J Ryan is a regular guest teacher at Dutch National Ballet Academie. He recently represented Ernst Meisner and the Dutch National Ballet Academie at the 2023 YGP Barcelona Semi Finals where he taught and adjudicated at the competition. In April of 2023 he also represented Ernst Meisner and the Dutch National Ballet Academie at the Italian Dance Awards where he taught and adjudicated at the competition. Since being in the Netherlands he has had return guest teaching engagements at Amsterdam University of the Arts Expanded Contemporary Division, Conny Janssen Danst, ICK, De Dutch Don’t Dance Division, ARTez and Henny Jurriens Studio. This past summer he was on faculty again at American Ballet Theatre for their summer program. He was a regular guest teacher at Ballet Arts, Peridance and Broadway Dance Center in NYC. He is an authorized Yoga Narada ® Teacher and a ballet teacher authorized in the Harkness Ballet Method, which was developped further by David Howard. J Ryan worked very closely under the tutelage of both Hilary Cartwright and David Howard over many years. J Ryan also studied under Ruth Petrinovic, co-founder of the Harkness Ballet Method, delving into her own Revolutionary Principles of Movement and with Judith Reyn in her Anatomy for Dancers Workshop. He has taught ballet based on the Harkness Ballet Method and Hilary Cartwright's Yoga Narada® throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South Africa, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Netherlands and Indonesia. He has been on faculty at summer programs for American Academy of Ballet, Peridance, Synthesis Dance Project, Northwest Florida Ballet, Western Ballet Theater of Puerto Rico, Ajkun Ballet Theater, Alabama Dance Theater, Northwest Florida Ballet, Southeastern Alabama Dance Theater, Mobile Ballet, Seiskaya Ballet, and Joffrey Ballet NY. He has been ballet master for Tracie Stanfield’s Synthesis Dance Project in New York City. He was a company teacher for both the National and International tours of Fosse, as well as Ajkun Ballet Theater in NYC. J Ryan was invited to adjudicate for the South African Dance Championships in Durban, South Africa. While there he taught Cape Town City Ballet II. He taught at the Jakarta Intercultural School in Jakarta, Indonesia. While there he also taught for the Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools Dance Exchange. He also had the pleasure to adjudicate and teach in Mazatlan, Mexico at Danza Sinaloa Concurso Internacional. He was invited to teach and work with dance educators at the TN Association of Dance Conference.
He’s no stranger to university dance departments having taught at Wright State University, Ball State University, University of Buffalo, to name a few.
He has adjudicated and taught at various competitions: Italian Dance Awards, World Dance Championships, Dance Educators of America, Dance Masters of America, World Dance Pageant, to name a few.
(resume available upon request)
About Dance:
At 19 years old he apprenticed with Laura Alonso’s Ballet Company in Havana, Cuba. He went on to dance with Wes Chapman’s Alabama Ballet as a company member, American Repertory Ballet dancing soloist and principal roles and as a Principal Soloist with Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico in San Juan. He has been a Principal Guest Artist with Alabama Dance Theater, North West Florida Ballet, Portland Ballet, Mobile Ballet and Western Ballet Theater of Puerto Rico, CoDa21 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Ajkun Ballet Theater in NYC, and Les Ballets Grandiva, to name a few. The Ministry of Culture of Puerto Rico invited him to be the Premiere Guest Artist at the 2010 International Dance Festival in San Juan where he danced the Rose in Fokine’s famous “Le Spectre de la Rose” and the Young Man in Roland Petit’s “Le Jeune Homme et la Mort” in the Festival’s Gala performance. This was the first time that either ballet had been danced on the island of Puerto Rico.
Some of J Ryan's favorite dance roles include Oberon in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, Tybalt in ROMEO AND JULIET, Franz in COPPELIA, Cerventes in DON QUIXOTE, Hilarion in GISELLE, Marius in LES MISERABLES, Lucifer in INFERNO, Cavalier in NUTCRACKER, Tootles in Septime Weber's PETER PAN, Moor in Fokine's PETRUSCHKA, Prince in CINDERELLA, Twyla Tharp's BAKER'S DOZEN, Claudius in HAMLET, Poet in Jose Pares' POEME, Alberto Mendez's PASION, Dracula in DRACULA, Siegfried in SWAN LAKE, the Rose in LE SPECTRE DE LA ROSE and Young Man in LE JEUNNE HOMME ET LA MORT.
About Yoga Narada ®, Hilary Cartwright and David Howard:
About Hilary Cartwright
Following her career as a soloist with the Royal Ballet (England), Hilary became a teacher, a coach and a director of a number of ballet companies. She has also staged a number of ballets, and is an Ashton Associate. She developed Yoga Narada®, which she had been teaching for the past 25 years as "Yoga for Dancers,” after co-founding White Cloud Studio in New York with Juliu Horvath. Her unique approach and presentation have taken her all over the world. Her work is acclaimed by dancers in internationally renowned ballet companies, taught at schools for young students, and an expanding group of individuals who are non-dancers. Yoga Narada® is taught at American Ballet Theatre, Paris Opera Ballet, Houston Ballet, Aspen Santa Fe, to name a few. She started Yoga Narada® retreats in Italy the summer of 2006 housed in a beautiful picturesque villa outside Florence. This original endeavor continues annually and has expanded to include retreats in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, London and Bath England, Paris, Morocco, Hawaii, California, Portland, and Seattle. These locations have become training centers for the team of new teachers she is assembling. Future locations are now in planning stages.
More on Hilary Cartwright here: www.hilarycartwright.com/resume
Who was Narada?
A wise, yet humorous Vedic sage who believed that through music, movement and dance, one can open the doors to wisdom and enlightenment, with clarity and grace. His foremost teaching was: To treat others as you would like to be treated yourself.
What is Yoga Narada™?
Yoga Narada®, formerly known as Hilary Cartwright’s Yoga for Dancers, (HCYFD), seeks to embrace and support people from all walks of life. Yoga is a coming together of body, mind and spirit. Yoga Narada® provides a way to achieve flexibility in the body, while maintaining coordinated control, passing smoothly from one shape to another.
This class offers each student, be they dancer or not, the chance to relax a little from the everyday pressures and tensions of their regular work-life. It is about learning to meet challenges without undue stress, and finding the channels whereby an ease, rather than force, can enter into the learning process. The approach is gentle yet powerful allowing both expressivity and artistry.
Unlike a traditional Hatha Yoga class, positions are not held but repeated in a fluid undulation that gently unravels the knots both mental and physical, giving the body a sense of comfort in its movement. Each day is taken for its own individual merits, so no two classes are identical. There is a common thread, but, as in nature, there are many ways to achieve the same end.
By allowing the mind to stop fighting the body, rhythm and breath take over. At the same time, the class addresses elements of technique that apply directly to ballet placement, line and control, which are still suitable for everyone.
Description of the Class
During the class, one moves from a sensory awareness of the physical body, to a progression of specific breath work, which activates and stimulates the nervous system. The focus is on inspired imagery and rhythmical structure. Through flowing movements, the class progresses with a series of standing, seated, lying and again standing sequences, concluding with an acknowledgement of oneself and the space around. Each person is brought back to the reality of both their external surroundings and their inner self.
Who was David Howard? What was his teaching style?
He was a soloist with the Royal Ballet and a performer on the West End stage. In 1966 was contacted by the oil heiress Rebekah Harkness, who was looking for teachers for her ballet school, the Harkness Ballet in New York City. Howard left to teach in her school in Manhattan, where he lived for the rest of his life. His teaching style was described by The New York Times as "...a kinesthetic approach, in which dancers were taught to rely less on external feedback from the mirror and more on the minute internal signals that telegraph the position of the head, limbs and torso in space". Howard said of dance that “Out of the feeling comes the form...Ninety percent of the time students are taught the form first. And then they’re expected, through some act of God, to get the feeling.” Howard's pupils included Gelsey Kirkland, Patricia McBride, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Cynthia Harvey, Natalia Makarova, Tamara Rojo, among others. McBride paid tribute to Howard describing him as "...one of the great teachers of our day, for many, many years,” and Baryshnikov said of Howard that "He was a kind of father figure for people like me and like Gelsey.”
What does Yoga Narada® and David Howard (Harkness Ballet Method) have in common?
In my experience as a professional dancer and teacher, Yoga Narada® is the most transformative work I have ever known. It strengthens those mind-body connections that stem back to the origins of movement and connects us to those systems at work within us while encouraging those systems to flourish through imagery. This ties the artistic and the physical together making it a very powerful connection to explore the artistic/ human movement potential. It’s a dance of internal connections between the body, mind and spirit. It's a wonderful way to either start your day to awaken the body/ warm-up the body before putting your left hand on the barre. Or it's a wonderful way to end your day where you can cool down and clean out tension, stress, or any achiness from the day.
Both of these methods work from minute internal signals in the body that stems from a feeling to form approach. Yoga Narada® prepares the dancer for class, then David Howard’s work encourages those deep internal connections to flourish within the structure of a ballet class. These methods work together to strengthen those mind body connections and encourage the dancer towards their fullest human movement potential.
Observations:
“J Ryan Carroll's class is an undiscovered jewel. During this pandemic I have gotten to focus on clarifying some of my issues and I have gained strength and stamina from his beautifully musical and organic barre. This is a beautiful class. “
- Mimi Quillin /Bway dancer, actress,
Verdon Fosse Legacy Reconstructor and Teacher
“J Ryan’s classes are built on a strong
technical foundation with exercises
that are linked together to create
harmony in the body. Because of
this structure your body is able to
move from a place of freedom versus
simply placement.” - Lauren Kadel,
Senior Show Supervisor
at RWS Entertainment Group
“J Ryan Carroll teaches the most joyous
ballet class. While his technique is
nothing short of spectacular, it's his
passion for the art form and for teaching
that radiate and inspire every dancer
who has the opportunity to take his
class.” Mary Callahan - LaDuca Shoes
“J Ryan is a gifted artistic soul! He shares his talent as a teacher and as a performer with his students in an expressive and thoughtful manner. He not only teaches professional material, he teaches the art of bringing one’s own self and experiences to the art form of dance. He truly cares about the health, wellbeing, discipline, and meaningful experiences of the training artist.”
Shari Allen, Northwest Florida Ballet
Associate Artistic Director
“Ryan is a wonderful teacher. His
philosophy for preserving the body
and teaching safely are important
and appreciated. His demeanor
with students is one of being
approachable, with appropriate
personal stories and humor, yet
commanding in his knowledge and
expertise. I have always been very
happy to have him share his wisdom
and mentor my students.”
- Michele Plescia, Artistic Director
Bristol Ballet
“If you're looking to take a class that
allows you to focus on deep muscle
and skeletal connections - this is it!
J Ryan has such a great, wholesome approach. You truly feel connected
to your whole body, starting from the
very beginning with the Yoga Narada
practice. I have been taking ballet
from world renowned dancers and choreographers for over 20 years,
and J Ryan's approach and styling is
by far one of the best I've ever
experienced.”
- Nicole Jones, NYC professional dancer
“J Ryan’s class reminds me to
breathe into each movement,
Freeing up the body AND mind.
His class reminds me why I love
dance, and feels GOOD. I finish
class feeling healthy, strong, and
in love with the art.”
- Maureen Duke, NYC professional dancer
“I worked with J Ryan at private ballet lessons last summer. He helped me immensely to improve my technique, learn David Howard's kinesthetic approach, and dance confidently at auditions and performances. I also enjoy taking J Ryan's group classes in person! He is an incredible teacher who pays attention to detail, brings an uplifting energy to all of his classes, and is committed to helping his students learn and grow. I highly recommend him to anyone wanting to improve as a dancer!”-
Derek Luscutoff
musical theatre professional
“He is an inspirational teacher. Not only
he is a talented dancer and performer
but he is clear and articulate when it
comes to teaching. You will certainly
feel motivated to push yourself further.
And as a plus, his welcoming smile
makes the whole class experience with
him one you would not want to miss.”
Ellie Aldegheri -
Dir Lunas Dance Project