[JOURNAL]: Injury Prevention

Winter Can Be Such a Pain

As dance artists, an awareness of injury prevention methods is non-negotiable. Simply put: in order to sustain and/or enhance our careers, we must learn what our bodies need in the face of any elements. So what happens when the temperature drops, snow covers the ground and our breath turns to ice right before our eyes? Turns out, avoiding the winter injury blues is as easy as practicing these familiar steps…

[JOURNAL] America: Now and Here

On Thursday October 21, upon receiving an invitation from Student Advocates for the Arts’ President Priya Sircar, I attended a presentation about a new program called America: Now and Here. Director Dorothy Dunn made an incredibly exciting presentation about this program that aims to take a traveling multi-disciplinary exhibition across the nation that will “launch a national dialogue about America through art, to spark local activities and fuel imaginations, and generate innovation from coast to coast.”

[EVENT] Emerging Innovations in Dance: New Solutions for Old Problems – YAC’s Town Hall

If you couldn’t make it to our town hall event, you can watch it here!

On May 20, YAC hosted our second annual town hall, generously hosted by Ballet Hispanico, with thanks to moderator Melissa Dibble of EmcArts and a dedicated panel.  Our aim was to continue field-wide discussion of  innovative models for our organizations, large and small, and address old problems we continue to face in the 21st century– among them: financial stability, affordable self-production, and audience engagement– issues with which the dance community is all too familiar.

[JOURNAL] Breaking the Fast Cycle

Submitted by Loren Davidson

Can you spare a New York minute?

I didn’t realize that my anxiety and out of character stress was caused by thevery fast world I had become accustomed to.  My hours were filled with working fast and being fast and my spare minutes were spent quickly thinking of what to do next. After being a transplant in New York for five years, working on a fulfilling a dance career as well as maintaining a sense of self worth at a second job, I have gone completely mad. Many days I would have to drag myself out of bed and be in such a sluggish state that I could hear my brain speak, “left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot….”. That sensation dissipates rapidly as I look at the time and although I want to sit and ponder the schedule for the day, my reality is a quick shower, protein bar put in my pocket, and a detour to the local coffee shop. The minute I am out the door, my eyes either are doing either one of two tasks: darting back and forth at all the activity produced by the streets or eyes cast down, looking slightly ahead of me as if I were driving a car and I just shifted to cruise control.

[EVENTS] DanceNYC Winter Symposium

Author Simon Sinek at DanceNYC Winter Symposium (c) Lori Byargeon

Members of the dance community gathered at the 3LD Art & Technology Center for energetic discussion on Saturday, February 6^th.  The DanceNYC Winter Symposium presented large group sessions transmitting a feeling of empowering dancers and leaders and engaging our audiences.  A “Smart Bar” was hosted enabling intimate one-on-one chats with experts in the field.  In what is a difficult economic climate for all business, profit and non-profit, it is important to know the skills and methods to leverage moving forward in such a static time.