Tonya Plank's Blog, page 34

Thank You, English Person, Who Bought My Book and Put Me on the Map in the Amazon UK Store :)

Hehe, I am all giddy because I just made my first UK sale! This officially puts Swallow on the Amazon UK bookstore map since it now has a ranking – and believe it or not, is currently ranked number 2 in legal fiction and number 32 in literary fiction there! Just realized it's also ranked in the top 50 in literary fiction in the US store as well, and this marks the sixth week that it's in the top 10 in legal fiction here. I really couldn't be more thrilled. I am so happy that people are...

Wendy Perron, Esteemed Editor-in-Chief of Dance Magazine, Recommends Swallow on Twitter!

How awesome is this!: "Tonya Plank's SWALLOW is a real page turner, & she shows that lawyers get as intensely nervous as dancers." From Wendy Perron, E-I-C of Dance Magazine, via Twitter. I'm so giddy I'd run into Ms. Perron at an Alvin Ailey season preview Tuesday night and when she told me she was reading my book and enjoying learning about my other life, I almost fell off my chair! I can't even express how honored I am that she even decided to pick the book up!

The Alvin Ailey season...

Dance Beat's New "After Hours" Web TV

The popular DanceSport newspaper / website, Dance Beat, now has a web show called "After Hours." Watch the first, free, installment here, focusing on a recent American Smooth competition, and hosted by Shirley Ballas (for Dancing with the Stars fans, that's Mark Ballas's mother). Included is an interesting interview with outgoing champs in that style, J.T. Thomas and Tomas Mielnicki (she's pregnant, who knew!), along with some lovely footage of their dancing.

Ailey Camp!

A couple of weeks ago, the kind people at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater invited me to visit one of their Ailey camps. The one nearest me was in Washington Heights, so I spent a morning up there watching the kids and their classes. Then, late last week, they invited me to that camp's final performance, which took place at Columbia University's Miller Theater.

What a sweet night! So precious – the kids were so proud, the parents were so proud, the teachers were so proud. And the kids...

So You Think You Can Dance's Ellenore Teaching at DNA

I received news from Dance New Amsterdam that Ellenore Scott, finalist from season 6 of SYTYCD, will be teaching an intermediate / advanced contemporary class there for two weeks starting August 17th. I thought it sounded fun and thought I'd pass on the info to you guys, if anyone is in NY and takes classes. Apparently, Scott has been touring with Janet Jackson and is taking a two-week hiatus from that to teach. DNA is located downtown and has excellent rehearsal studios and a good little...

A Psychologist Likes Swallow!

Swallow just received a very good review from a psychologist and top 10 reviewer on Amazon! I was a bit worried since the book is mainly about a psychological condition, and a psychologist is one of the main characters, so I'm thrilled she liked it. The psychologist in the book is very Freudian, which is I guess is not the norm today. Anyway, it definitely helped me to get over the sting of my first one-star review! That's okay – knew I'd have to get one at some point…

I'm also having fun...

Four Young Choreographers at the Joyce

Earlier this week, I went to two programs at the Joyce Theater showcasing new works by four young female choreographers: Andrea Miller (whose company is Gallim Dance, photographed above), Camille A. Brown, Kate Weare, and Monica Bill Barnes. I found all four very good – by turns, entertaining, funny, provocative, and emotionally moving. All were very original. Here are some photos, all by Christopher Duggan.

Gallim Dance performed Miller's Wonderland, which to me evoked this rather twisted...

First Gatorade Dancer Athlete is a Woman!

I'm really glad Lauren Froderman won So You Think You Can Dance last night. I didn't think I had a clear favorite until it came down to the time when Cat Deeley was getting ready the winner's name and I was practically falling off my couch, chanting, "Please Lauren, please Lauren, please!" in my head. I think one of the coolest things about the winner's prize this time is that Gatorade ad. According to what Nigel Lythgoe'd said earlier, this season's winner will get to be Gatorade's very...

So You Think You Can Dance Season Finale

So, first we go through a re-cap of the season – some of the silly try-outs, the judges' harsh criticisms of certain contestants, Alex's injury, all the tears, Adechicke's becoming emotional over being able to dance a routine choreographed by Desmond Richardson, etc. etc.

Okay, first on, Kent and Lauren do a Bollywood routine by Nakul dev Mahajan. Well, that was really high energy and Kent definitely delivered on that, as well as really camping it up. That was a lot of fun. But what I felt...

MyMutation Competition Entry Deadline Extended to August 13th

For people who wanted to enter the MyMutation Online Dance Competition and haven't yet gotten their entries in, the deadline has now been extended for a couple of days, to August 13th.