Alumni Dance Retreat 2012: Update!

Been dying to know what this year's Alumni Dance Retreat 2012 will look like?  Here's a few specifics:

Swing class at the Alumni Dance Retreat 2010

• Technique classes and workshops!  Ballet, jazz, and tap are confirmed, with more to come (such as swing and ballroom)

• Get-in-shape classes!  Zumba (with Karen Parker Craig, C'00) and Pilates (with Brittany Maxwell Hopkins, C'02)  - back by popular demand

Pilates at the Alumni Dance Retreat 2010

• Performance opportunities!  Everyone will be able to perform in a large, "flash-mob"-style piece of choreography in the Alumni Dance Showcase 2012.  Other performance pieces are in discussion - just email us if you'd like to perform even more!

• Choreography opportunities!  Do you have some ideas for a dance you just can't get out of your head?  Contact us right away, and we'll talk about getting it performed at the Alumni Dance Showcase 2012.

Brittany Maxwell Hopkins (C'02) performs her own choreography at the Alumni Dance Retreat 2010.

• A pace that's right for you!  This year's Alumni Dance Retreat features two "tracks" for attendees, so that no matter your desired commitment or energy level, you'll have the perfect dance retreat.

• Entrance to all Alumni Reunion activities!  When you register for the Alumni Dance Retreat, you are also registering for the broader Alumni Reunion and have full access to all events and activities offered.

Sign up today at www.principiaalumni.org!  Contact us at PrincipiaAlumniDance@gmail.com with questions.

It's Been Forever: how I began dancing again [Part 1]

This is the first post in a series about how Principia College dance alum, Emily Maixner (C'08), conquered her fears and got back into dancing.

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I couldn’t believe how long it had been since I’d gone to a dance class.  My friend had been encouraging me to go with her for months.  My body had been practically begging for movement, being forced to sit at a desk all day long.

And yet, I'd had a million reasons NOT to go:

“We just don’t have the budget!”

“I want to lose weight first.”

“I was never that good anyway.”

Then a friend, who’d known my performance past and aspirations, came into town for a weekend.   She had gently, lovingly, but firmly said, “Emily, if you don’t get back into performing soon, you’ll never do it.  And you MUST do something creative for yourself every week.”

I foolishly admitted to her that I’d been toying with the idea of dancing again.  She jumped on it.  “That is fantastic.  You MUST go!  It will feed your soul.”

“But,” I protested, throwing my reasons for not dancing back at her. 

But saying them out loud made me stop short.  I suddenly realized that they were pathetic reasons. 

I certainly could find the budget to dance once a week. 

My weight was absolutely no different from a few years ago, and – duh! – dancing could only help me become more fit. 

And it really didn’t matter if I’d been brilliant or terrible, since this wasn’t about being the best.

I realized, in that moment, that for me, dancing was only about expressing myself – in joy.   And that I needed that in my life.  That despite having a steady and satisfying job, a loving husband, and a wonderful home life, there was a hole in my heart, a gaping void that made me curl up once or twice a week, staring out my bedroom window at the New York City skyline for literal hours at a time in a listless depression and occasionally dissolving into tears. 

In fact, I’d been spending months trying to figure out what the problem was with my husband and family members.  “You know what it is, Emily?  You need a hobby!  Find people who like to do what you do, and take classes!  How about a book club?  Or bridge?”  “Emily, you should try working out more – clearly you’re just not active enough.”  “I know, Emily - try taking an hour to just be quiet when you get home, so that the noise of the commute and the stress of the day can wear off before you jump into other activities.”  Eventually, I’d given up trying to figure out what caused those sudden attacks of melancholy and despair.

And here the answer was, staring me in the face as it danced a jig.

“You’re right,” I said quietly.  Then, looking up at my friend with a small smile, I committed myself.  “I’ll go to dance.”


Check back soon for Part 2: "How I Survived the First Class"!

"Acting for the Dancer" - by Hilary Harper-Wilcoxen

The American Academy of Dance in Paris, France
Photo credit: Vincent Desnoes (from the Tudor blog)

Check out Department of Theatre & Dance Chair, Hilary Harper-Wilcoxen's essay "Acting for the Dancer", as featured in the recent Antony Tudor Trust newsletter!

Harper-Wilcoxen is a wonderful speaker and writer, as anyone who has ever studied with her knows, and her work is peppered with colorful stories and strong imagery, not to mention great analysis.

"Acting for the Dancer", based on her work teaching dance at both Principia College and The American Academy of Dance in Paris, is a definite read!

http://tudortrust.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/acting-for-the-dancer-by-hilary-harper-wilcoxen/

A letter from Jennifer Bondelid (C'99)

We received this letter from Jennifer Bondelid (C'99), an alum who continues performing today, as well as teaching and choreographing locally, in response to our Special SPOTLIGHT series.

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Jennifer Bondelid (C'99), back at the barre during the Alumni Dance Retreat 2010
Photo by Karen Craig

"Thank you for another great issue, Emily.  If I may, some follow-ups for you from the perspective of a peer of that self-described 'core group'. 

The help we received from Judith Patterson, who stepped in to oversee our efforts to pull together a show during Joy Baker's illness, shouldn't be forgotten.  She was the director of the Theatre/Dance department when it first became more than just the Theatre department, and she really wanted the highest quality possible from Dance at Principia.  She REALLY knew her stuff and when Joy became ill, she came in to teach Joy's classes.  We learned so much from her.

What Sherry [Hopkins] said about dance 'being able to rip your gut out' is so true.  The dance school I teach at had its yearly contemporary dance concert this weekend, and one of the choreographers brought 2 duets to the stage that really had something important (not easy) to say.  One of them was to Eminem/Rihanna’s "Love the way you lie"... two lyrical dancers in black camisole leotards and little black shorts with a distressed man-size white button down collared shirt, with a pair of man's shoes each for a prop.  The choreography was amazing - you could SEE their invisible partner and the physical abuse through their movements, as well as what they thought about when he wasn't there, from wanting to leave to wanting to make everything right and please him.  Instead of a bow, the two girls just held up handmade signs that said "Respect, You're Worth it." and "Respect U, Walk Away."  

The other piece that really told a heart-wrenching story was also a duet, to "Life Left to Go" by Safety Suit.  One girl was on a sofa surrounded by her slippers, journal, other paraphernalia (you could tell she spent a lot of time on that sofa), and another girl who was dancing what her soul felt.  The girl on the sofa was moving in a way that wasn't technical dancing, but that expressed her physical and emotional pain, and the other girl was expressing the same pain, but through the use of beautiful technique with freedom of movement.  The girl on the sofa was danced by an amazing student who has broken the same leg multiple times over the past couple of years and been sidelined over and over.  (Side note, the injured dancer choreographed an amazing trio for 3 other dancers, so expression through movement continues on, despite physical setbacks.)  I love that as artists, we have the freedom to dance/choreograph about things that people don't necessarily feel comfortable talking about.  

Emily [Wakeling] hit the nail on the head about how valuable it was to have visiting professionals.  After getting to meet dancers from other eras of dance at Prin during Alumni Reunion, it strikes me that it was especially valuable to my generation of Prin dancers.  We got to learn Cunningham, Graham, Ailey, and David Grenke's amazing technique.  Our daily classes in ballet and jazz with Joy kept me primed, and the yearly modern workshops with guest instructors were the kind of food that has especially benefited me in my current work with my local dance studio and RDA company.  I hadn't had modern training before I came to Prin, but the workshops I had there were so intensive that when I auditioned for a regional company, I was offered a contract as a principal.  I hadn't even planned to audition for their modern track, I thought of myself as a ballet dancer.  I choreograph and perform with them still, though I was only under contract with them that one year.  

Congrats to Victoria [Ries], wishing her the best with her new baby!  I'll never forget her amazing pirouettes; she could turn like a top.  

I love what Holliday [Rees] said about how dance training is so very worth it no matter where you end up professionally.  I'm always having that conversation with the parents of my dance students, the self-discipline and work ethic you learn in the ballet studio serves you well in whatever you do with the rest of your life.  To say nothing about making you a better patron of the arts, and where would the artists be without patrons!  :)  I'll never forget the Don Quixote pas de deux that Holliday did with Michael Booth.  If you ever get a chance to see a video of their pas de deux, do watch it.  It includes a heart-stopping one-armed lift... ahhh, beauty!"

Dance vs. Powerpoint - TED talk worth watching!

Check out this 11-minute TED talk by scientific writer John Bohannon - about using dancers instead of Powerpoint to convey ideas!

http://www.ted.com/talks/john_bohannon_dance_vs_powerpoint_a_modest_proposal.html#.TtmPsZCdwUg.facebook

What do you think about his "modest proposal"?  Share your comments!

New Issue of BATB released!

A brand new issue of Back at the Barre, the Principia Alumni Dance newsletter, was released today!

Sign up for the mailing list here to stay connected with the latest news and events about Principia Alumni Dance.

Swing Dancing 101 - an interview with Paul Paradis

We sat down with Paul Paradis, experienced swing dancer, to give us an idea of what it takes to swing dance.

Principia Alumni Dance: Can you share a brief history of swing?
Paul Paradis:  Well, the history of swing goes hand-in-hand with the evolution of music.  Swing origins stem from the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem back in the early 1930s.  All swing evolved out of Charleston [dance], when the Charleston was done as an individual thing.  [Eventually] they started doing a partner thing, breaking apart, coming back together – it was a wild, flailing kind of dance.  But it was new.  As the 20s went along and music evolved, it became a partner dance.

Stereotypical swing is fast, lots of aerials going on, [which developed] in the late 1920s with Frankie Manning.  It became about getting in the air and doing that crazy stuff!  Around then it kind of became a national dance.

The word “jiggerbug” got labelled as swing dancing abck in the 20s and 30s – it’s not a style of swing, just a generic term that got applied to it.  But Lindy Hop was the thing, [starting] in the late 20s all through the 30s and 40s.  The dance floor became so crowded that people couldn’t move, and out of that came Balboa, which most people [today] have never heard of.  [In Balboa] you can dance to fast music but take up no space on the dance floor, as it’s a completely closed position dance [meaning the two partners are connected the entire time].

As swing dance migrated [west] across the country, it became less hoppy and fast, and more smooth, and West Coast swing evolved out of it.  Of course, basically every city had its own dance scene and would develop its own style. Collegiate Shag, Carolina Shag, [and others] evolved in different places and became unique styles.

PAD: Can you name the type of swing that you do?
PP: With me, the things I’ve pursued the most are Lindy Hop, East Coast swing, Balboa, and of course Charleston, [because] all the Charleston stuff kind of goes hand in hand with Lindy Hop and swing in general.

PAD: What elements are necessary to be a good swing dancer?

SPOTLIGHT on - Paul Paradis (C'89)

by Mike and Emily Maixner

Sports?  Oh, yes!  Football.  Baseball.  Golf. Waterskiing.

Dance?  Hardly.

“Dance was not a thought in my head!” Paul Paradis laughs, looking back at his college years.  “I did date a dancer once, but that was as close as I got.” 

Admittedly, Paradis was never far from the arts.  While at Principia College, Paradis played sax in a jazz band that performed in the Pub on weekends.  At one point, he even played during his then-girlfriend’s piece for Dance Production, so he admits he had a taste for performing.  Yet after graduating from Principia in ’89, he moved back to Traverse City, Michigan, in the aftermath of his father’s passing.  Despite his degree in English and his minors in music and business, he began working for his brother, a woodworker who needed the help.  He enjoyed the work (which developed into a passion that he continues today), but he describes his life at the time as “stuck”.

It wasn’t until 10 years later that dance would enter his life.

SPOTLIGHT on - Molly King (C'08)

by Jeff Ward-Bailey, guest writer

Molly King’s dance background was a little different from that of some of the other dancers you’ve seen profiled in these pages. She didn’t do ballet as a kid (unless you count jumping around with scarves when she was three). She didn’t get into dance by training long hours under rigorous conditions, or by dropping out of school to pursue professional instruction.

At right, King dances at Swing Diego 2011 (with pro Jang Wilder)

Instead, Molly says, her moment of dance clarity came on New Year’s Eve 2009, when she walked into a little ballroom club in Denver, Colorado, to ring in the new year.

“Someone invited me to West Coast Swing the next day,” she remembers. “I thought, ‘Oh, it’s like, side, side, rock, step … no big deal.” But when she returned, she says with a smile, “I walked in and had no idea what was going on. I couldn’t even pick out the basic structure, there was so much styling going on.”

Fortunately, one of the dancers took her asideand showed her the essentials – and from there, she was off and running. West Coast Swing, a slotted dance derived from Lindy Hop and danced to modern music, wasn’t Molly’s first time dancing – she performed on the Principia Upper School Poms squad in high school, and on the Principia College Dance Team during her freshman and sophomore years of college – but as she says, it’s “where I found my heart.”

The Alumni Dance Retreat 2012 - in progress!

Fellow dancers, I am delighted to announce that planning for the Alumni Dance Retreat 2012 has officially commenced!  Clear your calendars for the Principia College Reunion weekend, scheduled June 21st - 24th, 2012.

Please contact us at PrincipiaAlumniDance@gmail.com with ideas, suggestions, requests,  comments, or expressions of delight!

More information coming soon...