Summer School Blog

The Good Earth is a novel about a poor young farmer in the rural, turn-of-the-century China. When Wang Lung reaches the age to marry, his father reaches out to the powerful Hwang family to ask if they have a slave that they are willing to let Wang marry, and they did, 20-year-old O-lan. O-lan and Wang Lung are pleased with each other but exchange little words between each other. The two of them have a bountiful and profitable harvest from their land. O-lan eventually become pregnant and Wang is ecstatic that his first child is a boy. Mean while, the Hwang family falls to hard times; the husband is obsessed with women and the wife is an opium addict. With this, Wang buys a piece of fertile rice land and enjoys another profitable harvest and is granted another son. With Wang's new found wealth, he catches the attention of his greedy uncle. Since in these times, custom dictates that Wang must show the most respect to the older generation and especially family members, he is forced to ...

This isn't really a review for a news story but more of a response to something that happened to a friend of mine that is tragic and I want to do my own response to it. On December 17, 2016, Mr. Randy Graff was strangled to death then thrown outside in -40F weather with snow on the ground... Mr. Graff was a good, kind-hearted man who was only trying to help a friend whose son had strong-armed her out of her own house, and proceeded to have friends over to party. When Randy went over there to try and get them to leave, he was attacked and strangled until he was no longer breathing then cast out the front door and left to freeze and die. Mr. Graff paid the ultimate price that night trying to help a friend. Mrs. Graff was left with the heart wrenching weight of having to tell her 16 year-old son, Dylan Kuharski, that his father was not coming home that night, and never was going to. Today, Dylan and his older brother Mike work at On the Border with me. I am good fri...

Nicolas Le Riche was a principle performer with the Paris Opera Ballet for the duration of his carrer and is now becoming the Head of the Royal Swedish Ballet and succeeding Johannes Öhman. Le Riche has had works created for him by renowned choreographers such as Mats Ek , Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe and John Neumeier. He now already has a clear vision for what he wants from the Royal Swedish Ballet: "We will work on classical pieces as well as with choreographic innovators in equal measure and design a creative, diverse program for all audiences, both national and international. This program will be performed by accomplished dancers, with whom we will work – both in the studio and on stage – to develop their potential for vibrant, dynamic dancing. Lastly, I look forward to a successful collaboration with the house musicians in order to enhance the uniqueness and the identity of the artistic strengths that comprise the Royal Swedish Opera" Being in dance classes, I le...

Starting in a small local dance school and ending up in the Corps de Ballet is huge, but most dancers don't even realize how or when they go there. "I wasn't even thinking about a career yet. It was all sort of a whirlwind, and I just went with it." says Betsy McBride, a 24 year-old dancer who started in her local dance school at the age of 3 in the suburbs of Dallas. At 14, Mc Bride went to a summer intensive to get better and learn more, at a school that's affiliated with the Texas Ballet Theater. After a few weeks, she was offered a year-round place at the school. A couple months after that, she was hired into the Texas Ballet Theater. In 2015, McBride contacted the American Ballet Theater, in search of something bigger and new to do in her career. ABT originally said that there were no open spots but offered to let her take a class with them. After the class was over, she had made a good enough impression that a spot just so happened to open up and she was of...

During the most emotional and meaningful part of a performance inspired by the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, the fire alarm sounds. With the perfect timing of the alarm, most of the audience remained seated, treating it like it was part of the performance, when in reality, the on stage smoke mixed with the humidity, setting off the fire alarm, creating a real need to evacuate until the fire department gave the all clear. What is a performer supposed to do when something like the above happens? Dr. Charlie Brown,  a retired performance psychologist who has worked with dancers from Charlotte Ballet, talks about the difference between successful and not as successful performers in tricky situations like this, "The most successful performers aren't more perfect; they know how to visualize performance success and mentally prep for when things go wrong," says Dr. Charlie Brown in a interview with Dance Magazine. Dr. Brown suggests that to be a successful performer, you ...

Yesterday, on our class trip downtown, we were asked to speak to a few business owners to find out what its like to own a business. I came across a few coffee shop owners and a few more native to our area shop owners. I learned a few things from each of these places; and surprisingly a lot of it is the same from shop to shop. One of the things many of the owners said that they learned from owning a business is that you should never think like a business owner, but you should think like a costumer. In all honesty, this makes a lot of sense. You want to think like the costumer, so you can understand what they want, what they are looking for, and if it is set at a reasonable price yet you'll still make a profit. Another thing I learned from all the owners I talked to is that the costumer isn't always right. I was slightly shocked by this. Usually you get told that the costumer is always right, but in reality you must stick to your values and only try to appease someone if it sta...

http://www.dancemagazine.com/how-to-actually-find-neutral-2440448159.html When in dance classes, all dancers are asked to keep on their neutral spine. But, what is a neutral spine, and why must we stay on our neutral spine? Your neutral spine is when your spine, from the cervical to the pelvic, is in its natural s curve. This is different for everyone because of the different structure types for each different person. Each dancer must stay in their neutral spine to stay balanced and to work all the correct muscles. This is extremely important. If a dancer is off balance or working the wrong muscles, then they could seriously injure themselves. As a dancer myself, I am asked to keep on my neutral spine all the time and I can honestly say this is difficult if you have no idea what they are talking about. This article actually helped a lot and I actually feel better about how to do it.