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!"

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.

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...

Correction from Nicole Jenkins

We received this letter from Nicole Jenkins (C'00), one of the dance alums featured in our special SPOTLIGHT series in the March edition of Back at the Barre.  We have amended the article accordingly but felt it worthwhile to reprint the letter in full for clarification's sake.
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Hi Emily -

This piece was really well done.  Thank you for putting it together!  But I wanted to let you know that there is a part of the piece written on me that is incorrect.  It says, "We had an amazing Dance Production, and we ended up doing all these really intense pieces that were later performed by other companies."  This is incorrect.  I said that we performed pieces that had been performed (and choreographed) by other companies/professional choreographers.  David Grenke was the visiting choreographer that year.  This should be corrected as I don't want anyone to think we (or I) am taking credit for choreography we (or I) didn't do.  I choreographed pieces for other dance productions but not the one where Joy fell ill.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns but I feel it is important that this quote is corrected.

Thanks!
Nicole

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

SPOTLIGHT on - Nicole Jenkins (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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When the director of Principia's Winter Dance Production fell ill during Nicole Jenkins's sophomore year, that could have been the end of the production. But it wasn't: Nicole and a small group of friends decided to forge ahead with the show, choreographing their pieces and working out the details on their own. And their homegrown approach was a success: the production was a hit with the audience, and some of the pieces they choreographed even went on to be performed by other dance companies performed were professional pieces from other companies and professional choreographers.  [*See note at the end of this article.]
It takes a special kind of dedication to turn a setback like that into such a triumphant success.

Nicole Jenkins has that kind of dedication. Like other Principian dancers who have been profiled in this newsletter, she went through a period of intense classical training before she attended the college. Nicole says her love of dance began when she was about three years old. According to her mother, she was watching "Swan Lake" on TV when she pointed to the screen and said, "Mom, I want to do that." Her mom enrolled Nicole in dance classes in a small studio near the family's home in Bellevue, Washington.

SPOTLIGHT on - Victoria Ries (C'00)

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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Unfortunately, due to the arrival of her child and the ensuing schedule of motherhood, we were unable to coordinate a time in which to interview Victoria for this feature.  However, we wish her the very best as a mommy!



Above, Ries - still dancing while 8 months pregnant!  Morey Dance Studio, June 2010

We will try to catch up with Victoria another time!

photo courtesy of Sherry Hopkins

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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: Nicole Jenkins (C'00)

SPOTLIGHT on: Emily Wakeling (C'00)

SPOTLIGHT on - Sherry Hopkins (C'99)

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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Like many of her contemporaries, Sherry Hopkins began dancing at the age of four -- including ballet, tap, and jazz styles. But it wasn't until she came to Prin, she says, that dance really became a passion. "I'd always done a Russian style, a very modern style," she says. "But at Prin we learned a lyrical, modern style."

Above, Sherry Hopkins (right) with, from left, Holliday Rees, Nicole Jenkins, and Victoria Ries, doing a little "Swan Lake" in Morey Dance Studio, June 2010

Sherry, like so many others, was particularly inspired by the teaching style of David Grenke, the founder of ThingsezIsee'm Dance/Theater and a former principal dancerfor the Paul Taylor Dance Company. "His teaching style was so different from anything I'd ever seen," she remembers. "He had this passion for theater, for the macabre, almost. He just had such a modern vision ...  I knew right then that that was what I wanted to do." Inspired by Grenke's example, as well as that of professor Judith Patterson, Sherry made plans to open her own dance studio.

SPOTLIGHT on - Holliday Rees (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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When Holliday Rees made the decision not to become a dancer, she couldn't have known that she -- or, more accurately, her likeness -- would eventually go on to encourage dozens of Principians to pursue dance.

Let's back up a bit. Holliday's early dance career was defined by a startling focus. She began taking ballet classes when she was just six years old. Her parents also signed her up for ice skating, music classes, and gymnastics, but, she says, "ballet was the thing" for her. She was so taken with it, in fact, that after spending several years taking classes in Oklahoma, where her family lived, she made the decision to move to California so she could continue her training under specialized instruction. She was in eighth grade at the time.

Holliday spent her high school years living with her grandparents in Walnut Creek, California, where she danced at the Twenty Castella studio. Here, she was able to get training and performance experience that wouldn't have been accessible to her back in Oklahoma. "We must have done fifteen Nutcracker [performances] a year," she remembers.

Above right, Rees re-enacting her pose in Morey Dance Studio, ten years later

Introduction of a BATB Special SPOTLIGHT Series

This was originally published in the Principia College Alumni Dance newsletter, Back at the Barre (Issue #9 - March 2011).
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Back at the Barre is proud to share the stories of five Prin dance alums who traveled back to Principia College for the Alumni Reunion last summer to reunite with each other - and to watch the Alumni Dance Production 2010.

During the weekend, they decided to go to Morey Dance Studio, their "home" of a decade past.  And there they saw quite a surprise - a series of charcoal drawings of themselves, still hanging where they had been ten years before.  So they spent an afternoon there, dancing, taking pictures, and recreating their poses from their student days (see photo below).



I didn't know about this until a few months later, when one of those alums, Sherry Hopkins, posted those pictures on Facebook.  To my delight, Sherry graciously gave me permission to use them in Back at the Barre, and so here is the result:  alumni spotlights on Holliday Rees, Sherry Hopkins, Victoria Ries, Nicole Jenkins, and Emily Wakeling.

     

Principia dancers of the last decade are quite familiar with these charcoal drawings on the walls of Morey Dance Studio!  But few have known the names, faces, or lives of the dancers who inspired them...until now.

      
Special thanks to Jeff Ward-Bailey, our guest feature-writer, and to Sherry Hopkins, for use of her wonderful photographs!
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Read about the 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)
SPOTLIGHT on: Emily Wakeling (C'00)

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!)

Bringing Broadway to Santa Fe - SPOTLIGHT on Kristie (Hannum) Karsen, C'78

by Jeff Ward-Bailey (C'09), guest feature-writer

You know how with some people, when you're talking with them on the phone you don't really get a good sense of what they're like? My brother Steve, for example, is like that: he's an energetic, active, intensely interesting guy, but on the phone his voice is flat, emotionless, almost monotone. It's just not a good analogue to the way he is in real life.

Kristie Karsen, however, is not one of those people.

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.