Free To Dance

Creating "Tourniquet" - By Rhonda Foote

Lindsey J. Fadner — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:25:22 -0700

Having danced all of my life and been a teacher for over twenty years, I feel quite comfortable stating that the people involved in the creation of “Tourniquet” are those that come along “once in a lifetime”.

Katie, Stephanie, Courtney and Em all began dancing under my direction at a very young age. Originally part of a large brood of students, they remained as others trickled off in other directions—sports, school activities, jobs and (of course) relationships pulled their less dedicated compatriots away. The Four Core dancers remained to share their last year of study before life would take them in different directions.

“Tourniquet” is a modern-based piece structured in character study and personal explorations. I thoroughly enjoyed creating it, and continue to get great enjoyment from each person’s unique reaction to it.

My first question after someone watches the piece is always, “What do you believe it is about?” We created this piece with a definite story line that included place, time and reasoning, but most people have their own unique take on what THEY believe the story of the dance is.

I have come to believe that, in essence, every individual interpretation is correct. “Tourniquet” is a personal journey for the audience to take in their own way, on their own level. Nonetheless, I will share with you what the initial storyline was and the characterizations of the dancers within the piece.

The premise of the dance is that four young women meet in a “place” for people facing mental and emotional disturbances. Each of the dancers was given a character that, in real life, may have been her fate if life was cruel enough to guide them down a disturbingly different road. They were asked to push their minds and bodies to an extreme place where they might find themselves if they were…left abandoned; raped or physically abused; stripped of their dreams and normal life; verbally and mentally abused… not easy for seventeen-year olds by any means!

The beginning of the piece highlights their isolated and separate movements and personalities. They “touch” without connecting and continue to travel on their own paths. The unifying entity is the spiritual being or God-figure that they intertwine and painfully reach for in unison on the chorus.

As the piece progresses, they touch more often and focus on each other in an exploratory and somewhat confused manner. They often return to their individual “world” but find they are more often pulled back to each other and are more willing to touch and be touched.

As the dance concludes, the music edit signals their journey to find peace within themselves and with others. They walk in unison, reach to heaven together and then honestly touch each other with intent and focus. Finally, and most significantly, they are able to physically touch THEMSELVES.

The dance finishes as it began- in a contorted pose that has them connected to their fellow dancers and focusing outward towards what may come in the future.

Costuming was an issue. Everything we tried on seemed overdone and pretentious. This piece did not need “flow” or design. It worked best at its bare-boned honesty with no “cover up”.

Ace-bandages? Well, why not. They embodied the tourniquet-esque wrapping we were searching for. The red stains do not, as many think, signify blood-stains from an accident. They are the pulsing, beating, red that signifies the pain and anguish lying under the bandages.

It took a certain level of personal determination and induced confidence for the dancers to don the “costumes” and take the stage. “Tourniquet” left them exposed both literally and figuratively.

The documentation of the piece was done by “My Guy”, Kris Marsala. Kris is a successful videographer and producer who volunteered to shoot the piece for me. The lovely and haunting space where the video was shot is a large room in The Lincoln Building, a historic building in downtown Watertown, NY.

The dancers, their moms, Kris and crew spent a long, cold and DIRTY (check out the foot shot mid-piece!) day shooting “Tourniquet”.

In the end, the dance is, as always, a personal journey for all involved. The four dancers have gone off to lead their lives…all of them “still dancing”. I am close with some, not so close with others. When I watch this video, I am always transported to the glorious times we had making “Tourniquet”—the laughter, the tears, the eye-opening realizations for all of us. As a teacher and choreographer, one can never ask for more than the twists and turns and discoveries that I lived and re-live with this piece. “Tourniquet” continues to be a personal journey for all involved.

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Avril Lavigne Backs Down to The Dancer's Alliance!

Lindsey J. Fadner — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:52:41 -0800

Magic 107.1 reports that Avril Lavigne was forced to renegotiates her backup dancers' fees after a protest by the Dancer's Alliance.

My question is: Has Avril Lavigne ever danced herself or had backup dancers at her live concerts. I searched YouTube (half-heartedly), and I didn't see anything. She's super talented though...

Story from Magic 107.1:

Singer Avril Lavigne has been forced to renegotiate how much she pays her backing dancers after talent agencies planned to boycott auditions for her upcoming tour in an argument over fees.

The Dancer's Alliance, a U.S. organization which looks after dancers' interests, accused the star of paying her employees wages below the industry rate and demanded all wannabes stay away from the try-outs - which are due to be held on Tuesday, February 5, at the Hollywood Dance Center in Los Angeles.

However, the Canadian star's management bowed to pressure from the agency and scrapped the auditions at the last minute - setting up fresh talks over pay. And the Alliance praised all its members for the victory.

A post on the Dancer's Alliance Myspace Internet page reads, "As of February 4th, 10:30 pm, Avril's management has canceled the audition tomorrow and has opened up a new conversation with the agencies. Thanks for everyone's support on this issue."

Psychology Today Says, "Taste the Rainbow"

Lindsey J. Fadner — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:18:25 -0800

Literally. According to Katie Gilbert, author of "Eat Your Colors," a featured article in Psychology Today, "The more closely your diet resembles a rainbow, the better." Food for thought!

I've copied the article to the "post continuation" section. Otherwise click here to read the article on Psychology Today's website.

Next time you're ambling down the produce aisle, keep an eye out for some of the smallest and little-known food superheroes—dark berries.

A study finds that adding boysenberries and black currants to your diet can give you an anti-aging boost that can protect all parts of your body and even postpone the development of Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Berries and other colorful fruits and veggies are chock full of polyphenols, a type of antioxidant that buffers against disease by protecting even the tiniest of bodily cells from the natural stresses of the environment and aging. These helpful chemicals—also found in green tea, olive oil, dark chocolate and pomegranates—keep your cells (and you) vibrant and active.

How can you reap the benefits of these mighty little age-fighters? One author of the study, in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, offers some refreshingly simple advice: Eat your colors.

Since polyphenols are largely responsible for providing plants their hues, choosing a varied color palate translates into treating your body to a vast array of the antioxidants. Include blueberries, strawberries, cranberries, purple grape juice, pomegranates on your plate. The more closely your diet resembles a rainbow, the better.

People may not realize a colorful diet is actually a heart-healthy diet, says James Joseph, a neuroscientist and director of the Neuroscience Lab at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. Antioxidants protect arteries by keeping them supple and strong. Healthy arteries not only mean a healthy cardiovascular system but healthy gray matter as well. Says Joseph: "What's good for your heart is also good for your brain."

It's possible that someday we'll use berry extracts in supplements or processed foods, says Joseph, but he believes that the eating fresh berries provides the most bang for your buck. Important compounds can easily be lost in processing berries, he says. Indeed, there may be chemicals in fruits and veggies that we haven't even been identified.

Still, adding color to your diet isn't a quick fix. If you're serious about heart and brain health, "you want to make this a lifestyle," Joseph says. Healthy living means the triad of behavior: diet, physical and mental exercise.

Exercise affects brain in a way that's similar to polyphenols. Researchers from the McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Florida find that rats with exercise wheels in their cages show fewer signs of aging in their brains than their sedentary peers, and the same conclusions have been drawn by comparing elderly humans who exercise with those who do not.

That leaves mental exercise as the last leg in the triad. Reading books, tackling crossword puzzles and other kinds of brain workouts may be as powerful in Alzheimer's prevention as black currants and boysenberries.

Knowing is half the battle. Now that we know food and exercise are potent weapons in the battle against disease, we have one less excuse not to put up a superhero-worthy fight.

Psyched for Success, 8 March 2006
Last Reviewed 13 Dec 2007
Article ID: 4005

Dance On!

Lindsey J. Fadner — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:23:19 -0800

On December 30, 2007, Canyon Ranch did a feature story on the mind/body benefits of dance. It is all good news, folks. I just wish more "non-dancers" weren't afraid to give dance a try. Adults who have never danced are especially afraid of entering a dance studio - they assume they are too old, uncoordinated or just missed their chance to dance in youth. This is so sad to me! After all, rhythmic movement is "one of the most widely enjoyed forms of movement known to man" - you should be dancing!

"Looking for the perfect exercise? You may want to add a pair of dancing shoes to your collection of athletic gear. In his new book, UltraLongevity: the Seven-Step Program for a Younger, Healthier You, Canyon Ranch Medical Director Mark Liponis, M.D., entitles his chapter on exercise and movement simply, “Dance.” Dr. Liponis explains that he’s defining dance broadly as rhythmic movement, in part to get the attention of people who think of physical activity as a grim business involving dumbbells and suffering.

But he goes on to show that rhythmic movement is in fact the most beneficial kind: One study, for example, found that swimmers and rowers – both of whom practice a profoundly rhythmic form of exercise – had healthier immune systems than equally fit athletes, such as soccer players, whose sports are less informed by rhythm. Scientists have several theories about why this should be – one is that movement plus rhythm tends to create an anxiety-reducing meditative state. (Think of a baby being rocked, or a small child self-comforting by sitting and rocking himself.) As Dr. Liponis points out, it stands to reason. Our bodies and our lives are ordered by rhythms great and small, so rhythm both feels great and does us good.

What the body wants
With the addition of music, rhythmic movement becomes dance, one of the most widely enjoyed forms of movement known to man.

“The body is made to move, and it loves to move to music,” says Christina Lopez, fitness manager at Canyon Ranch in

Tucson

and creator of the Ranch’s wildly popular event, Gotta Dance!

Lopez, who’s been studying dance since age 4 and teaching it since she was 13, should know. She’s brought her infectious, high-spirited love of dance to thousands of classes over the years. Like Liponis, she’s not strict about defining dance.

“You see kids out running around, playing, and they’re dancing all the time, just feeling the joy of movement,” she says. “It’s wonderful in, say, a World Beat class, where we have live drumming, to watch people let go and feel that again.”

“Dancing makes people happy. The body naturally wants to move to the beat, and when you allow your body to lose itself in movement, it’s such a joyful, renewing thing.”

Not surprisingly, dance classes are among the Ranch’s most popular offerings, and they range from Belly Dance to Funk Aerobics, with inventive new classes emerging by popular demand. Dance at the Ranch has moved into the water, for example, with Aqua Boogie and Fluid Flexibility – both of which are done to ever-changing themed soundtracks – and into the realm of mind and spirit with Spirit Dance, which combines elements of Eastern marital arts practice, yoga and other body-mind practices. Also new and moving to the beat: Rhythmic Stretch, in which the process of stretching goes beyond a series of static holds and becomes a fluid, rhythmic process.

Lopez even dances on the stationary bike.

“Indoor Cycling? I’m dancing to the music. The sheer pleasure of moving to music is the single biggest reason group fitness classes are so popular,” she says. “Life is just better with a soundtrack.”

Dance to your favorite beat

Even if you haven’t danced since your high school prom, moving to the music may be in your future. Dance is an enjoyable, endlessly varied form of physical activity with strong mind-body and social components; if you like it, you're likely to stick with it.

Here are some ways Dr. Liponis suggests for getting started:

Take a ballroom dancing class with a partner. This is low-impact, indoor exercise that develops balance, agility and mind-body coordination. And who doesn’t want to feel like Fred Astaire?
Study beginning tap or belly dance, or sign up for a jazz class. As Dr. Liponis points out, if you register for a class, you have a regular appointment with fitness.
Make a commitment to learn a strenuous dance form. There are impassioned folk and contra dance groups in nearly every community that hold regular events and welcome new members; country swing, tango and salsa are going strong in clubs in every city. Most give lessons to beginners. You can find them online or in your newspaper’s events section.

Become a social dancer, take classes, dance around your living room, dance with your kids – just dance! It’s a gift for your body and spirit, and it’s a whole lot of fun.

Link to the Article

Updates On Former SYTYCD Contestants

Lindsey J. Fadner — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:09:30 -0800

- Gina Scarpa, BuddyTV Staff Writer
Source: MySpace

"The great thing about So You Think You Can Dance is that you get hooked on your favorite in the season. I knew quickly how much I would like and root for former contestants like Travis, Hok, or Danny. The bad thing about the show is that once the tour is over, it's hard to track down these former reality stars and find out what they're up to. Fortunately, there's MySpace where many reality stars head to update their fans on life after the cameras turn off. Many participants from So You Think You Can Dance go on to teach, choreograph, dance professionally, etc. Here are updates on some of your favorite dancers and where you can find them!

Season 2 fan favorite Travis Wall recently made the big move to New York and he didn't go there alone. He's rooming with fellow contestant Ivan Koumaev and the two have a lot on their plates. According to Wall's MySpace page, he is working with two separate dance companies as well as teaching around the country. He has a big announcement coming but says he can't tell his fans until all the details are solidified.

After leaving the show, many contestants go on to teach master classes to aspiring young dancers. Season 3 contestant Lauren Gottlieb is doing just that and will be making a stop in Boston at the end of this month. On January 31, she'll teach two master classes at The Radisson Hotel in Rockland, just outside of Boston. An autograph session will follow and dancers will get the opportunity to work closely with a contestant who not only made the final four in season 3 of So You Think You Can Dance but assisted choreographed Tyce DiOrio in season 2.

Season 3 contestant Kameron Bink is also teaching and will be in Jacksonville, Florida on February 4 and 5. Fellow dancer Jaimie Goodwin is traveling the country in early 2008 at various dance conventions held by the New York City Dance Alliance (NYCDA). Her next appearance will take place January 26 and 27 in Portland, OR.

Got updates on the former contestants of So You Think You Dance? Post them here!