I was in Toronto over Easter and heard the tail end of a news segment about the ballet, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, based on Sarah McLachlan’s music and grumbled, “Of course Toronto has the cool ballet.” It turns out Fumbling is a production of the Alberta Ballet which, under the artistic direction of Jean Grand-Maître, is developing a name for itself for producing pop-ballets. It also turns out that the last of the seven shows was on May 14, several days ago, with no news that the production will travel out …

It was from my friend Vinnie in Toronto that I first heard about Zumba. She was quite addicted a year or two ago and I only half listened because her gym is GoodLife and they are inexplicably absent from Vancouver proper and I didn’t belong to any gym. But now I have a Fitness World membership gathering dust for a week at a time between uses and staid as it is, it offers Zumba classes a few times a week. Hooray, I can climb on the bandwagon about four years …

As with all things in life, I thought it could be beneficial to my current routine to infuse a new element; that is, diversify my dance repertoire from solely ballet by adding another style of dance. Once upon a time, I took jazz alongside my ballet classes because it was another “classic” dance. Mum, being the controller of the finances and my life at the time, probably eschewed the “Modern” class because you know how inappropriately sassy that was back in in the ’80s!
However, modern dance has received great exposure …

Every time I walk up the steep two storeys of stairs to the top floor of my dance studio, Harbour Dance Centre in downtown Vancouver, I pass by all the other studios and the masses of dancers waiting for their class to begin.
It’s not a huge stretch to draw similarities between the dance studio and the New York City High School for the Performing Arts of Fame (the original series), what with them both residing in the middle of the city (the neon marquees of the Granville Street “Entertainment District” …

Just in case we are not aware of it, Angry Asian Man takes it upon himself to alert you to the Asian contestants in some reality shows even when it is apparent he does not watch them himself (SYTYCD s05, SYTYCD s04). It’s always interesting to me to note when there is an under- or overrepresentation of Asians in a competition compared to general demographics. And if they deserve it, I’ll root for them staying in the competition as long as possible.
NPY and I rapidly gave up on watching So …

I wanted to add my thoughts to the lackluster, non-existent debate* swirling around the July 16 episode of “So You Think You Can Dance” when ten dancers remained: five guys and five girls. The night before, to show off their talents in smaller groups, the girls performed a group number together and the guys did one later in the show. The girls’ number was a sassy, athletic, graceful, exhilerating Bollywood number. The guys closed out the show with an acrobatic and athletic African dance routine. I fully enjoyed the Indian-style …

The initial idea was to replace running with dancing. But with a 90-minute ballet class costing $18 (or $14 at my reduced rate) per, I go approximately once every two weeks*. I really wish it was as often as once a week (Monday, after work) but once you insert a commute time, well, I am dragging my feet no matter if all the other factors are in favour of me going: gloriously sunny day conducive to walk to and from class and nothing else demanding my attention or presence in …

I was a little disappointed that by the time a dance (omigosh, are we back in high school??) rolled around on April 1st the interest had waned amongst even the biggest enthusiasts that I was the only one of the “dancing group” to go. Because I wanted my pin! The first thing F. noticed was the Birks label (like a Canadian poor man’s Tiffany’s) and I will let on that there is a sticker under the box that reads, “Copper Ballroom”.
You see, I’m the kind of person who can “prove” …

Thanks to Vinnie who sent me a forward with these nostalgic Maxine comics that I found this one and laughed out loud!
It was intensely weird that on Monday night, after 17 nearly consecutive weeks, the dance lessons ended. The dancing group has disbanded (for dancing) for a three-month hiatus.
In mid-summer (shortly after the beginning of July), the Robson Square Summertime Dance Series begins… what’s more romantic than spinning around a dance floor in the arms of a beautiful dance partner with an overhead glass dome that is lit with large …