lucy riner – Page 2

Support RE|Dance Group

July 1, 2011 by 4dancers

Contributing writer Lucy Vurusic Riner would love your support during her dance company’s annual fundraising campaign! Get all information and updates on RE|Dance Group at www.redancegroup.com or “Like” them on Facebook. I’ve included her annual newsletter below so you can see what the company is up to and how to give!

Dear RE|Dance Group Supporter,

We hope you are having a lovely start to the spring season. With the flowers finally in bloom, RE|Dance Group is budding with new ideas and charged with the energy to push the company forward.

Our inaugural year was a huge success and we would like to thank everyone for your support. We had the privilege of presenting our work in San Francisco, CA, Minneapolis, MN and at home here in Chicago, IL. Also this year we became a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization dedicated to assisting small arts companies. RE|Dance Group is artistically thriving and in the coming year we hope to build inroads toward financial health. As we push forward into year two, we hope that you have the opportunity to see the work we are creating.

We are very excited about the beginning stages of two new dance theater works. Inhabitants of Tall Grass will premiere in January at Chicago’s historic dance venue, Links Hall. We will preview a works in progress at the Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival in September. The work will have an original commissioned music score and will be performed amidst an installation of tall reed grasses. The environment is designed to both shield and reveal the dancers as they roam through the installation searching for personal connection. This piece is being partially funded by an Illinois Arts Council Grant that we have been so fortunate to receive!

The Attic Room is an intimate dance story of escape and desire. The evening length work for six dancers exists in a small attic room where the dancers, clad in fantastical owl masks, long for a way out, convinced they can find it through objects sprinkled through the space. An old map, a flock of paper cranes, a dusty antique rug, tiny glowing lamps and stacks of books offer the dancers the possibility for departure from a place now so comfortable they are unsure of their desires to escape. The Attic Room is filled with images of balance, travel and desire. Again this year, we will be presenting our work at the Minnesota Fringe Festival in Minneapolis from August 4th-14th. Hopefully we’ll see some of you there!

We hope that as you begin to enjoy the warm weather and summer months you’ll have time to consider assisting RE|Dance Group in our continued efforts to create meaningful dance theater. Our fundraising goal during this campaign is $3,000.00. This year’s funding campaign will once again help RE|Dance Group return to the Minnesota Fringe Festival and sponsor our Chicago performance season. We could not have made it this far without your support in whatever ways you have been able to provide it.

The easiest way to make a contribution to RE|Dance Group is through our website. It is easy, safe and secure. Simply click Donate Now and you will be directed to the Fractured Atlas contribution page. Thanks to our fiscal sponsorship through Fractured Atlas, all donations are now tax deductible!

If you don’t feel comfortable contributing online, you can drop Catherine an e-mail here at info (at) catherineltully.com and she’ll give you a mailing address so you can drop a check in the mail. If you can’t donate, but would like to help, spread the word!

Thank you for your generous support. We hope to see you in one of our audiences very soon!

Lucy and Michael

Artistic Directors

RE|Dance Group

RE | Dance Group is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purposes of RE|Dance Group must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

On Giving Back…Part 2

June 29, 2011 by 4dancers

As promised, we’re back with part 2 of the post on giving back from Contributor Lucy Vurusic Riner…

If you missed the first part of this, read it here. Here’s the rest:

4. Don’t base your assumptions on the purely physical.

As dancers ourselves, we already know what if feels like to be judged by how we look. Be truthful with your own experiences and concerns but follow this up with encouraging feedback that reiterates to them that you are projecting YOUR lived experiences, and that those DO NOT necessarily have to be theirs. Young dancers bodies are changing every day. If you tell your students that they won’t make it in the dance world because of their body type you better be confident that over the course of the next ten years you can be sure that child’s body is not going to change AT ALL. And if you can’t be that confident, you shouldn’t make the claim.

5. Try not to pigeonhole their view of the dance world.

What does this mean? It means that there are A LOT of dance companies in the world. I have plenty of students that will never be in the Royal Ballet….ok….probably none, but that doesn’t mean I can tell them that they won’t be in ANY ballet, because I don’t know every ballet company out there. More importantly, you don’t know in what ways your students’ interests will shift as they grow. I have plenty of ballet dancers that have gone to dance for very successful modern companies. I have had modern dancers who get to New York and see a musical and they become Broadway babies. Beyond that, the dance scenes in Europe, Asia and Africa all have such different aesthetics and philosophies that we can’t know how our students might bode someplace beyond our full understanding.

6. Tough love is different then demoralizing.

Tough love is telling a student they can’t perform in a show because they missed too many rehearsals or didn’t show up for company call. It’s a hard lesson learned but it teaches them to be responsible. Demoralizing is telling a student that they have poor turn out, aren’t flexible enough or that their body has odd proportions for dance. The only thing they gain from comments like that is low self-esteem and self doubt. Good teachers recognize hurdles their dancers might face and find ways to work with them. Constantly knocking someone down in order to have them try to build themselves back up is counterproductive and wastes time. Some teachers call this technique of teaching “old school.” I just call it “old.” Let’s work on nurturing their talents.

7. Your lived experience belongs to you.

The dance world is a forever-changing place. Yes, some things stay the same. There are companies that have been around forever and will hopefully continue to do so. But even in those scenarios, things change. In my lifetime I have seen the Graham, Limon and Cunningham companies go through significant changes. I’ve seen second companies spring up for Paul Taylor, Alvin Ailey and Hubbard Street. What we knew to be truths when we might have been budding dancers has changed in varying degrees, and I think for the most part, in good ways. So try to be objective. And when you aren’t sure if you’re giving the best advice, just tell your student that. That is honesty that they can respect.

I think back to how both my good and bad teachers have influenced who I am as a dancer today. The successful teachers taught me that dedication, determination and resilience would get me ahead in my dancing. They also helped me recognize where my shortfalls were and work with them. The not so successful teachers taught me all of the things that I have listed above, and for that I have to be grateful as well. As teachers, we all have different styles in the way we teach and motivate our dancers. Consider the long term effect you would like to have on your students and the choices they make. I want my dancers to remember me as a teacher that understood their dreams; not crushed them.

Contributor Lucy Vurusic Riner is a native Chicagoan who has been supporting and contributing to the dance community for over twenty years. She received her BS Degree in dance and dance education from Illinois State University. Lucy has been a member of Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak Dance Company, RTG Dance Company and Matthew Hollis’ “The Power of Cheer.” She has also had the opportunity to be part of the community cast of White Oak Dance Project and David Dorfman Dance.

Lucy has taught modern, hip hop, and jazz at numerous studios and high schools in the Chicagoland area. She has been the Director of Dance at Oak Park and River Forest High School since 1999. In 2005, Lucy completed her Masters Degree in Education from National Louis University and also received the Midwest Dance Teacher of the Year award and was the youngest of four finalists in the running for the National Dance Teacher of the Year award. Lucy and artistic partner, Michael Estanich, formed RE|Dance in 2010. This dancer theater company investigates humanity in movement through long distance collaboration. Lucy has also begun work on a long-term project entitled, “The Moving Vessel” which explores the impact of motherhood on the professional dancer. When Lucy is not working with independent choreographers and producing her own shows, she is at home with her two great kids, Margie and Luka, and her very supportive husband, Jim.

On Giving Back…Part 1

June 27, 2011 by 4dancers

Today we have part one of two from Contributor Lucy Vurusic Riner–tune in on Wednesday to read the rest–

I didn’t really begin my dance training until high school. My mom signed me up for ballet and tap as a little girl and I hated it. It wasn’t until I was a sophomore in high school that I decided I wanted to take another stab at it.

I had my share of disappointments but I worked twice as hard to make up for lost time in training. And although I have come across my fair share of nay-sayers, the people that had the biggest influences on my life were my dance teachers. I had some bad ones, we all do, but the ones that I attribute to getting me to where I am today always had my best interests at heart. Those teachers never told me I had the wrong body, never told me I started too late in life, and never made me feel like I didn’t have choices.

The good teachers recognized my strengths and gave me options on where those strengths might lead me. The good teachers never tell you that you won’t make it. Simply put, they can’t know that.

Over the last 20 odd years I have found myself in every position a dancer might have to take on to make ends meet. I started humbly, by moving to New York over a summer and trying to find “gigs.” These were most notably at conventions, conferences, even a bar mitzah. When New York quickly lost it’s luster (for me) I came back to Chicago, finished school by getting a teaching certificate and began teaching high school dance.

I danced with several companies, produced my own shows, and soon learned that in most small to mid-level companies I would serve dual roles as a dancer and (in my case) benefit coordinator, board member, dancer liaison, etc. Last year I decided to start my dance company so that I could focus on choreography and arts administration a bit more. I’m sharing this information because through all of these experiences I have met dancers from every walk of life who share their “training experiences” with me. The stories that always get to me are of the teacher that might have told them to throw in the towel; or that thought that by knocking them down, they would stand up stronger. And it is because of those experiences that I compiled a new list (my last one went over pretty well) on “Giving Back to Your Students”… [Read more…]

On Watching Modern Dance…

May 11, 2011 by 4dancers

by Lucy Vurusic Riner

My husband took me to see the Chicago Moving Company on our first date back in 1996. A smart, and thoughtful, move on his part because eleven years and two kids later, we are going strong.

But when we look back on that first date now, Jim often reminds me how that first experience watching modern dance was very alienating for him. Of course, I didn’t know any of this at the time so I continued to drag him from one modern dance concert to another. It wasn’t until many years later that we candidly talked about how audience members can easily be disconnected from modern dance; especially if they walk in trying too hard to understand from the get go.

Historically, the novice dance audience member has obsessively tried to understand everything that is happening on stage. Ballet generally tells a narrative story with some pantomime and lots of theatrical elements that help guide the story. The program generally has some sort of director’s notes to give a brief synopsis of what the inspiration behind the ballet is and so the audience member is able to sit back and enjoy watching some beautiful dancing. The general public also has a perception of ballet dance and what it is. Even if it might not always correct, most people can conjure some sort of image of what they believe they might see if at the ballet.

Jazz dance provides audience members with excitement and particularly in America, it is one of the oldest forms of dance entertainment. There is precision, technical feats and a lot of flash to keep the audience engaged. So how do we entice the non-dancer to experience modern dance and “learn” how to watch it?

Theoretically, it hasn’t been around nearly as long as its counterparts. Every time I begin a new quarter of dance at school I have at least one student ask me what modern dance is. I have never had anyone ask me that about ballet or jazz. So after many years of performing, choreographing and most importantly, watching modern dance, here’s what I think (and sometimes don’t think) when I’m watching it: [Read more…]

Introducing Your High School Students to Modern Dance

January 20, 2011 by 4dancers

I have been teaching at Oak Park and River Forest High School (OPRFHS) for fifteen years. I inherited the job from a great teacher and friend who had already built and maintained a substantial program. I am also blessed to work in a community where the arts are respected and appreciated. My job is to keep reinventing a dance experience that caters to all of our students and teaches them to be life long dance enthusiasts. I’m proud to say that when I walk into work each day, I believe that’s what we are doing.

Our dance program is part of the Physical Education Department, and students are required to take one dance class before they can graduate from the high school. That’s right. EVERYBODY dances. Once everyone has taken a nine week (quarter) class as a freshmen, entitled “Introduction to Movement,” they can either be finished with their dance experience or continue to take dance classes at a more advanced level as juniors or seniors. Although our introductory course covers seven different dance styles, the overall dance program is based in modern dance. We want our students to know how modern dance came out of and is still influenced by other dance forms… [Read more…]

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