Miami City Ballet’s Post

20: **Title: "Cunning Ballet: On this Battlefield"** On this battlefield, cunning plays its part, Where shadows dance, and strategies impart. Queens and kings, in a regal ballet, Navigate the chaos in a calculated display. Bishops whisper schemes, knights take their stance, In the cunning ballet, where destinies enhance. Rooks guard secrets with silent might, As pawns move forward, embracing the fight. On the living chessboard, a theater of the mind, Cunning plays its part, the narrative entwined. In the realm of squares, where power contends, Cunning ballet shapes how the story bends. As the game unfolds, and the chessboard imparts, On this battlefield, cunning plays its art.

The Nutcracker is perhaps the most widely performed ballet in the U.S. annually. Interesting to know that it was not universally liked when it was first performed, with one reviewer saying, "Tchaikovsky has never written anything more banal than these numbers!" (!!) Some more fun Nutcracker history in this article. Happy Nutcracker season! https://lnkd.in/dwC4thSh

AdDs aNd KeYwOrDs Dance in the Digital Spotlight: Adds and Keywords Take Flight In the grand theater of marketing, where brands fight to the death for the spotlight, Enter Adds and Keywords, the dynamic duo, ready to make your brand take flight. Captivating with Adds, A Visual Delight: Adds, the maestros of visual delight, painting your brand's canvas with colors so bright, Crafting tales that sing, capturing hearts, and soaring to digital heights. Keywords, The Navigators of the Digital Highway: Keywords, the captains on the digital highway, guiding your ship to the right bay, A symphony of words, a ballet of intent, making sure your brand has its say. The Harmony of Adds and Keywords: Together, a symphony, a digital ballet, orchestrating a melody that's here to stay, Adds set the rhythm, Keywords follow the play, ensuring your brand is never led astray. Elevate Your Marketing Ballet: Join the dance, where every click is a pirouette, a step closer to the marketing ballet, Rock the stage, let your brand waltz, and be the crescendo in the marketing ballet. In this marketing masquerade, where each move is a sweet charade, Adds and Keywords twirl, pirouette, and parade, Crafting an epic narrative, a tale to be replayed, In the digital realm, where success is not delayed. #DigitalSymphony #BrandBallet #AddsMagic #KeywordHarmony #MarketingMaestro #techdad #poetry #pmm

Seriously, what is so wrong with stick figures?! 😂 When you see someone dancing with abandon at a club, is your first thought "Pfft, they're not a real dancer! Where are their ballet shoes?" If you see someone happily strumming a few chords to themselves on a guitar, do you think that they don't deserve the instrument because they aren't whipping out some wild finger-plucking skills? Of course not! And yet, so many adults instantly snuff out any flickering creative spark because they believe that if they can't create realistic art, (eg. draw a person that looks like the person does in the real world), then they shouldn't be making art at all. But why should only one type of artist get to play with the crayons? Realistic art is a STYLE of making art in the same way that ballet is a style of dance and Spanish guitar is a style of music. It is only one style of many, MANY out there. There is no one right way to make art and the more you can let go of that limiting belief, the more joy you'll be able to find in your creative explorations.

Here you can find a list of ballet books for youth, teens, and adults spanning a range of themes and genres that you may want to add to your reading list this year. #balletbooks #books #autobiography #biography #illustratedbooks #reading #themoreyouknow #balletherald

Ballet North Texas, led by Nicolina Lawson, is transforming traditional theater experiences to embrace sensory-sensitive audiences. Founded in 2017, Lawson's journey, shaped by gender biases, inspired her to create an inclusive dance haven. 👧🧑 Not all appreciate the bright lights and loud music of traditional ballet. Recognizing this, Lawson initiated ongoing projects for a more inclusive dance environment. One project focuses on sensory-friendly performances, featuring reduced sound levels, half-lit house lights, and a relaxed atmosphere allowing audience participation. 🎭 Lawson emphasizes that these initiatives are not mere projects but an ever-evolving commitment. Her second project aims to make Ballet North Texas fully sensory accessible, exploring changes in costume embellishments and floors, for example. She's keen on adopting successful practices like show playlists and synopses for unfamiliar audiences. 🩰 The ballet world, often perceived as elitist, is breaking barriers with Ballet North Texas' sensory adaptations. Lawson's vision extends beyond dance, seeking to show that the arts are adaptable, inviting, and accessible to everyone. #Arts #Culture #Dance #Leadership #Accessibility #Education #Youth #Inclusivity #BalletNorthTexas #SensoryFriendly #CommunityBuilding

LOOK FOR EVIDENCE MOBBALLET'S WORK IS WORKING FLASHBACK Birthed of unique circumstances, From Other Suns was impactful for people on both sides of the curtain, and is ultimately part of Howard’s larger vision, as she told me in an interview earlier this year, to “build spaces that build ourselves in ballet and beyond.” —Maggie Small⁠ ⁠ Pathways To Performance Choreographic Program (PTP) cultivates and mentors Black choreographers (and those of color) who are working specifically in the ballet idiom. PTP supports Black contemporary choreographers (and those of color) who are interested in investigating working in the Ballet idiom, while aiding established but unknown and overlooked makers break glass ceilings that have prevented them from leveling up in the dance world by providing concrete opportunities for them to create work and have it presented on main stages.⁠ ⁠ Our mission is to make certain that the ballet field does not create a subcategory for Black choreographers in ballet repertoires, that of “modern” and “contemporary”. Hence PTP is designed and dedicated to nurturing and cultivating choreographers whose first language is ballet and who choreograph on pointe.⁠ ⁠ Equally, PTP is an incubator and platform for professional and pre-professional ballet talent as it creates a space for dancers to the have an opportunity not only to be in a creative process with Black makers, but also to receive personal coaching and council is a space designed to be mentally and spiritually supportive and restorative–in a space that not only centers Blackness but acknowledges the impact being Black in the white space of ballet has on a person. PTP provides a space for healing through art, helping participants to negotiate the cognitive dissonance of loving an art form that has just recently begun to consciously see you, while founder Theresa Ruth Howard offers insight on how to navigate the rapidly shifting landscape, ways to activate one’s activism is a safe and strategic way, and building community. “We are not Unicorns”, and we are not alone. We are The Village.⁠ ⁠ ⁠

Pacific Northwest Ballet has been one of the definitive Seattle cultural staples since 1972. I'd been privileged to work on the rebrand of PNB in the distant 2010, just a few years after Peter Boal became their executive artistic director. Having an acronym type of a name was not without its challenges. Being reduced to 3 letters the name lacked visual drama associated with such magnificent art form as modern ballet. To combat this deficiency I went for a boiled-down and bold approach. First, I added a dimension to the logotype, thus turning the name into an abstract platform, a springboard for dancers to take flight. Then I elevated the letter "B" to accentuate the "ballet" portion of the name. Also, I felt this rebrand warranted a special photographic vibe. To test proof the new ID I created a dynamic poster series featuring a single dancer as a hero. But instead of portraying the dancers as nearly divine beings, I've chosen to depict them in a more modernist and unblemished fashion. These posters were meant to celebrate the human body in motion and the exciting energy it created while moving through time and space. The clients acknowledged the new visual language, but in the end, they went with a different design direction. Still, to this day these series are my favorites. The moral of this story is this. We can't always expect to win our client's hearts and minds. But we should always try our best to achieve this goal. As long as we truly believe we delivered the worthy solutions, we shouldn't feel defeated. We get to experience the joy of being immersed in the process while occasionally reaching that rare flow state. And if that's not enough for one to feel victorious, there's more. Not only do these moments bring us short-term satisfaction, but they also give us the fuel to move forward so we can win the new day. #throwbackthursday #brandrelevance #differentiation #rebranding #logodesign #posterinspirations #ballet #yurikacreative

Nearly 40 years ago, the world lost one of the premier choreographers in ballet. Co-founder of the New York City Ballet and its Artistic Director for more than three decades, George Balanchine left his mark on ballet and guided countless dance instructors on how to teach precision. Leaders and teachers in all fields can stand to be reminded of how Balanchine turned potential into stardom. George Balanchine was a rare teacher. One who transformed American ballet. Balanchine certainly pushed dancers to their limit. But, he did this not by telling, cajoling, or scolding them. Instead, he showed them. In Balanchine’s philosophy of movement, dancers were to float above the dance floor. He wanted dancers to feel as if there was nothing more than a piece of onion skin between the heel and the floor. He showed them by demonstrating exactly what he meant. Talented people don’t like to be told what to do. They much prefer to be shown. However, Balanchine understood that demonstration, though superior to telling, often fell short in teaching others. Simply performing a task and teaching that task through demonstration was different for Balanchine. He would show dancers through demonstration, ask them to try it, and then show them again. This repetitive show, observe, and show created some of the best ballet dancers the world has ever seen. This approach is equally powerful for leaders. When leading by example, as many of the best leaders do, it is not enough to simply demonstrate the steps critical to achieve competence. We have to ask others to show us how they will achieve the same outcomes. Leading by example falls short when we don’t ask others to try the strategies and actions we personify. Leaders who show and then ask others to demonstrate what they have observed develop talent more aggressively. Show, observe, show is how people learn best.

Gia Kourlas gets to the pulse of ballet and her musings about City Ballet and Balanchine feel almost palpable. "... Ballet may be ballet no matter the century, but it also needs relevance in the moment. Modern life, either in its horror or euphoria, isn’t separate from the art form. How could it be? A ballet is not just a pretty thing on a stage. It needs to have a reason for being, a pulse. But just what ballet is right now has become confusing. Its branches seem to be growing at different speeds with different textures. Some are thick and sturdy, while others are wispy, frizzled at the ends. It sometimes seems as if live performances are just extensions of TikTok. What the ballet strives for — what companies and choreographers should always be striving for — is the opposite: a work of art that can live only on a stage. That is ballet at its most untouchable. ... ... I get that a gala speech is not where one goes to hear authentic artistic judgment. But what I saw at the gala didn’t advance anyvision. After the dances had been danced and the bows had been taken, questions started blowing up in my mind. What does ballet have to offer us now? And what is ballet? Why do choreographers make it? City Ballet was formed by George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein in 1948, with a desire to create repertory that would reimagine and advance classical dance, bringing it into the present. Producing new work is paramount to that vision. The spring season was billed as an exploration of City Ballet’s evolution and future. But instead of innovation, there was a sense of stagnation. And yet that foundational desire was very much on display during the company’s winter season: Two new ballets werehopeful signs of the future. Alexei Ratmansky’s extraordinary “Solitude” and Tiler Peck’s deft and musical “Concerto for Two Pianos” should never cycle out of the repertory. Of the two new works at the spring gala, one was cheerful and banal, the other earnest and banal. ... ... The new works in the winter season were different: They showed how dance can operate like a high-powered lens, stripping emotions down to their essence. When it works, life is reflected in the ballet just as the ballet remains timeless within the span of any life. Ratmansky’s “Solitude,” inspired by a photograph of a father kneeling next to the body of his dead son in Ukraine, was searing: a ballet for the 21st century. ..." https://lnkd.in/eecGZKp8