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.

"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!"

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...

Backstage Past and SPOTLIGHT on - David Wilck

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

Christine Dunbar’s “Backstage Past” column takes a look at the Principia Dance programs over the years.

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Greetings Dance Alumni and Friends!

In this edition of BATB, I would like to share Principia College graduate David Wilck’s professional experience in the field of Dance.

During the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, David (at right, with Stewart Levin, left, in 1983; photo courtesy of Amy Nickell) developed a passionate interest in Dance. He studied dance techniques, choreography, participated in the Dance Productions as choreographer, performer, crew, and photographer and enrolled in the new academic course offering, “Understanding Dance” which had this description in the course catalog:

“General Introduction to Dance as Cultural History and as Art, with an emphasis on the development of Dance in America. Course includes the Philosophy of Dance and its Relationship to the other Art Forms; Study of History, Forms and Styles; Performance Appreciation and Criticism: Film, Video, Live; Knowledge of Major Performers, Teachers, Choreographers and Companies in the World of Dance Today. Required Textbook Reading; Lectures; Discussions; Research; Papers."

David’s classmates, who pioneered this course, included: Renee Chenue, Brad Heinig, Sylvia Hofflund, Victoria Miner, Deena Rohrer, Marcia Satterwhite and Gigi Schmiett. The class met in the Russian Room of The School of Nations.

As Principia’s Dance instructor at the time, I remember having a discussion with David Wilck’s parents regarding their concern about their son’s growing interest in dance studies versus other academic class options. I recall assuring his parents David was nurturing a talent and this was a good time for him to experience and put in to practice his new found passion for Dance. We all were glad he persisted, because David’s professional life after graduation included work as a Dance Critic for The Christian Science Monitor.

Backstage Past - After Frank Parker

This was originally published in the Principia College Alumni Dance newsletter, Back at the Barre (Issue #8 - December 2010).

Christine Dunbar’s “Backstage Past” column takes a look at the Principia Dance programs over the years.

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Last month’s issue of BATB reported Dance at Principia to be alive and well as early as 1924 under the celebrated tenure of Frank Parker. This month, I’d like to tell you more about the faculty, staff and student leaders who continued Principia’s dance education program through the years as we piece together the History of Dance at Principia.

Mr. Parker taught French, Literature, Aesthetics, Music, Art and Drama in addition to Dance. After Frank’s retirement in 1966, Principia College was not yet ready for a Full-time Dance Faculty position to be filled. The 1970 Principia Sheaf reports “students with previous ballet experience instructed their own course in classical ballet, modern jazz and interpretive dance“ under the watchful eye of Judith Miller, P.E. Instructor. (See photo to the left.)

"Tudor Workshop" to be presented at Principia College

The following article was originally published in the Antony Tudor Ballet Trust's eNewsletter (November 2010).  The Principia College Alumni Dance newsletter,Back at the Barre, reprinted it in full (Issue #8 - December 2010).
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Hilary Harper-Wilcoxen, Chair/Theater and Dance Department at Principia College, has spearheaded an interdisciplinary pilot dance program to be conducted by Tudor Répétiteurs Amanda McKerrow and John Gardner, December 27 to January 1.

The program will introduce master choreographer Antony Tudor into college and university dance programs through a series of master classes focusing on Tudor's masterpiece, Jardin aux Lilas. The experimental, interdisciplinary week will look at this classic ballet from the perspective of various arts' disciplines.

Plans are under way for a documentary to be part of the process.

(More information after the jump!)

Backstage Past - Frank Parker

The following article was originally published in the Principia College Alumni Dance newsletter, Back at the Barre (Issue #7 - October 2010).

Christine Dunbar's "Backstage Past" column takes a look at the Principia Dance programs over the years.
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The most current DANCE Magazine College Guide 2010-11 lists more than 600 College and University Dance Programs. This number has grown over the decades since the first college dance degree program was established in 1926 at theUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison, under the direction and leadership of one of our renowned American dance educators, Margaret N. H’Doubler.

In the foreword to H’Doubler’s celebrated published book, Dance A Creative Art Experience, Gertrude E. Johnson, Assoc. Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, wrote the following:

News from Stage Right - October 2010

The following column was published in the Principia College Alumni Dance newsletter, Back at the Barre (Issue #7 - October 2010).

In her "News from Stage Right" column, Hilary Harper-Wilcoxen, chair of the Principia College Department of Theatre & Dance, aims to keep Principia dance alums informed of the latest news and events from the Department of Theatre & Dance!

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Dear Dancers! 

Hello and welcome to my contribution to Emily’s great newsletter, Back at the Barre. Thanks Emily and congrats on the Alumni Dance Retreat and to all who were involved with that, especially Emily and Chris!  

This past week was a good snapshot of what dance at Principia College is currently experiencing. Karin Averty, recent star of The Paris Opera Ballet, spent most of the week here, teaching ballet classes at the College and Upper School and treating the community to amazing footage of her career with The Paris Opera.  You can hear an interview with Karin on Prin Radio (here) and visit her website athttp://karin-averty.com/. 

The dance program includes many visiting artists who come in at the top of their profession.  This winter, The Tudor Trust’s Amanda Mc Kerrow and John Gardner ofAmerican Ballet Theatre fame (see http://antonytudor.org/index1.html) will set an excerpt from Antony Tudor’s famous “Jardin Aux Lilas” to be performed at the Winter Dance Production [2011], while Margaret Eginton, formerly of Merce Cunningham’s company and a Professor at the prestigious Asolo Conservatory, will set an original duet for our modern dancers this winter as well.