A Modern Dancer’s Guide....to Pittsburgh, PA
By Shana Simmons
Pittsburgh is a growing city both in population and the arts scene. One strength to the Pittsburgh dance scene is that there is no singular “quality” to the dance styles. From athletic companies to those rooted in cultural diversity, a splattering of voices brings to the foray individuality and expression from within. New choreographers tend to stay here to generate their own voice, and the city is able to provide opportunity for development of the older ones. There is no one movement style nor one teacher that overpowers the influence in the community, which causes Pittsburgh to be a vibrant scene, never knowing what is going to be on stage next!
Pittsburgh is a geographically segregated city due to the three rivers, which has influence over the dance community. There are opportunities, artists, choreographers and companies hosting class, performances and auditions, but there is not one centrally located building or organization to connect them all. This has been the way of the Pittsburgh dance scene for decades now, but efforts to unify under umbrella organizations are happening. Pittsburgh Dance Week is a week in April dedicated to bring awareness to a variety of modern dance companies in the city and surrounding areas. Artsburgh, hosted by the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, is another website location for all of the artistic events happening in the city and the Dance Calendar Pgh is one location for a listing of classes. Don’t look towards one building, though, in an effort to find your way. With a little digging, the online resources are aiming to help navigate new dancers!
How to begin:
When moving to Pittsburgh, there are a couple of major organizations that have been here to support the arts for years. Dancers should immediately look into Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, the largest and most dominant company in Pittsburgh. Open and professional modern (mostly ballet) classes can start connecting you to dancers and choreographers in the community. Check out the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, Office of Public Art, and Heinz Endowments websites for grant opportunities. The Kelly-Strayhorn Theater offers rotating residency opportunities as well as an occasional professional technique class from visiting guest artists. Keep up to date with the Dance Calendar Pittsburgh for all of the local dance events and classes. PearlArts Studios is also a great resource for rotating company classes dedicated to offering artists discounted rental rates for space and informal performance opportunities. It’s also home to Staycee Pearl Dance Project, who can offer a variety of performance and teaching opportunities.**
There are also organizations dedicated to bringing in outside companies to influence the region. The Pittsburgh Dance Council is dedicated to bringing in the highest caliber of outside artists. They are connected to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and host master classes from time to time with these visiting dance companies.
Up and coming is a website dedicated to connecting the dance community in Pittsburgh which will be a one-stop shop for new dance and new music. Stay tuned for updates on this website, hopefully up and running by the end of 2019. You can inquire through Shana Simmons Dance for more information.
Where to train:
The best way to find class is to know the dance companies in the community. Unfortunately, you have to search and subscribe to all of the individual email lists to keep up to date, BUT there is the Dance Calendar Pittsburgh, which ALWAYS has a list of upcoming classes. It is the most consolidated effort to find the class opportunities, performances, and happenings in Pittsburgh. The calendar is driven by JAMpress Management and asks each organization or individual to submit their own happenings. This provides a community calendar overseen by Jessica Marino of JAMpress. (Get to know her.)
Training, and continual training, are some of the biggest challenges to connect the dance community of Pittsburgh: not having one dedicated space to training young artists in a variety of forms and techniques. This puts the responsibility on the dancer to get to know what is around Pittsburgh, your specific area, and signing up for all of the email lists!
The main go-to’s (sorry if some are missed):
-Pittsburgh Ballet Theater offers a variety of professional and open classes ranging from ballet (heavy on the ballet offerings) to modern and jazz open classes
-PearlArts Studios** offers rotating company class most days of the week
-Attack Theatre (a staple of the dance community for 24yrs+) offers company class in 3-6 week segments at different times of the year
-Shana Simmons Dance offers professional technique, though operates out of rotating spaces
-Dance studios (such as Mosaic Dance & Movement, Studio 101, The Legacy Arts Project) offer adult open classes and sometimes this is the best way to get into your body and get connected to the teachers in the community
-The Space Upstairs is your go-to for more improvisational classes and workshops with a very casual warehouse space
-slowdanger offers open class and workshops for improvisational and authentic movement
-Courdance rotates professional technique classes
Where to rehearse:
Depending on the size of what you want to rehearse, there are a lot of studios offering smaller spaces for reasonable rates. (You can also always inquire into the massive amounts of yoga studios if they could offer an exchange or discounted artist rate if they are willing to rent their space out!) Pittsburgh Ballet Theater and Point Park University are going to be your largest studios and most expensive spaces, but host beautiful backdrops which are perfect if you want to make a dance reel, promotional video, etc. Other more expensive routes, but centrally located downtown, would be: Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council and August Wilson Center. PearlArts Studios**, The Kelly-Strayhorn Theater (who runs the Dance Alloy space in East Liberty), and The Space Upstairs are usually willing to offer artist discounts for rental spaces. Studio 101, Mosaic Dance Movement, Wilkins School Community Center, Pittsburgh Musical Theater, The Union Project, DancExplosion Arts Center, and Millenium offer rental for smaller events and rehearsal space as well.
A lot of the local dance choreographers and companies utilize the surrounding areas of Pittsburgh to find discounted (and sometimes free) space through local studios in exchange for teaching, cleaning, etc. There are a TON of small dance studios spread out in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, but just realize if you go this route, your dancers need to have access to a car.
How dancers get performing gigs:
Like most cities, you HAVE to network, show up for class, and make connections in order for the local choreographers and companies to take an interest in you. Pittsburgh can be clique-y, so the more you are friendly, write an email of interest, show up for class, show your support by going to fundraisers and performances, the more you will look invested to the local artists. Companies will host auditions for different projects they are pulling together, but a LOT of the Pittsburgh scene stems from seeing you, liking the way you dance, getting to know you during a coffee sometime, and them asking you to come and rehearse as a trial run.
The more established (i.e. salaried) companies host auditions, but not annually, so be on the look out for their posts and calls. Here is a listing of current companies to check out for opportunities: Attack Theater, Bodiography, Bombyx, Corningworks, Courdance, Exhalations Dance Theater, Firewall Dance Theater, Geeks Dance, MURRdance, slowdanger, Shana Simmons Dance, Staycee Pearl Dance Project, Texture Contemporary Ballet, The Blanket, The DANA Movement Ensemble, and The Pillow Projects.
Pittsburgh is also abounding with independent artists and choreographers. These people are great to connect with to see if they have any upcoming projects: Brady Sanders, Gia Cacalano, Jamie Erin Murphy, Jil Stifel, Joy-Marie Thompson, Kaylin Horgan, Laura Stokes, Lindsay Fisher Viatori, Maree ReMalia, and Moriah Ella Mason.
Opportunities for emerging choreographers:
Emerging choreographers have a limited amount of available opportunities, but hopefully that is changing. The New Moves Festival has offerings open to anyone wanting to apply to show shorter works and works in progress through the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater. They also have multiple residency opportunities throughout the year. PearlArts Studios** offers their Charrette series, an informal opportunity to receive feedback from a panel for your works in progress. The New Hazlett Theater offers their CSA Series, dedicated to local art, and through an application process, they usually choose one or two dance oriented performances to support. Kaitlin Flynn Goodwin, through Studio 101, recently gathered a variety of artists at different stages in their training for the NACHMO presentation in January 2019. The Three Rivers Arts Festival is hard to get into, but usually offers a dance/performing arts application process. Pittsburgh Fringe Festival is also in its 6th year and open to all kinds of performing arts. The Space Upstairs offers residency and performance opportunities to showcase your improvisational talents and experimental works. Texture Contemporary Ballet also provides a small program called “Dance Shorts,” where you can apply and showcase your newer works on a multi-generational platform.
Festivals:
There are not many festivals in Pittsburgh and even less that are dedicated to dance: The Three Rivers Arts Festival, The Pittsburgh Fringe Festival, New Moves Festival, pearlPRESENTS Dance Festival, NACHMO presentation, and Pittsburgh Dance Week. Be on the look out, though; we’ve had more efforts here in the past year with opportunities to present than ever before! Rumors have it there are others interested in larger presentations in festival format coming soon.
Venues where out of town artists perform, and organizations which present them:
The Pittsburgh Dance Council is the most prominent dance presenter in Pittsburgh, dedicated to bringing outside artists to the ‘burgh, and Randall Miller is doing an amazing job of this. They have continued to build momentum since Miller has taken over, and shows tend to be sold out more so than not. Performances can be at any of the most prominent downtown theaters in the Cultural District: The Byham Theater, The August Wilson Center, The Benedum, and Heinz Hall. They also have added a discounted ticket rate starting at $10 for some of the best dance companies in the world. Cheers to that!
The Cultural Trust, of which the Dance Council is a part of, is the other major presenter in Pittsburgh, bringing in multiple theater, music theater, music and dance to the city. For a wide variety of cultural companies that tend to be more avant-garde and unique, The Kelly-Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty is where you should subscribe to.
Opportunities to teach dance, the amount of work in the area, and ages and settings for teaching:
One plus to Pittsburgh is that teaching ABOUNDS. There are always studio opportunities to join for a year, substitute teaching opportunities for every level of dancer, and in-school educational programs that are always seeking movement educators. You can apply to the major universities to see if any substitute list or adjunct faculty position is available, or inquire into most of the dance companies in Pittsburgh, as educational outreach is paramount to most companies’ missions and success. Pittsburgh Ballet Theater and the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater offer community division classes as well, which occasionally doesn’t hurt to inquire whether their positions are filled or not.
The best thing you can do to find teaching positions is join the Facebook group called Pittsburgh Area Substitute Teachers. Students of Point Park University and recent transplants usually post their short bio and headshots, offering their teaching services so local studios can contact them. Talk to your fellow dancers and inquire as to whether they know of any vacancies in their studios.
Local colleges and universities with undergraduate and graduate programs:
Pittsburgh boasts one of the top ten dance schools in the country: Point Park University. Their intense training and focus on performance and technique has elevated the college into consistently being amongst the top 5 in most dance program lists. The Conservatory offers Undergraduate programs for both BA and BFA tracks. About an hour and a half outside the city, Slippery Rock University also has an up and coming dance program. Offering both BA and BFA programs, their excellent teachers offer a variety of techniques and opportunities for more creative development. LaRoche College and Seton Hill University also have smaller dance departments offering both major and minor degrees. Dance minor opportunities: University of Pittsburgh. You can also earn an MAM in Arts Management at Carnegie Mellon University.
Final thoughts:
Pittsburgh is an up and coming city. It has been attracting a lot of recent graduates who aim to make a place for themselves here, which is building up the dance scene with fresh opportunities and informal feedback sessions. There have been a few successful dance companies that have figured out how to maneuver the city’s “sports” mentality for decades, and hopefully that mentality is shifting with the new and younger artists in the area. Pittsburgh’s dance scene was founded with the help of a few individuals that wanted to make their home here back in the 1970’s. That blossomed into what is now Pittsburgh Ballet Theater and Point Park University as well as the long-standing dance companies boasting 20+ years of experience. With more time and dedicated artists, the opportunities to build something for yourself are here, and we as a community are waiting for you!
**At the time this article was written, PearlArts Studios is aiming to relocate by the end of 2019. The actual space is unknown at this time, but check back to their website for more information**
Shana Simmons Dance. Photo by Mark Simpson.
Shana Simmons (BA Dance, Point Park University, 2003, MA Choreography, LABAN, London, 2009) lived in New York City for four and a half years and performed with choreographers such as Noemie Lafrance "Agora," Alexandra Beller, Tomé Cousin, bigGRITS dance co, Debra Wanner/Amy Larimer, Amanda Drozer, and was a member of white road dance media. She performed and choreographed with multiple companies and choreographers in London and has performed her own works in New York City, Belgium, London, Chicago and Pittsburgh. Shana Simmons Dance was founded in 2009, received non-profit status in 2017, and has produced a variety of works in Pittsburgh since 2012: Relative Positions (2012), PASSENGER (2014), Objective I (2015), and The Missing Peace (2018). SSD has received support from the Heinz Small Arts Initiative, the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater and the National Aviary for such projects.
Shana Simmons Dance currently collaborates with Carnegie Museum of Art facilitating movement for seniors during their Alzheimer's programming while touring the museum. Simmons was a nominee for the Carol R Brown Award in 2016, has received Pittsburgh's Best Dance listings (2015, 2018), and independently teaches in the community and within Point Park University.
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