Jennifer Stahl's blog

Calling all NYC dancers: Dance/NYC, Buglisi Dance Theatre and The September Project are collaborating on a new work to commemorate the tenth anniversary of 9/11. The Table of Silence Project, to take place at Lincoln Center will be an opportunity for the New York dance community to gather and, through dance, offer a prayer to the city.

There's so much great dance going on outdoors this time of year. Jacob's Pillow, Summerstage, Saratoga Springs, Wolf Trap, Vail, the list seems endless. In addition to the thrill of seeing dancers leap among the leaves, one of the best parts is that many of these events are offered for free!

The hugely popular Chicago Dancing Festival celebrates its fifth anniversary this year with five days of free dance events, starting on August 23. Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, New York City Ballet, Ballet West and The Joffrey are all scheduled to perform at a variety of venues around the city. The Chicago Cultural Center will even screen The Red Shoes. Tickets will become available on July 19. Get 'em quick before they're all gone—past years' events have "sold out" within hours!

New York City's Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet is arguably the edgiest, coolest ballet company in the country. But what's more impressive is how they accomplish this without alienating mainstream audiences. In fact, they've been able to reach potential dance fans that most companies only dream of: This spring, they danced alongside Emily Blunt on the big screen in The Adjustment Bureau. And on Thursday, they'll be streamed into your living room as guest artists on So You Think You Can Dance.

If Step Up can do it, why not Giselle? On July 12, you'll be able to watch ballet dancers sauté off the screen in 3D for the first time in history! Movie theaters nationwide will present the Kirov Ballet's Giselle at 12 pm and 7:30 pm (local time). Bolshoi Ballet star Natalie Osipova and Kirov phenom Leonid Sarafanov perform the leads in St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre. For a list of participating theaters in your area, check out fathomevents.com.

Registration is now open for the 40th Prix de Lausanne. The prestigious Swiss competition has launched many a dance career, and awarded hundreds of scholarships to top schools around the world. One of the coolest things about this particular competition? It always reserves a certain number of spots for students from small studios in order to even out the playing field so that the finals don't solely consist of dancers who come from big-name schools. I love that!

Bournonville training creates some of the most elegant male dancers in the ballet world. Their upper bodies seem to move with poise, ease and a mix of strength and lightness, no matter what sort of footwork is going on underneath. This was especially evident last night at the Royal Danish Ballet's performance in Lincoln Center, when a couple dozen or so of the company's men danced Bournonville Variations, a mash-up of traditional classroom exercises created by the other Mr. B.

Heads up NYC dancers—starting this Friday, 30 studios in the city are offering free classes for National Dance Week! There's a kickoff flash mob in Union Square tomorrow night (Aren't those supposed to be a surprise? Well, anyways, it's free dance!) and a culminating performance at Peridance's theater on Sunday, June 26 featuring Ballet Noir, Billy Elliot, plus a bunch of other companies and schools.

Find out the "when" and "where" of all the free classes at ndw-nyc.org/free-classes.

In ballet, your body is everything. But would you know what to do if you got injured in the middle of rehearsal?

For the fifth year in a row, Bebe Neuwirth, founder of The Dancers' Resource of The Actors Fund, presents "Healing The Dancer," a free seminar that offers practical health tips for professional dancers. This year's guest panel will explain the complexities of navigating the Workers' Compensation system, including instructions on how to report an injury at work. Robert LaFosse, former ABT and NYCB dancer is going to be the keynote speaker.

The National Ballet of Canada is offering its very own summer intensive for the first time this year. It runs July 4 through 15. Intermediate to advanced ballet students ages 14 to 18 are invited to the company's Toronto studios to train with professional artists from the National Ballet and other companies. Dancers will take classes in ballet, pointe, repertoire, jazz and hip hop every day from 9 am to 3 pm. The 10-day course costs $750. For more details, see national.ballet.ca.