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!"

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)

Attendees of the Alumni Dance Retreat 2010

The official Alumni Reunion photo of the Principia Alumni Dance Retreat 2010

Top row, from left: Kathryn Hosmer Thompson, Jennifer Francis Bitto, Gary Hill, Karen Hill, Austin Hill

3rd row: Chrissy Calkins Steele, Lori Doutrich, Karen Parker Craig, Caitlin Highton Hoffman, Holly Derville-Teer, Brittany Maxwell Hopkins

2nd row: Frank Tisdell, Carol Tisdell, Nicole Tisdell, Meggen Watt, Ruth Doering, Suzanne Givens, Paul Paradis

Bottom row: Jennifer Bondelid, Chrissie Brown, Hera Gerber, Emily Ward, Christine Dunbar, Maxine Sander, John Jordan, Kristie Hannum Karsen

Not pictured: Adrienne Sandidge Hill, Karen Hooper, Marlena Gray, Bente Morse

View from the Balcony: a director, performer, and participant's perspective of the Alumni Dance Retreat 2010

This was a special edition of the Principia Alumni Dance newsletter, Back at the Barre (Issue #6 - 9/1/10).  It chronicled the Alumni Dance Retreat and Production 2010 from the view of its producer and director, Emily Ward (C'08).
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Believe it or not, I have been attempting to write this issue of Back at the Barre for over two months.  And yet, every time I have tried, I have been completely overwhelmed at trying to capture the Alumni Dance Retreat and Production 2010 into a simple article.

Those of you who attended probably know exactly what I’ve been struggling with.  While most of us weren’t sure what a “first-ever dance intensive” on the Principia College campus would entail, none of us were prepared for such a powerful, inspirational, and joyful week.  In fact, these are a few of the comments I captured from our last metaphysical meeting before the official Alumni Dance Production on Saturday, June 26th: