Seattle, WA. In celebration of World Tutu Day and #TutuTuesday, Pacific Northwest Ballet launched a new fundraising effort for its Second Stage Program. The program supports PNB dancers looking to advance to the next stage of their lives. It’s multi-faceted and provides scholarships, mentorship programs, and support for a career transition. Providing financial support to dancers allows them to take college courses, access counseling, and career services, and receive grants for education and start-up expenses.
The lack of performance opportunities because of the COVID-19 pandemic has created an increased need to help bridge economic gaps and support dancer’s post-dance careers. This year World Tutu Day fell on Tuesday, February 2nd, so it was a great opportunity to launch an effort supporting young dancers, gearing up to advance their education and career opportunities.
Leta Biasucci is just one of many dancers who have benefited from this program. She articulates how much it has impacted her life: “While the notion is changing, there are often too many barriers of entry for a dancer to pursue higher education and explore other passions. Time, accessibility, and of course, expense are all hurdles. Dancers are exceptional in reaching personal goals through cultivated grit, dedication, and determination; but before anyone can aim for a goal, one must feel like that goal is attainable. That is why there is a real need for programs like Second Stage.”
Leta Biasucci in The Sleeping Beauty. Photo courtesy of PNB and Angela Sterling.
Funds from benefactors make it possible for PNB dancers to become college graduates, lawyers, small business owners, therapists, and more. Donate here.
From the Pacific Northwest Ballet:
Second Stage is a multi-faceted career transition program for PNB dancers to achieve their post-Company goals. Since 1999, Second Stage has provided more than $750,000 in grants to dozens of dancers. Our former colleagues are now working in law, medicine, dance education, culinary arts, dancewear design and manufacturing, aesthetics, and photography—as well as creating and managing companies world-wide. The program offers scholarships, mentorships, support for research, and a unique partnership with Seattle University. You may donate at this link: Second Stage Program.
Renton, WA. Evergreen City Ballet will offer the public different versions of dance classes for fall. Artistic Director Bennyroyce Royon says “to address the varying needs of the community, [Evergreen City Ballet] has created new programs and expanded them.” Students have the option of taking classes in-person, virtually, or through a hybrid model, in which class groups alternate between in-person and virtual classes every week. Currently, in-person classes are limited to five students per class group, but this may change following local and state requirements. Virtual classes will be conducted entirely through Zoom. Evergreen City Ballet is also instating various protocols in its studio to ensure the health of its students and staff amid the COVID-19 pandemic. These protocols include providing physical distancing markers, wearing face masks, administering daily temperature checks, and frequent hand washing. Information about class tuition at Evergreen City Ballet is available here. Watch the video below to see an overview of Evergreen City Ballet’s offerings:
Evergreen City Ballet is a nonprofit pre-professional ballet school located in Renton, WA. Royon, a Julliard alumni and former dancer on Broadway, says that since 1994, Evergreen City Ballet has been a “small but mighty” school that provides dance education for people all around the Pacific Northwest. The ballet school offers programs for dancers of all ages and abilities, from 20-month-year-old children to adults. In addition to its classes with live accompaniment, Evergreen City Ballet also showcases an annual production of TheNutcracker that tours to several cities in the greater Seattle area. Evergreen City Ballet’s The Nutcracker aims to provide the community with an “affordable and accessible” production to enjoy.
A pre-pandemic performance of The Nutcracker at Evergreen City Ballet.
Royon shares that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Evergreen City Ballet “had to close and shut down” its classes earlier this year, as well as cancel rehearsals and productions. Following ECB’s closure, staff had to quickly “learn new ways of teaching through Zoom.” Royon shares that this transition was a “challenge,” as Evergreen City Ballet’s “education of students is hands-on.”
Students train at the ballet barre in a class prior to COVID-19. Photo by Michelle Smith-Lewis Photography
Fortunately, Royon shares that the dance community is equipped to “problem solve, create systems, and move forward,” which was an asset for Evergreen City Ballet’s online transition. And despite the loss of revenue stream from ECB’s productions, the ballet school was grateful to receive support from past and current families that take classes, as well as receive grants. Royon says Evergreen City Ballet is “really lucky and thankful for funders.”
Young students dance in a pre-pandemic dance class.
Royon reports that ECB’s program modifications are managing to “bring people together in strange and unexpected ways,” and even spark innovation. Throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, ECB will closely follow local and state news and mirror its offerings with what is happening in local school districts. Royon hopes to maintain the school’s “open-door policy,” as Evergreen City Ballet is a “second home to a lot of families and students.” Moving forward, Royon wishes for people to “reflect and connect deeper within themselves and with people in their environment” and utilize the arts as a way to heal.
From Evergreen City Ballet:
Evergreen City Ballet accepts any kind of support or encouragement people can offer. Anyone is welcome to make financial donations, and Royon shares that no donation amount is too big or small. People are also encouraged to keep an eye out for future virtual productions on ECB’s website.
ECB’s mission is to provide high-quality dance education and performance opportunities to students of all ages and to enrich the diverse communities in the Puget Sound region through performances, outreach, and community engagement initiatives. Our long-term vision is to be a nationally recognized, premier, pre-professional ballet school with a studio company that cultivates excellence, diversity, inclusiveness, and innovation.
Seattle, WA. Seattle Dance Collective’s new project Continuum: Bridging the Distance will broadcast digitally to the public for five weeks. Continuum includes five works of art performed by Seattle Dance Collective members, filmed by Seattle-based filmmaker Henry Wurtz. New work will premiere each week beginning July 2 until July 30. Each work will be accompanied by a behind-the-scenes video citing the challenges and discoveries artists uncovered while creating art during a pandemic. Continuum: Bridging the Distance can be viewed on SDC’s website and Facebook page. Seattle Dance Collective will also provide online classes throughout the series, taught by artists involved in each week’s newly released work. There will be classes for dancers of varying skill levels, and all are free to the public.
Elle Macy and Dylan Ward in Home by Penny Saunders. Photo by Henry Wurtz
Since COVID-19 hit Seattle, co-founder and artistic director of Seattle Dance Collective Noelani Pantastico says “it was clear that [SDC] had to cancel [its] summer program” and re-imagine how to create art “under the constraints of social distancing.” Due to the absence of live audiences, Seattle Dance Collective “had to think very differently about how to bring artists together” and “engage audiences in a brand-new way.” Ultimately, Seattle Dance Collective “shifted [its] artist workshops online” and collaborated with colleagues to conceive Continuum: Bridging the Distance. Pantastico shares that “capturing SDC’s work on film and sharing it online has added an exciting element to [its] offerings.”
Founding Artistic Directors Noelani Pantastico and James Yoichi Moore. Photo by Lindsay Thomas
Pantastico and fellow SDC co-founder and artistic director James Yoichi Moore have been pushed to “learn new sets of skills.” Specifically, giving artistic feedback while reviewing and editing dance footage is a “new territory” for the artistic directors. Pantastico says that “responding to filmed product” differs greatly from the typical rehearsal process of communicating with dancers in real-time. Additionally, the artistic directors must give opinions on additional factors of the work aside from the dancers’ performances, including light, opacity, music, and film editing to ensure the “dance and dancers shine more.”
Amanda Morgan in Musings by Amanda Morgan. Photo by Henry Wurtz
Moore shares that Seattle Dance Collective’s “artists have also been stretched during this unconventional process,” as “creating dance for film is different in many ways from the traditional theater production.” Moore states that “dance is an art form that demands physicality and close contact,” so Seattle Dance Collective’s “choreographers had to completely adjust their method and figure out how to successfully develop and rehearse a new piece remotely via video call, rather than in the studio.” There are also added elements choreographers must consider in their creation process, including “taking advantage of close-ups and multiple camera angles.”
Lucien Postlewaite in A Headlamp or Two by Beth Tellwilleger. Photo by Henry Wurtz.
Dancers also had to adapt to rehearsing in the confines of their home and many of them had to rehearse in separate spaces, away from one another. Moore states that “in some cases, dancers were only able to experience the full breadth of movement when on location for the first time, before filming.” SDC’s filmmaker also learned to work in an “entirely new way” as he needed to “conceptualize camera work with very limited on-location rehearsal time.”
Leah Terada and Myles Pertl in The Only Thing You See Now by SeaPertls
Moore says that Seattle Dance Collective has always believed that “dance is a vital form of storytelling and emotional expression.” For this reason, “being able to offer artists the opportunity to continue practicing their art… when most artists have suddenly found themselves unemployed, is not only extremely rewarding” for SDC, but “crucial for the continued development of the arts.” Moore says that “people need art more than ever, and it is [Seattle Dance Collective’s] responsibility to put it out there”
From Seattle Dance Collective:
To support Seattle Dance Collective, people are encouraged to visit the organization’s website to “watch new films, register for classes, and share broadly.” Seattle Dance Collective relies on the generosity of supporters to “continue creating meaningful art” so any donation is “appreciated and essential to [SDC’s] future.”
Seattle Dance Collective is dedicated to nurturing collaboration between dancers and choreographers and introducing audiences to transformative programs of artistic excellence. SDC was founded in 2019 by Noelani Pantastico and James Yoichi Moore and made its debut that summer with four sold-out performances at Vashon Center for the Arts.
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