The lights are bright, the buzz and energy is so full of life. It’s full of song, dance, storytelling, exciting choreography, extravagant costumes and sets. It’s Broadway. It’s lovingly called The Great White Way – one of the first streets in the U.S. to be lit with electric lights. Its history and reputation and potential for amazing things make it a “bucket list” item for many dancers. But when so many dancers are vying for the same goal, how can you turn this dream into a reality? How can you break into Broadway?
Here, we turn to Stephanie Bissonnette, a 2010 graduate of Broadway Dance Center’s Summer Intern Program (now called the BDC Professional Semester), who made her Broadway debut in the musical Mean Girls last April. She knows all there is to know about what kinds of classes aspiring Broadway dancers should be taking, how to prepare for that singing audition and how you, too, can make it on The Great White Way, doing what you love.
A happy Thanksgiving from everyone at Broadway Dance Center! What better way to express your gratitude for dance (and dance off that turkey!) than to dance for a cause?
Next week (November 24-December 1) Broadway Dance Center will donate a portion of the proceeds from select classes to Dancers Responding to AIDS (DRA).
Dancers Responding to AIDS is a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Funds raised by DRA are distributed through Broadway Cares to AIDS and family-service organizations nationwide and to the essential social service programs of The Actors Fund. The Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS information below is inclusive of DRA’s efforts.
The Fall for Dance Festivalis an annual series of dance concerts sponsored by Mayor Bloomberg and the MetLife Foundation(tickets are only $15!). The festival consists of five different programs held at the spectacular New York City Center. Each program showcases four performing companies of contrasting styles (tap, ballet, cultural dance, etc.). This year I was lucky enough to get a ticket to Program 3 (last year the tickets sold out within an hour!).
I arrived at the City Center, which is pretty unassuming from the outside on 55th Street. But once I entered the theater I was blown away by the huge space and beautiful ornate blue and gold proscenium arch. The nearly 2,750 seat house was packed with people of all ages – dancers, cultured New Yorkers, dance teachers (I ran into BDC ballet teacher, Beth Goheen), dance writers (I recognized Dance Magazine editor, Wendy Perron) and critiques.
Program 3 included works by:
Ballet West – Grand Pas from Paquita – ballet
Tu Dance – High Heel Blues – jazz/modern duet
Nan Jombang – Tarian Malam (Night Dances) – Indonesian dance/martial arts
Moiseyev Dance Company – Moiseyev’s Classics – traditional Russian dance
Other performances in this year’s Fall for Dance Festival (9th season) included:
This season of incredible performances (at amazingly low prices!) continues from September 27 – October 13. If you missed out on this year’s Fall for Dance, be sure to mark your calendars for next year – tickets go on sale online the first week of September.
“So bring your family, grab your friends, join us and fall in love… Fall for Dance!”
