Tuesday, January 26, 2010

"Respect"

As a fellow dance teacher and choreographer I feel that I need to give props to others when I am moved or in awe of their work.

I don't think we do that enough as teachers, to each other I mean, give each other words of praise or encouragement.  If I see a dance at a competition from another studio that I really enjoyed, I will make a point of approaching that teacher and telling them.  Normally other dancers/teachers will do it to your students, which I think is wonderful.  However, I just want to give a little respect to other teachers/choreographers sometimes... cause we all could use a little more love!

Most "in-the-know" teachers or dancers have heard of Kate Jablonski.  It has really only been about a year since I first saw her work on the internet, but it spoke to me immediately.  I feel what she tries to emulate in her work is exactly what I am trying to speak to as a choreographer as well.  I appreciate the simplicity of the dance she is telling, yet the parallels of her creativity and advanced movements.

I was searching through YouTube today and came across one of her videos that I have never seen before, and I have watched it about 17 times in the past hour.  I do love me a good Dave Matthews Band  song, but my love for this routine goes to a whole other level!  Please check out the video of her Lie In Our Graves piece.  I have seen many routines over the years with ropes, but nothing compares.

I personally don't know Kate, but I feel it is my duty to introduce her work to other people in the dance industry who might not have never heard of her before who are reading this.  I would be willing to bet she'll be making incredible work for many years to come, so you better familiarize yourself with her!

I'll bet there are hundreds of talented choreographers like her who need to be given a chance to showcase their work to a wider audience.  Maybe SYTYCD should hire her to do a piece and see what the response is.  They should probably do that with more up and coming choreographers so that the show has more variety and depth on a weekly basis.  Hopefully I just got you a job Kate!

So shouts out to you Kate Jablonski, and your dancers at Beyond Words Dance Company!

Much R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

2 comments:

Alison said...

HUGE fan of Kate's. What's amazing is that she's only 22 or 23 .. crazy young!!

And I must agree the rope number is bad ass. Great use of hitting the notes.

Smuin Ballet said...

Wow, very nice work with the rope. Our piece Medea uses a rope in a more violent matter, but great to see the rope choreography in different ways.