Grier Cooper's Blog, page 5

Flesh and Bone: Fact or Fantasy?

If you’ve seen the opening credits for Flesh & Bone you already know they are nothing short of stunning– and they do exactly what they are supposed to: Leave you wanting more. Here it is if you haven’t yet seen it: I’m sure I’m not the only one who tuned in for the premiere episode…

Continue reading

What Ballet Life is Really Like

Whenever I meet someone for the first time, one of their first questions is, “What was it like to be a professional ballet dancer?” Ballet is in the public eye like never before, yet movies like Black Swan and shows like Breaking Pointe tend to focus on the gritty side of dance, and are at…

Continue reading

Ask Indigo: How to Stop Self-Sabotage

Halloween is just around the corner, which usually makes me think about dark, scary things, but then I realized these things are only real in our minds. Our minds are really good at conjuring up dark, scary things. All too often they are negative thoughts about ourselves…because, aren’t we all our own worst critics? Think…

Continue reading

Behind the Scenes With Post:Ballet

It’s a Thursday evening and Post:Ballet‘s Robert Dekkers in is five places at once. He’s in discussion with his lighting designer, conferring with dancers, and bringing me up to speed about some of the collaborators he’s working with this season. He cues the music with his phone and the dancers run through DoBe:Family Sing-a-Long and Game Night, Dekkers’ newest work, (due to premier at the end of July), bodies playing off each other in a tangle. There’s humor, exaggerated facial expressions,...

The True Meaning of Freedom and Independence

Ironically I spent the 4th of July in London this year, and while I didn’t celebrate (for obvious reasons), I did spend time thinking about freedom and independence. The two words are often paired together but they’re really quite different. We can be free but not independent, independent but not free, but there’s real power when we are able to achieve both. How do we embody them, make them a part of life?

I find it helpful to review definitions first. Once you get a handle on meaning the re...

Dance Meets Air: Dance & The Elements, Part IV

Some of the coolest dreams I’ve ever had were flying dreams, but the best were when I danced weightless in the air, high above the treetops. For me this was just a dream, but for some it’s a real-life, working day reality. These dancers spend their days dancing airborne and weightless How cool would it be to have these jobs?

Bandaloopusesthe art of climbing to turn the dance floor on its side, offering a completely new perspective on dance. The choreography is truly mesmerizing, like watchin...

Dance Meets Earth: Dance & The Elements, Part III

When you think about dance, where do you picture it happening? Likely you conjure up images of a Zen-like studio setting or an air-coniditioned theater…settings far from the origins of dance: The Earth. Most indigenous cultures still maintain this connection, unlike most modern, Western cultures. Luckily there are some exceptions because there’s nothing like changing things up and getting back to putting our feet back on the ground.

Trails and Vistas is one such exception. Every year since 2...

Dance Meets Water: Dance & The Elements, Part II

In the never-ending quest for new ideas, sometimes it makes sense to return to simple things. The posts in Dance & The Elements, an ongoing series for the month of June, take a look at how dance companies have used the elements to create some extraordinary work. This week, just days before Summer Solstice, when many of us are already thinking about ways to beat the summer heat, it’s all about water.

Pilobolus has long been a favorite dance company, not just because they are from my home turf...

Dance Meets Light: Dance & the Elements, Part I

Dance today is changing in so many exciting ways, through new ideas, new choreography and even new venues. Directors and choreographers continue to search for ways to create work that takes dance to another level and appeals to a wider audience, especially young people. This month’s posts,Dance and the Elements, will look at ways that companies have used the elements of light, water and earth to create something extraordinary.

Dance isn’t usually something one would associate with light, alth...

The Alice Street Mural Project: Oakland Dance and Culture Comes Alive

Murals: colorful, magical… cultural storytelling at its best. Word on the street is there’s a new mural in town, right in the heart of Oakland. TheCommunity Rejuvenation Project (CRP)’sAlice Street Mural Projectwill be officially commemorated this weekend with a diverse lineup of dancers and other local luminaries. A cool new mural and live dance? What more do you need?

More than two years in the making, the muralfocuses on the contributions of the Afro-Diasporic community centered around the...