You, Fascinating You, a novel based on the epic story behind a timeless love song, will soon come full circle on the stage as a dramatic musical. I returned to my roots in Theater to write the book and lyrics. Because music resides at the very heart of this story, I knew that I needed to attract an exceptional composer.

I found Federico Ferrandina on Stage 32, a global network of working artists, and was struck by the elegance and timelessness of his compositions, and by how they subtly echoed elements of the music that was so much a part of my protagonists’ lives.

Federico earned degrees in Classical Guitar and Composition before branching into film scoring, his current specialty. His songs and orchestral pieces grace film and television soundtracks in Italy, the United States, Canada and Poland. In October 2012, he won two Global Music Awards for his pop song “What We Are” and the instrumental “Paradigma.”

In the following interview, he shares his love of music and story.

—What first drew you to a life in music?

I was born in a family of musicians. My mother was a piano teacher, my grandmother a violinist, and my great grandfather the conductor of a military band, as far as I know, but maybe this is not an exhaustive answer. I mean that the exposure to musical stimulation since my tender age had probably brought a particular propensity to music, but I think I started feeling music as my main expressive horizon when I was about 11 years old, completely bored by classical piano lessons, and I discovered the Beatles and the whole rock culture that taught me what is a musical emotion. I know that’s a paradox, but only after this did I learn the real deepness of so-called classical music that I was obliged to study since I was a child. Maybe I had to reach it my own way (some say that growth presupposes transgression…).

—You divide your time between Rome, Italy and Los Angeles, California. How does this double life influence your music, and what career opportunities does it afford you?

My frequent travels and stays in California started just after the achievement of the Global Music Awards. It’s a quite new thing for me, so it’s hard to say, but in L.A. I had the chance to meet and work with colleagues from the film music industry that influenced a lot my musical thoughts. My practical methods of writing are changing too, not to mention the wonderful and inspirational independent musical scene of Los Angeles, swelling with new ideas and sounds that immediately captured my curiosity.

—You have won awards both in Italy and globally, produced CDs, placed songs in film and television… Which achievements as a musician and composer give you the most satisfaction?

They’re all tiles of  the same mosaic. I get some sort of satisfaction when I know that my music has been able to share my emotional message with someone; it happens in different ways and circumstances. You Fascinating You, the musical, is a good example.

—What drew you to You, Fascinating You?

I was contacted directly by writer Germaine Shames, who found my music on the Web and asked me to work with her on this musical. I accepted almost immediately. This story speaks to me in such a deep way, and I love everything that deals with ballet and dance, a passion of mine.

—This musical tells the story behind the timeless Italian love song “Tu solamente tu” by Neapolitan composer Pasquale Frustaci. How would you describe Frustaci’s music? Does it bear any resemblance to your own?

Pasquale Frustaci is known, above all, as a songwriter. We can consider his songs as pop songs of that age, with clear references to Neapolitan folk melodies, but they immediately reveal a deep knowledge of late Romantic music in the harmonic movements and a smooth influence from jazz (Gershwin, Cole Porter, Berlin…) with rhythmic elements from Latin American music (Tango and Beguine). These same features coming from both classical and jazz music that converge into a Mediterranean conception of melody belong to my music, too. I’m always searching for my own way to make these soundscapes dialogue.

—What are you finding most challenging about composing the score of You, Fascinating You?

I want to create a sound horizon that evokes early 20th century music (pop and classical) yet is able to speak to contemporary audiences. The challenge is to experience music from a past age by way of a contemporary sensibility. It must engage the irrational and unconscious part of the audience and drive them to the heart of You, Fascinating You.

—What are your hopes for this project? 

I hope that this history reaches people and touches their intimate feelings. You, Fascinating You is a chance to reflect on our past and mistakes, on our dreams and love.

Visit Federico’s Website

Federico on IMDB

View Federico’s YouTube Channel

Hear Federico’s Music on SoundCloud

Hear THE SONG that started it all!

 “Dance, dance, or we are lost!” Pina Bausch

In the highly competitive and youth-dominated world of professional dance, most performers retire in their thirties and early forties. For a dancer whose very identity is bound up in performance, what more does a life in dance have to offer?

The following interview with dance educator, writer and choreographer, Linda Ashley, explores both the challenges and opportunities faced by the aging dancer. Welcome, Linda!

Why did you feel a need to coin the term “Youthanasia,” and what exactly do you mean by it?

I haven’t coined a dictionary definition for the term. However, if I were to do so, it would hover around something to do with the historical stereotyping of dance as a youth-driven art form combined with the more recent growing awareness of how dance can contribute to the quality of life for all ages.

At the time I began using the term Youthanasia, I was intrigued by two important factors. First, the students I was teaching on the Bachelor of Dance seemed to have little idea of what they would do in their careers as they aged and saw dance only through a performer’s eyes. Second, I was concerned about the rise of TV shows that seemed to focus on dance as a young people’s art form and little else.

Can a dancer avoid, fend off or battle Youthanasia? What approach to longterm career and life planning would you advise for young people who have a passion for performance?

I don’t think Youthanasia is avoidable per se. If I had to choose one piece of advice for young dancers, it is to take a 360-degree view of dance in the world that includes, but is not restricted by, performance.

For young people who are driven by the image of dance as performance, I would suggest first-up doing a university dance degree, if they are inclined that way at all, because studying dance is what prepares and gives one diverse capabilities. Also, the study is the theory and the practice combined. I always tried to teach this way. My books are written from the same perspective, and it was how I was educated in dance.

As a student comes to understand what a vital role dance can play in improving the quality of life for many, many different people, his or her career path can be clearer and elongated, so that one doesn’t necessarily have to give up dance later in life but can still earn a living from it. One may even still be able to perform like I, and many others, do at age sixty and beyond.

The enormous value of a dance education and/or training is that it is a massively disciplined and challenging way to live and learn. It is also one of the things that can prepare dancers to make their way in the world of work. Dancers can do anything!

Addressing the topic more personally and taking emotions into account, can you recall a moment or turning point in your own performance career when your aging body let you know its limitations? What did that feel like and how did you cope?

Perhaps an excerpt from my solo dance monologue might be helpful here. It captures a conversation that I have with my alter ego Dolly Mixture:

Dolly (rather pointedly): “You’ve peaked!”

Linda (in disarray and panic): “When did that happen?”

Dolly: “Just when you start to realize how to do it, your body packs up.”

Linda (in massive panic): “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

Perhaps this captures how injuries become ongoing niggles and muscle power diminishes gradually, making how and what an older dancer can perform an ongoing negotiation with the body.

From time to time, one receives vivid reminders of how one’s performing capabilities have changed. Recently, for example, I performed with dancers who were half my age and really felt the differences between their dancing and mine. We bring different qualities to performances; I brought my wealth of administrative, choreographic and performing experience. It’s not all about performing! Above is a photo of one of my better moments (I’m in pink).

We have heard critics deride such dancers as Margot Fonteyn for retiring too late, or Darcy Bussell too soon. Is there ever a right time to retire?

Good question. I guess it depends on what kind of dance you are retiring from and to. Classical ballet is most challenging for older dancers in its physical demands. However, leading classical dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov made a shift to postmodern dance in 1989 and critics recognized it as a success. In 2001, critics acknowledged that his physical intelligence was still as mesmerizing as his youthful performances once were.

Personally, I even think that there may be room for ballet dancers to perform ballet but with a different emphasis in later life. In my book Essential Guide to Dance, I write “It is this deepest physical integrity of a dancer in performance which offers dance today a future of great promise and excitement.” I truly believe this, and the future for older dancers is only just beginning.

What is next for Linda Ashley? Is there life after Youthanasia?

What’s next is to keep up with some sort of active dancing and choreography. I still occasionally receive invitations to perform Youthanasia of Dance, and I like doing this, because people have fun and it provokes lots of interesting discussion. Also, I hope to work on some more beach dance projects for community and professional dancers to participate in.

I am keeping up with my writing and conference presentations. Recently, I’ve been peer reviewing for a couple of academic journals, too. I have ideas for three more books that have been floating around in my mind for several years, and one of them is currently in the pipeline and nearly ready to go looking for a publisher.

Oh, and I’m still gardening and working on being a connoisseur of the mundane. I can highly recommend that; it’s underrated.

Visit Linda’s Website 

A Meditation on Dancing and Aging by Martin Keogh 

For the past several years I have been dancing with a shady male alter ego, channeling his dark visions and lofty ideals into novels, and hiding my double identity from all but a few close friends. In short, dear reader, I am the mind and soul behind the mysterious Casper Silk, author of Hotel Noir.

How did Casper Silk come into being? At the end of the ‘90s my brother, author Laurence Shames, encouraged me to write a novel set in a hotel—sound advice, given my background as a roving junior exec for Hilton International. A first draft of Hotel Noir began innocently, even playfully, but soon took an ominous turn. Alongside the fussy frivolity of resort living spawned a Doomsday cult worshipping my sainted namesake, Germaine.

From that point on, the novel ceased to resemble anything I had written in the past. Though literary, it leaned toward genre; though dealing with intimate and emotional themes, the writing had a bracing “masculinity” about it.

My then publisher, McAdam/Cage, had first option on Hotel Noir. An editor there rejected the book, saying that he had expected a female protagonist and implying that I had breached some unwritten literary rule of gender jurisdiction.

A decade would pass before the novel was finally published.

Then things got interesting. Critics began comparing Casper Silk to such immortals as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Graham Greene, P.D. James “on steroids,” Thomas Mann and J. G. Ballard. These references imbued Hotel Noir’s reviews with a sort of reverence. No one questioned Silk’s gender. My directly authored works, in contrast, though consistently well reviewed, have never drawn comparisons to male authors of renown—or to any male author, for that matter.

It feels so good to be Casper Silk, in fact, that I hesitate to unmask. For the first time since beginning to write nearly three decades ago, I feel fully valued as an author.

I don’t profess to understand why gender apartheid persists in the 21^st century. That it does is disheartening. For as long as it does, however, pseudonymous doubles like Casper Silk will find a way into the literary mainstream through some crafty combination of talent and subterfuge.

I, Germaine Shames, look forward to the day when talent will be enough.

Praise for Hotel Noir

“A noirish combination of F. Scott Fitzgerald and early P. D. James on steroids, as told by a narrator who knows how to weave a web and pull you in without your realizing that you are caught. An intriguing literary crime novel filled with wonderfully zany characters Agatha Christie would have killed for.” Sam Millar, NY Journal of Books

“I was not far into the book when I drew the comparison of Hotel Noir to Death in Venice.” Charlie Courtland, aka Archie Standwood

“Compellingly readable throughout… the whole book is a delight.” Jack Chapman, author of Watching Marilyn

“I’m thoroughly intrigued by this novel, though not necessarily for straightforward reasons. I think what has hooked me is that it doesn’t seem like anything else. Casper Silk has a wholly unique voice. It’s an entirely bizarre one, too, and Hotel Noir is a dark yet evocative portrait of an island quickly changing, a hotel of another era, and a man caught in the midst.”  Lexy Bloom

View on YouTube.

Download a free excerpt of Hotel Noir.

Read a review of Hotel Noir.

Hotel Noir can be purchased at Pale Fire Press and worldwide at most major online book retailers.

Year’s end has become a time of lists—top news events, best books, memorable quotes… Having lived 2012 at full tilt with my sights on the horizon, I’ve kept no list, but my writings—both on this blog and elsewhere—
suggest what has mattered to me and who has shared my journey.

You, Fascinating You, a dance and music-themed novel, debuted earlier this year and went on to be named “Editor’s Choice” by the Historical Novel Society. With its publication, ballet became a focal point of my life and I was privileged to get to know dozens of dancers, some of the most disciplined, dedicated and generous people I have ever encountered.

A year ago, no one had heard of my ballerina heroine Margit Wolf; today her story has reached audiences across the globe from South Africa to New Zealand, from Germany to China. Caring colleagues and readers of every nationality and walk of life have made this possible.

Musicians, too, have entered my sphere in record numbers, enabling me to realize my lifelong dream of becoming a lyricist and songwriter. Hearing my words wed to a melody and performed is a thrill like no other.

Now for a confession: I’ve been leading a double life this past year, writing both under my own name and a nom de plume. This visceral shift of perspective has allowed me the freedom to explore new literary frontiers and untapped veins of inspiration, and to reach out to readers beyond my established niche. Critics love this darker and more daring alter ego; I hope you will, too. Please check back in the New Year, when all will be revealed.

What vast, rich and mysterious worlds have opened to me in 2012! How grateful I am for your company. May we grow in wisdom and, together, realize our noblest dreams.

Dr. Peter Cleave has one of those storybook CVs that reads like Gulliver’s Travels, epic adventure of a restless mind. An accomplished anthropologist, Rhodes Scholar and Oxford Ph.D., an iconoclast and risk-taker, Peter has eked out a unique niche in the Performing Arts as a musician, playwright and essayist. A New Zealander by birth, he has been active in the Maori community for decades and has emerged a well-known personality on Maori radio.

By any measure, Peter’s life and career have taken some unexpected, and even serendipitous, turns. In the following conversation, he takes us along on that journey. Welcome, Peter!

What drew the young Peter Cleave to the field of Anthropology?

I did a funny kind of undergraduate degree in Anthropology. Funny because I was not at University half the time. I was working on banana boats and generally being a late Sixties type of teenager. I did like the idea of studying people from other cultures, but Anthropology was not a big deal for me, merely something that I did to get a degree.

I liked scrub cutting on Waiheke Island near Auckland, working on the boats, hitchhiking around the country and having fun with my mates. And I liked art, particularly talking about art. I managed the front of the house at the Mercury Theater in my last year of the degree and that was an all-night talk-about-art thing to do for me at that time.

The degree in Anthropology happened. Occasionally I went to lectures. Having staggered through my Bachelors I ran a theater group for a bit, wrote songs and plays, and then drifted into teaching and thought I’d do a Masters. My major having been in Anthropology, that was my only option. It might well otherwise have been in Linguistics or Literature or something else, as I did not really have a burning passion for Anthropology at that stage.

Some anthropologists are passionate about the discipline. They love marking theses, dealing with students and enjoying the circumstances of who is working where and what they are doing. I’m not really into that. I like working in the field. For many years I have worked for Maori iwi or tribes and in the last few years that has become more specific as I have been employed to speak Maori on a tribal radio station.

At the same time I write a lot and always have. So my passion is in those areas, the field and the writing.

How impressive that you attended Oxford as a Rhodes scholar. What effect did that sojourn have on your worldview and the subsequent course of your career?

While lecturing at Waikato I sent an application to Oxford with my photograph and a chapter or so of my thesis and to my astonishment I got accepted.

And then I went to Oxford and had to get serious about Anthropology as Oxford and Cambridge, from a certain point of view, are the homes of the subject. At that time—and still, knowing Oxford—the hard bit was getting through the hoops. There was a highly competitive system, to put it mildly, where you did a probationary Bachelor period, a probationary Masters period and then you got permission to do a Doctorate, which you then submitted. Each stage took a couple of semesters. The minimum time to get through the hoops was two years and this I did.

I played a lot of guitar in England mainly at my College but also a bit of performance work in pubs.

As I proceeded through the hoops at Oxford, I applied for funds from the Rhodes Foundation and got them. So in my case I went to Oxford and then became a person in receipt of Rhodes money, rather than becoming a Rhodes Scholar before going.

Oxford was kind to me. I was the Chairperson of my Common Room, captained a sports team and did a Doctorate. It was a great time.

At the same time, it may be that I took something to Oxford from the bush in New Zealand or from the experience on banana boats. One way to think about people who come out of Oxford might be to look at their backgrounds and search out how they think. In my case, I owe a lot to my grandparents, especially the late Peter Mataga. I went to live with them at a early age when my mother died. How my grandfather thought as a second-language speaker of English, coming originally from the Neretva Valley on the Adriatic, was with long reflective silences in situations where a voice was never raised. That style worked for me at Oxford.

The other edge came through the arts. If you know theater, a bit about painting and you read and read—I read in a desultory fashion, but I got through the classics—then at places like Oxford Cambridge, Harvard or Yale your actual topic is in some respects secondary. You could be an anthropologist, a philosopher or a linguist but if you know about Proust or Henry James, then you might be able to present an argument or cast an aside with some elegance and that matters in those places.

I see from your CV that you speak Maori and Japanese. Why these two languages?

Just after I finished my Masters papers in Social Anthropology I was approached to join Maori Studies at Waikato University as a Junior Lecturer. That meant speaking Maori. I had a very basic background in the language before that but it was at Waikato and with a lot of time amongst people in the Urewera that I began to extend my Maori.

Japanese fascinated me and while I speak the language to conversational level, I still have trouble with the kanji so I’m not an expert in the language, But I did a few papers in Japanese while lecturing in Anthropology and Sociology when I got back to Waikato from Oxford.

Part of my idea with the two languages was to gain a sense of the Pacific. Another part of it was to develop another perspective and so to benefit my Anthropology. Its very close here in New Zealand and having another perspective attracted me.

Like a lot of developments, twists, turns or whatever in my career, I became a linguist by accident. To this day the Oxford Picture Dictionary of Maori, of which I am one of three editors, remains one of New Zealand’s biggest sellers, having been published in 1979. I just happened to be around when the work for this was farmed-out and took the book through its final paces in Oxford—that is, I had high tea with the appropriate bloke from the Oxford University Press.

You have decades of rich and varied experience within your field. How, briefly and in layman’s terms, has the study and application of anthropology evolved during the past three-plus decades? What has anthropology to contribute in the larger socio-political sphere, where questions of human survival seem each day to loom larger?

The first response to your question is to say that I don’t think there have been any great evolutionary steps in Anthropology over the last thirty years. In fact there has been a kind of classicisation of the subject over the period.

People still read Geertz on the cockfight, Levi Strauss on structuralism, the Sapir Whorf hypothesis and other things from a bag of tricks that has stayed very similar over a long period.

Like a lot of people from the Sixties I wanted to take things ‘back to the people’. So for me it was a matter of working for the people that I had studied and most of my life has been spent working for iwi in New Zealand. This is very, very unusual and lonely. The Maori field, if so it be called, has been a bit of a closed shop to outsiders, including anthropologists, these last thirty or forty years. Those that do come in do not usually stay.

So there is a fair way from what I do to what Anthropology does and has been doing these last thirty or so years.

Part of Anthropology is about small-scale societies and in some respects this makes the big picture of human survival outside scope. There is, of course, the idea that you can see the whole world in a grain of sand, that if you know the small-scale society then you will have something to say to the world.

I don’t know about this. Sometimes you manage to grasp the general in the specific and I leave it others to see where I might have done that in my work.

On a personal level, what aspects of your career have you found most gratifying? Are there achievements or simply memories of which you feel particularly fond?

The set of books that have been published in the last five years or so by me are a kind of statement or testament to my work. I’ve written a lot and I have dug deep into my past achievements and failures and also extended my interest and tried to connect with new things.

Personally, being employed by tribes gives me satisfaction in that I know, or think I know, that what I am doing cannot be too far off the mark.

You have a deep appreciation of the Performing Arts. How did you become involved in drama, music and dance, and how have these timeless art forms enriched you and your body of work?

At high school I performed in plays and played the guitar. In between Bachelors and Masters I had a little theater company and I made a conscious decision at the age of 23 to stop working as a performer and become an academic. I found essay writing, especially thesis writing, attractive.

So the Performing Arts became a second string for me, one that every so often, looking back over my CV, comes through and becomes the main thing.

For example, not long ago some guy heard me play and sing at the Palmerston North City Library and gave me a gig. For over a year, I played the guitar and sang three times a week. When the London closed, I just put all that back into the second line and, who knows, maybe it will pop up again in the first line at some point in the future.

The writing on dance in the last few years shows a combination of the Anthropology and Performing Arts interests.

You recently reviewed my ballet-themed novel You, Fascinating You. Having little prior knowledge of the book’s historical context and coming from a vastly different cultural milieu, you nonetheless connected with the story and its characters. What makes a book—or any artistic expression—universal? To what extent can an artist transcend culture?

Transcendence of culture is not easy and in fact I’d say it’s a matter of attention to detail. Universality on the part of the author of a book is something that shines through the book itself, its reviews and its transmutations into, say, a film or an audio presentation.

In the case of You, Fascinating You, I kept notes about anything that I did not understand or have direct experience of. At the same time I tried to work out what I liked. The first exercise was defensive in that I did not want to make mistakes about someone else’s work and the second was a matter of personal inventory. Most good reviews of literature are to do with careful reading and reflection that deepens and intensifies that care.

What is next for Peter Cleave? Is there anything more you would like to share?

The main thing for me is not to get into a hamster situation where you run along inside someone else’s trap, in someone else’s wheel or machine. Worse than this for me is to find myself in a trap of my own making.

One good thing about being an anthropologist (but possibly a hamster trap) is that, if you have done the job half well over the years, then life seems good after fifty-five, as there are lots of students—even if there are just one or two passionate students, that is still good (at least it feels good)—who are following your work. At the same time, a healthy scepticism about your own propaganda is important.

For me, there are questions about how best to organize one’s life. For example it is all very well being ‘outside the machine’ or ‘under’ or ‘off the radar’ but one problem, I think it’s a problem, that I have is that I lock into a topic and stay there.

Talking to someone at my house for dinner the other night I used the word ‘defragmentation’. To this person I put the example of how, when working in a university, you would get to work, read your mail and then go down to the tea room. In the tea room you would find yourself talking to someone and on your return to your room you would think about that topic of conversation for a while and then it would be time for lunch and so time to go back to the tea room…

In that situation you were constantly defragging, taking things to bits and putting them back together again. Defragging, or whatever you might call this, was a major occupation and writing was something you did after hours, so to speak.

What happens to me in my situation of the last decade or more is that I write and write and write again. I know that I have to stop occasionally, so I jump on a plane and go to Inner Mongolia or the mountains of Sicily or he coast of Dalmatia. Or New Jersey. Anywhere to just stop, ride my bicycle in the open air or take a train. All this in order to draw breath before writing again.

So, planning how best to organize this without it becoming my own hamster trap is something I want to do next.

—

Peter continues his interview on video:

Peter’s Bio

Peter’s Video Review of You, Fascinating You

I may not know you personally, but chances are we have “met” through our shared love of books. You know me in a way few friends ever will: through my stories and my characters, the themes with which I grapple book after book, my running “lover’s quarrel” with language and the prose that somehow flows from it.

You are the reason I write, the invisible presence that keeps me company as I face the blank computer screen. I catch glimpses of you in libraries, bookstores and trains. I read over your shoulder.

You accompany me on journeys beyond the page, into the hearts and minds of people we may never meet face-to-face but whose hopes and fears mirror our own. This takes empathy. You suspend judgment long enough to allow me to spin my tale. This takes generosity. You absorb tens of thousands of words to follow a story to its resolution. This takes time and effort that is seldom acknowledged.

Reading is not passive. You fill in what I leave out; you probe, interpret, challenge, feel and forgive. Occasionally, you leave a comment or review so insightful it reminds me why I chose to become a writer, and why I persist despite all.

Thank you for every moment you devote to books. Thank you for your concentration, discernment and selfless tenacity. Thank you for reading.

Love,

Germaine

Ursula Verduzco has not had the glamorous career she dreamed of as a little girl. An artist of tremendous heart, she has nonetheless triumphed as a dancer, choreographer, entrepreneur and patron of the arts.

Ursula Verduzco trained at Ballet Austin Academy and the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City with full scholarship. Since graduating, she has danced with numerous companies including Staten Island Ballet, Benjamin Briones Ballet, New York City Opera, Eglevsky Ballet, Ajkun Ballet Theatre, Connecticut Ballet, New York Dance Theatre, Ad Hoc Ballet, and Ballet Neo among others. As the founder and director of the Latin Choreographers Festival, she has made a mission of supporting and presenting the work of talented Latin choreographers in NYC.

Welcome Ursula!

You are the daughter of artists, your father a singer, and mother an actress. What was it like to grow up in the rarefied atmosphere of the Performing Arts? Why did you choose to focus on dance rather than on singing or acting?

Yes, my family is a family of artists. Even my brother, who is now a pilot and English teacher, was involved in the arts when he was a child. We were a very unique family, and growing up in that environment was amazing and very fulfilling. I remember my house being always full of music, my father always playing the guitar—he is a singer but also a composer, musician and actor. Curled-up in bed beside him while he was rehearsing his work was just the most peaceful place I could find in my little world. I would fall asleep to the sound of his voice and guitar and wake up with his music in my ear… still now it moves me to tears to hear him sing and play, first because it is all just too beautiful, and second because, since he lives in Mexico, I miss him so very much.

My mom was an incredible influence on me. I believe she was the one who took me to my first ballet class when I was very little. Although I was only 4 years old, I still remember how amazing I used to feel when getting to the studio, and how much that first experience changed my life forever! My mom is a beautiful actress and I remember feeling so proud of her when I would go see her perform. She used to coach me and prepare me when I was acting and we had so much fun at it.

I have always been inclined to like music and acting, and even after acting for some years in my childhood on TV and in theatre and having a blast at it, I could not ignore the power and freedom my whole being felt when I was able to move to music. Even now after so many years of my career, I still feel this is the only thing I really want to live by doing.

You were born in Mexico and trained there from the age of four. You came to the United States for a summer course in 1993 and returned two years later to live. How has the move enabled you to grow as a dancer—and at what cost?

Moving to the United States was the best decision I made. It really changed my future and the possibilities that I have been able to enjoy.

Living in the ‘Capital of Dance’ has just been amazing; working with so many talented people and being close to the best dance in the world makes you push for the best in yourself. The standard is just so high and even when getting to the top has to do not only with talent, but perseverance, professionalism and luck, when you are surrounded by the best and you aspire to that, your personal best will surface and it is amazing how much fulfillment you can get from it.

The cost of coming to New York for me has really just been the fact that my family is back in Mexico and I don’t see them very often. Since I arrived here I have been able to relate and mesh with this place in a way that I never really felt I wanted to go back; this is home to me now ( because what I love to do the most is here and I have a place doing it ). I miss the traditions of my country, but I miss my family the most. Sometimes I wish I could just go visit my mom, dad or brother in an instant and enjoy some dinner with them or go see a performance together. Lately, they have been able to come to visit me more often and that feels great!

In 2008 you founded the Latin Choreographers Festival, an annual event showcasing works by both veterans and newcomers. By any measure, this is an ambitious undertaking and enormous investment of time and energy. Five years on, what do you feel has been achieved through the Festival? Is such an event more necessary or less necessary in 2012 than it was when you started?

Yes, it is an ambitious undertaking and I have had an amazing time creating and growing this Festival. We have had, as of this year, about 50 choreographers and more than 80 dancers be part of the Festival. This year, the 5th Anniversary, we were able to give the opportunity to 16 choreographers and we had 2 different programs. It was a wild and exciting season. I believe the most important thing that has been achieved is the fact that now Latin choreographers have a place to go, a place to call home, a place where they know their work and their vision will be presented, respected, produced, promoted… in an environment that empowers who they are, where they come from, and where they want to go.

And hopefully as the years pass, more and more choreographers will know about it. I have had applications come from so many places: Mexico, Argentina, España, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, of course USA and so many other countries. This is very exciting to me because it says how much it was needed and how many Latin choreographers exist in this world that can potentially be a strong force in the dance world.

It is surely necessary to keep the Latin Choreographers Festival going, and growing! in that way more and more choreographers can be supported and empowered for who we are as individuals and also for our background. I am not just interested in supporting our Latin community but also the work of everybody, which is why I have also opened the Festival to any choreographer of any nationality to apply as guests. This way we can share and enjoy our cultural differences united by our common language—dance.

More recently, you co-founded the Mid Pointe Project, an initiative to help professional and retired dancers create new works and take their careers to a new level. Its slogan—United Beyond Dance—speaks volumes. What can dancers achieve as a group that they cannot do individually? How far have you come in realizing Mid Pointe’s mission?

Mid Pointe Project is a collaboration between Brian Norris, former Artistic Director of Grandiva Ballet and now Director of Men on Pointe, Benjamin Briones, Artistic Director of Benjamin Briones Ballet, and myself. We started this project wanting to help each other produce a performance where our choreography could be featured and the development of the mission of the project started growing from there.

I believe in collaboration and creating opportunities for myself and for others. That has been my commitment in the last years.

We as dancers are powerful creative beings and, unfortunately, are used to having opportunities handed to us; that is the culture of dance. Directors hire you and choreographers choose you to be a part of what we love to do, and in so many cases we could make ourselves be and feel not so powerful. I love the culture of dance in any style, I believe in the hierarchy of a company and in being selected, but I also believe we as dancers have an immense responsibility to continue creating our own future and the future of the next generations.

The perfect situation as a dancer for myself would be dance with a company or companies and at the same time have my own projects—can you imagine how fulfilling and how interesting a life that would be?

Lately, because of so many situations in my life, I have had the opportunity to experience moving in different ways and it is beautiful to see how much fuller my life is becoming because of it. We all have so much to give and so much talent; combining all those talents, the world of dance can reach farther and with more strength.

I was sorry to read that you suffered an ankle injury from which you are still recuperating. You have been quoted as saying, “It has been a challenging and an amazing experience to go through this. Believe me, at this point I am glad it happened to me.” How so? 

This Sunday October 7th will be a year since my surgery, yes, it has been a challenging experience and also an amazing one. I have been very lucky to not have had any major injuries in my career until this time and also very lucky to have had an amazing group of people helping me go through it all, from  the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries and Dr. Rose who performed my surgery and Erika Kalkan my Physical Therapist, my boyfriend, friends and family… a support group is always so important. It took me by surprise to see how hard it is to deal with your mind and your body when you are dealing with an injury that requires surgery and the recuperation time and the expectations. I am happy to say that my foot is good!!! It has taken some time but I am sure that is what my body needed—time.

I am happy I had to go through it and don’t have any regrets because it has taught me so much as a person and as a dancer.

Our career is so short compared with others and we concentrate so much on “achieving” and “becoming” that life passes by sometimes without our noticing and being aware of what we have already achieved and become, what we could have been enjoying already when we are still concentrating and obsessing about being better and more. There is a REALITY in dance, we have to work hard, with discipline and commitment to become first a dancer and then a successful dancer, but that should not take us away from noticing along the way our achievements and the enjoyment that our dance life gives us. I have been a very lucky lady and I consider myself successful in the sense that I live my life doing what I love! How many people in this world can say that? And on top of that I was given the opportunity to learn through hardship and cross over to the other side mentally stronger. I can’t wait to see where all of this takes me, I can’t wait to enjoy with all my attention and being present what lies ahead. There is so much to dance.

By most people’s standards you have not had a dream career, in the sense that opportunities have not come easily. Yet you, more than most dancers, have created opportunities—not only for yourself but for others. How has your life in dance turned out differently from what you might have imagined as a young ballerina in training? What advice would you give a young person who aspires to become a professional dancer?

When I was little I had the dream of becoming a beautiful ballerina, dancing for a major company and being very successful at it. This dream kept me going through so many years and through so many obstacles, and I cherish this memory because, thanks to it, I had the power and commitment  to become a classical dancer. As time kept passing by and my professional career started, I made choices along the way that shaped the way my career would be. Wanting to stay in New York was a big decision that took me into the world of a freelance dancer. It is a path where there is no security since you don’t know where your next paycheck will be coming from, but it is also a life of interesting projects and so many different opportunities. That is probably where my need to create opportunities for myself and others surely was born.

The advice I would give to a young person who aspires to become professional is very simple to me: first, educate yourself. Look for the information. There is so much to learn; don’t wait for it to be given to you. Take charge of your life and future. Invest in yourself.

Be humble, listen and learn; without humility you will only get so far. Be respectful of your fellow dancers, teachers, directors, choreographers, stage crew… everybody! Because that is the best way to be and because you never know who will be your next opportunity.

Enjoy the ride. Believe in yourself, read, listen to music, go to performances to learn from the pros and meet people.

Respect your body; take care of it early so it pays you back later.

And dance your heart out every time!

Have you dreams still to realize? What lies ahead for Ursula Verduzco?

I am excited to be performing again. This weekend I am performing a solo with Benjamin Briones Ballet, a new company in the making with beautiful dancers and talented choreographers on the roster. I am so thankful to Benjamin Briones, Artistic Director, for this, my comeback opportunity.

I also very recently premiered a new choreography that was commissioned by Nomad Contemporary Ballet (Kristen McGrew- Artistic Director). I am also very thankful for her belief in me and for the opportunity.

There are so many dreams still to be fulfilled and I am happy to keep dreaming. I started choreographing in 2009, am having a blast with it, and looking forward to more of that.

But mostly, as a dancer, I am so interested in feeling in my body the movement of different choreographers, their voices and their styles. I hope to have the opportunity to be transported to wherever they need me to go in their pieces; being an instrument for expression, movement and communication is my only drug of choice.

While it feels wonderful to be performing again, it is also nerve-racking in an amazing way: the energy that goes through me, the tiredness I feel after rehearsal, the soreness in my body, the unexpected in every movement, the twitches in my muscles as I sleep, the need to express myself by moving… Life is good when I dance through it.

To learn more about Ursula: http://www.ursulaverduzco.com/

More about the Latin Choreographer’s Festival: www.LatinChoreographersFestival.com

Photos courtesy of Rachel Neville.

Who hasn’t dreamed of living la dolce vita in some achingly quaint corner of Italy? Italophile Barbara Conelli is one of those rare “artists of life” with a knack for finding sweetness wherever she goes.

A bestselling author, seasoned travel writer specializing in Italy, and acclaimed radio hostess, Barb is a born nomad and globetrotter fluent in eight languages. Blessed with preternatural enthusiasm and stamina, she loves sharing her travel adventures with her readers and listeners. In her delightful Chique travel books filled with Italian passion, Barb invites women to explore Italy from the comfort of their home with elegance, grace and style, encouraging them to live their dolce vita no matter where they are in the world. Welcome, Barb!

Your new book, Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore, is cresting the heights at Amazon. I must admit that I began the book expecting titillating vignettes of love and romance, Italian style. But you approach dolce amore quite differently. What is your new book about?

It is about love of life, and about falling in love with the daily, ordinary, yet unique and magical life, which is the art that Italians have mastered. In Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore, the city of Milan becomes your lover who invites you to dance the eternal dance of secret corners, intoxicating smells and beautiful sights. You become the star of its streets, discovering its most magical mysteries: the gardens, the houses, the food, the artists, the people and their stories. Milan is the city where you can dream your big dreams and the city that makes them come true for you. And my intention is to take my readers with me and guide them through this marvelous, wondrous city adventure. Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore is a travel book with a chique twist.

How did your love affair with Milan begin? What fires and sustains it?

My Grandma Lily was born in Milan, and although my family is multicultural, the Italian influence has always been dominant. Grandma taught me to love the language, the people, the sunshine and the sea breeze, the traditions and the quirks. Milan became my home away from home, and although I love Italy as a whole, Milan has a special place in my heart. As I say in my previous book, Chique Secrets of Dolce Vita: “My repeated encounters with Milan are ardent, thrilling, exciting, and unique every single time. Its streets are full of old loves, present loves, and the expectation of future loves. In its shadows there is laughter, joy, delight, and emotion. Its embrace is passionate and its kisses are endless. Milan is a sensual lover, a devoted friend, and a loving family. It is a city that gives all that is new and good, and takes away all that is old and bad. To put it simply, it is my city. A city where I am always different, yet each time myself, always the same, and yet each time newborn.”

You divide your time between New York and Milan. Does New York inspire passions of its own—and if so, have you written about them? What do you see as the advantages of living a double life?

I love New York – and coincidentally, Milan and New York share more than you’d think. Milan has always looked up to New York (as well as to London and Paris) in many ways, like a brash disciple striving to surpass the master. Milan is an adorable brat you can’t help falling in love with; it is creative, open-minded, free-spirited, laid-back, yet ambitious and hard working—just like New York. It’s funny you should ask me about New York-inspired writing. The last chapter of Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore has an open ending, leaving the author on the plane to New York with a mysterious Manhattan date ahead that started in Milan. I’m very tempted to continue the story in New York and show the city through my Italian eyes.

You were kind enough to interview me on your Chique radio show. How did you decide to become a talk show hostess, and how does this role fit within the larger framework of your life as a globetrotter, writer and Italophile?

I founded Chique Show before my first Chique travel book was published, with no specific goal in mind. At the beginning, it was just something I enjoyed doing and another platform to spread the word about my books. Somehow (as it usually happens when you do something just for fun), it started to grow and has been growing ever since. Today we have more than ten thousand listeners, and I’m getting ready to re-launch the show as a fully professional, branded show, maybe even network. I’ve met so many wonderful people through the radio and have made so many precious friends. Chique Show has been an amazing connector, and a source of great fun and joy.

You reviewed my novel You, Fascinating You, much of which takes place in Milan. My protagonist dreamed of dancing at the world-famous opera house, La Scala. You, too, have entertained fantasies regarding La Scala—and realized them, to some extent. Care to share?

I have two stories about La Scala in my books, one in Chique Secrets of Dolce Vita, and one in Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore. La Scala is a magical place, and it has played a magical role in my life. My personal experiences with the theater are enchanting and miraculous. And one of them has a lot to do with my passion for dance. I love dancing; I love learning it, I love doing it, and in many ways, dance is a powerful metaphor that expresses the beauty of life. I always tell my readers to dance with life and enjoy every step. I’m a big fan and admirer of ballet. I used to think that ballet was only for those extraordinarily talented, fragile nymphs who danced before they learned to walk, but I was wrong. In Milan, I had a chance to take ballet classes with Annamaria Bruno and her daughter Liliana. Annamaria, a famous prima ballerina who started her career at La Scala and danced on leading European stages, founded the very first Milanese private ballet school for talented children, and fortunately for me, also for not-so-talented adult women who long to become ballerinas at least for one day. They made my childhood dream come true. I still do ballet at home every now and then, enjoying the lovely basics they taught me. Being able to close your eyes, do a pirouette and for a little while imagine the passionate applause at La Scala is exciting, romantic, and it gets me every single time.

Some people seem to live larger than others, to pack more enjoyment into their days, to savor what others miss. You are such a person. Is this a congenital condition or a discipline? Can anyone live a life of dolce amore?

My Dad was an incurable optimist and bon vivant. My Mum is an incurable pessimist and closet dreamer. They had a very happy marriage and a daughter who got the best and the worst of both worlds, pondered them respectfully, and then decided to bow out of the drama and do it her way. My parents raised me to love faraway journeys, gave me an open mind to discover new worlds, and taught me to respect the people who create these worlds. They also gave me the freedom to create my own adventure, courageously and fearlessly, and that’s what I do. I’m grateful for all the challenges, obstacles, tears and pains I have experienced in my life, because thanks to them I’m wiser and stronger. I believe that life is magical and unlimited, and you can truly do, be and have everything you desire: that’s why you were born. Every morning I wake up and give thanks for the gift of yet another day, yet another breath, yet another ray of light, yet another chance to love, laugh, see, explore, learn and understand. I am stubbornly happy and I refuse to change that (and yes, it does get on other people’s nerves). I insist on making my dreams come true, all of them, every single day. It’s a very Italian way of life that’s quite easy to adopt once you understand that happiness is a choice that’s made every morning when you open your eyes and then every minute of your day. To me, life is not about the things you accumulate; it’s about the experiences you collect and the adventures you savor. It’s art. It’s a delicious dance. And it’s happening right now.

What is your idea of a perfect day? Where and how would you spend it?

To me, every day is perfect; it’s just that some days are more perfect than others. My perfect day actually starts with a good night’s sleep and plenty of time on my hands in the morning. I wake up early, do my morning yoga and meditation, and enjoy a long, sunlit walk with my beagle. We stop at my favorite café for a cup of cappuccino and a crispy croissant, and then we go home so that Mr. Brinkley can sleep and I can write. I have a peaceful lunch in my garden, take a nap, and then write some more, although I may also play a few rounds of golf instead. In the evening, I have dinner at my favorite restaurant with my closest friends, walk home enjoying the night vibe of the city, and read a good book before I fall asleep. This can happen in any of the cities that I love. Give me sunshine, beauty, good food and amazing people, and I’m a happy camper.

What is next for Barbara Conelli? Is there anything more you would like to share with our readers? 

I’m writing my next Chique travel book about Rome, and I have also returned to my novel with the intention of finishing it—cross my heart! It’s been sitting on my desk for too long. I love travel writing because it allows me to observe and share real life, but I dabble in fiction and writing this novel is a dream whose time has come. As I’m answering your questions, I’m looking at my favorite Eleanor Roosevelt quote on my desk. She said: “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” That’s what I live by. You have one life. Live it well. It’s worth it.

D’accordo! 

Find out more about Barb and her books: http://www.barbaraconelli.com

Visit Barb’s blog: http://barbaraconelliblog.com

Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore: http://tinyurl.com/buydolceamore

Chique Secrets of Dolce Vita: http://tinyurl.com/buydolcevita

Does place play a part in an artist’s development and ultimate success? Dancer, choreographer and entrepreneur Amy Gould, a South African resident in Cape Town, provides a compelling example of one artist driven to adapt and thrive through world-shaking upheaval and change.

Fellow of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance, owner of her fulltime ballet school, choreographer and director of Dance Crew, owner-manager of Theatre On-Main and Editor of ImagineMag!, Amy seeds opportunity for herself and others. For three years she served on the Western Cape Cultural Commission on Arts and Culture. In 2007, she received the Western Cape Arts, Culture & Heritage Award for her contribution to the Performing Arts in the field of Dance.

How Amy found time for the following interview, I can only marvel. Welcome!

What is the overarching motivation for this superhuman outpouring of artistic industry?

As with many entrepreneurs, necessity is the mother of invention. I do not know about this `superhuman’ adjective. One thing led to another, and then another… All are part of my interest in the arts and my desire to see things grow.

I realized early on that if I wanted to work as a choreographer I would probably have to develop a company to do so. This was the driving thought behind much of what I have done. There were not many options for dancers, let alone choreographers, to earn an income in this country.

I started to teach in order to generate an income. I built the school to have a permanent and safe environment to work in. The company was formed to create work for the dancers and to choreograph original work. The training area converts into a theatre by means of curtains, lights, sound and all sorts of innovative ideas, like high chairs to create better sight lines. This was created so we could have a permanent performing venue for our productions. The arts magazine was started after I had served three years on the Cultural Commission to the local government. The arts community needs a voice and assistance in promoting and marketing their products and services; I thought I could help.

Quite a few years after having started teaching, I underwent spinal surgery and while lying still, a condition my body is unaccustomed to, the planning of the building of my own premises was started. I listed the things that were essential to make our working lives more conducive to what we were doing and to the long hours that we spent doing it. Using premises that were far from ideal for dancing, uncomfortable and often not available when needed, was, two years later, a thing of the past.

Incidentally, everyone told me I was mad, I was dreaming and would never be able to support it. I carried on anyway. When I told my family what I was going to do my mother said, `how much will it cost and how much do you have?’ My sister asked, `where will you build it?’ and my brother asked, ` how big?’ Obviously I come from a `can do’ family.

Dancers came to me from the rural areas. I would train one teacher and then she would send me some of her senior students, and so it would continue. One day I looked at my senior classes, many of the students already qualified or in the process of achieving their teaching qualification and thought, nobody attends ballet classes because they want to teach. They come because, deep down, they want to dance. The dancers and I discussed the situation and Dance Crew, a classical contemporary dance company, was started.

We set out to create work of our time and place in society that reflected what we were experiencing and subject matter with which ordinary people would identify. Because of our contacts in the rural areas, we chose to hone our skills, gain experience and introduce ballet and dance to many people who had never seen a stage production. Our subject matter ranged from Alcoholism to Power struggles, Aids, The Life Cycle of a Spider, Ancestors… to name a few. The latest one we have produced has to do with the changing seasons and how, here in Cape Town, we can experience four seasons in one day. Currently we are experimenting with integrated projections and images.

Some of the teachers I have trained have returned to their communities to teach and we are linked into them and now provide an infrastructure and platform for them to perform.

Where we find young people with talent and the desire to work hard, we assist them with bursaries. Sometimes we have funding, sometimes not, but we persevere.

Who or what first sparked your interest in ballet? At what point and under what circumstances did that interest crystallize into a vocation?

I come from a musical background and there was always music in our home. We children all received piano training at a young age. I do not know why I did not become a singer, as my father loved opera. On long car trips he had us singing phrases over and over again until they were note and pitch perfect. Today I still sing in my classes and I think it helps with musicality to be able to sing in phrases rather than only count by the beat or the bar. Ballet was taught at the school I attended, so I enrolled myself and then told my mother what I had done.

I have been most fortunate in always knowing what I wanted. I did not always get what I wanted, but the first step is always knowing what you want or need and then finding a way of achieving it.

My love of music, hyperactivity and speed is what drove me to dance. Creating shapes and patterns with bodies is endlessly fascinating to me. I do not give in or give up, which is another quality for a dancer to have as there seem to be so many pitfalls and so much negativity expressed by people around you and you have to learn not to be put off by the gainsayers.

You have spoken out against the competiveness that permeates ballet training. What prompted you to voice these concerns? Given that places in the best dance companies are limited, as are the most desirable roles, how can competition be, if not avoided, made more constructive?

Competing to be better than another person is setting oneself up for failure. We have different bodies, brains and abilities. We can learn and benefit from each other without the necessity of constantly needing to outdo those around us. The dancer is constantly under criticism when in performance as regards body shape and technical ability. It can and does lead to enormous emotional fragility unless the dancer is developed to be mentally, as well as physically, strong enough to withstand such unsolicited criticism.

I work on highlighting the difference and the importance of that difference among dancers. We work to encourage and build the individual’s confidence while at the same time developing respect for other dancers’ ability.

Ballet has become very athletic, but it is not a sport; it is an art. Does one compare Solzhenitsyn to Enid Blyton, Picasso to Matisse, Wagner to Tchaikovsky?

Fit for purpose—I would like to see teachers, dancers, choreographers understand and define this term. Everything would then make more sense. If a company requires 20 dancers of the same height, similar body shape and stipulates the necessary technical requirements that their company choreography requires, everyone would understand that if you do not fit that profile you will not be eligible. It will have nothing to do with whether you are good or bad, simply not fit for purpose needed.

One of the greatest benefits that comes from good dance training is self-confidence and awareness of one’s own ability, whatever that might be. One needs to feel good to produce good work and if you have to constantly be looking over your shoulder to see who is better, that is destructive.

There are incredible acts of violence and corruption in this country and you see it in children from quite a young age. I think we need to develop a far more caring society that teaches people that, in order to succeed, one does not have to get rid of or ridicule the competition. For me, the finest and most productive competition is with oneself.

You mention`best companies and most desirable roles.’ Again, all of the above applies. Best for what or for whom?

Few countries have, in recent times, undergone such dramatic upheaval and reform as South Africa. Does this unique socio-political environment make particular demands on you as an artist and promoter of the Arts? What has Dance to contribute to the ongoing process of nation building and healing?

Reform? We have a democracy now and laws to uphold it, but it is people’s hearts and minds that are far harder to change. Ignorance as well as lack of knowledge and respect of other people’s culture, religion and way of life create barriers to communication on nearly every level. Inequality is still rife among the haves and the have-nots and this leads to much of the turmoil we experience.

Much was, and still is, made of race as the issue at the heart of matters in this country, but never underestimate the love of power and economic ascendancy as being the reason that so many atrocities happened and continue to happen in this and in many other countries. The love of power is extremely corrupting.

And are things better for everyone now? In some ways, possibly, but not to the extent that is needed. I think we have changed one set of greedy, power driven officials for another set equally greedy and power hungry. And that has nothing to do with race and everything to do with lack of integrity and sheer greed of certain individuals.

In our previous dispensation I did exactly what I am doing now because I chose the path of respecting people regardless of race, creed or color. But there were pitfalls and I paid a price. And I am still paying a price, because I am still going my own way. Not always a popular or accepted thing to do.

So much of funding, especially governmental funding, is dictated by whatever the current political policies are. If you are able to align your requirements or naturally comply with policy, odds are you will receive funding.

Nation building and healing! There are some things that no amount of time will ever heal. Pain and memory might fade, but heal? I don’t think so. So much damage was inflicted on so many it will take many generations to possibly overcome this. Nation building, I think, happens person-to-person, not with big massive events. When I watch the people in my school and company, I see natural friendships being forged through mutual interests and mutual understanding. Somehow we are creating an inclusive community. Recently one of my Moms of color commented,`You know Amy, although you are so white you really are one of us.’ And from a Black woman: ‘Amy, I think you must have some black blood, you think like a black person.’

There are a number of dance companies in South Africa doing wonderful work bringing people together through dance.

In our current climate crime is one of the most critical cost and inhibiting factors with which everyone has to contend. It is not safe for children to make their own way to classes. Public and private transport is expensive and almost impossible for the poor to use. Distance is another factor. Everything one uses has to be secured so that it cannot be stolen, and insured so that if it is stolen the objects can be replaced. I have had a vehicle stolen from outside my front door; my school has been burgled so many times I have difficulty getting insurance and it is expensive. We have to work with all the doors closed and locked late at night. We also have enormous overheads to maintain everything.

Having read what I have just said above, it sounds very negative and that is definitely not how I feel about my work or my country. It probably is the result of the incredibly high expectations we all had when we took part in our first free democratic election. There was, and there still is, so much goodwill among all our people that to see so many still suffering from sheer grinding poverty is very disturbing.

You have been known to ‘rap’ your corrections in ballet class. I would love to see this on video! How does a teacher engage students patterned by pop culture while instilling an understanding and respect for the classical tradition? What happens when ethnic and cultural differences are added to the mix?

Music is the most amazing of commodities. I have seen very ordinary children with no discernable background in music become enthralled and captivated by Erik Satie’s music as they become familiar with it through the choreography. Much depends on how people are exposed, and the earlier the better. Also how open their minds are to new ideas.

One has to be incredibly aware of everyone’s cultural sensitivities, but if your people trust your personal integrity they will have greater confidence in the artistic aspects as well. My young classes, where there are children from all over Africa attending the school as well as our local children, are extremely vivid and creative when we play improvisational movement games. It is the boys that are totally uninhibited and stimulating to watch as they launch themselves into the heart of the music.

Working with classical training, the choice of music in the ballet class is important and I try to steer clear of music that has too much of a pop beat, otherwise all the hips get seriously active. The greater the musical choices I use in class work, the more sophisticated students’ appetite becomes and the more familiar they become with the unfamiliar.

You have achieved so much, contributed so much, and touched so many lives. What challenges still lie ahead? What’s next for Amy Gould?

Good question. At present, consolidation and streamlining what I have already established is my top priority. The new product to our stable, ImagineMag!, is growing and needs more attention in certain areas. Life is all about change and so is this business. Being sensitive to events that happen around one and constantly adapting to suit emerging needs is essential.

—

Amy’s Dance School: http://amygould.isat.co.za/linksagbs.htm

Imagine Magazine: http://www.imaginemag.co.za/

Theatre On-Main: http://www.theatreonmain.co.za/

Jamie Benson aims to challenge performance traditions and create accessibly original work as a dancer, choreographer, producer and instructor.

Jamie attended the Dance Department of Cornish College of Fine Art and Spectrum Dance Theater on scholarship—and there any resemblance to Billy Elliot ends. A boundary-pusher and glorious misfit, he observes and explores humanity by placing differing styles of dance into unexpected, and often humorous, everyday landscapes.

What follows is a candid and personal conversation with Jamie about his life in dance and performance—a life of creative tenacity with which many artists will, no doubt, identify. Welcome, Jamie!

There was not an obvious career path waiting for you when you completed your dance training. In many ways you have made a strength of not fitting in. What has it been like to forge an independent niche for yourself? Do you consider yourself a better dancer for it?

I’m afraid “not fitting in” turned out to be my strength, so I finally embraced it. In dance, unlike other creative professions, fitting in is often a necessity. Only in the last few years have I decided to own my quirky looks and unusual interests, my asymmetry. Obvious career path? Yikes, no. I’ve tried for years to reconcile my jazz baby beginnings with the modern-based technique I first acquired in college. I now, more or less, embody the eternal tension between entertainment value and artistic integrity.

It’s been a long, gruesome road. I’ve sort of given up on dance a couple of times only to end up immersed in it all the same. The process has made me a better performer, certainly. The struggles I’ve endured being my own Producer, Choreographer, Public Relations Rep and Development Director add a lot of weight, I think, to my performances—even when they’re humor-heavy. I’ve heard it said that the comedians with the most painful backgrounds end up being the funniest.

Plus, after some significant successes with regard to my development and marketing efforts, I’ve started getting work helping others with it. That is very fulfilling also. Now, if I just had a little more time and money to do my own work, I’d be set.

Ballet formed the cornerstone of your training. Traditionally, ballerinas and danseurs and their instructors and choreographers have remained faithful to rules laid down centuries ago. As a choreographer you freely pair classic and barbaric dance forms. Is there anything about ballet—technically, thematically, spiritually—that you hold sacred? By adding an element of barbarism to ballet, what is gained? How do you know when you have gone too far?

Germaine, this is a stellar question. Ballet is a crucial expressive form. It embodies many of the structures we as choreographers use to tell a story or express a feeling. Because the rules can be so stringent in its purist form, ballet can get stuck in the past. It’s loads of fun to take ballet class. There is a sense of history, pure elegance and a wonderful longing to defy reality with beauty.

Having typed that, I love using ballet in my own work as a representation for the aristocracy, or the pretense we present to the world. When a ballerina loses her lift, her steel-like structure, her refined magnificence, it offers so much in terms of drama and metaphor. Who hasn’t, while trying so hard to stay tall, keep it together, lost that will to present strength and beauty? As someone who loves all things outlandish or “campy” I feel I’ve never gone too far with this (although I suspect I’ve gotten close). As long as I find a sense of authenticity in the narrative I’m creating, I feel on the right track. The work has to be grounded in some definitive truth. I find great delight in placing highbrow and lowbrow themes next to each other. I walk the line where they meet in an attempt to break new ground in dance. Ballet is a respected part of that process.

Your marriage, about which you created a performance piece, attests to the power, not only of love, but also creative synergy. In what ways has your marriage contributed to your development as an artist?

Wow, I’ve gained so much from my relationship with Andrae Gonzalo. He, being the consummate visual artist and fashion designer, helped push me back into dance during one of my hiatuses. Much of my work has been collaboration with him. His deep love and knowledge of theater has helped to inform the work also. Our tastes are just similar enough to share a stage and yet different enough to keep us frustrated, challenged. Not to mention the fact that his ability to innovate the costuming is really awe-inspiring. HEAR THIS CHOREOGRAPHERS: Please put more thought into your costumes. They propel the work to new conceptual/aesthetic heights. The costumes, along with your choreography, further enable an audience to suspend their disbelief & be taken away with your work.

The life of any artist seems to hold its own unique interplay of agony and ecstasy. How would you describe yours?

Wow again. Let’s be frank. Money and looks have been a source of a lot of turmoil for me as a dancer. The cost to continue consistently training, alongside the pathetic rates dancers get to perform, has frustrated and derailed me a few times. I’ve noticed other dancers from wealthier families excel in a more seamless way. I’ve worked three odd jobs simultaneously at any given time my entire adult life. Although the employment I have now is both more fulfilling and pays better, I’m still juggling part-time gigs. I’ve spent much of my best dancing years scrambling to pay rent. That has an emotional and physical toll. It’s tricky, although dance is a high-minded art form, it’s also an aesthetically-based performance form. In many dance forms, women are often supposed to look lithe, thin and sexy whereas men broad, strong, a heartthrob. I’m afraid I did not fit the bill often—being told over and over that I was “too skinny” or “too quirky” to the point where I developed a complex about it. Of course, I always intended to make more time & room in the budget for a gym membership and personal trainer, but it wasn’t possible during my younger years.

That being said, I’ve created the kind of work that I want to see and, I’m told, doesn’t exist anywhere else. That is a satisfaction reserved for very, very few. I’m deeply grateful to continue to pull that off. Being able to create a platform uniquely your own and have people relate to it is so much more exhilarating than being the third dancing Disney Chipmunk to the left. Because I’ve been able to produce work that I love before, I truly believe in my ability to manifest this joy again and have every intention to do so.

In addition to your very busy life as a performer, choreographer and producer, you also teach. What do you strive to pass on to your pupils that your instructors never taught you?

Not to be too self-critical! It’s tough to stare at yourself in a mirror and be told you aren’t doing things right for a whole class at a time. Humor is also a major factor in my approach to teaching. I’m quick to acknowledge the mistakes I make in class or to share mistakes that I used to make if a student is having a similar problem. It disarms the students and gives them wiggle room to grow without unnecessary drama.

What is next for Jamie Benson? What else would you like to share with our readers?

I actually have a big announcement, Germaine, and would love to reveal it here! I just accepted a job from dance presenter White Bird to be the Rehearsal Director for Le Grand Continental, a groundbreaking work by internationally renowned, Montreal-based choreographer, Sylvain Emard. I’m responsible for teaching a diverse group of 200 Oregonians a 30-minute contemporary line dance. I’ll help organize the event, lead rehearsals, and perform with those selected. This is the same performance series I’ve been working on in New York as an assistant, and it was a rather profound experience. While in New York, it was inspiring to witness the work become about far more then learning a series of movements. This event is absent of ego (almost any age, weight, or experience level can do it) and uses dance as a common denominator to bring a broad community together. Le Grand Continental has been traveling around the world, and I am thoroughly grateful to be a part of both the New York and Portland versions of it. Check the video trailer out and see for yourself.

I look forward to sharing more exciting dance stories with you all again!

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