choreography

High School Dance: Building Trust & Teaching to the Whole Student

November 12, 2021 by 4dancers

High school is typically a time of questioning and curiosity for teenagers who are known to be rule-breakers and risk takers. However, more and more I find myself among high school students who want to conform and not push boundaries too much during class. I find that my students need and crave a sense of belonging. They want to feel like they fit in, to not stand out too much, but at the same time they do appreciate the celebration of their individuality.

As a teacher, I am constantly working on getting to know my students as learners, as people, and as movers. When I meet my students where they are at, in their knowledge of my subject matter, and who they are as individuals, I can start to instruct and coach them in a more holistic manner. Working towards understanding students’ perspectives enables me to make strong connections and those connections build trust. When trust occurs, students begin to take on more risks and challenge their own growth.

How do we build authentic trusting connections with our students?

It takes time to get to know each of my students. I make time daily and weekly to ask my students questions about their lives outside of the classroom. I ask them to explain how they can apply what we are learning in class to their lives outside of the classroom. Blending together curriculum with “get to know you” activities can help at the start of the busy school year to build those relationships quickly. Even though relationships do take time to build, it is important to begin that process right from the start. I try to be open with my students and share things about myself as a teacher, a dancer, and a person so that they get to know me as well.

Teaching with patience and in an unassuming manner can take practice. It is very important to always work with students and not against them. I remind my students that I am on their side and that my goal is to help them learn and grow. Asking students questions to learn their perspectives and any issues that they might face can always help me differentiate my instruction.

How can teaching to the whole student allow us to challenge our students to push the edges of their own creativity and craft?

Building bridges between student to teacher and student to student creates trusting relationships within the class. I work to promote an environment that celebrates their uniqueness while also building the class as an ensemble. It is in this way that the students in the class grow together as a whole and learn to grow within their own skills as individuals.

Process. Process. Process.

Support their process with the time and space needed to make work, edit work, take risks, edit work again, take more risks, and so on. Teaching students about editing and revising their choreographic work so that they try a variety of choreographic choices allows them to build their creative capacity as well as think more deeply about choreographic choices.

I like to ask my students to explain how certain sections of their dance relates to their concept. This can be a very challenging question for many students and calls for higher order critical thinking. Some students struggle with this question and then I need to probe a bit more. What do you want your audience to understand or feel when they see this part? How could you change the space/time/energy of this section to better accomplish your choreographic goals?

In order to get to a point of being comfortable with being uncomfortable, students must feel a sense of belonging to the whole class. In this way, they are able to feel confident being part of the group but also being unique in their individuality. When students get to this point in feeling connected to the class, that is when I see them take those risks and really find deeper growth in their learning.

dancer posing upside down — Janet Rothwell

Contributor Janet (Neidhardt) Rothwell has been a dance educator for over 19 years. She has taught modern, ballet, and jazz at various studios and schools on Chicago’s North Shore. She received her Principal License from National Louis University, her MA in Dance with an emphasis in Choreography from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, and her BA in Communications with a Dance Minor from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Throughout her time in graduate school, Janet performed with Sidelong Dance Company based in Winston-Salem, NC.

Currently, Janet teaches dance at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, IL. She is the Director of the Mélange Dance Company and assists in the production of the Winter and Spring Dance Concerts at Stevenson High School. Janet has also presented multiple times at the National Dance Educators Organization Conference. She regularly seeks out professional development opportunities to continue her own artistic growth.

When she isn’t dancing, Janet enjoys practicing Pilates, yoga, and playing with her children.

Choreographing “Echo Mine”

July 29, 2019 by 4dancers

Robyn Mineko Williams and Jacqueline Burnett rehearse “Echo Mine”.
Photo by Chloe Hamilton.

Chicago’s annual benefit performance, Dance for Life, is a time for community. It’s a time for celebrating dance–and dancers–right here in our city. It’s a time for coming together, and a time for reflection.

This year’s performance offers a great variety of talented dancers and dance companies, as well as a “first look” at Echo Mine, a work choreographed by former Hubbard Street Dance Chicago dancer and award-winning choreographer Robyn Mineko Williams. The piece was inspired by the late Claire Bataille—one of HSDC’s founding dancers, as well as a choreographer and director of the Lou Conte Dance Studio.

We are fortunate to be able to share excerpts from a recent conversation with Robyn, regarding how this piece came into focus, and how the decision was made to included it in this year’s Dance for Life Chicago performance.

You have deep roots in the Chicago dance community. Can you describe your journey from dancer to choreographer in broad terms?

The pathway from dancer to choreographer was not one I expected. When I left Hubbard Street in 2012, I didn’t intend to stop dancing, but choreographic opportunities presented themselves. The more I did it, the more I enjoyed it and found that I had a voice on the other side of the lens. I knew that I was not ready to leave the world of dance. So it’s been an interesting but unexpected career path. When I was a dancer, I thought I’d leave Hubbard and go back to math school, become a math teacher, open a bakery—so I’m very surprised, but not surprised, that I’m still immersed and feel passionate about being an active member of this community.

Robyn Mineko Williams, rehearsing “Echo Mine”. Photo by Chloe Hamilton.

Claire Bataille is a well-known figure in the Chicago dance community. Would you comment on the sense of loss that has been felt with her absence?

Speaking only for myself, it is a huge loss because of the incredible range that she had during her 40+ years in the dance community—dancer, teacher, mentor, friend. When I walk into Lou Conte Dance Studio, I still expect to see her even though I know I’m not going to. She’s been a constant for me and for thousands of people. She’s just part of the web, like the bones of the dance community. Michael Anderson [former Joffrey dancer and now Chicago Dancers United/Dance for Life board member] and I both noticed that, at Claire’s memorial last winter, so many different people were there, not just spanning generations but from many parts of Chicago and beyond. Claire was so much more than Hubbard; she brought dancers together. She was a key figure, like the glue for all of us.

How did this piece wind up coming about for Dance for Life 2019?

The solo I performed at Claire’s memorial was a work in progress and is now part of Echo Mine. I started to reach out to different people in the dance community for advice about a good venue for this piece and other general, technical questions. This is my first independent work on this level—a 50-minute, full-evening work for proscenium. I’d been in the studio and working with composer Tim Rutili of Califone, so creative elements had been in the works for a long time, but the logistical aspects of how to get it to a stage were things I didn’t know. So I reached out to people who I thought could help me. Michael Anderson wanted to bring the piece to Dance for Life as an option, especially since they knew they’d be paying tribute to Claire this year, so it was a good fit. There was some discussion of Hubbard doing Georgia—which they do a phenomenal job with—but it would be hard not to imagine Claire. So Echo Mine is inspired by and of Claire, and made alongside and with her, but not something she had done—it’s more representative of now.

It’s also really important to me that people know that this started with Claire. This is not a piece about cancer or about Claire’s past. I was really interested, and she was too, about creating something together in the present moment, of her today, and all of her history and my history is part of it, they’re ingredients. When I asked Claire what she wanted, she said it was important to tell a story, and I felt it was important that it be about “present Claire.” And after she got sick, she was still OK with that. As this piece comes more and more together, I see that it’s a snapshot of this amazing time we were able to spend together and make something in the present.

I started talking to her about it in early 2017; that was when original idea came up, because I was encouraged to apply for a grant from Chicago Dancemakers Forum. So this was the idea that came to mind: to work with Claire and see her perform my movement and see how much of my movement is actually her. To see her dance again, and for me to be in the room and create with her, would be the coolest, most rare gem. How often do you get to do that with your idol? A person who you looked up to, who you had posters of in your room? I sheepishly asked her, thinking she would never do it, and she said OK, let’s explore it! She agreed to it, we talked a couple times about early ideas, themes—ironically, she brought up the theme of loss and how it’s been a thread throughout her life, and this was before she got sick. We had one rehearsal in October and a month later she was diagnosed with cancer. In late January 2018, I contacted her again to see how she felt about continuing, and she was fine with it. At first she wasn’t comfortable going back into the studio, not because she physically couldn’t do it but emotionally. But in July she did feel well enough, so we were in the studio for about a month, off and on, and we made a solo for her together, and now that’s the source material for the whole piece. It was such a gift. Regardless of her being sick or not, it was such a great excuse to hang out with her and learn more from her and hear her Hubbard Street stories, which brought to life the photos I had of her.

Claire dancing — Claire Bataille teaching at Lou Conte Dance Studio. © Todd Rosenberg Photography 2015.

Can you share a bit about your connection with Claire?

My connection with Claire changed. I saw her dance with Hubbard Street when I was nine, and from that moment on, I thought, “This is it.” So I started as an observer, a fan; when I was a teen, I started taking classes with her. Then at 16, I was on scholarship at Lou Conte Dance Studio for a couple years. When I joined River North, she was our ballet mistress. So our relationship evolved. I joined Hubbard in 2000 when she was still rehearsal director. One of my favorite memories is this: I had auditioned a number of times, and I decided to try one more time in 1999. I went to an open audition, and I think Lou [Conte], Jim [Vincent, income artistic director] and Claire were there. I got the job and Claire said that she asked if she could be the one to call and tell me. So I got the call from Claire, and she said I screamed bloody murder, and when she hung up, her son Isaac asked if she thought I’d call my Mom right away because he could hear me screaming. I remember my first day at Hubbard in class, and she welcomed me to my new home. While at Hubbard I got to know Claire on a different level; I was less socially awkward around her and could talk to her about various things like both of us being moms. So our relationship matured and evolved. I was able to spend time with her, and she was really important to me.

How has this piece taken shape? What’s the process you have used to craft it to specifically honor Claire?

I’ve been talking with Tim Rutili about this as long as I talked to Claire about it. He and his band have composed an original score, which is very different than anything I’ve ever done. He created it after watching videos of Claire and of Claire and me, listening to interviews, and not making it literal but taking it all in and doing his thing. I also have a set and projection designer, Deborah Johnson (aka CandyStations), and will integrate film components. It’s important that we see Claire, and now it’s becoming more evident that the story is a snapshot of this experience I’ve had. I want to finish and share it, keep it simple. I find, as a maker, I tend to go a bit smaller and do what I know and hope that it resonates and makes sense. My story doesn’t have to be the story everyone in the audience gets but I hope it’s filled with enough honesty and humanity that people can take that and make their own thing out of it. And part of what I’m figuring out now is the story and its arc. Part of my initial desire to make a work with Claire is to share beyond Chicago who Claire was—people need to know about this woman and how great she was. I want it to be an introduction for some and a validation or reminiscence for others.

How did you go about selecting dancers for the work?

Originally it was supposed to be a solo for Claire. When she fell ill, I asked Jacqueline Burnett to dance. Then I realized it was not going to be 10 minutes, it was something larger, so I thought we needed more than one dancer. I was very reluctant to dance myself, so I brought in Meredith Dincolo. We’re sort of different generations of Hubbard Street and had different relationships with Claire, but we were all lucky enough to have a solid time with her. In rehearsals, we have an understanding of Claire’s essence. We were all around her, learned from her, watched her—we don’t have to talk about it, we just know. I’ve never danced my own work; I’d rather be outside, it’s easier to create that way. I don’t feel like I need to get back onstage; I feel good about my career, and there’s no unfinished business. But I’m dancing this because it makes sense conceptually. I took myself out maybe four times, but now I’m committed to doing it.

Dance for Life Chicago 2019 takes place at the Auditorium Theatre on August 17th. Tickets are available online, or at the door that evening. 4dancers is proud to serve as a long-time media sponsor for the event. Learn more about the performance, or about DFL’s parent organization, Chicago Dancers United here.

Dance and Literacy

January 6, 2019 by 4dancers

by Janet (Neidhardt) Rothwell

For the past three years I have served on the Literacy Committee at my high school. Being a member of this committee has opened my eyes to not only how important literacy is in students’ education but also the various ways in which I can use literacy as a teaching tool for dance. Each year, I work with a Literacy Coach to create various instructional tools to embed literacy within my dance instruction.

I have used a variety of graphic organizers to guide students’ thought process during formative assessments on movement sequences, feedback on choreography studies, and self-assessment/reflection. One organizer that I really enjoy using is the Frayer Model. It is a model with four squares all connected with a rectangle in the middle. (See image below) I am able to change the language of each square to adjust how I direct my students’ thought process on different topics.

Was the use of this tool effective? Why?

In this example, I placed a choreography tool in the center (this example was for Levels) and scaffolded questions in the boxes.

Box 1: Definition of the tool

Box 2: Where was this tool included in the choreography?

Box 3: What variations of the tool were used?

Box 4: Where/How else could it have been used?

While students watch their peers perform their group dances they fill out this form to provide feedback. This process helps students to formulate their ideas and train their eyes to watch for these tools when watching a dance. At first, I thought this process might take too much time but once we got started it was very quick and I saw greater comprehension and clearer feedback from my students as a result of using it. Having students fill this out allows me to know if they understand the choreography tools being taught in class.

After completing this process of using the Frayer model, I observed more fully developed choreography works and deeper conversation from my students about choreography tools. This heightened knowledge for students allowed them to become “dance insiders” in that they could now use terms and concepts that translate to improved performance.

Adding dance literacy to the dance classroom can deepen student understanding of dance concepts. If we want to create artistically literate students we need to take the time to teach them our vocabulary and engage them in our language of the arts. This is just one simple strategy to add literacy components to a dance class. I have come to appreciate experimenting with other methods of literacy embedded instruction.

I always tell my students to be “thinking dancers” and not just “imitators of movers.” I think that teaching dance language in greater detail and putting dance vocabulary into context provides them with the knowledge they need to be a successful thinking dancer. Being thoughtful about how we introduce our dance terminology and concepts also allows this information to be approachable and applicable. Watching the light bulbs go off in my students’ heads is always a great moment, and I have found that using some specific and purposeful literacy strategies in my dance instruction has created more of these moments.

Contributor Janet (Neidhardt) Rothwell has been a dance educator for over 15 years. She has taught modern, ballet, and jazz at various studios and schools on Chicago’s North Shore. She received her Principal License from National Louis University, her MA in Dance with an emphasis in Choreography from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, and her BA in Communications with a Dance Minor from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Throughout her time in graduate school, Janet performed with Sidelong Dance Company based in Winston-Salem, NC.

When she isn’t dancing, Janet enjoys practicing pilates, yoga, and playing with her children.

10 Questions With Alice Klock

April 28, 2018 by Rachel Hellwig

1. How did you first become involved in dance?

I’ve been dancing as long as I can remember.

After having seen me improv my way through the living room for years, my mother asked if I’d like to try a ballet class. I was eleven and I’ve been at it ever since.

2. When/how did you realize you wanted to become a professional dancer?

I attended the San Francisco Ballet’s summer program at 13 and would watch the company work and rehearse whenever I could find a moment to sneak to their studio door. It was thrilling.

There was something so beautiful about the way the dancers interacted, the sense of company life, and I decided it was something I wanted to experience.

3. Was there ever a time when you thought of quitting dance or second-guessed your decision to pursue a professional career? If so, what helped you through that time?

Honestly, no. My commitment to this field has been pretty unwavering.

My path was tumultuous at times, but through set backs, injuries, and disappointments, I’ve never felt like quitting. I’ve felt the need to shift my environment, or my role within the profession, but that to me is an exciting evolution.

I would recommend to any struggling dancer who is wondering if they should quit to ask themselves if perhaps they are just in the wrong place, or if they are trying to be something they are not. The dance world is vast! There are more options than we sometimes suppose.

I am now at a point where I am transitioning out of dancing full-time so that I can choreograph more, but even that feels like an evolution rather than a departure.

https://vimeo.com/218059438

4. When/how did you realize you wanted to pursue choreography?

It is hard to say when/how, I’ve always loved choreographing!

I have been super lucky to have the support of my choreographic work that I have received at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and from my amazing boss Glenn Edgerton. I believe that Glenn has been instrumental in my journey to becoming a choreographer as he gave me the space, encouragement, and opportunities to truly nurture and find my voice. I’m incredibly grateful for that.

5. What inspires you as a choreographer?

Everything.

6. How would you describe your choreographic process?

My process is quite random, but always focuses on really using the dancers in the room.

I always strive to find the individualism in each artist, and unlock as much of their “personal genius” (something I believe each of us has) as I can. This means I seldom come in with too many preconceived notions about the piece I will make.

That being said, my movement is highly conceptual at its source, and is often directly derived from words or ideas. For example, I might ask a dancer “what is your favorite word?” or “what is the most amazing thing you have ever seen?” and then I shall construct a movement phrase out of their answer.

7. What’s the best advice you’ve received about choreography?

“Don’t hold anything back”

https://vimeo.com/218062887

8. What are some things you’d like to explore in your choreography career and dance career in the future?

I would like to work with a vast array of dancers, artists, and institutions. I love the unexpected and being put into contact with the unusual.

I would like to work with huge groups, with ballet dancers, with competition dancers, with non-dancers. I’d like to experiment with it all and to push the boundaries of what we think dance is.

I believe that as a creator it is paramount to create work that is inclusive and socially conscious and that breaks out of the often inappropriate antique norms that still exist in the art form.

As a dancer, I would like to continue to explore performing new and different work. Last year, Florian Lochner (a fellow Hubbard Street dancer and Choreographic Fellow) and I formed “Flock” which is a project in which we co-choreograph pieces that we then perform.

I am interested to grow this further and to see what that can open up for me as a performer. Dancing in our work is a particularly wild and satisfying experience and very different from the years I have spent in a rep company.

I also look forward to expanding “Flock” out further into the world and to see what that leads to.

9. You’re headed to Utah in May for SALT Contemporary Dance’s inaugural LINK dance festival. How did you first become connected with SALT?

SALT has been on my radar for some time as a place where I would love to create work. Their dancers are beautiful and varied and their mission is strong and inspiring. I was honored and excited to be asked to participate in their LINK festival.

10. What are you most looking forward about LINK?

The dancers! Like I said, I love being thrown into a studio with new dancers and this will be a particularly exciting process as our creation time is only a week! I am looking forward to see what we concoct!

https://vimeo.com/226251438

Disclosure: Rachel Hellwig serves as marketing director for SALT

Dancing ‘Glass Pieces’ And Finding Flow

February 6, 2018 by 4dancers

Joffrey dancers — *Valeriia Chaykina and Luis Eduardo Gonzalez rehearse Body of Your Dreams*
*Choreographer: Myles Thatcher © Todd Rosenberg Photography 2018*

by Luis Eduardo Gonzalez

“Dance is low on the totem pole of the arts, because you’re not left with a painting…a book that will stay there, a score you can read.” ~Jerome Robbins

Jerome Robbins (born Rabinowitz) was a visionary whose energetic and comprehensively eclectic approach to dance lead him to conceive a body of work which has proven to be as poignant and invigorating today as it was upon its creation. The quote above is one of my favorites of his because it sheds light on the parallels between dance and the course of life. A dance performance, for the performer as well as for the audience, is an experience that is shared in that specific way only once. As every moment passes by; every connection, and every expression that takes place on stage, is gone forever. All that is left are the memories that are burned into the minds of all who took part in that exchange.

Glass Pieces is one of the 61 ballets that Robbins choreographed and I was exited to hear that it is one of the four works included in The Joffrey Ballet’s winter program. Having read much about his life and accomplishments, as well as being an admirer of works like West Side Story and Fancy Free, I wanted to know what the experience of dancing one of his works is like.

We learned the choreography from stager Jean-Pierre (JP) Frohlich, whose talent in choreographic memory was discovered and encouraged by Robbins himself. JP’s soft spoken but direct demeanor, combined with his irrefutable mastery of the ballet, gave the dancers a palpable sense that we were in good hands. The steps are complex in musicality and after running certain sections it was evident that stamina was going to be a factor. Every piece has its challenges, but the difficulty in this choreography felt dramatically overshadowed by the energy that comes with the steps and with the stimulating Philip Glass score. We could feel the energy in the room after the first run though, an energy that any dancer can relate to as being “in the zone.” The complex musicality and technique required for the choreography demanded a state of heightened focus that lead to a sense of ecstasy and a sense of clarity. We felt exactly what to do from one moment to the other and sense of time disappeared. We forgot ourselves and felt a part of something larger.

*Luis* *Eduardo Gonzalez*
*© Todd Rosenberg Photography 2018*

Moments like these are the reason most of us do what we do, but unfortunately for a lot of us, “in the zone” is not where we spend most of our dance careers. In a perfect world, we would wake up every day free of pain, be on our leg for every turn, politics and favoritism would not play a role in the work we are given, and going on stage or into a new spot in rehearsal to expand experiences and push our limitations would never be a source of anxiety; however, we all know that such a situation is either very rare or does not exist. Dancers have a million things to consider at any given moment, yet at the same time it is that attempt at omnipotent consideration that deprives us of truly living in every precious moment. In doing some research on the subject, I came across an article that psychologically broke down the concept of “in the zone”, more simply defined as “flow” by Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He claimed the secret to “flow” is his Goldilocks principle: “not too hot, not too cold…just right.” In other words, feeling inspired, but not overwhelmed.

Csikszentmihalyi’s concept got me thinking about the definition of luck that my teacher gave me as a student which is simply – when preparation meets opportunity. I realized that we enter “flow” by striking a balance between skill and challenge. In the case of a professional dancer or an advanced student, most of the technical skill has already developed and what needs to be allowed to grow is the artistic development that each new experience can provide. The truth is that growth is available to us only if we strip down our need for control and perfectionism and surrender to what we can learn from the present moment. After diving deep into the history of Robbins’ work and the concepts that some of his quotes suggested, I found myself slowly letting go of my own criticism while I was dancing his steps. Perfection is always something to strive for, but it became obvious that attempting analysis over my work while it was taking place, not only altered the outcome, but defeated the purpose of why the steps were made, as well as why I was getting the chance to dance them.

In the end, I think it is important to keep in mind the simple fact that life is short and that our careers as dancers are even shorter. The impermanence of every moment, situation, and sensation is what makes them so beautiful and precious, in dance as well as in life. In the words of Robbins, “Dance is like life. It exists as you are flitting through it, and when it’s over, it’s done”. Although I understand the concept theoretically, I cannot say I’ve mastered it in practice. There are days when working for yourself and your craft feels easier than others. It is however, through experiences like the one I’ve shared, that one can find moments of “flow”. A life spent chasing these moments, be it through dance or otherwise, in my book, and I think in Robbins’, is one well spent.

The Joffrey Ballet’s Modern Masters program opens February 7th and runs through the 18th at The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University.

Contributor Luis Eduardo Gonzalez joined The Joffrey Ballet in July 2015.

Mr. Gonzalez, is originally from Bogota, Colombia, where he grew up before moving to Atlanta, Georgia. His training came primarily from the continued direction of Maniya Barredo, former prima ballerina of Atlanta Ballet, and current director of Metropolitan Ballet Theatre. Mr. Gonzalez has received the Star Student award at Regional Dance America’s SERBA, been awarded 3^rd place at the Regional Youth American Grand Prix competition in 2008, given first place pas de deux at the American Ballet Competition in 2013, and selected to compete as the only representative of Colombia in the 2014 Jackson International Ballet Competition.

Mr. Gonzalez began his professional career with The Houston Ballet II, where he had the opportunity to dance works by Stanton Welch, among other renowned choreographers, as well as tour both nationally and internationally. At 18, he joined Orlando Ballet where he danced for three years and performed roles such as the Jester in Swan Lake, Peter in Peter and the Wolf, Ghoul’s trio in Vampire’s Ball, Franz’s friend in Coppelia, and Cavalier in the Sugar Plum Pas de deux in The Nutcracker.

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