FTCM Dance Department

Vanaver Caravan’s DanceFest is premiering TOMORROW! (Saturday March 13) The Dance Department at FTC-M has been invited to participate in this year’s virtual dance festival. We welcome everyone to come join the event, and we’re so excited to to showcase highlights from a few of our dance piecesfrom ballet pieces, to folk styles and classical Chinese dance pieces! For more information on how to access the DanceFest, please visit: https://vanavercaravan.org/upcomingevents/danc...efest21. Tickets are by donation. ***The Vanaver Caravan is a Hudson Valley-based nonprofit organization that showcases original world dance and music pieces. This event is a fundraiser for Vanaver Caravan’s Arts and Education programs. The Vanaver Caravan uses the proceeds to offer dance programs to schools in need. Please help to support dance in schools by purchasing tickets (by donation) when possible.

The Vanaver Caravan's DanceFest is premiering TOMORROW! (Saturday March 13) The Dance Department at FTC-M has been invited to participate in this year’s virtual dance festival. We welcome everyone to come join the event, and we’re so excited to to showcase highlights from a few of our dance piecesfrom ballet repertoire, to folk styles, and classical Chinese dance pieces! For more information on how to access the DanceFest, please visit: https://vanavercaravan.org/upcomingev...ents/dancefest21. Tickets are by donation. ***The Vanaver Caravan is a Hudson Valley-based nonprofit organization that showcases original world dance and music pieces. This event is a fundraiser for Vanaver Caravan’s Arts and Education programs. The Vanaver Caravan uses the proceeds to offer dance programs to schools in need. Please help to support dance in schools by purchasing tickets (by donation) when possible.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone! On this 15th day of the 8th lunar month, we celebrate the fullest moon of the year with mooncakes, family ... and a #ThrowbackThursday post! Today, we feature another one of our repertoire pieces: A Reverie in the Moon Palace. This dance was inspired by an ancient legend about the emperor Tang Minghuang, who, on a summer’s night thousands of years ago, was doing exactly what we will be doing tonight: admiring the moon. He starts to write ...a musical composition, but doesn’t have inspiration. He wishes he could pay a visit to the heavenly Moon Palace, and disheartened, he falls asleep. Suddenly, a Daoist master appears and whisks Tang Minghuang off on a magical journey. They arrive at the Moon Palace, where heavenly maidens are dancing with ribbons of silk. Mesmerized by the divine realm, the emperor can't believe his eyes, and he joins the fairies as they twirl amidst the clouds. He wishes to stay longer and admire the Moon Palace in all its grandeur, but with a swish of the Daoist master’s whisk, the emperor is put back to sleep. Tang Minghuang abruptly wakes up from his slumber, only to find that he has returned to his own palace. He looks for the fairies and the Daoist master, but they are nowhere to be found. Was it all just a dream? Suddenly struck by inspiration, he finishes his famous musical composition: Ni Chang Yu Yi Wu, or "Raiment of Rainbows and Feathers," a classic Chinese music and dance piece which became a source of inspiration for dynasties to come. . . . Choreography by Alison Chen Music by Tony Chen @tonychenmusic Performed at the @marthagrahamschool Studio for FTC-Middletown’s Winter Dance Concert (2018). . . . #ftcmiddletown #feitiancollegemiddletown #choreography #ribbondance #midautumn #midautumn2020 #moonfestival #midautumnfestival #chinesedance #chinesedancers #chinesedanceperformance #chinesedances # # #traditionalchineseculture #chineseculture #danceeducation #danceconservatory #dancecollege #marthagrahamschool #marthagrahamstudiotheater

We welcome you to join us on Sunday!

School is back in session! We’re beyond grateful to be back in the studio, but it’s also already becoming a struggle to juggle everything - which makes now the perfect time to take a page from one of the greats. No one knows commitment better than Misty Copeland. @mistyonpointe started ballet at age 13 while crammed in a motel room with her mother and 5 siblings. But that didn’t stop her, and she was performing professionally within a year. Misty joined ABT in 2001 as the onl...y African American woman in the corps de ballet, and in 2015, she made history again as the company’s first ever African American female principal dancer. As our lives fall back into routine, we can’t forget to bring the same commitment with us as well! #mistycopeland #misty #dancequotes #dancequote #dancequoteoftheday #balletlove #balletinspiration #balletdancers #ballettraining #balletworld #ftcmiddletown #feitiancollegemiddletown #balletphoto #balletlovers #balletlife

Panicking about being out of shape before school starts, but tired of stretching solo? Wish you could put all those mindless hours of tv-watching to better use? Well, scroll no further! Introducing: Last Minute Back-to-School Stretching - Quarantine Edition! Here are a couple great ways to stretch with your friends, all while maintaining a safe distance! Tag a friend you want to stretch with!... . . . #partnerstretch #partnerstretching #homestretching #flexibilitygoals #danceathome #dancepractice #backflexibility #legflexibility #splitstraining #dancewarmup #stretchingexercises #backtoschool #socialdisdance #ftcmiddletown #feitiancollegemiddletown See more

Once the lights are on, the curtains are up, and the music starts, I find myself transported into the other world which can only be experienced while performing. Everything disappears and it’s you, your partner, and the music. It’s somehow a sacred place to be, and just as exciting to experience. - @_xander Alexander Robert Nigel Parish is an English ballet dancer and principal soloist of the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia. He began dancing at the age of 8, and... performed with the corps de ballet before joining the Mariinsky Ballet in 2010, making him the company’s first British dancer. Even though Parish was a British man on Russian lands, he felt right at home portraying roles from faraway places - Prince Siegfried (Swan Lake), Count Albrecht (Giselle), Romeo (Romeo and Juliet), and more! . . . #alexanderparish #xanderparish #dancequotes #dancequote #dancequoteoftheday #balletlove #balletinspiration #balletdancers #ballettraining #balletworld #ftcmiddletown #feitiancollegemiddletown #balletphoto #balletlovers #balletlife

By popular demand, our first feature for our Dance Repertoire Series will be: The Monkey King Battles the Red Dragon! Here’s an adaptation based on the Chinese classic novel, Journey to the West, a fabled legend about a Buddhist monk from the Tang dynasty. The Tang Monk begins his travels to India on foot, in hopes of bringing Buddhist scriptures back to China. Along the way, he is protected by his trusty disciples: a pig, an ogre, and the magical Monkey King. After facin...g countless dangers, the Tang Monk finally obtains the coveted scriptures, and heads back home. But just as he is about to complete his mission, an evil dragon steals their treasure, and attempts to plunge the world into chaos. The Monkey King courageously battles the dragon, but is thwarted by the villain’s magical powers. In the end, how do they manage to defeat the Red Dragon? With a little divine intervention from Bodhisattva Guanyin, of course! With the scriptures recovered, our heroes continue on their journey of bringing peace and hope to the world. . . . Choreography by Mingye Liu Music by Galen Chen Performed at the @marthagrahamschool Dance Studio for FTC-Middletown’s Winter Dance Concert (2018) . . . #ftcmiddletown #feitiancollegemiddletown #choreography #journeytothewest #monkeyking #sunwukong #chinesedance #chinesedancers #chinesedanceperformance #chinesedances # # #traditionalchineseculture #chineseculture #danceeducation #danceconservatory #dancecollege #marthagrahamschool #marthagrahamstudiotheater #marthagrahamstudio

Once called the greatest dancer of all time by George Balanchine, Fred Astaire ( @fredastairee ) revolutionized movie musicals. The world loved his light, effortless dancing style in films and onstage. But offstage, it was not unusual for him to spend 3-4 days perfecting movements for 2 bars of music or to dance until his partner’s feet bled. It’s already hard enough to make dance look easy, but now dancers around the world have an added layer of difficultyface masks! And... even though it’s hard (to breathe), it’s still our job to make it look easy! . . . Pictured: Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire (Check out their Instagram account! @astaire.and.rogers ) Photo credit: The Picture Desk Copyright: AFP ImageForum . . . #fredastaire #danceinspiration #dancequotes #dancequoteoftheday #balletinspiration #ftcmiddletown #feitiancollegemiddletown