Ballet Basics at Taylor: As life gets busy... a class routine is centering!

I realized a couple of days ago, that I was somewhat "due" to write a post on this blog. The classes I teach every Thursday morning are at Igal Perry's studio, Peridance, for a 2-year certificate program in dance performance. Those classes have wound down for the summer, and this year, my summer teaching will be in Mumbai, India. In a couple previous posts, dancers I met in 2018 during my Fulbright project kindly sent short video endorsements of my teaching. I am looking forward to encountering them and many others when I am back for a short three weeks at the end of this month.

2007 in "Musical Offering" by Paul Taylor. Photo: Hiroyuki Ito

I had hoped this blog would encourage readers in NYC to come and take classes from me, specifically the ballet classes I have started for the Taylor School. Locally, I am not known for my ballet conservatory background or the breadth of 19th and 20th century ballets I performed over a ten year career as a classical dancer in England and the USA. I am honored to have become known for my ongoing association as a "Taylor" modern dancer, and I am also aware of how much my ballet and Afro-Carribean background contributed to my modern career... and longevity within the dance field.

Having regular weekly classes in ballet and modern does consistently remind me of how lucky I am to have this privilege to get back into a studio. The clarity of structure and the effort to achieve the ideal for each student and each exercise, has never gotten "old" for me. Dancing is about "doing" and when so much of my work is sitting at this very computer to handle my role as an Arts administrator, I relish being in a studio where all of my concentration is on being in the moment, not reviewing data and not having to anticipate tomorrow!

I have been assisting Paul Taylor Dance Company in part of their preparations to perform at the Joyce Theater here in NYC, June 17-22, 2025. The artistic director, Michael Novak, asked me to take charge of restaging an early duet, "Tablet", from 1960. Fortunately I have access to Taylor's conceptual notebooks, and a single video taken back in 1961, from which to work. The other landmark work being revived is "Churchyard", also by Taylor, and reconstructed under Novak's guidance and assistance from original cast members.

The work, and the joy, of teaching and staging work is being as prepared as I can prior to walking in the door, and to have the confidence to make changes and adapt, depending on who is in the room, and what is needed.

Here is another kind endorsement from a dancer who grew up in New Zealand, and has settled in London, England working as a personal trainer and life coach. There is so much opportunity in our lives to write a unique story, and if you would like for dance to be a part of that story here in NYC, I hope you will come by and see whether my classes my suit your interests.

Thank you so much Daniel McCarroll for your generosity with your memories of working with me.

In 2011, I had staged Paul Taylor's "Company B" for the students at the New Zealand School of Dance in Wellington, which is what Daniel references. This was the only pic I could find with Daniel in rehearsal from that year.