NYU Dance Education Program Distinguished Faculty Concert

Maria Piedad performed the dance/theater piece “Having Conjunctions” choreographed and directed by the well known choreographer Claire Porter. The piece was part of the 2014 NYU Dance Education Program Faculty Concert NYU which happened at the Frederick Lowe Theatre in New York last April.

This piece´s creative process embraced movement, interpretation and linguistic clusters explorations to create unique stories for each character. Along the choreography, small stories were told using only grammatical conjunctions as language. The piece had a humoristic touch, a characteristic of Claire’s work. The audience enjoyed this piece and Maria Piedad could use her oratory skills playing with a text and its counterpart in rapid Spanish.

"Having Conjunctions" Cast

Backstage moment

Enjoying Claire Porter´s choreography

Maria Piedad presented her Master's thesis to NYU/Steinhardt

After several months of research, Maria Piedad presented her thesis “Ballet and the Contemporary Choreography Creation: a relation to be revealed” as one of the requirements for her Master of Arts degree in Teaching Dance in the Professions: The American Ballet Theatre Pedagogy at NYU/Steinhard.

The research question addressed if ballet, as a dance technique, facilitates or not the contemporary choreography creation. However,  Maria Piedad’s research purpose had nothing to do with ballet as facilitator of the contemporary technique performance. Conversely, she investigated about how the creative processes of contemporary choreographers, such as, Jiri Kilán, Willian Forsythe, Hans Van Manen, among others, are stimulated or not, when they work with dancers who have had a strong ballet training.  During the research process, different theoretical lens and theories were used to collect and analyze data; for instance, Modernism, Post-modernism, Avant-Garde  and the history and heritage of Judson Dance Theater and The Grand Union were taking into consideration for this research. 

This thesis was a practical complement. Maria Piedad did an extensive movement research along many hours of studio rehearsal in order to create the movement language that she used in her choreography “Á la première, á la deuxième, á la troisième...". In this way, she put in practice her theoretical analysis about ballet as facilitator of the contemporary choreography creation. This choreography was performed at the NYU/Steinhardt Masters’ Dance Concert 2013 by Steinhardt and Tisch masters students last November. 

A la première, à la deuxième, à la troisième...

The latest Maria Piedad’s choreography is entitled  "A la première, à la deuxième, troisième à la ..." music by Philip Glass.  This piece was presented for the Master's Dance Concert 2013, Dance Education Program of New York University NYU, November 16^th and 17^th, at the Frederick Loewe Theatre in New York City .

The dancers, NYU Steinhardt/Tisch master’s students, performed a contemporary ballet piece with a psychological theme. The aim was to explore the experiences and feelings of what it means to be a woman; its femininity, independence, thoughts, conscious, subconscious and emotional worlds and personal, intrapersonal and social relationships as well. This dance work was carried out in an environment of artistic collaboration. The primary choreographic exploration started more than five months ago and it was complemented by the academic research done by Maria Piedad for her Master’s thesis. 

A la première, à la deuxième, à la troisième...

Photography by James Alonzo White

Maria Piedad completed her ABT/NTC full teaching certification

María Piedad completed her American Ballet Theatre's National Training Curriculum full teaching certification.

In an intensive workshop taught by the ABT maîtres Raymond Lukens y Franco De Vita,  María Piedad could exchanged ideas and experiences about ballet pedagogy with different artists who came from different places of Europe, Asia and America; as well as, with former ABT dancers. After presenting her theoretical and practical tests to the director of the ABT Studio Company, Miss Kate Lydon, who is an ABT/NTC examinator, María Piedad was given the full mark for her certification. In this way, she became the first Ecuadorian dance artist who is fully certified in the ABT/NTC teaching method. Now, she is allowed to teach all ABT's levels of training including pre-primary, primary, level 1 to 7, including partnering (pas de deux). 

Undoubtedly, this is a great accomplishment in her career that also represents a great responsibility, as it happened years ago when she became the first artist from Ecuador who graduated as a ballet, character and historical dance teacher from the National Ballet School in Havana, Cuba. 

Artists who attended the level 6,7 and partnering ABT/NTC certification course

Maria Piedad´s choreography demo

This video shows excerpts of Maria Piedad´s work as choreographer. Different styles performed by students and professionals. Enjoy it.

Maria Piedad´s choroegraphy demo

The Dance World Cup in Montreal

           Maria Piedad was one of the judges at the Dance World Cup in Montreal. This international dance competition was held in the theater La cinquiéme salle at the artistic complex Le Place des Arts in Montreal from July 8th to July 10th. Dancers from different countries, such as Canada, United States, Indonesia, Portugal, Japan, China, Rusia and others were there to show their artistry and technique in differente dance styles. Coreographies of ballet, jazz, contemporary, modern, folk, acorbatics, theatre dance, and other styles  were presented to the audience. Rather than being just a dance competition, The Dance World Cup 2013 was a beautiful show.

The 34th International Dance Council CID-UNESCO World Congress: Dance is our voice

      The Montreal Section of the International Dance Council CID, in collaboration with the Executive Secretariat of the CID in Athens, Greece organized the CID World Congress in Canada. It was placed under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, the National UNESCO Commission, and the City Council of Montreal.

       Maria Piedad participated in this congress taking part in all the artistic event and scientific conferences which were held at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth in Montreal from July 3rd through July 7th. She also taught a master ballet class which followed the American Ballet Theatre´s  National Training Curriculum methodology.

       CID Canada brought together CID members of the International Dance Community of various backgrounds and countries. It was a scientific conference, as well as a trade fair. It was a participatory event, facilitating contacts with colleagues through a sharing of knowledge and experiences.

       CID congresses are the largest gatherings of dance specialists world-wide, the best opportunity to showcase one's work to a wide audience of practitioners, dance teachers, choreographers, researchers, journalists, organizers and suppliers. Approximately 400 conferees from 40 countries of the 5 continents attend each congress.

       All forms of dance are represented. It is strictly non-profit, and is not to be confused with festivals, workshops, competitions, forums or open conferences. There are no observers or invited guests, only registered CID members can attend the morning and afternoon sessions. Spectators can attend the evening performances only.