Exercise to enchaînement to choreography...

 In dance, I have often considered exercises to be repeated actions done in relative repetition to both warm up the body, as well as build good physiological habits. It is one thing to know how we would like our bodies to move, and another matter altogether as we try to enact that which we imagine!

When I was learning to kayak, I thought that everything was happening too fast, as I was sitting in a tiny boat on a moving surface. Yet repetition of the most basic strokes (starting with forwards, backwards, and turning) seemed to allow time to expand, and eventually what seemed to require rapid-fire reflexes settled into a slow motion action sequence. 

1990-ish my first dugout canoe paddle on Lake Bratan, Bali, Indonesia.

If you start learning ballet as an adult, I imagine that there are so many things that seem unfathomable, as teachers talk about turnout, articulation of your foot in ways you never knew existed, knowing which foot gets placed infront of the other, and so on... then you get told you need to think about the placement oppositional energy in your upper body, arms, and head! Huh?! I understand. I have also learned that it is easy for those of us who have been dancing for many decades, and most of our lives, to take our bodies habits of good form and technique, for granted.  So as I watch dancers in class, I try to imagine just how fast the music and the movement might feel to them. And rather than slowing down the tempo, I mostly choose to simplify each exercise to just a few movements designed to build good form and alignment. 

For teaching modern classes versus ballet classes, my emphasis is in training the use of the torso and knowing how to find and fall away from our center of balance (and gravity), focusing on more grounded shifts of weight and how to shape space through movement, with less emphasis on the balletic footwork and ports de bras (carriage of the arms).

Classroom exercises progress to enchaînement (sequences of varying movements strung together) in ballet where each individual step learned is linked in complex phrases. Mostly, I have found that what makes ballet enchaînement feel more advanced is actually the rhythm that shapes the steps we learned in exercises. A rond de jambe in an even 4/4 can feel very different than one in more clipped 2/4 march-like rhythm, or even a 3/4 waltz. 

Below are two clips of dance by Paul Taylor where variants of rond de jambe are an integral component of the choreography.

Tablet (1960). Dancer: Pina Bausch

Company B (1991). Dancer: Kristi Egtvedt

I can't tell you what in life will make you happy in your own body, happy with how you move through life, happy with the choices you make. I can tell you that by finding connections between everything I do and learn in life only adds to my sense of fulfillment in this experience. Almost everything I consider to be within my expertise and knowledge has come through a process of being a beginner making mistakes, stumbling, and learning from both missteps and surprising gifts of coordination. 

And while the LEARNING has always been up to me to apply myself and be open to change, I would have no way of understanding what I was learning except for the people who have shared their history and experience with me. A book, a website, an instructional video, have never been enough for me to truly learn something, especially if I want to feel it in my body. And I never encountered a teacher from whom I didn't have something to learn.

After more than four decades in the dance field around the world, I think I have a few valid perspectives to offer. And I am grateful to students and dancers who have kept in touch and offered kind sentiments about learning from me.

I hope you will join me in class one day at the Taylor School of Paul Taylor Dance Company in NYC. It is a city filled with amazing teachers with an untold wealth of life experience and knowledge. Hopefully the addition of four new dance studios will bring more of you to find out what Paul Taylor's legacy continues to offer the future of artistic wellbeing and exceptional dance.

Paul Taylor's dancers carry knowledge in their bodies!

 Learning to dance can seem like a simple statement. Then once you start the journey, you realize that you have to narrow down your definition of DANCE, for no other reason than to not be overwhelmed with all the things we might consider to be dance. Identifying the realm(s) of dance you might love doing, does mean having the courage to simply drop in and take a class as a first step!

Paul Taylor was of a generation of Modern Dance choreographers who started out imagining that rules and definitions exist to be challenged! Learning to perform Taylor's choreography is a practice that I had the privilege of doing under his guidance for fifteen years. And, in my day, that was the average number of years dancers stayed with Taylor's company.

It took me at least seven years to start being secure in my ballet technique during my early career, and by the time I thought I was mastering my dancing, my body had aged and changed drastically from its earlier capacities. I joined Taylor fifteen years into my career and doubled my performing life. Needless to say, I could never have imagined what my body and my dancing was going to be at forty-six, when I stepped away from performing.

2008 in one of the last roles created for me by Paul Taylor in his
"De Sueños"

Teach what you know, and learn what you don't know. With age, I have learned that life experience has taught me that I know more than I think, and learning is a constant process. Taylor passed away ten years after I stopped dancing for him, and he created eighteen more dances in that time. Today, I am still working with and investigating more than one hundred and forty documented works of Paul Taylor. Many Taylor dancers have the joy of exploring well over fifty different Taylor dances if they remain for an average tenure with the company of ten to fifteen years. So when I get to teach in the style of Taylor, or stage one of his works, or deepen the research for other stagers of his works, I see how Taylor's style and choreography shapes the access to movement and dramatic range of each dancer. And dancers can apply this in turn to all of their other performances.

I have a profound background as a classical ballet dancer, alongside a childhood education in Afro-Caribbean forms. Yet my legacy in dance is currently bound to an American Modern Dance tradition that I learned little about as a student. Taylor's company culture under his leadership, and Taylor's choreography taught me much that I needed to learn, and in turn a little more that I now know.

Rowan Parker is one such dancer that I have had the pleasure of sharing what I have learned from my life in dance with Paul Taylor. 

2024 - Yamit Salazar & Rowan Parker in Paul Taylor's "Duet". Photo: Fabrice Herrault

" I had the huge pleasure of being taught by, and working with Richard both in the UK and in NYC. I felt inspired by his wisdom and passion from the beginning. He came with such a wealth of knowledge that i wanted to absorb as much from him as I could in each class or rehearsals that we had. He has so much to pass on from his time in the dance world, and he does just that. he leads with enthusiasm and care to achieve the best results from whoever he iw working with. There are certain teachers or mentors over a dancer's life that leave a long lasting impression, and to me Richard is one of those figures." - Rowan Parker

2024 - rehearsing with Rowan & Yamit in Ashington, England. Photo: Eliot Smith

Whether you are interested in learning ballet or modern, the Taylor School in NYC has expanded its footprint to managing eight studios in Manhattan. I am so happy to be able to teach regularly each week, alongside brilliant teachers from both the ballet and the modern world. I hope you will come check it out!

Teaching Ballet and Dance for how we Learn!

 Many years ago, due to a debilitating injury to my right leg, and a friend who had just started, I took up kayaking! I took to it like a fish to water, and it wasn't unlike my early experience learning ballet. Once I started, you would have had a hard time stopping me. For me, if I felt an ability to learn something I didn't know, it was intoxicating. The first few lessons revealed much about everything that I didn't know I NEEDED to know. Another couple of decades later, I would take my first surfing lesson, and if I had had the freedom of my youth, I might have set up camp on the beach, and lived there. 

Hawaii 2011, part 1

It can be discouragingly hard to be a beginner the older and more self-aware we become. Yet we can learn smarter and faster if we understand HOW we learn to move in different ways. As a beginner, we learn about things we didn't know needed consideration. And if we can enjoy the PROCESS, then the learning becomes an enjoyable adventure, rather than always striving to accomplish a goal: catching a wave, running a whitewater rapid upright, doing one more pirouette, landing a double tour. 

Hawaii 2011, part 2

So how do YOU learn to move like a dancer? Sports medicine and research into physical sports with a high incidence of recreational injuries provides a simple matrix for looking at how most humans learn a new physical activity: through mimicry, tactile manipulation, rational understanding, and physical experimentation. Nobody learns in just one way, but sometimes you can identify the kind of coaching that works best to help you learn: a demonstrator to mimic, a light touch to put your limbs in the right place, a clear explanation, or the freedom to let your body figure it out. 

As a dance teacher, kayak trainer, wilderness guide, or mentor, I try to offer different learners opportunities to learn as I demonstrate, explain, offer to manipulate your limbs, and encourage the bravery to trust their bodies. Observing the challenges dancers face with learning simple and highly complex moves lets me focus in on exactly the best kind of coaching that might help the dancer before me. Happily, after decades of teaching dance around the world to children, individuals from different cultures, dancers with different training than mine, enthusiasts with no training whatsoever, I no longer fear the challenges I might face as a teacher, but I embrace and look forward to exploring how each dancer learns differently.

2019 teaching in Goa, India. photo: Purnendra Meshram

In India, during my 2018 sojourn with the assistance of the Fulbright Foundation, I met many wonderful young dancers. I have mentioned a couple in a previous post, and here is one more, Pia Sutaria! You can actually hear Pia tell her story on the Royal Academy of Dance podcast from December 5, 2024!

https://podcasts.apple.com/ug/podcast/s10-e2-pia-sutaria/id1561944293?i=1000679279669

Pia has kindly recorded her endorsement of why a dancer in NYC might want to take advantage of my open classes at the new Paul Taylor Dance Company's the Taylor School studios in midtown Manhattan: Tuesday evenings for Adult Beginner Ballet and Saturday afternoons for Advanced Modern technique.

received 13 May 2025!

Alongside of teaching in India, I was also invited to join in a few celebratory weddings and got this snap with Pia in 2018! 

Dance & acrobatics are not mutually exclusive!

 I always wanted to learn acrobatics when I was a kid, but it wasn't offered for boys in Jamaica where I grew up. Ironically, gymnastics schools on the island weren't open to training boys, but dance schools certainly were, even though at one point I was the only boy on the island taking ballet lessons. This didn't mean that boys didn't dance, just not ballet nor gymnastics. Track and field were the competitive sports of choice for Jamaicans, and the island still produces some of the best track athletes in the world!

Partially on account of my physical build, and my expansive movement quality, Paul Taylor seemed to imagine that I had an acrobatic background, similar to previous dancers in his company. He cast me in roles that assumed a skillset I had always dreamed of learning, but sadly didn't have. In NYC I discovered a world of "open" adult classes for almost anything you might want to learn, including adult beginner "tumbling"! At thirty years old I learned to hold my first handstand, and by thirty-one I successfully did my first back handspring without a spotter! Throughout my fifteen years dancing and creating with Taylor I continued my extra-curricular training in acrobatic tumbling, consistently reinforcing basic techniques that were NOT second-nature from my lifelong training in dance. 

circa 1998 in "Piazzolla Caldera" with Andy Lebeau.

As I started staging Taylor's dances, I realized how learning new physical skills as an adult made me a better coach for young dancers, developing and honing their own skills and interests for their future in dance and theater. In 2009, I had the pleasure of setting Paul Taylor's "Airs" at the New Zealand School of Dance (NZSD), and working with a young dancer, Robbie Curtis, who was in his final year. 

2009 rehearsing Robbie Curtis & Nicola Leahy at NZSD. Photo: Steven A'Court

Robbie would go on to work internationally in circus troupes, eventually starting his own, continuing to push the marriage of acrobatics, dance, music and theater to make a statement through performing Art! He has kindly said this about working with me.

“I am pleased to recommend Richard Chen See as an extremely talented and dedicated dance professional. I had the pleasure of working with Richard at the New Zealand School of Dance, on Paul Taylor Repertoire, and was constantly driven physically and creatively to explore my limits and artistry. Richard's incredible passion and commitment is truly world class, and I value my time learning from him greatly.”

Robbie Curtis (Co-founder & Artistic Director, ARC CIRCUS)

2009 Robbie & Nicola in Paul Taylor's "Airs" at NZSD

I am so proud of watching Robbie's career path, and that we have kept in touch, if intermittently!

Through the years... Robbie with Nicola... with Lizzie Mcrae

And to bring this back to where I started this post... not only did my adult tumbling education color roles I originated, but so did my background in contact improvisation! 

1997 with Tom Patrick as orignal cast "Piazzolla Caldera" at Jacob's Pillow!

I am teaching regular open adult classes in Ballet basics every Tuesday, and advanced Taylor modern every Saturday in NYC. Please come join me at Taylor Dance West in the heart of Manhattan!?

En Croix... En Avant. (Écarté Devant) A Côté. (Écarté Derrière) En Arrière.

 I confess that my approach to teaching modern dance classes does borrow heavily from my classical ballet training. And teaching an Adult Beginner Ballet class reminds me of the most basic principles of direction and physical articulation artfully defined in a ballet class. 

2001 studio test shot for "Dandelion Wine". Photo: Lois Greenfield

Most repetitive actions in ballet are done in the cardinal directions that you might find on a compass and described as "en croix" (in the shape of a cross). 

Actions and travelling steps are "en avant" (to the front), "a côté" (to the side), "en arrière" (to the back), the primary directions in which excercises both at the barre and in the center are built. "En diagonal" then becomes an easy progression as it will be half way between front and side or back and side.

Static positions are often described by where a foot is aiming to be placed relative to the other foot and your body facing front, "devant" (in front), "de côté" (at the side), "derrière" (in back). 

In my early training, the French terms were always used in class in preparation for taking exams where visiting adjudicators from the United Kingdom would conduct our examinations. If they were to give corrections or ask for an "enchaînment" (a sequence of movements), the examiners were only allowed to describe the steps or sequences, but were not allowed to physically demonstrate the actions or phrases. As an adult working in the USA in both ballet and dance forms that seek to defy previously codifed movement, using the French terms is more of a choice than a requirement. Yet many of my personal choreographic notations still use ballet terms where it best describes the step I want to remember.

However, as a Ballet teacher, I attempt to not only demonstrate the steps which I ask students to learn and execute, but I also try to use both the French terms and an English description. I remember the first yoga class I ever took (especially since it was less than ten years ago, LOL!) and I had to rely heavily on my ability to mimic movement, as I had no idea what the Sanskrit names of the "asanas" (poses) indicated. Yet over time, I guess I would recognize the yoga terms, and it would help me anticipate the "flow" sequence being given.

My ballet background has often also assisted me in staging Paul Taylor's dances and unique aesthetic when working with dancers who come from a primarily classical ballet background. In recent years, I have had the pleasure of spending time working with highly skilled ballet dancers in Vienna at the Wiener Staatsoper and the Volksoper Wien theaters. Recently, one of these exceptional dancers sent this kind endorsement to me.

2023 Dragos Musat & Olivia Poropat in "Dandelion Wine". Photo: Ashley Taylor

" As a professional ballet dancer with the Wiener Staatsballett for over ten years, I can say that working with Mr. Richard Chen-See has been nothing but harmonious, motivating, and incredibly inspiring.

  I had the pleasure of working with him on the role of the featured partner in Dandelion Wine by the renowned Paul Taylor, which was successfully brought to the stage of the Vienna Volksoper.

  During the months of rehearsals leading up to the premiere, Richard guided us through a well-structured process of learning and understanding Paul Taylor’s technique and style. He not only demonstrated the movements with precision and clarity, showcasing his exceptional physical experience, but also made it incredibly easy and enjoyable for us to absorb a style that was entirely new to us.

  His commitment continued well beyond the premiere from far away. From New York, he followed our performances closely and sent us detailed corrections via thoughtfully prepared video presentations. He even returned to Vienna to watch our shows in person to further help us elevate the level of our interpretation and performance.

  It is rare to meet someone with the level of dedication and natural gift for coaching and teaching that Richard has. I can therefore say, that he possesses all the qualities necessary to guide dancers and students with exceptional efficiency, care, understanding, patience and professionalism. "

Dragos Musat (dancer Wiener Staatsballett) 

2023 Dragos Musat & Olivia Poropat in "Dandelion Wine". Photo: Ashley Taylor

2023 studio rehearsal at Volksoper Wien with Dragos & Olivia, Martin Winter & Nina Cagnin

2000 "Dandelion Wine" opening solo: Richard Chen See

I am on the roster of Taylor Dance West in NYC, weekly "open" classes. Please come join me?

TUESDAYS 6:00 - 7:30pm Adult Beginner Ballet (or just think of it as Basics of Ballet)

SATURDAYS 2:00 - 3:30pm    Advanced Taylor Modern technique

Sign up and see the full roster of class offerings https://paultaylordance.org/school/open-level/

Ballet... Modern... Dance... injury... a person who dances!

 It can be hard to imagine that a professional dancer who has been training since they were a child can truly understand what it is to be an adult wanting to learn ballet, or any dance, for the first time. Well, this has been my experience, about every five years through my career, I found myself trying to "train" my body to keep doing the things I thought I knew, and still build on all I had learned before! 

A child's body and coordination are different from a teenager's, much less a young adult. Then as a professional I discovered that injury, new technical and choreographic challenges, and an ageing body simply meant that what I expected of myself needed to addressed as though I was a complete newbie! 

"Yes", I could rely on a lifelong discipline to learn movement, and a mental image of what I hoped to achieve, yet my solutions to consistently balance, turn, jump, and twist into unnatural positions always needed to be re-assessed every few years. I was blessed with a strong body with resilient healing abilities, even when faced with debilitating injuries. At one point I needed to learn "walking" again before "dancing" again. This is not a syllabus I would recommend for most people, but I gained great empathy and understanding about how to be a "person" who dances! As opposed to being a "dancer" who happens to be a person.

When I began my professional career as a teenager, I defined myself by being a dancer and earning my living by my ability to dance. I think it would have been nearly impossible to see myself differently at that age, and I imagine that many young dancers have faced a similar perspective of their life. By the time I was in my twenties, I think I started to self-destruct by overwork and an ever-present fear of what I would do when I couldn't dance any more.

Learning to be a person who dances took me a couple more decades, but in retrospect, everything I have lived through, that led me back to dancing, has made me a better teacher, coach and mentor. I "listen" carefully to how you move, and I will encourage you to find your unique approach to executing the discipline I am teaching, whether that be ballet, modern, or kayaking!

Fabrice Herrault has been a long time friend and colleague, and I am so happy to find us working side by side at the Taylor School, every Saturday in New York City. Fabrice teaches advanced ballet technique, and I teach advanced Taylor modern! We have also opened a program where we are available for semi-private coaching on variations or technique for dancers wanting to polish or become more secure in their dancing/performing.

2011 - Fabrice choreographing a short solo for me to perform for my MFA thesis project!

Two years after I retired from performing, I commissioned Fabrice to choreograph a short solo for me to perform as a part of my Masters of Fine Arts thesis project. As I was getting back into performing fettle, and almost 50 years old, I would take Fabrice's open ballet class. Our approaches to dance teaching and coaching always seemed to align and our different backgrounds prove to be complimentary!

"48" (2011)

I was the director for the last New York International Ballet Competition in 2009, and I had worked as the resident ballet/contemporary coach and rehearsal coordinator for the 1993 competition. When I became the director, I hired Fabrice to teach morning class for the competitors, and received unversally positive feedback from all fifty-two professional and pre-professional dancers.

Don't miss this opportunity to train with Fabrice and myself every Saturday at 

Taylor Dance West, 307 W 38th Street, 9th Floor. Paul Taylor Dance Company's stunning new studios with state of the art sprung floors, column free studios and live accompanists! 

Wendy Scripps Studio, Taylor Dance West

Paul Taylor's Dances in Ballet Companies!

It's hardly a secret that I am amongst a privileged few "former" dancers who stage (teach) Paul Taylor's works for companies, dance conservatories, and schools around the USA and the world. My professional dance career started outside of the USA through my ballet training and in dance companies or projects in Europe and the West Indies. Since retiring from performing, I have enjoyed working internationally to bring Taylor's dances to life for dancers who may never have encountered his work before.

Most often, Paul Taylor's dances are licensed to be performed by major ballet companies like American Ballet Theatre, Paris Opera Ballet, and Birmingham Royal Ballet. One of the most celebrated German ballet companies in recent decades is Ballett am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Germany, and I had the fortune to set two of Taylor's works on some very special dancers! More than being beautifully trained athletes, they are committed artists curious about transcending technique into creating living "accessible" art. Taylor's dances are built to feature each dancer's individuality as they fit into a larger community, marked by the aesthetic approach and physical language of his choreography.

With the premiere Ballett am Rhein cast of "Esplanade" in 2016.

L to R: Yuko Kato, Bruno Narnhammer, Asuka Morgenstern, Doris Becker, Vincent Hoffman, Alexandre Simões, Camille Andriot, Elizabeta Stanculescu, Callum Hastie (BaR balletmaster), Wun Sze Chan (apologies if I got anyone's name wrong).

I thought it might help New York dancers get a chance to know more about me, by readinng or hearing from dancers with whom I have worked in the past. So in my previous post, I shared a couple of videos from dancers I met in India. Below is a short quote from Doris Becker whom I first met in 2016. She is still dancing with Ballett am Rhein, and I am so proud for all of her accomplishments and continued success on the stage and in life. Thank you for the kind words, Doris! 

Photo: Gert Weigert

“Working with Richard on two very significant Taylor works ("Esplanade“ and “Offenbach Overtures“) was a very special experience for me because I haven’t got in touch with any of his works before at that point of my career.

 

Richard‘s incredible knowledge about the pieces including the explanation of Taylor's vision, the choreography, the music score and the style of the movements and how he taught us to use it allowed me to really enjoy the process and to get this very unique experience of feeling so "free“ and "alive“ on stage even though you’re dancing your heart out. 

 

Looking back on my 20 years of being a professional dancer now it was one of my most favorite working processes because getting coached by such an honest, warm hearted and empathic person as Richard is not very common in the ballet world!” 

Doris Becker (dancer Ballett am Rhein), 2025.

Alexandra Liashenko & Doris Becker in Paul Taylor's "Offenbach Overtures"

Ballett am Rhein. Photo: Gert Weigert

If you are curious about learning ballet or modern with me, I teach regular weekly "open" classes at the Taylor School in NYC. Brand new studios are located very near to Times Square, and our full roster of teachers bring a wealth of dance to life daily.

paultaylordance.org/school/open-level/