modern dance – Page 2

From Competition To College

May 22, 2013 by 4dancers

by Ashley David

Until about two years ago, dance meant taking class at my small studio, preparing for the Nutcracker, participating in dance competitions and practicing for the annual recital. However, I was unsure whether I wanted to dance or not after I graduated high school because I was always told dance was just a “hobby” and not something that I could pursue as a career.

I applied to various schools, some with dance programs and some without, but ultimately chose the University of Maryland, College Park, to pursue a communication degree in public relations. This was a sensible degree that would get me a “real job.” The entire first year of college I did not dance at all— the worst decision of my life. I went from dancing six days a week to nothing. I lost my creative outlet, stress reliever and passion. I realized during that time I needed to dance, so I added dance as a second major and began my journey in pursuing a B.A. in Dance at the University of Maryland, which I am still currently completing.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into and was skeptical I had made the right choice. The program was described as “modern” and I came from a ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary and hip-hop background. I had taken what I dubbed as “weird” modern classes at various conventions, but it was never something I saw myself pursuing further in dance; yet here I was entering a college modern program that did not even require us to take ballet classes.

My schedule that first semester as a dance double major included modern, ballet (thank goodness it was an elective class) and improvisation—no jazz, no tap, no lyrical, no contemporary and certainly no hip hop. My very first day of modern class included things such as closing my eyes, grounding myself to the floor, breathing and focusing on tucking in my pelvis as I moved across the space in exercises.

Then I entered improvisation and we did the same thing! Except this time, I had to find and create my own movement. What was this?! I was in absolute shock and thankful I at least had ballet to look forward to as something familiar and normal to me. I spent many days that first semester crying over something my modern teacher said, or not understanding why the technique I had spent years and years developing did not seem as important in this program. Is that not what made a good dancer? I felt disconnected and not sure that I really belonged there. However, towards the end of the semester it all clicked. [Read more…]

Tips For High School Dance Teachers

April 12, 2013 by 4dancers

by Lucy Vurusic Riner

I loved high school. I know, most people are kind of shocked when I say it, but I did. It’s where I first remember trying to form some sort of identity. When I look at pictures of myself from freshmen year to sophomore year I go from the bad 1980’s poof hairdo prep-ster look to a shaved head, dark goth lipstick and combat boots.

Only in high school can you pull that off.

It’s also in high school that I rekindled my love for dance. I had taken class as a small child and hated the structure. My sophomore year a lovely woman named Rosemary Doolas brought dance to my all girl’s Catholic high school and here I am now. It made perfect sense to me, at age fifteen, that I was going to be a dancer.

High school dance programs in Illinois run the gamut in terms of structure. People are usually surprised to find that there are anywhere from 30 to 40 schools in the state that actually have full-blown programs. By this I mean that there is someone in the high school that is employed to teach dance classes as part of the daily curriculum. Larger schools have up to four or five faculty dedicated to teaching dance full-time while smaller schools or programs have one full-time faculty or part time positions offered throughout the day. Beyond the actual school day, hundreds of schools in Illinois offer extra curricular activities in dance. These programs also range the gamut from dance teams and orchesis companies to other specialized dance clubs (focusing on breakdance, Latin or improv).

So when I went to college and found out that I could teach my first love, DANCE to my second love, HIGH SCHOOL it was a no-brainer for me. Almost twenty years later I have taught at three different area high schools and have had the pleasure of serving as the Chair of the Illinois High School Dance Festival.

As a dance educator, I have tried to find ways to expose high school students to dance in a number of different ways. As with any other subject in high school, teachers are always hoping to increase the number of students they can get involved in their programs. Below, I have compiled some of my thoughts on teaching dance, particularly modern dance, within the high school curriculum.

Know your audience

These are adolescents. They are completely self involved and utterly dramatic. You also have a wide range of levels and experiences. There are students that take class at their studios and students that you are trying to expose to dance for the first time. How do you develop ways to keep both of these populations interested? Your advanced ballet student that competes at her studio is a very different person than the beginning dance student who is mortified to put on a leotard and tights. You have to be sensitive to your audience and know who you’re playing to. Otherwise you have the potential of losing some really amazing opportunities with new movers that you can mold into your program as the years progress.

Build relationships with your students

These are high school students. They are social beings. The more you get to know your students and invest in who they are as people, the more they will invest in trusting you. And if they trust you, you can expose them to far more advanced ways of looking at dance.

I share at least one personal dance experience with my classes each week. It helps them to know me not only as their teacher, but also as a student of dance. It also doesn’t hurt to let them know you’re a person outside of dance class as well. I share stories and pictures of my own family with my students and it allows them to see you through different lens.

Give a little to get a little

Being an artist is a vulnerable thing. And let’s be honest, most kids don’t come near liking high school as much as I did. For many students it’s a means to the end; they imagine how they’ll get through it.

I believe in fun. I think it’s pretty basic: I love dancing because it is fun. And in it’s “fun-ness” I am able to express myself and nurture my creativity. Is it also challenging? Yes. Does it also take a lot of self-discipline? Yes. But all the hard work is worth it because I have walked out of the classroom feeling satisfied. And for me, satisfaction is fun.

(As a side bar, we as dance teachers sometimes think that having fun doesn’t mean that we are working hard or learning valuable lessons. This is not true. You are allowed to have fun in any level class you teach, in whatever content you choose to teach that day. You can be serious and still have fun. And if you allow your students to see your love and investment in dance they will relate to you more. You might become the bright spot in a potentially stressful day and they’ll be happy to see you.)

Have a well-rounded curriculum

This next point is a philosophical one and it’s just my opinion but here goes…

You have to teach more than just what you love. I love modern dance but I’m not going to assume that all my students do too. In fact, in most cases, I’m trying to expose them to modern dance for the first time. My practice initially is to include modern dance in an introductory course and than offer more specific classes after they have had a taste of it.

As students begin to realize that modern dance is a form of self-expression, they become more invested in studying it more deeply. But within that curriculum I want to offer what they “know” as well. I love hip hop and jazz. That’s what I loved as a child. I love teaching hip hop and jazz. And honestly, there is still a lot I can teach my high school students about dance forms that they “think” they already know. I value those dance forms as much as I value modern dance; I just happen to enjoy making and performing modern dance more as an adult. But I have to remember to put myself in my high school shoes. Had I not already been in a major identity crisis my sophomore year in high school, I may not have walked into Rosemary Doolas’ modern class. And the reason I loved it is because I wanted to be different; and that stuff was DIFFERENT.

But most high school kids are not trying to be different. Most high school kids are just trying to fit in. They want to feel safe in their explorations of who they are and I have found the best way to do that is give them options. This is the time in their life where they should be exposed to a variety of different dance forms and choose their own path in what they find interest in. I am there to be the guide.

Don’t take yourself so seriously

Clearly this could also be a life lesson right?

Do you have any tips for teaching teens? If so, leave one in the comments section!

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 Bachelor of Science Degree in Dance Performance and Dance Education from Illinois State University. Lucy has been a member of Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak, RTG Dance Company and Matthew Hollis’ “The Power of Cheer.” She has also had the opportunity to be part of the community casts 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 was the Director of Dance at Oak Park and River Forest High School from 1999 to 2012. 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 Group in 2010. RE|Dance Group investigates humanity in movement through long distance collaboration.

In 2012, Lucy joined the dance faculty at New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL. When she is not immersed in dance, she is at home with her two great kids, Margie and Luka, and her very supportive husband, Jim.

On Dancing Barefoot…

January 4, 2013 by 4dancers

by Lucy Vurucic Riner

There are not many things, about dance, that I am “old school” about. I don’t have the old school teacher mentality when it comes to many things in my classroom. Although we require our students to wear leotards, I have not put one on in about five years. And when it comes to instruction I am 90% positive feedback and 10% mean in the “old school” sense. The one old school thing about me is that I love my bare feet. I don’t understand how, or really why, anyone would want to dance any other way? How else can you be completely connected to the ground if you can’t truly feel it?

Don’t get me wrong, I have plenty of modern dance friends that don’t love that skin to floor contact as much as I do. And with contemporary dance becoming increasingly more popular (I’m still not really sure how to define it myself) it seems that the minute we realized that people like Petronio and Naharin were letting their dancers wear socks, many of us modern dancers jumped at the chance of creating pieces where socks were the obvious choice as part of the costume. And while Ruth St. Denis and Doris Humphrey roll over in their graves every time one of us modern dancers puts on her socks or toe thongs (what an ingenious invention) we continue to find new ways to adorn our feet while we dance. [Read more…]

DVD Review: Ghostlight

November 16, 2012 by 4dancers

by Emily Kate Long

Palisades Pictures and Mannic Productions

Produced and Directed by Christopher Herrmann

Introducing Richard Move as Martha Graham

The world knows Martha Graham as a dance icon. Ghostlight presents Graham as an icon in every aspect: her personal style is over-the top, her mannerisms are supremely theatrical, her speech is poetic and often cryptic. The tagline of the film, aptly, is “An impressionistic homage to Martha Graham.” It is loosely centered around the creation of Graham’s ballet Phaedra, but the focus is always Martha herself and all her eccentricities. In interviews with performance artist Richard Move and Director Christopher Herrmann (who worked for Graham and knew her personally), the phrase “truth is stranger than fiction” is used to describe Graham, and the film really highlights that. It’s obvious how much of a kick these two got out of making a film tribute to Martha.

Ghostlight features Ann Magnuson as a former Graham student-turned-filmmaker trying to capture the ins and outs of Martha at work—despite financial trouble and personal turmoil for both parties. The exploration of Martha’s relationships to herself, to dance as an inevitable part of her life, and to her former husband Eric Hawkins are not specific or detailed (the feature runs just 80 minutes) but they are highly suggestive. This is clearly a tribute paid with love, and extends its reach by making the viewer want to know more deeply its iconic subject.

dancer doing arabesque — Emily Kate Long, Photo by Avory Pierce

Assistant Editor Emily Kate Long began her dance education in South Bend, Indiana, with Kimmary Williams and Jacob Rice, and graduated in 2007 from Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School’s Schenley Program. She has spent summers studying at Ballet Chicago, Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, Miami City Ballet, and Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive/Vail Valley Dance Intensive, where she served as Program Assistant. Ms Long attended Milwaukee Ballet School’s Summer Intensive on scholarship before being invited to join Milwaukee Ballet II in 2007.

Ms Long has been a member of Ballet Quad Cities since 2009. She has danced featured roles in Deanna Carter’s Ash to Glass and Dracula, participated in the company’s 2010 tour to New York City, and most recently performed principal roles in Courtney Lyon’s Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, and Cinderella. She is also on the faculty of Ballet Quad Cities School of Dance, where she teaches ballet, pointe, and repertoire classes.

On Dance And Momentum…

October 9, 2012 by 4dancers

by Lauren Warnecke, MS

Momentum (n.) force or speed of movement; impetus, as of a physical object or course of events

I couldn’t count the number of times I’ve asked a dancer to “use momentum” to carry her through a phrase. Heck, release-based modern dance is practically founded on the idea of capitalizing on momentum. But what does that really mean? When I was a junior in high school, crying nightly over Mrs. Youel’s AP Physics class, I learned that momentum is equal to the product of the mass and velocity of an object. In other words:

p = mv

where p = momentum (kg*m/s), m = mass (kg) and v = velocity (m/s)

So that’s cool. But how does that apply to dance? Does momentum just exist, or is it something that I can choose to “use” or not use of my own volition.

Here’s an idea: a body in motion (body meaning anything from a particle to an apple to an arm) keeps moving unless something acts on it to inhibit that movement. For example, if Isaac Newton drops an apple towards the ground, it keeps moving until it’s stopped by the ground. If he dropped it into a bottomless pit, the apple would continue to fall indefinitely. This concept is wrapped up in a nice little fundamental law of nature called The Law of Conservation of Linear Momentum. The law states that “the total momentum of a closed system of objects (which has no interactions with external agents) is constant.” Don’t believe me? I double-checked on Wikipedia.

In our case, that “external agent” is usually a muscular contraction, the ground, or the limitations of our bodies’ natural range of motion. Since ROM and anatomy aren’t exactly things we can control, perhaps “using” momentum is simply a release of the muscles to let momentum happen naturally. Who’s crying now, Mrs. Youel?

In dance and in life, momentum is the key. It is the gift that keeps on giving. If you just relax and let it happen, amazing things can occur. I’m joyriding on momentum right now, and trying to remind myself that momentum keeps going unless I do something to stop it.

Contributor Lauren Warnecke, M.S., is a Chicago-based dance artist, educator, and writer. She trained at the Barat Conservatory of Dance before earning a BA in Dance at Columbia College Chicago. In 2009, Lauren completed her MS in Kinesiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, with a concentration in Motor Control and Learning. Lauren is a Visiting Instructor for the department of Kinesiology and Nutrition at UIC, and teaches master classes and seminars in ballet, modern dance, creative movement, and dance pedegogy. She is certified in ballet by the Cecchetti Council of America and a member of the American College of Sports Medicine.

In addition to teaching at UIC, Lauren owns and operates Art Intercepts, under which she creates, informs, and writes about dance. The primary mission of Art Intercepts is to bridge the gap between the scientific and artistic communities to present programming that is informed, inventive, and evidence-based. Lauren is a freelance writer/blogger and maintains monthly columns at Danceadvantage.net and 4dancers.org. and is featured on a panel of nationally reputed dance writers at the 2012 Dance/USA conference. She also works periodically as a grant writer and production/stage manager for artists in the Chicago dance and performance community, and volunteers for initiatives encouraging Chicagoans to engage in local, sustainable, and active lifestyles. Lauren likes to hike, bake scones, and dig in the dirt.

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