Quiz: name and describe ten of history’s most famous ballets.

We talk a lot about the time you spend on stage and the time you spend in the studio. But we should also think about our contributions to dance, not as dancers or as dance makers or as dance teachers, but as paying audience members.

Guest blogger Will lets us into his life as a dancer and candidly answers some of the questions he often gets.

It’s that time of year again: when kids (and people who still feel young enough to imagine) dress up and can pretend to be…anything!

And, statistics show that kids still overwhelmingly pretend to be dancers.

Guest blogger Will uses his experiences as an adult male ballet beginner to dispel a few myths about ballet.

And, he answers all your questions about tights, shoes, and dance belts!

Wearing both football shirts and tutus, dancers in “The Beautiful Game,” a new work by the English National Ballet (ENB), recreate ten of the most memorable moments in football history (that’s “soccer” to you American readers).

What is “contemporary ballet?” What is “contemporary?”

If you don’t really know how to answer those questions, hopefully this post can help you. (And if you are absolutely sure that you can define “contemporary ballet,” then maybe this post will confuse you a little.)
Click on the title of this post to read.

If you’ve performed on stage, you’ve probably (hopefully) worn “stage makeup.” But if you’ve never applied your own stage makeup, consider these tips before picking up the eyeliner and blush.

Click on the title of this post to read on.

With the company’s work billed as “a comedy ballet of weighty elegance and adorable humour,” the Evgenii Panfilov Russian State Ballet, or the “Big Ballet,” offers classical art from non-traditional performers. 16 dancers make up the Big Ballet, and each one weighs over 200 pounds.

To meet its budget, the Texas Ballet Theater must raise $1.5 million in pledges and $500,000 in cash by September 10.

Inspired by a recent “Times Online” article that named the top-five British ballet company websites, I’ve picked my top-five websites for American ballet companies.

Click the title of this post to read the list.

Filmmaker David Kinsella’s “A Beautiful Tragedy,” a documentary that opens the doors of the Perm State Ballet School, is now available in all DVD formats.

On Kinsella’s YouTube Channel, you’ll find clips of the film. There, you’ll also find plenty of comments on each clip. It’s these comments that interest me today.

To read more about why I think the comments on “A Beautiful Tragedy” could be important, click on the title of this post.

Even if ballet has little presence in your city, you can still find its influence everywhere.
More specifically, you can find it in the leggings, wraps, and flats worn by fashion-conscious women in cities around the world.

Is this love of ballet-inspired fashion rooted in something more lasting than fad and designer decree?

Click on the title of this post to read more about ballet dancewear’s lasting impact on mainstream fashion.

Although the world is focused right now on the 2008 Olympic Games in China, the dancers of the National Ballet of China (NBC), although less known than some Olympic athletes, are also performing feats of physical and artistic strength.

Studies have shown that ballet is a great cross-training activity for athletes.

But, studies have also shown that ballet is very tough, and ballet dancers experience many injuries.

In this post, we talk about how ballet dancers can cross train to improve strength and prevent injury.

We also talk about the benefits of ballet as a method of cross training for other athletes. Click on the title of this post to read!

Can you learn ballet through the Internet?

Some do-it-yourself dancers are skipping lessons and turning to YouTube for ballet instruction. Judging from many videos, from both students and demonstrators, maybe the risks of such lessons should be made clear.

Click on the title of this post to read our entire article on the risks of YouTube ballet lessons.

Male ballet dancers are not a modern phenomenon. But today, some audiences, and even some dancers, seem to forget that fact.

We think it’s important to revisit ballet’s masculine beginnings and thank all of the men who continue dancing.

Does the wait to begin pointe work seem too long?
Read this post for a reminder on why it’s important to wait and to get tips for making sure you start right.

Click on the title of this post to read the rest of our article.