lucy riner

Dance Students: The Importance Of Good Character

February 8, 2016 by 4dancers

"Surrey Celebration Dance Team" by Brendan. Licensed under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic. — “Surrey Celebration Dance Team” by
Brendan. Licensed under CC
Attribution 2.0 Generic.

by Lucy Vurusic Riner

There is a lot of talk that typically surrounds the plight of the millennial. Did their parents raise them to be self-sufficient? What sort of work ethic do they have? How do their values and morals play out in today’s workforce?

And, for me as a teacher, how do I impart my “Gen X wisdom” on them in dance class?

I wonder about this each day as I watch my students come into class. They really do toggle back and forth from being complete perfectionists and go-getters to being completely entitled and lazy. As a parent I wonder when their character will begin to take shape and how much influence their own parents have over the kinds of humans that are walking into my dance class each day. As an executive director of a dance company I wonder if I would hire more than a fraction of them upon graduating from college.

Attitude matters these days.

Teaching high school dancers (and I believe this extends well into college as well) is challenging in that most of our students are setting goals that are superficial; or what I like to call surface level. They read the syllabus or the rubric to see what they need to do to get the A or get cast in the role and then they simply do the bare minimum to make that happen. There is a preconceived notion that if you’ve done all the work, you now deserve the job. Period. The problem is that a lot of them can do the work. A lot of them can even do the work well; but there aren’t enough jobs for the amount of dancers we’re cranking out these days.

We need to teach them that doing the work is standard. It’s status quo. It’s the bare minimum expectation. It’s what happens after you’ve done part one that leaves an impression. It’s more than just bringing your skills and talents. Attitude, character and work ethic matter. [Read more…]

Language And Motion: An Elegant Relationship

February 26, 2015 by 4dancers

re|dance — RE|Dance Group, photo by Cole Witter

by Michael Estanich

As a dance artist I strive to build connections—between viewer and dancer, between music and action, between image and feeling. For me, moving is the purest way to do that, though its purity needn’t be exclusive. At RE|Dance Group, I develop work that explores the limitless range of human feeling. In order to accomplish this, I stack a variety of images atop each other in the hopes of crafting a multi-sensational experience for the audience. Because all of my senses so beautifully intertwine allowing me to feel deeply and experience life, I welcome all sensorial images into my work. I rely on the audience’s willingness to dispel tradition and embrace curiosity.

Text and visual design collide with movement in all of RE|Dance Group’s work. I create fully realized worlds where every action, sound, and visual carries important information in understanding the whole. I find that these multiple entry points invite the viewer to lean forward and feel.

I enjoy memories and remembering. There is visceral pleasure in retelling something from the past. To me, words and action are undeniably linked. I enjoy how memories translate in my body—through action and in words. I enjoy the process of connecting what I hear to what I see. It is remarkable how willingly the mind catches on and constructs truth and understanding when we engage with all of our senses.

There is comfort in language. We rely on it to let others know how we feel and what we need. To use language to share a part of myself seems so natural. To juxtapose language with motion excites me. Both together enrich the possibility to understand and to feel. This notion is important to me. I want the audience to know that we are complex, that we are moving, hearing, speaking, smelling, tasting, feeling beings and that they can recognize a part of themselves in a singular, special moment inside my work.

With that goal in my mind, I use whatever medium most potently communicates the idea—be it a sly, organic dancing trio, a cacophony of sound, a massive large-scale visual sculpture, or a simple connection through language. Each on their own is powerful art, but combined they produce a complex aural and visual landscape where, as an artist, I get lost in the beauty of my imagination.

See RE|Dance Group perform “It’s About Love Again This Year” at Links Hall, March 6-8 2015. Learn more about the company on the website.

Michael Estanich (Artistic Director, RE|Dance Group) is an Associate Professor of Dance at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He teaches modern dance, composition, dance pedagogy, movement analysis and dance history. He earned his MFA from The Ohio State University and his BFA from Denison University. His creative research currently examines ideas of space, architecture, landscape and habitation often resulting in dances supported by sculptural environments. He and Lucy formed RE|Dance Group in 2009 as a means to explore long distance collaboration. Michael’s performance credits include Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak, Cerulean Dance Theatre, Rebecca Rosen, Melanie Bales, Bebe Miller and a reconstruction of Mark Morris’ acclaimed choreography All Fours. He teaches annually at the Trollwood Performing Arts School in Moorhead, MN and at the American College Dance Association (ACDA). He is the North Central Regional Director of ACDA.

5 Choreography Resolutions For The New Year

February 3, 2014 by 4dancers

by Lucy Vurusic-Riner

Over the past 15 years, I have choreographed over 30 high school dances. Everything ranging from the 3 minute, pas de bourree heavy jazz dance to the Basement Jaxx (most of us high school teachers have been there) to the epic (meaning long) 10-minute modern piece about feminism. How do we keep it fresh?

So I have compiled some thoughts on what has helped me keep things fresh as I embark on making dance 37 this month.

Resolution #1:

Find a classic. This is my own advice that I have never taken. I have never re-staged the same dance twice.

I’m not saying that this is smart. After all, if you really feel you have made a “classic” than allow it to grow into that! But as each new school year starts, and I begin to think about what I could possibly try to come up with next, I still can’t bring myself to recycle dances. It’s not that I don’t think it’s a great idea. It’s more that I just don’t have the memory to recall old work. I hate trying to remember movement from video and although I’m sure I have students that can video learn circles around me I hate to ask them to do that. I really enjoy the process of teaching them a dance and seeing what they bring to it. Sometimes we lose that bit of magic when they have to learn someone else’s part. Nevertheless, we all have that one dance that we look back on and say, “Dang, that was a high school masterpiece.” So one of this year’s choreography resolutions is that I will go back and dig through the good stuff!

Resolution #2:

Allow my students to shape the work more! It’s no secret to my students (and husband) that I am a control freak. I’m always amazed when I’m in a process where the choreographer gives the dancers a large amount of artistic freedom. I teeter back and forth on this point. If I give them too much material to make on their own they’ll think I’m lazy or don’t know what I’m doing; but if I don’t give them any artistic license they don’t feel any ownership over the final product….plus, I get crazy trying to do everything myself.

The latter is what generally happens to me. I just can’t let go of what I want to see and how I want to see it. The problem with this is that I sometimes end up not satisfied because the end product doesn’t look like I thought it would. So this year my students will get to put themselves into my work in some way (let’s hope it’s not in the form of a toe touch to the splits)!

Resolution #3: [Read more…]

Arts Festivals Abound in Chicago and Beyond….where to go see GOOD DANCE!

June 3, 2013 by 4dancers

Ok, so this is partially shameless self-promotion and I realize that; but I like to consider myself an opportunist when it comes to audience development! And so this entry focuses on what we all love about summer in the city: Festivals! But I’m not talking about the ones with funnel cakes, sundress sales and henna tattoos; I’m talking about the ones where you can get your (spring) and summer’s worth of art appreciation. Here are a few of my favorites, in Chicago and beyond.

A lot of festivals devoted to dance happen in the warmer months. Many cities across the country host these larger choreographic showcases to give emerging artists and companies an opportunity to present their work (sometimes in smaller time slots and sometimes within a whole evening). It’s an inexpensive way to build one’s touring resume while also networking with other working artists around the country. Wave Rising Series and DUMBO Dance Festival are two very unique festivals that happen in Brooklyn in the autumn months. Each festival, hosted by Young Soon Kim Dance Company, includes artists from across the country and offers a large variety of adjudicated dances in programs that run over several weeks. The lovely John Ryan Theater where they present much of the work was damaged during Hurricane Sandy and this festival threatens being shut down for good. For information on this East Coast Festival or how you can help save it, go to http://www.gofundme.com/SaveourSpace.

As spring approaches, dance festivals pick up steam and if you’re in the Midwest you should check out great annual festivals such as RAD Fest http://www.midwestradfest.org? (in Kalamazoo, MI) and Spring to Dance http://www.dancestlouis.org/1213_s2d.html (in St. Louis, MO). RAD is an acronym for Regional Alternative Dance Festival and the description fits the name perfectly. One can find a reconstructed Erick Hawkins work on the same bill as Bob Eisen’s experimental improvisations but everyone’s idea of “alternative” is honored and that makes for an interesting evening. Spring to Dance, is in it’s 6^th season of producing dance festivals in St. Louis and continues to offer a large mix of the Midwest’s bigger budget dance companies. THODOS Dance Chicago shares the bill with Alvin Ailey from the east and Casebolt and Smith from the west. Drive to either of these festivals from Chicago and see a bit of what’s happening across the country.

Fringe Festivals are another great place to see not only some lovely theater companies but a growing group of dance companies that are working that circuit. Chicago now has it’s very own Fringe Festival that operates out of the Pilsen neighborhood http://www.chicagofringe.org/ and another Midwest favorite is the Cincinnati Fringe http://www.cincyfringe.com/. However, if you want to get a Fringe experience that is all encompassing than Minneapolis is the city to visit in August. It’s America’s largest Fringe Festival and it’s awesome http://www.fringefestival.org/.

So now you’re excited about this Festival circuit and you can’t wait to participate in an event that can get you reasonable ticket prices for dance, theater, puppetry, music and so much more right? Luckily, Chicago’s newest arts festival is right around the corner. This year marks the inaugural Pivot Multi Arts Festival that is happening throughout the Edgewater neighborhood right here in Chicago. Festival creators Julieanne Ehre and Katy Collins are showing people in their community the many ways that art impacts our lives. With headline acts such as Mucca Pazza, Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak and the Neo-Futurists you get a taste of the world’s coolest marching band, innovative modern dance and some of the best comedy improv sketches you will ever see. Pivot Arts as an organization hopes to create a, “vibrant community where unique collaborations between artists, businesses and organizations leads to the support and creation of innovative performances.” Who doesn’t like the sound of that?

And so if you’re wondering where the shameless plugging comes in, it’s here. Yes. I told you about fabulous festivals that I have had the pleasure of performing in or seeing. And yes; Pivot Multi Arts Festival will kick off their opening weekend with another headlining dance company that has been imprinting itself in all ways possible on the Chicago dance community. So please join RE|Dance Group on Thursday and Friday, June 6 & 7 at the beautiful Senn Auditorium at 8PM as we get this festival started in the spirit that it was created in! RE|Dance Group will be restaging their 2010 work, “The Lonely Visitors,” a dance work that produces a series of images that collide together to reveal both the whimsical and perfidious nature of the heart. The collection of 30 short episodes ponders the depths and desires that love holds over us. We are happy to be remounting one of our first works as a company and are honored that Pivot Arts has asked us to share this with their audiences!

So as you start putting your summer to do list together consider adding “Innovative multi arts festival” to the list and then come out and spend some time seeing all the talent coming out of Edgewater! Support your community, your local artists and your city by investing in our performance festivals so that opportunities continue to emerge for artists and audiences alike in the performing arts! Bring your families, friends and neighbors as we continue to work towards bringing thoughtful art to your communities!

For more information on RE|Dance Group’s opening weekend go to: http://pivotarts.org/project/re-dance-group/

For more information on the full Pivot Multi Arts Festival go to: http://pivotarts.org/festival/

And to learn how to contribute towards making the Festival possible go to: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pivot-arts

No Audience Left Behind

August 17, 2011 by 4dancers

Recently 4dancers Contributor Lizzie Leopold said something that made me think….she talked about including program notes for the audience in effort to help them understand more about what was going on through the dance performance.

Brilliant. I wish more people would do this.

Back when I was growing up, ballet had this air of mystery surrounding it. It was almost as if the audience shouldn’t be allowed up close and personal. As if the magic would somehow be lost. I’m not the first person to point this out–but it was definitely a different atmosphere, and a very closed one. Still, it was set against a backdrop of story ballets, making it comfortable for the audience in terms of watching the dance performances and understanding the story.

These days, with Modern dance and other Contemporary dance performances, it is easy to leave the audience in the dark–but is it necessary–or even wise to do so? [Read more…]

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