SPOTLIGHT on - Emily Wakeling (C'00)

by Jeff Ward-Bailey, guest feature-writer / photos courtesy of Sherry Hopkins

The following article was originally published in the Principia College Alumni Dance newsletter, Back at the Barre (Issue #9 - March 2011).

It is part of a special series of SPOTLIGHT articles about the dancers who inspired the charcoal drawings that grace the walls of Morey Dance Studio.  (Read the intro here.)

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It certainly pays to get your foot in the door early in the world of dance. That's what I'm learning from Emily Wakeling, who, like many of her dance contemporaries at Prin, began practicing ballet and modern dance lessons at the age of four at a local dance school. She got more serious through junior high and high school, dancing every day after school for up to two and a half hours at the Cornish College for the Arts and performing in ballets such as The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Carnival of the Animals.

Right, Wakeling at the barre in Morey Dance Studio, June 2010

Emily came to Principia at a time when the dance program was really taking off. "I was so grateful to be with such a great group of dancers," she says. Along with the four other women profiled in this series, whom she refers to as the "core group," Emily continued practicing, dancing every day for at least an hour.

Emily says David Grenke's stint at Principia in 1999 was a high point of her dancing career. "His dance style was really unique," she remembers. "He did everything possible to get us out of our comfort zone." Grenke's notorious attention to detail played a role in helping Emily hone her own technique, too. "He would notice all the specific things," she says. "One day he said, 'Emily, you hold all your stress in your right thumb,' because he noticed my thumb twitching." Under Grenke's tutelage, all the dancers learned pieces and approaches that were completely new to them. "It was a great opportunity that Prin brought in," says Emily.

Except for during 1999's Grenke-produced show, Emily -- along with the "core group" -- also contributed choreography to the Dance Production each year she was at Prin. For Emily, this was a first. "We'd be assigned to choreograph different pieces," she says. "It was the first chance I'd had to do that; it was really fun because we'd work together and collaborate on different pieces."

One memorable production included dances designed to convey specific emotions, supplemented with corresponding movie clips. Emily was assigned "sorrow," and choreographed a lyrical style of dance, augmented with a clip from Schindler's List. "It was maybe a little corny, but definitely a lot of fun to try to convey that."

After graduation, Emily moved to New York City and, thanks to her previous connection with David Grenke, took a job working as his fundraiser and managing his New York season performances. "I'd always wanted to live in New York, and he was literally the only person I knew when I moved there," she laughs. The New York theater scene afforded her many opportunities to participate in dance and theater classes, as well as absorb all the shows she could. "When I first moved out there, I went to a show a week," she says.

After a time, and with the arrival of her first child, Emily's involvement in the dance world lessened. While she's no longer actively dancing or taking classes, she says she'll always look back fondly on her time dancing at Prin, and hopes to continue dancing again when she can. Ultimately, of course, it was the support of the "core group" of dancers that made her dance experience at Prin so meaningful. "There was such camaraderie between dancers at Prin," she says.

The five, from left to right:  Sherry Hopkins, Victoria Ries, Nicole Jenkins, Emily Wakeling, and Holliday Rees

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Read about the other alums in this special SPOTLIGHT series!

SPOTLIGHT on: Holliday Rees (C'00)

SPOTLIGHT on: Sherry Hopkins (C'99)

SPOTLIGHT on: Victoria Ries (C'00)

SPOTLIGHT on: Nicole Jenkins (C'00)