Happy Birthday, Juilliard!

As Juilliard celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, the school's President Joseph Polisi says much has changed since it was founded in 1905 as the Institute of Musical Art.

In his bare studio classroom at New York's famed Juilliard School, 21 drama students spar, perhaps imagining themselves as Shakespeare's Mercutio or Tybalt, as they jab, block and swipe with long black padded sticks.

"Stop, stop," cries Ivanov, unimpressed by some overly theatrical swings. "I'm so happy we don't have real swords." "It's all about aura," he tells the young students, an international bunch of men and women dressed as if for yoga. Ivanov is trying to teach them to make wide circles with the sword to avoid bringing the tip anywhere near a partner's eyes. "You're working with the partner's aura, not the body."

The stage combat class is part of a busy curriculum for the drama students at Juilliard, the performing arts school which boasts such illustrious alumni as cellist Yo-Yo Ma and actors Kevin Spacey, Laura Linney and Robin Williams.

The disciplines of dance and drama were added in 1951 and 1968 respectively, and Juilliard moved in 1969 to the city's premier arts complex, the Lincoln Center, where its neighbors include the Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Ballet.

Even Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan studied there, playing the clarinet before he turned from music to economics.

Posted by Lawren at October 10, 2005 08:17 AM | Trackbacks (0)

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