March 4th, 2010 by soullldiva

“To dance, put your hand on your heart and listen to the sound of your soul.”    Eugene Louis “Luigi” Facciuto

Luigi Facciuto is a true father of modern Jazz dance (he is even sometimes referred to as “father jazz”). He was a very accomplished dancer when he moved to Los Angeles in the 1950’s to further his career. Instead, he became paralyzed after a serious car accident. He recovered enough to begin working at the dance bar again, but when he would leave the bar and attempt to dance out on the floor, his injuries did not enable him to have the same balance and coordination that he had before the accident.

But that did not stop him. He did so well at the bar, he thought “well, I’ll just take the bar out on to the floor with me!” And he created the very first formal Jazz technique. It’s a technique that I’ve been schooled in for the past 10 years, and if you’ve ever heard a teacher tell you to “push down to go up,” then you’ve used the Luigi technique. So, when you go up on your toes (or releve), you don’t just use your calf muscles to pop up. You “pull up” from the top of your head and “push down” within the space around you. This is the biggest part of the Luigi technique, the opposition. You “pull away left to go right” and so on. It’s an excellent technique and really allows for breath and reach in dance steps.

I love the quote from him above. He overcame the very worst kind of obstacles for a dancer and artist, and he certainly knows the sound of his soul. Because it is the soul of a dancer. Thanks for the technique Luigi. And the love of dance.

You can learn more about Luigi here.

January 20th, 2010 by soullldiva

“The one thing that can solve most of our problems is dancing.”   The Godfather of Soul, Mr. James Brown

You only have to listen to him sing or watch him dance for a minute to understand why he held his title and held it nobly. These days it seems like we could all use a little dance in our lives. To celebrate, to help, to heal, to transport us, to elevate us, or to simply have fun. Amen Godfather.

January 12th, 2010 by soullldiva

There is a famous dance quote about Ginger Rogers that goes “Sure, he was great but don’t forget that Ginger Rogers did everything he did…backwards and in high heels.”

The “he” of course, refers to Mr. Fred Astaire (see yesterday’s dance quote post). And Ginger was his steadfast and finest dance partner for 10 films, and continued on without him to win a Best Actress Oscar for Kitty Foyle in 1940.

She gave the Fred and Ginger pairing femininity, grace, beauty and even more talent to make a blockbuster duo. Katherine Hepburn was quoted saying “Fred gave Ginger class, and Ginger gave Fred Sex.” Not only was she a class A dancer, she was also a great dramatic and comedic actress.

Of his beloved partner, Fred said “She had guts.” And I love that. Here’s to miss Ginger.

January 11th, 2010 by soullldiva

“Some people seem to think that good dancers are born, but all the good dancers I have known are taught or trained.”    Fred Astaire

I love that Fred Astaire quote for personal reasons. I’ve studied dance for over 10 years in my adult life, and more when I was younger. I abandoned when I was in middle school it because I felt I wasn’t “born to dance”. And others, with more natural talent than myself, were. But for anyone who has worked and studied their butts off, and rehearsed until 3am–that is just a piece of false information. Not only can anyone dance, anyone can be great. That’s just my philosophy! So thanks, Fred, for the awesome quote.

December 15th, 2009 by soullldiva

Seeing as tonight is the Performance Finale of So You Think You Can Dance, I thought we could hear a little from Misha:

“There comes a moment in a young artist’s life when he knows he has to bring something to the stage from within himself. He has to put in something in order to be able to take something.”   Mikhail Baryshnikov

As I watch the weeks and weeks of SYTYCD, the dancers upon dancers, this is what I am searching for personally in my “favorite dancer.” That spark that makes them stand out. The personal nature with which they dance. The bits of themselves that they put in and lay out for all of America to see. The dancer that gives, and gives generously. And you know I’m not talking about donations, here. I’m talking about giving all of themselves through their dance to the audience, so you go through an experience with them.

So that’s what I wait for, and that’s what Baryshnikov is talking about in his quote. And this is a man who knows something about bringing something to the stage from within himself.

Unfortunately, the performance I wanted to feature in this post is no longer available on YouTube, and that’s because they’re featuring “Baryshnikov Dances to Sinatra and More” newly mastered on DVD as a sale item this holiday (available on Amazon), and I highly recommend it. But there’s plenty of performances to choose from, so after looking for a bit I settled on this:

I have not seen “White Nights” in years and now want to revisit it (also recalling that it features lovely Gregory Hines, who I miss dearly).

Sigh. Fine stuff. I look forward to seeing lots of fine work tonight on the performance finale of SYTYCD and believe me, I want to see that spark in ALL the dancers. I love everyone to win, plus it makes it more fun for me to watch!