sure there’s a variety of music— from Bach to Bob Dylan, and new American music to traditional Chinese music.  I try to make sure not all of my music is in 3’s or 4’s, but that students (and children, especially) learn to hear music in 7’s and 9’s.  It is about variety.  Children love Rusted Root’s “Send me on my Way” and REM’s “Shiny Happy People.”  Then I’ll play some yogic chanting and then some chamber choral ensemble’s work.  I’ll use music that spans from new electronic music to Corelli.  The music you choose impacts your students immensely.  Their ears are young, they haven’t heard all that much.  And, unfortunately, it may be a lot of kiddie music (gag.)  I used to look forward to ballet class because of how I felt when I danced to a certain piece of music.  I was better friends with the pianist than my classmates.  Don’t be lazy with your music.  Be curious.  (Photo by David DeHoyos)

*Interview by Frame Dance’s social media intern, Rachel Kaminiski.

imgresLydia Hance is the Artistic and Executive Director of Frame Dance Productions (framedance.org), founded in 2010.  In the past four years, her work has been performed at the Contemporary Art Museum, Miller Outdoor Theater, Jones Plaza, the Pennzoil Place building, the Photobooth on Montrose, the Port Boliver ferry, Big Range Dance Festival, clawfoot bathtubs, art galleries, and on screens in film festivals all over Houston, Virginia, and Berlin. Before that, her works were performed in San Francisco, Time Square and Malaysia.

In 2012, Hance was named Dance/USA Emerging Leader through acceptance into the Dance/USA Institute of Leadership Training.  She has been named a top 100 Creative by the Houston Press and Arts + Culture Magazine dubbed her Houston’s “queen of curious locations.”

From 2012-14 she was the Education Director of Hope Stone, Inc., and she is a curator of Third Coast Film Festival.  She graduated magna cum laude from Southern Methodist University with degrees in Dance Performance and English Literature.  She trained at the Taylor School, Graham School, Tisch School of the Arts, Limon Institute and SMU.

Tunes Tuesday: Dance Teachers and Their Tunes

by Lydia Tuesday Tunes
Hey, Framers! We’ve recently decided to add a new layer to our Tuesday column. This fun edition to Tuesday Tunes involves interviewing dance teachers, asking a few questions and what music they enjoy playing during their classes. To start us off with a spark, we’re joined by choreographer, dancer, and teacher, Leslie Scates.

Tuesday Tunes: Leslie Scates

R: Why do you find it important to share your passion and knowledge of dance with others?

L: I find it important to share the work I do in dance with others because it is the primary way that the language and history of dance is transmitted across people and generations.  I also really really really enjoy moving with other people…communicating non verbally and sharing real time experiences together.

 

R: How do you imagine the future of the dance world?

 

photo by Catalina Alexandra
photo by Catalina Alexandra

L: I imagine the future of the dance world to be even more integrated with regard to sharing technique and creativity by way of digital media.  I imagine that students will be learning from instructors through screens, allowing for information sharing from distant locations in immediate moments.  I imagine that dance will play even more of a role in neuroscience research and public health.  I think that the role of movement, dancing movement and creative practices in particular will be integral in helping people with chronic illnesses and rehabilitation from debilitating physical events.  I think the neurological benefits of dancing will become more defined, mainstream information and will have applications in many spheres of public wellness and productivity. I also think dance will continue to have traditional techniques passed on and will continue to evolve alongside visual art and performance art and theatre as a separate medium.

 

R: I know that you travel often- How has your exposure to many cultures influenced you as a dance maker?

L: Being exposed to many cultures has influenced me as a dance maker in the following ways:

* It allows me to experience and observe people in their movement and communication patterns and customs.  I get to see alternate ways of organizing social and personal space and time.  

* It gives me opportunities to study dance and dance making with people who have trained and worked in different ways than I have.  This is essential.  Being a student all my life is what makes me stay creative.  I want to learn new ways of approaching the same work.  I want to be challenged to do things I haven’t done yet.  

*  I get to be anonymous.  When I travel to study and work in dance, no one, or not many people know who I am, what else I do, and what my work is like at home.  This gives me ample space to start at zero and work without baggage.  I get feedback on my work that is not attached to my history at home.  

*  I am fully dedicated to that work at that time.  Intensives are called intensive for a reason.  It is concentrated, condensed time in practice.  To be able to focus on being creative and making work fully for days is a brain changer.  I come home with a brain full of new patterns.  And then I get to share them with other people.  Language passing on…

 

R: In a typical class, what does your music playlist look like?

L: NO MUSIC!!! 

Silence is the best sound for training in dance making and improvisational dance.  It is because silence allows us to move from our brain and body, not move to one piece of music, or to simply “interpret music through dance”.  We must look beyond that for inspiration!!!   It is challenging for beginners to dance in silence, but is essential training for post post modern dance.  We must be able to create from within, not only from music and sound and external rhythm.  If we are creating spontaneous ensemble choreography, silence is useful so that we can focus on composition and listen deeply to the emerging dance, and have time and space to respond to the group’s timing and ideas, and our own instincts. 

 

L: BUT I DO LOVE MUSIC AND WORK WITH IT.

My music playlist is wide.  The following are specific musicians or artists that are my go to for Improvisational Dance Classes. 
Mike Vargas
Mileece
Dictaphone
Manual
Andy Russ
Bulgarian State Radio Female Choir
Any recorded text on any topic at all
Bach
Mozart
Music in languages other than English
OOIOO
And I like to sometimes vary current pop music because I like to dance and sing at the same time.  I only use this kind of music in performance if I want to have a certain effect on an audience by introducing a common and known sound / cultural cliche into the performance.  

 

Leslie Scates was recently named a Top 100 creative by Houston Press.

Tuesday Tunes: 2000’s

by Lydia Tuesday Tunes

Tuesday Tunes

 

 

 

We are wrapping up our Dancing Through the Decades series this week with a look back at the turn of the century. If you weren’t dancing in parking lots, plazas and everywhere else to the crazy moves of the Cha- Cha Slide, Souljia Boy and the Cupid Shuffle, then you were probably trying to master the hottest dance moves of the Pop Stars. Brittany Spears, NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys, Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce are just a few that revolutionized the art of choreography during the first decade of the new millennium.

 

 

The Cha-Cha Slide

 

Early 2000’s Choreography  (N*SYNC and Bye Bye Bye) 

 

 And to top it all off…the Evolution of Dance!

 

Tuesday Tunes: 1990’s

by Lydia Tuesday Tunes

Tuesday Tunes

 

Dancers who make “larger and more variable movements in relation to bending and twisting movements of their head/neck and torso, and faster bending and twisting movements of their right knee” are most attractive. The top dances of the 90’s, hip hop and line dancing, which incorporate these dance moves, have had a great influence on dance culture.

 

 The Tootsie Roll

 

 How to do the Macarena 

 

 MC Hammer’s Can’t Touch This 

 

Tuesday Tunes: The Awesome 1980’s

by Lydia Tuesday Tunes

Tuesday Tunes

 

 

 

The 1980’s saw great social, economic, and general change as wealth and production migrated to newly industrializing economies. The 1980’s saw the development of the modern Internet, cable television and music devices such as the cassette and the CD. Movies and wild music videos on MTV inspired popular dances like the Moonwalk, the Electric Slide, the Thriller dance, the Robot and many others. Check out these awesome dance moves that revolutionized modern dancing.

 

The Electric Slide

 

The Moonwalk

 

Footloose (Nuff Said)

 

 

Tuesday Tunes: The Funky 1970’s

by Lydia Tuesday Tunes

Tuesday Tunes

In the 21st century historians have increasingly portrayed the decade as a “pivot of change” in world history focusing especially on the economic upheavals. In the Western world, social progressive values that began in the 1960’s, such as increasing political awareness and political and economic liberty of women, continued to grow. The dance world evolved as well with hip TV shows like Soul Train that kept teens up to date with the latest moves. Discos were popping up around the cities where people grooved to the beats of  ABBA, the Bee Gees, KC and the Sunshine Band, Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor and of course…The Village People.

 

That’s Soul Dancing

 

Do the Hustle!

 

You didn’t really think I wasn’t going to do this one, did you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday Tunes: The Groovy 1960’s

by Lydia Tuesday Tunes

Tuesday Tunes

 

 

 

The sixties were the age of youth. The movement away from the conservative fifties continued and eventually resulted in revolutionary ways in the cultural fabric of American life. No longer content to be images of the generation ahead of them, young people wanted change. Even dancing changed. Dancing was no longer about keeping the basic steps, instead it was all about how the music moved you. Your own personal dance style. The Watusi, The Twist, The Swim and a slew of others dominated the night clubs and beach parties throughout the decade. Here are just a few dances that made entertainment history.

 

 The Nitty Gritty

 

Dee Dee Sharp – Mashed Potato Time

 

 The Swim

Tuesday Tunes: The Rockin’ 1950’s

by Lydia Tuesday Tunes

Tuesday Tunes

              1950’s!

 

 

The United States in the 1950’s experienced marked economic growth – with an increase in manufacturing and home construction amongst a post-World War II economic boom. The 1950s are noted in United States history as a time of compliance, conformity and also, to a lesser extent, of rebellion. However, in the mist of the Korean War and the Cold War, the sock hops were the hottest places to be for the young teens of the 1950’s. Kids crowded the dance floors twisting and twirling to the rockin’ tunes of Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Chubby Checker and the King himself.  Rock n’ Roll was certainly here to stay!

 

Rockabilly Dance

 

The Twist

 

Jailhouse Rock

Tuesday Tunes: 1940’s!

by Lydia Tuesday Tunes

Tuesday Tunes

           1940’s!

 

 

The 1940’s were dominated by World War II and  pulled the US out of the Great Depression. Women were needed in factories, agencies, companies and even baseball teams and the military to replace men who had gone off to war. Food, metals and various materials were rationed to help the Allies win against the Axis Powers that threatened the world. However, swingin’ new music from Glenn Miller, The Andrew Sisters, Artie Shaw, Count Basie and many others provided fast and up-beat songs for the latest dance crazes of the decade.

 

Glen Miller …. In The Mood (A tribute to the 1940’s)!

 

Andrews Sisters and Swing Dancing

 

The Jitterbug