LINEUP LINEUP
THE
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NOV/ DEC 2015
PICTURE PERFECT 14 Featured Photo: Madonna
Rebel
Heart Tour
Photo: Presented by Showstopper
65 Grand Finale
IN EVERY ISSUE 16 Publisher’s Page 18 The Must List 21 The Hot List 23 New + Noteworthy 25 Travis Talk 52 Inside Dance Ambassadors
55 DailyDancerDiet 57 Dance Fitness 63 Industry Insider
27
5 FOR FABULOUS
Competition prep takes training and rehearsals to another level of intensity! Follow these five simple tips to take the stage with confidence!
30 REMEMBER
CHLOE LUKASIAK - A YEAR TO
BY CHRISTY SANDMAIER
Pennsylvania native Chloe Lukasiak has had a year to remember, and Inside Dance had the honor of spending some quality time with this month’s cover girl. We hear her journey as Chloe shares details about what may be her best year yet!
40 BY CHRISTY SANDMAIER
MEETING MEGAN LAWSON
Megan Lawson, Lead Choreographer on Madonna’s Rebel Heart Tour opens up and shares her journey, including the life she never dreamed of.
42 CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY SPOTLIGHT:
LONG BEACH
CSULB Dance Department Chair, Andrew Vaca, speaks out on how this program continues to thrive and what makes the CSULB dance program so unique.
44
DETAILS DANCEWEAR
In this month’s fashion feature, Details Dancewear shows off their most recent styles, and looks ahead to the launch of the new line, Isabella Fonte for Details.
46 DANCE CUP - CELEBRATING 20
COMPANY SPOTLIGHT: SPOTLIGHT
YEARS AND BEYOND BY JESSICA WALZ
We catch up with Spotlight Dance Cup Founder, Michelle Kresge, to learn how this company is celebrating 20 years
48
T4T: DANCER’S EDGE
Dancer’s Edge, family owned and operated since 2002, has blended the best benefits of dance studio, school dance team and All Star dance to create this distinctive program. We catch up with Owners Kelly and Alisa as they share their philosophies.
50
HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
Check out this season’s hottest holiday gifts for the dancer in your life!
On The Cover/Pictured Here: Teen dance sensation, Chloe Lukasiak. Photography by: Corey Fox On Location: EDGE Performing Arts Center
TravisTALK Viewpoint: An Olympic Movement In each issue of Inside Dance, renowned dancer and choreographer, Travis Wall, shares from his life experiences, recounting some of his best memories, sharing insight into his processes and mindset as well as his opinions on a variety of subjects. With the Olympic Games less than a year away, the number one Olympic sport – gymnastics – will be front and center. In recent years, the sport has moved away from artistry to focus more on difficulty. Now, there is a movement to bring back more artistry in to the sport, with a greater focus on dance. Wall has worked with a number of high level gymnasts in the past on their choreography and presentation. We asked Wall to compare past eras with today…
Ballet class is a key for restoring artistry. I feel like when you watch Olympic [routines from many years ago] when compulsories were around and everyone had to do the same routine, they were ballet trained. And when you watch the Russian gymnasts [with a high level of artistry], they were ballet trained. In the 1980s and 1990s with the Americans, like Shannon Miller, there was ballet training involved. I feel like now with all the high difficulty, people have taken out the dance element of gymnastics – the artistic element. I agree, everything should be scored higher, but I feel like we should bring back some ballet technique into the training. I feel like everything’s so upper body, just the way they move through their floor exercise and beam, especially. I watch YouTube a lot and I always pull up old gymnastics videos and if you [compare now and then], there’s a huge difference and it comes through the ballet technique.
Aaron Felske
And you have to like the music. For me, music moves me. I can lay on my back and just listen to music forever, I can dance to it forever and I will forever. There are a lot of things as a choreographer I can tell you to do, but at the end of the day you have to do it for yourself. I can try to help you connect, but you have to find that for yourself.
Look for Travis Wall on tour with Shaping Sound now! Plus, do you have a question for Travis or a topic you’d like to see him cover in Travis Talk?Tweet it to us @InsideDanceMag. NOV/DEC 2015
INSIDEDANCE.COM
25
chloe
A Year to
Lukasiak spoke with Inside Dance about her love for dancing, a certain reality show, life in LA and what’s in the works for 2016.
So crazy how much things change in a year. Within hours of winning the coveted Surfboard for “Choice Dancer” at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards, Chloe Lukasiak knew life would never be the same. No longer the “what if” girl, in the shadows, or runner-up to anyone, Lukasiak was center stage shining brightly. It was truly an out-of-body experience, once-in-a-lifetime perhaps.
LUKASIAK
A gentle and old soul, but tough as nails, Lukasiak remembers the moment her name was announced like it was yesterday. “It was so cool. One of the best nights ever.” Best night ever, and maybe her best year ever. Her journey over the past 12 months has restored Lukasiak’s love for dance and paved the way for a future full of possibility. She handles it all with the same grace and effortless elegance displayed in her dancing. On Oct. 5, she tweeted, “So crazy how much things change in a year.” And oh, what a year it’s been for the 14-year-old who fell in love with dancing at the age of two. Today, she’s a reality television show veteran who’s taking acting lessons. Lukasiak is super-involved with her fans via her own YouTube channel, website, and Instagram and Facebook accounts and welcomes over 588 thousand followers on Twitter. She’s also a teenager dividing her time, literally dancing between her hometown of Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, and is striving to strike a balance with all of it. For Lukasiak, it’s a balance that was apparent early on. “I think I was 7 or 8, I had a solo and something clicked,” she says. “I knew that I loved it and wanted to dance and perform. I wanted to work super-hard at it.” But it hasn’t been easy. An emotional decision to change studios, a break from reality television and competition, a health scare. The world was introduced to Lukasiak on Lifetime Television’s Dance Moms, where she appeared for four seasons. Week after week fans tuned in to see who would battle for the top spot of the pyramid and watch the ongoing rivalry between Lukasiak’s co-star Maddie Ziegler. Her decision to leave the show left her searching for a new studio and Lukasiak now calls Studio 19 home. In March, she posted a telling photo captioned, “Loved sharing the stage with my incredible friends this weekend. And a big thanks to my teachers.” She hasn’t looked back.
Remember! BY CHRISTY SANDMAIER
Chloe Lukasiak shares her journey through what may have been her best year yet!
PHOTOS BY COREY FOX
FEATURED LOCATION OF PHOTO SHOOT: EDGE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, LOS ANGELES CA