Blog – Page 3

01 Jun

Summer Update

This summer I will be teaching at several different studios and programs in Fort Worth, performing in Addison, and taking class and getting together with dancers all across the Metroplex. If you’re down for that, then read on to find out how we can dance and move together this summer!

June 1-12* – Texas Ballet Theater Adult Ballet Classes

Wednesdays – Beginner/Intermediate Ballet, 9:30-10:45
Fridays – Beginner Ballet, 9:30-10:45

Both classes tend to be a range of levels and ages, but all are welcome. If you are brand new to ballet I’d recommend joining me for the Friday class to start, or going to the Absolute Beginner classes on Saturdays at 1PM. If ballet is old hat for you, know that I tend to teach to the level of the individuals in the clas, but for the morning classes I give a longer barre and offer minimal jumping. Morning classes don’t fit in your schedule? TBT has a ton of classes in the evenings Monday through Thursday beginning June 8, and they also offer a ballet boot camp the first week in June. Learn more about classes and rates here.

*Morning classes will resume in late July.

Tuesday evenings in June and July, starting June 9

Modern/Contemporary Class, 7:15-8:15 Texas Ballet Theater Studios

If ballet barre sounds boring to you, I hope you’ll join me for modern/contemporary class on Tuesday nights. We’ll start with a warm up, move across the floor, and then finish with a movement combination. If you used to dance but haven’t taken class in a while this would be a great way to jump back in! Learn more about classes and rates here.

Open Level Barre, Smart Barre Express, Smart Stretch & Restore, and Smart Cardio – Smart Barre

I’ll continue my normal barre schedule all through the summer at the Camp Bowie, Bluebonnet, and Cityview studios but this summer I’ll also start teaching express (a 30 minute version of our open level class), Smart Stretch & Restore (a 25 minute stretch and relaxation class), and Smart Cardio (a 55 minute, high intensity class using many exercises found in our open level classes but at a faster pace and with emphasis on a cardiovascular workout). I’m excited to teach new things, and I hope to see you at the barre! Find out studio schedules and when I’m teaching.

Select Dates, June and July, FurtherDance on the move

If you’re an advanced, experienced, or professional dancer over the age of 18 in the Metroplex, we’d love to have you join us for our class series, FurtherDance on the move. FurtherDance Fort Worth is the organization I co-lead, and we desire to see more opportunities for dancers in DFW, part of that is offering affordable classes from great teachers. We are still developing this series (I’ll post when we finalize all details), but right now we have classes scheduled in June with Elizabeth Gillaspy (ballet professor at TCU and noted choreographer) and Anna Marie Ewert-Pittman (director of Ewert & Company). Find out more!

Four Seasons: recomposed – imPULSE dance project, July 25 and 26, 2015

I’m performing with imPULSE dance project at the Addison Theatre Centre this summer! I’m excited to premiere a new work by our director, Asia Waters, based on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. I’m also premiering some new choreography, danced to pieces, a dance based on the fairy tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Find out more here!

Two great companies are offering dance experiences (classes, performances, improv jams, etc.) In July and August. I’m hoping to participate with these two groups for at least part of their offerings. Keep an eye on Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth for their July series of performances and jams at the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth. In August you can join Big Rig Dance Collective for their Co-Op weekend of dance. I love that these companies have such a big desire to #dancelocal!

Wow, that’s a lot of dance! And I’m also honored to teach modern classes at the Texas Ballet Theater School’s junior and senior summer intensives!

I hope you get some chances to dance this summer! Maybe I’ll see you in class?

15 Apr

Currently Working on….

…a dance inspired by the fairy tale the 12 Dancing Princesses for imPULSE Dance Project a very short excerpt of this work that is very much in progress.

01 Apr

Required Reading for College Dance Majors: Present, Future, and Former

Just some articles I’ve been perusing and contemplating over the past month or so. I don’t agree with everything that’s said, but they all bring up important points and items to consider. I truly believe that dance is a legitimate field of study for university students, but students need to make sure they understand WHY they are studying dance. What are their goals? What do their dance studies translate to in other fields? And dance programs must also be realistic, present students with many possibilities (beyond performance and choreography) for using their degree, and encourage them to diversify their learning experience as well as their perception of what a dance career can/should look like.

I could go on… or you could read on.

Is American Modern Dance a Pyramid Scheme? – Sarah Austin

A Call for R/evolution – Jennifer Edwards

A Philosophy Major Rants on Dance as a Pyramid Scheme – Nancy Wozny

How to Pick a College Dance Program That Will Work for You – Ashley Thorndike Youssef

More later.

23 Mar

Art – a right and a privilege

I have been thinking a lot lately about art, the arts, fine arts, performing arts… their place in society, culture, humanity.

While I’m sure I’ll flesh out these ideas one by one, here is a summary of my latest thoughts and considerations:

Necessary:

art
access to art
making art

Privilege:

Making a living by making art

Do not misunderstand me. Artists and art of all kinds are important and incredibly valuable in so many ways. But you don’t have to be paid or make your primary living creating art to be important or create important and necessary work. If you are able to make money, any money great or small, to create art, then you are privileged.

What I’m not saying (short version):
You shouldn’t get paid to make art.
Art is not valuable.

What I am saying (long version):
Be willing to sometimes make art for free or cheap. When it is for the benefit of a cause or a group that is forgotten or under-served especially.

Art is incredibly valuable in many forms. So expand your idea of what making art is. To me, arts teachers and administrators are all making art.

Find ways to incorporate your art into other work that might make more money. This is awesome, and you are still making art, and may even find ways to make more art. If this method is good enough for Da Vinci, it’s good enough for you.

Remember that life is about trade-offs. If something is important to you, do it, but know that you might have to give up something else to do it. If you’re not willing to give something up (time or money in most cases) to make art, that’s fine, but don’t complain about it. Realize that you made a valid and honorable choice. Some people don’t have those choices. They have families to provide for. They are ill. They were born into poverty. You are probably not one of those people, and so you are privileged. Do not complain that you can’t make enough money making art. Change something (your expectations probably) so that you can make “enough.” And you must NOT complain that non-artists or other types of artists make more money than you do. That was their choice, and they have made it. Our battle is to show the value of art and to be able to create it. You can do both without being concerned about how much money other people make.

If you ONLY want to make art directly (you want to compose music, choreograph, perform, act, sing, write plays and novels, make movies, etc.) then just start doing it- but there may be a difference between the type of art that expresses your soul and the type of art that will make money. Make things and offer services that people will pay for. Then use that money to make your soul art. Also, be willing to ask for money. If it’s important enough, you will ask. Find ways to lessen your living expenses (ideas: move to a cheaper area, have roommates, say no to cable, set up camp in areas that have free wifi, buy things used, join co-op groups to get cheap food, consider communal living, share a car with someone else) so that you can do this art-making for your living. Hint: you won’t make a lot of money, but most of us can live on way less money than we think.

There is more, but I’d love to hear your thoughts first.

12 Mar

New Motto

Yesterday I watched the first hour of Pacific Northwest Ballet’s livestream of a conversation and rehearsal with William Forsythe.

At one point a dancer, going through his paces, found himself in the wrong spacing, too far away from his partner. He had only a few steps to get back. He was smiling, laughing at himself, and Forsythe laughed too as he flew across the stage and made it back right on time.

Mr. Forsythe then explained to the audience that the dancer had found himself flying, pulled away by physics, but he’d recovered, that he’d just figured out how to do it in a split second, unconsciously. His body knew what to do, and took over.

He “unleashed his unconscious competence.”

And anyway, I like to do that too sometimes.

28 Feb

Failure as a lesson

“Ultimately there is no such thing as failure. There are lessons learned in different ways.”
-Twyla Tharp

Yep. Many. Different. Ways.

16 Feb

Welcome!

Here I am again, creating a new spot for myeslf online. Welcome to it! I hope you don’t mind when I spontaneously redecorate.

If you don’t already know me, my name is Krista Jennings Langford, and some people call me kj. If you want my full origin story, check out my about page, but the short version is this: I am a Fort Worth-based dance artist & educator and arts advocate. I am lucky enough to teach and work with a variety of organizations (all of which are listed out on that about page that I’ll just keep pointing you back to) while living the good life in Cowtown with my husband and our awesome dogs.

My motto is “Life well-lived, work well done”

I’ve been on the internet since it was a thing (shout out to AOL and Prodigy), blogging since everyone had angsty xangas, and every few years I’ve made changes and adjustments to my online presence (blech, it’s kind of gross to say it that way, but that’s what it is my “online presence”)

Over the last 6 years or so I blogged at sometimessheblogs That was an awesome space for me (that evolved from blogspot to wordpress and through several different names) where I went from blogging on wedding planning, to newlywed life, to fashion, to travel, and finally to all aspects of my life.

But about 5 months ago I lost interest. I got bogged down in my 7 jobs (not an exaggeration) and many commitments and I just didn’t see the point in blogging any more, even though I missed the writing part of it. Plus, I didn’t see how I could morph my blog, where I sometimes posted photos of me in my leopard print shorts (whole posts devoted to these shorts. TWICE.), into something that fit into what I really needed: a personal yet professional internet home.

So I’ve decided I’m not going to try. Sometimessheblogs will live on, and if I ever feel the need to be ridiculous, I may still post there. And there are some great thoughts from that blog that I might migrate over here. But, more importantly, what will this new, kjlangford blog become?

Well, I’m never going to be only professional and not personal, or only personal and informal but never professional. That’s just not how I roll. For me those two things, life and work, meld together so easily. See my motto for proof.

So I’m hoping to use this space to post about new projects I’m working on, things that inspire me, my philosophies, questions I’m pondering, and random but interesting thoughts. I want to curate fun/useful/joyful/creative/inspiring/good/great ideas/photos/videos/quotes/thoughts.

If you’re browsing here and are interested in my choreographic, teaching, or performance work, please check out my portfolio, teaching statement, and/or contact me.