Archive for the ‘2009 | 05 | May-June’ Category

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Feature Articles
Higher-Ed Voice | Making the Leap to Academia by Bonner Odell
Ballet Scene | Teaching Pirouettes by Vanina and Dennis Wilson
Have Wheels Can Dance by Steve Sucato
Tradition! by Joshua Bartlett
Making Dance Wishes Come True by Debbie Werbrouck
Power of Performance by Nancy Wozny
Doing What They Do Best by Lisa Traiger
Banding Together in Boise by Maureen Janson
Two Men and a Dream by Darrah Carr
Quiet Strength by Debbie Werbrouck

Advice for Dance Teachers

Dear Rhee,
I currently teach seven classes per week out of a school gymnasium. I have 55 students ranging in age from 3 to adult. I am delighted that my school is growing, and my students and their families seem pleased with the instruction. We are in a small town with no other dance studios within a 15-mile radius.

This is the end of my second year at this location, and I feel that I need to find a new location that is more appropriate for dance classes. The gymnasium has awful acoustics; it’s difficult to hear and communicate there. There is no ballet barre or mirror and the floor is a dense rubber cushion on top of cement. There is no spring to it, and it is always dirty after school hours, so I have to sweep and mop before class. Carrying my boom box, music, notes, and props to the school is a hassle, and after-school activities distract my students.

On the positive side, the price is right, so I am able to keep my tuition rates low. This is important since so many people around here are losing their jobs or having their work hours cut. That is one reason why some families have chosen my dance school over others in the area.

I could rent or buy one of several buildings in the downtown area, but all of them would require a great deal of money to bring them up to current building codes and redesign them as a dance studio. Of course, these locations would attract more people because they are in town. I could hire other teachers to teach the dance forms that I don’t teach myself, so the income potential could be there. But this would be a huge undertaking, and I have two school-age children at home and work three days a week at a dancewear shop. It sounds overwhelming and risky!

I am currently leaning toward building a studio at my home. I live about a mile and a half from town on a country road with little traffic, close to where I currently teach. Building a studio here would require getting a variance in the zoning code, but the township seems positive about this. It would also require a loan and a lot of expense.

I like several things about this idea. My children could walk back and forth from their classes. My office and studio would be there, so my teaching wouldn’t overtake our entire home. A new building could be designed in a simple but practical way, perfect for a small dance studio.

However, I am worried that a home studio would not be respected as much as one in town. I don’t want to be thought of as a lesser dance educator because of my location. I would appreciate any feedback about the pros and cons. —Frances

Hello Frances,
I suggest that you consider the option of building your school at your home. Yes, some people might think less of you because you’re not in a downtown location (but most of them probably wish they could do the same thing). I spent the first 12 years of my life living above my mother’s dance school. Forty-five years later, the school is located in a 10,000-square-foot building—so you see where humble origins can lead!

Since your area has been hit hard economically, you should be thinking of a way to make this happen that will give you a return on your investment. If you put the money into your own property, over time I think you will see a return. If you rent and spend lots of money to bring the space up to par, you won’t see a return (other than the income from the clientele).

A couple of pointers: Have a separate entrance to the school so that your living quarters are completely separate. That means no meetings with parents, no students hanging out there; anything that has to do with the school should take place in the school, not your home. One of the reasons my mom moved her school out of the house was that she did not have the privacy she wanted.

Putting the school in a separate building rather than in an addition to your home is a good idea even though it’s more expensive. The Dance Studio Life offices are in a building at the back of my property, and I love the separation from my house. I have employees who have never seen the inside of my house; I feel that it keeps the employer–employee relationship on a more professional level.

Predicting the state of the economy is impossible, and making any move could be risky if things get worse. Take your time. Right now you have a space, and even though it’s not ideal, it’s inexpensive, and I assume you are making a profit. That might change when you make this investment, so be sure that you feel financially ready before you do this. There is nothing worse than having your passion to teach be zapped by the stress of trying to hang on financially. I wish you all the best. —Rhee

Dear Rhee,
The economy is taking its toll on people in the Detroit area. I’ve had a school for 30 years and it’s never been this bad. Every week I receive calls from laid-off parents who must pull their children from dance. It’s heartbreaking! My strategy thus far has been to ask if they can pay half tuition. I’m trying to consider long-term vs short-term repercussions. I hate to have children
lose out when families are already so stressed. Hopefully they will remember this kindness when things improve.

I always insist that families keep their scholarships confidential, but some parents have commented that it seems the economy hasn’t affected me at all since classes are mostly full. Obviously, they don’t realize that a third of the children are on scholarship. I appreciate any insights. —Trying to Hold Out in Detroit

Hello Trying to Hold Out,
You are not alone; many dance school owners are trying to hang on during this economic crisis. Since the situation in the Detroit area is so tough, giving students scholarships to keep them dancing and to secure the future of your school sounds wise.

I agree that the scholarships should be kept confidential and suggest that you live with the comments from those who think you are not feeling the same pain they are. Their petty comments prove that they don’t realize that what you do and how you do it are none of their business. You know in your heart what’s really going on, and that has to be enough for you. Your actions are to be commended for many reasons. Know that you are doing the right thing and do all you can to let the comments go in one ear and out the other. Good luck, and hold your head high. —Rhee

Hello Yvonne,
The going rate for studio space is $20 to $35 per hour according to feedback I’ve received from 2008 DanceLife Teacher Conference attendees from around the country. But first make sure that your lease will allow you to rent your space to others. If the Zumba teacher ever has an injured student who files a claim with the school’s insurance company and the company discovers that your lease did not permit you to rent the space, your insurance could be invalid. Look at your lease or check with the landlord.

If you cannot rent the space legally, then you should treat this teacher as faculty and take a percentage of the income from the classes. (About 25 percent is reasonable.) I hope this helps. —Rhee

By Mignon Furman

Tip 1
What age to start pointe work? This is a question frequently asked by teachers, and my advice is not before 10 or 11 years of age. But the most important criterion is not the age of the dancer but her strength. Are the ankles strong? Are the muscles around the knee stable? Can the child hold her body correctly with the weight over the three points of the foot (big toe, little toe, and heel)?  

An important factor in developing strength is how many lessons the child takes per week. My preference is to put on pointe only those children who take a minimum of three classes per week.

Tip 2
Once a child is ready to start pointe work, the teacher must make certain that the pointe shoes fit correctly: too big, and friction can cause blisters; too tight, and dancing with cramped toes (instead of relaxed toes that lie flat in the shoe) can cause injury to the Achilles tendon. A good, knowledgeable shoe fitter is a necessity.

It’s mind over circumstance when times get rough

By Suzanne Martin, PT, DPT

Does art imitate life? The lively arts in America historically shadow the ebbs and flows of the economic life of the country, and those who practice them know all too well the pain of the current economic downturn.

How do we maintain our business and artistic visions in an economy that is predicted to slowly return to normal over the long haul? What we’re thinking and how we’re coping with economic fluctuations affect our well-being. We all know that diamonds are created under pressure. But what happens when the pressure doesn’t let up? Here are a few tips to help you turn that rough diamond into a true faceted jewel.

The power of thought
What we do and what we think on a daily basis are crucial in times of transition and crisis. Dr. Caroline Leaf, author of Who Switched Off My Brain? urges us to develop our thinking power. Artistic people are naturally curious; choreography and dance instruction require tremendous qualities of analysis and limitless amounts of creativity. But fear, the ultimate paralyzer, causes procrastination and poor decision-making, two undesirable behaviors for the artistically inclined self-employed.

Dr. Leaf offers a simple formula to quell anxiety and that overwhelmed feeling: Make a choice to ask questions, search for answers, and discuss the information that is being hurled from all directions. She explains that by disciplining our brains to focus and turning over ideas, we will deepen our thinking. Knee-jerk reactions come from the subconscious; higher thought functions require more processing.

This doesn’t mean you should hyperventilate with friends over the latest economic media blast. According to Leaf, this format is a license to give in to what you’re doing, actually slow down to focus on the reality of the situation, and depending on the issue, maybe even enjoy being in the moment by breaking the panic cycle and increasing the ability to cope. In this way, choice dictates our behaviors.

Obstacles to a positive attitude
Making conscious choices allows us to regain some or complete control of our circumstances. John Maxwell, author of The Difference Maker, reminds us that the one thing inside us that cannot be taken away is our choice of attitude. He calls attitude the “difference maker” because it can make or break a situation. He warns of the five obstacles to creating a positive attitude: discouragement, change, problems, fear, and failure.

This list is a great analogy to the practice of physical therapy. Clients often come in with an injury, a change, or a problem, which quickly disintegrates into discouragement, fear, and failure. Maxwell’s maxim for grappling with this common scenario warrants our attention across many professions and roles, from physical therapy, dance injuries, and body care to our status of employment or partnership.

Dealing with discouragement
Discouragement is often the number-one obstacle for my clients who have trouble recovering from an injury. Maxwell’s recommendations ring true for the physical world as well as daily life. He suggests finding the right perspective to get a grip on the situation. Hanging out with the right people and looking at the whole picture can be lifesavers in pulling out from the grips of discouragement. I love his story of the famous Colonel Harland Sanders, whose restaurant business suffered due to a freeway change. Sanders was driven to change his entire world, to look larger, and eventually founded Kentucky Fried Chicken (now called KFC), an American icon.

How many dancers have come back from what seemed an insurmountable injury? You too must have some stories of success that got you where you are today, complete with unpredictable twists of fate.

The effect of our decisions
Maxwell describes how the decisions we make, especially in times of crisis, can impact our outlook. Doing the right thing may not always be easy, but having to back up, make excuses, apologize, or experience guilt and resentment for inappropriate behavior saps our energy and positive outlook.

He suggests that the timing of decisions influences whether we will do the right thing. Making decisions to avert discomfort when things aren’t going well feeds fear and failure, the other obstacles to a positive attitude. He suggests a hill-and-valley model of decision making. It takes a great deal of clarity to get to the hilltop before making a decision, and yet many people forgo the perseverance period, the uncomfortable valley before the decision.

How do you know you’re on the hilltop of decision time? You will have more clarity about the situation and a feeling of moving toward something instead of running from it. The rationale for waiting for the right timing is that if others are involved, you’ll leave them on better terms, without burning bridges. Also, using positive instead of negative data will ensure a desirable pattern of moving from hill to hill instead of from valley to valley.

Coping day to day
What to do on a day-to-day basis? San Francisco Bay Area psychotherapists have some concrete suggestions. At the top of the list are exercise, rest, and eating healthful foods. This is great advice because we all know that when crisis and drama begin to happen, shifting into high gear can mean jettisoning the excess baggage of day-to-day stresses (like forgoing doctors’ appointments and canceling gym memberships). This strategy might work for a day or so, but in the long term it’s a surefire setup for failure.

Next on the list is talking to people. Again, good advice, but remember Maxwell’s recommendation to seek out positive company. The joke is that if you run with the dogs, soon you start barking like them too.

The next suggestion may come as a surprise: volunteer. I remember a client, a human resources manager and a great positive role model, who once asked what to do with people who are overwhelmed. The answer is to give them another thing to do! Helping others is an amazing antidote to navel-gazing at our own problems. Again, another analogy in physical therapy is that a major way to interrupt a pain cycle in the body is to distract attention away from it. Reaching out to others breaks the cycle of discouragement by encouraging others, offering personal contact, and relieving the pain of our own problems, even if temporarily.

Making the best of things
Although none of us choose to experience crises, they can also mean opportunity. We may have to discipline ourselves to find the silver lining, but with tools, and technique, and training, just like in dance class, we can do darn near anything.

I have faith in you.

Tips on Coping

• Focus your thoughts: Ask, answer, and discuss.
• Work on your attitude.
• Seek out positive contacts and get a broader perspective.
• Time decisions to your best advantage, not to your comfort level.
• Exercise, rest, and eat well.
• Look around to see who needs your help.

Words from the publisher

By Rhee Gold

What’s on my mind? Well, for the last few months it’s been DanceLifeTV.com. This new venture started so simply, in one of those “Someday I would like to . . . ” dreaming sessions with a friend of mine, Mikeal Knight. Like me, Mikeal grew up in a dance school owned by his mom, so we have a lot in common. He’s a dancer who happens to have a passion for making film, so over many days of brainstorming (and a couple of martinis) we came up with the concept for DanceLifeTV.com.

We had no business plan or model to follow; instead we followed our instinct, which told us that we needed to pioneer a brand-new path for ourselves and the dance education field. Before I knew it I was learning how to operate HD cameras, discovering what a green screen is, and watching Mikeal edit on my company’s new computer systems (which I have no idea how to use). Exploring unknown territory can be very exhilarating, and DanceLifeTV.com has been that and more.

With my focus on television and film related to dance, I began looking at what’s already available to viewers and discovered that the grassroots origins of dance education aren’t represented in either medium. It’s easy to find great choreographic works by the masters; PBS regularly airs documentaries and performances featuring professional companies. And of course dance competitions appear on television almost any night of the week. But nowhere did I find film or television footage that focuses on the schools or the teachers who inspired the pros who are in those films.

Enter DanceLifeTV.com. Its purpose is to shine the spotlight on the lives of the dance teachers and school owners who show up to work in studios across the country every day, in big cities and small towns, inspiring their students to love dance the way they do. One of the things I like best about DanceLifeTV.com is that it offers viewers the chance to recognize the history and contributions that dance teachers all over the world have made. By presenting new insights into where these teachers come from and why they do what they do, the programming we are creating will inspire anyone who dances, teaches dance, or simply shares in the widespread love of this art form.

I look at DanceLifeTV.com as another way for the Rhee Gold Company to celebrate the life we all cherish. Please spread the word that with this new concept in Web-based TV, a new light is shining into dance classrooms and dance teachers’ lives!

See you at DanceLifeTV.com.

By Suzanne Perdue

Years ago, a child with a smile so bright it could light up a room walked into my studio. She was there to do a trial class, arranged at my suggestion when the mom asked whether her special-needs child was ready for dance classes. Little did I know I was about to begin a relationship that would become a part of me for life.

Anna (not her real name), 5, had Down syndrome. I had never taught a special-needs child, and as a new studio owner, I had my doubts. Would the mom be upset if I said her daughter wasn’t ready? Was I ready? Would the mom insist that the girl be mainstreamed or placed in a special-needs class? Would I say the right thing? What was the right thing?

We did a mini creative-movement class, during which I observed how Anna assimilated movement. I noted her muscle tone, ability to understand and follow directions, reaction to positive critiques, and whether she felt comfortable with hands-on corrections. She smiled a lot and was obviously happy to be there.

I determined that Anna wasn’t ready and told her mom that she should wait a year and why, and she thanked me and left. Dance moms aren’t known for being open to hearing that their child isn’t ready for something. I assumed she would go to someone else who would be happy to take her money.

I was familiar with special-needs children on a personal level, so I did a lot of thinking about teaching them. Was I qualified? Did I want to teach them? The answer was yes. I devoured everything I could read about teaching dance to these children. Many of them have endured physical pain as well as cognitive, developmental, and emotional delays, and even social isolation. Sometimes medications must be adjusted so that the children can have an optimal attention span.

A year later, who walked in my door but Anna and her mom! The mom said, “You were right. I notice a difference and hope you’ll agree.” She had believed and trusted what I had said—what an amazing feeling! It was one of the first times I felt the weight of a dance teacher’s responsibility and how important it is to do the right thing by our students.

Would the mom be upset if I said her daughter wasn’t ready? Was I ready? Would I say the right thing? What was the right thing?

At first Anna drooled and breathed heavily. If a child didn’t want to hold her hand when we made a circle, I’d say, “I need someone for my other hand,” and eventually everyone was holding hands. I was frustrated at times, and exhausted. I felt pressure to make sure that all the kids in the class learned, had fun, and felt special, and that the kids without a disability didn’t get less of a class. But the rewards were worth it.

Anna was with me until she was 21, taking pre-ballet, tap, ballet, and jazz. Her muscle tone improved tremendously and she came to class every time with that huge smile. Know how hard it is to flap forward while traveling backward? It was a piece of cake for her, and I’d call on her to demonstrate it. She was so proud of herself! She was a wonderful example of what can be achieved through hard work, perseverance, the right environment, and patience (hers and mine).

When I knew that Anna would have trouble keeping up with my choreography, I learned how to change it so that she didn’t stick out in a negative way. As a result, I became a better choreographer. I gained patience and enjoyed the little successes that were major ones for some of these children.

Anna was one of many special-needs children I have been privileged to teach. I’ve taught kids with spina bifida, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders, autism, dyslexia, deafness, and multiple disabilities, some of whom needed a classroom aide. And I never had a problem with students or parents saying they didn’t want to be in “that” class. Everyone grew to support everyone, and that was a lesson for all.

We all have strengths and weaknesses. Some disabilities are seen and some are unseen. As I go through life, teaching, choreographing, and working with students of all ages, levels, and abilities, the lessons I learned in teaching special-needs children stay with me. Those children have made me a better teacher and a better person.

Words from our readers

I read your article [“My Life as a Studio Owner’s Daughter,” DSL, January 2009] and I am so moved. I’m a studio owner with one 13-year-old child. His nursery was more the office at the studio than a crib at home, and the guilt was overwhelming, so he too started class earlier than I normally accept students. He was a handful to say the least. He claimed to have already learned all this “baby stuff” and at age 3 even made music suggestions, during class and at the top of his voice, informing everyone that he was sick to death of this horrible music that he’d listened to “all of my life.” He was right!

My heart ached when he realized how mean the backbiting could get. He is trapped between lashing out in my defense and doing what I’ve asked of him: to ignore it. It is quite a burden for such a young person to deal with.

Thank you. You’ve helped me see where he’s coming from.

Name withheld by request
Bartlesville, OK

I was pleased to see that your magazine featured the DVD Magical World of Ballet [“New Products for the Classroom,” DSL, January 2009]. As well as being its production supervisor, I am interviewed on it, and I must say it is a delightful DVD for pre-ballet. This was my first opportunity to see your magazine, and I truly admire the goals and mission of its contents.

Kathy Sullivan
Steps on Broadway
Ballet Hispanico School
Barnard College
New York, NY

I’ve gotten so much positive feedback about the helpful information in your article [“Dance Against Disease,” DSL, November 2008], and that of course helps us to spread the gift of dance therapy to children far and wide.

We have just expanded to Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA Medical Center and are in the process of starting up at L.A. Children’s as well as Mass General in Boston.

We are also expanding our mission in that we hope to find and fund dance companies who have experience with engaging fragile children in dance.

The attention that you gave to The Andrea Rizzo Foundation’s work of providing dance therapy to children with cancer and special needs is invaluable and has played a role in all of this growth.

I will be forever grateful for the effort you put into that incredible piece.

Susan Rizzo Vincent
President, The Andrea Rizzo Foundation
Charlestown, RI

I must thank and applaud you for your quest to rejuvenate, lift, educate, and inspire dance teachers. From the days of writing your Goldrush emails to Dance Studio Life magazine and now the conventions, you have not only met a great need in our dance world, but you’ve also provided dance professionals with a beacon of excellence to follow! Bravo, dear Rhee. Take a bow and know that you are doing all things in a fashion that is exceptional.

Patricia A. Goulding
Executive Director, National Dance Week
Pittsburgh, PA

Artistic director, Brass City Ballet, Middlebury, CT

NOMINATED BY: Christine Harris, associate director, Brass City Ballet:

“Elizabeth doesn’t run our school as a hierarchy—the teachers of ballet, jazz, yoga, modern, and creative movement all meet to explore ways we can learn from each other. There are several schools in our area, and Elizabeth strives for a sense of community. Never will you hear a negative word from her lips about another school. Elizabeth has kept our school a nonprofit organization because she wants to give back to the community.”

Elizabeth Fisk Barriser loves it when everything she has been telling her students suddenly clicks for them. (Photo courtesy Elizabeth Fisk Barriser)

AGES TAUGHT: 9 to 18

GENRES TAUGHT: Primarily ballet, but I also teach a modern class once a week.

TEACHING DANCE FOR: 28 years steadily.

WHY SHE TEACHES: At age 11 I saw Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev perform Romeo and Juliet at the Herod Atticus amphitheater at the base of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. The moment Fonteyn appeared on the stage I sat up on the edge of my seat. From that moment on I knew I wanted to be a dancer. My goal is to convey that feeling of excitement to my students.

GREATEST INSPIRATION: As a young student it was Fonteyn, but there was also the late Ernestine Stodelle, a woman with whom I studied as an adult. She danced with Doris Humphrey, and José Limón was her partner in her early career. She had a great understanding of the physical placement of the body as it moves. She used the English language in a way that I’ve never seen another dance teacher use. Once, while doing a plié in class, she said, “Get a purchase on that leg.” To me, that conveyed the very essence of a plié!

PHILOSOPHY OF TEACHING: I believe in the discipline of dance. I get more and more strict as I get older, but I think I also get more and more loving. My job is to challenge my students without breaking them. Every time we walk into the dance studio, we are there with respect. I can guide my students, demonstrate, discuss, or describe what I want, but ultimately they are the ones who have to experience it.

WHAT MAKES HER A GOOD TEACHER: Through my own years of experience and watching great teachers, I have been able to trust my artistic sensibilities and develop a good eye. I can see a total picture and understand what corrections need to be applied. I also know that I don’t know everything, so I listen to my colleagues.

FONDEST TEACHING MEMORY: I have no one specific moment, but the best is that “Aha!” moment when everything you’ve been telling your students suddenly clicks for them.

BEST PIECE OF ADVICE FOR STUDENTS AND/OR TEACHERS: To students, it’s to show up for class. There are down days and up days, but the cumulative effect is a graph line going up. To teachers: Remember the joy. To studio owners: Take care of business. If you don’t want to do it yourself, find someone who does. Lofty ideas are great, but none will materialize without a roof over your head. My general advice for everyone, though, is to be open and receptive—to ideas, people, teaching methods, dance opportunities, and, most important, self-analysis and critique.

WHAT SHE WOULD DO IF SHE COULDN’T TEACH DANCE: I would work in costumes. Especially at stressful times, I wish I could be a little old lady in the corner of the costume shop, sewing away!

MORE THOUGHTS ON DANCE AND TEACHING: I’ve learned that dance gives students great tools for life—among others, discipline, teamwork, and time management.

DO YOU KNOW A DANCE TEACHER WHO DESERVES TO BE IN THE SPOTLIGHT? Email your nominations to David@RheeGold.com or mail them to David Favrot, Dance Studio Life, 10 South Washington St., Norton, MA 02766. Please include why you think this teacher should be featured, along with his or her contact information.

A reality check for aspiring college dance teachers

By Bonner Odell

It’s a thought on the minds of more dance studio teachers these days than ever before: “Maybe I should get into college teaching.” At a time when small businesses are taking a financial hit and funding for professional dance companies is waning, more and more artists, students, and instructors are looking to colleges for career opportunities in dance. Some are lured by the prospect of artistic rigor, others by the opportunity to work with pre-professional dancers. Still others seek access to resources for art making: student repertory companies to set work on, studio space, technology.

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City College dance program director Amber McCall (top, supported by Megan Opel in this 2007 photo) warns prospective college teachers that “there’s no easy way to get there. . . .You just have to keep putting yourself out there and building your resume.” (Photo by Matthew Kertesz)”

Most dance teachers inclined toward academia, however, name two incentives as the most appealing: a set salary and health insurance. The prospect of such stability can be so appealing to those used to living from paycheck to paycheck that it can eclipse important questions about potential positions. Many college dance teachers report that working a college gig is—for better or worse—rarely what they expect it to be when they’re hired. The better you can inform yourself before dancing through those doors of higher learning, the more satisfied a faculty member you’re likely to be.

Landing a college teaching job
If you have full-time teaching aspirations at the college level, you need a graduate degree. Some departments will hire part-time candidates without one, but usually to teach courses outside the primary curriculum, such as tap or hip-hop. Most permanent positions at the college or community college level require at least an MFA to teach technique and choreography, and universities are increasingly seeking candidates with PhDs to teach dance history and theory. Candidates with an MA in dance history or a related field may be hired on an adjunct (or part-time) basis, but are usually unable to advance into permanent, full-time positions and often earn less than those with an MFA or PhD, which are considered “terminal” degrees.

There are some exceptions to these rules. If you have extensive performance experience with a well-known dance company, or have distinguished yourself through other artistic achievements, you may qualify for what’s known as “professional equivalency.” In such cases documented evidence of your professional background is considered in place of a graduate transcript.

Regardless of your background or the position you seek, persistence in applying is essential. “There’s no easy way to get there,” says Amber McCall, a longtime ballet instructor who now directs the dance program at San Jose City College (SJCC), a community college in California. “I interviewed at a number of places before I was hired. You just have to keep putting yourself out there and building your resume.”

Maureen Janson, an adjunct at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, echoes that advice. An accomplished choreographer and experienced teacher, she admits to having “a two-inch-thick file of rejection letters.” It’s clear from her lighthearted tone that she’s developed a skin just as thick.

Extending your dance network and letting dance acquaintances know you’re looking can make all the difference. “It sounds simple,” says Katie Faulkner, adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco (USF), “but getting hired has everything to do with who you know. Establish a presence to get your foot in the door. Send a letter of interest to schools where you’d like to teach, even if there’s not an opening. Offer to sub classes. Try to make inroads as an adjunct if you’re looking for a full-time position.”

It’s also a good idea to attend departmental concerts where you can meet and network with faculty. You’ll gain exposure to the styles and aesthetics of particular schools, which you can address in your cover letters (or perhaps run screaming from, grateful that you didn’t waste your time on programs with completely different sensibilities than yours).

Many aspiring university instructors teach at community colleges to gain experience and bolster their resumes. For some, like McCall, these positions can lead to rewarding careers in and of themselves. At age 32 she is relishing the creative freedom to steer the dance program at SJCC according to her personal vision. “I want to build toward offering an AA degree in dance,” she says, “so I’m working on growing curriculum and enrollment. The sense of possibility and flexibility is really satisfying to me right now.”

Dancing up the academic ladder
Dance artists hired to teach college often confess to entering academia clueless about the institutional hierarchies and job expectations. Tricia Young, a professor of dance history at Florida State University, offers an apt example in her article, “Universities 101” (printed in an excellent resource guide cited at the end of this article), about a young dance artist who was surprised to find that she didn’t automatically receive tenure when hired for a “tenure-track” position. She didn’t realize that the term only implies the possibility of tenure (that coveted status of a permanent position, granted after a probationary period).

For most college teachers, that probationary period, usually several years, consists of a series of promotions up the academic ladder. The first rung is commonly “assistant professor,” a position generally lasting one to four years, followed by “associate professor” and finally “full professor.”

Qualifying for promotions and tenure in the academic world is a formal process usually based on three areas of evaluation: teaching, service, and scholarly (or in the case of dance artists, creative) activity. Of these, the service component tends to be the most time consuming. Activities that fall under this category include student advising, serving on curriculum or hiring committees, planning concerts and master classes, or promoting departmental events.

Says Faulkner of her first year teaching full-time, “There was a huge amount of administrative responsibility, more than I expected. I felt at times that my teaching suffered for it. I didn’t always have the time I felt I needed to prepare.” This year Faulkner returned to adjunct teaching when a USF faculty member returned from sabbatical. Despite the significant pay cut, she’s excited about turning her attention back to her own artistic work and plans to teach modern dance part-time at two local studios. “The thing to know about full-time academic work,” she warns, “is that it’s more than a job; it’s a lifestyle.”

The adjunct option
For those who prefer a more flexible schedule, adjunct teaching can be ideal. Most adjuncts are not required to attend departmental meetings or take on outside administrative tasks. Says Janson of her adjunct position at the University of Wisconsin, “At first I thought I’d do this until I got a full-time job, but then I realized lots of dance artists do this. It’s perfectly respectable.” For several years Janson maintained her dance company, Smartdance, alongside her teaching load, and now choreographs on a freelance basis for theater and opera companies in Madison. “Freelancing allows me to keep growing as an artist,” she says. “I feel like I’ve struck a necessary creative balance.”

‘The thing to know about full-time academic work is that it’s more than a job; it’s a lifestyle.’ —Katie Faulkner, adjunct professor, University of San Francisco

Developing relationships with other arts organizations, studios, and colleges that rely on adjuncts is a smart way to offset the unpredictable aspects of part-time teaching. One or more of your classes may be axed for the semester due to low enrollment or budget cuts, and with it, a sizable chunk of your income. You’ll also need your own health insurance since most part-time positions don’t include it.

Meet your new students
Learning to navigate institutional policy isn’t the only adjustment that teachers transitioning from studios to colleges report. There’s also the need to reevaluate approaches to teaching. Unlike the children and teens in private studios, college dance students come from a variety of movement backgrounds, and depending on the course, may have little to no training. Teachers may need to break down movement more explicitly and define dance vocabulary.

While the shift can be disorienting, it can also be rewarding. Says Faulkner, “I think the most exciting students to teach are those who are really hungry for the material. It’s possible to have exquisite technique and a lousy attitude, or to have absolutely no dance background but a smart body and an open mind. These [latter] students can progress really quickly, and for me they’re the most inspiring to watch.”

Instructors are also likely to encounter dancers who are highly trained in styles other than their own, who might require an equal amount of patience as they learn to move in new ways. Most college dance programs are modern based and encourage a high level of versatility. For this reason it’s important to value the diverse experience of your students while recognizing your unique contribution.

The instructional time limits of college programs can also challenge teachers who are accustomed to coaching students through successive school years. “You have to ask yourself, ‘How am I going to impact these students in 16 brief weeks?’ ” says Janson. “You also have to accept that as adults, they’re not always trainable. What’s important is knowing the context you’re in and accepting what kind of impact you can have.”

These kinds of limitations aren’t for everyone. After teaching as an adjunct at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California, for two years, Megan Opel decided to focus on younger students. In November 2008 she and a former teaching colleague opened a dance studio, Ace Dance Academy, in Walnut Creek.

“I prefer working with kids who don’t already have the technique,” she says. “I enjoy building it from the ground up and inspiring them to love dance. I didn’t like grading people in my college classes. It frustrated me beyond belief to have to fail someone in a tap class.”

Opel’s grading policy, like most instructors’, was based on participation and attendance, which steadily declined once midterms hit and papers came due for other classes.

In McCall’s experience, students at community colleges face distractions from their dance studies. “Many are from underserved communities, are trying to raise a family, are holding down two jobs, or are adapting to a whole new set of expectations as first-generation college students,” she says. “Dance isn’t usually the first place they’re focusing their attention. At a four-year college, most students are full-time and not as pulled away by other things, whereas my students might get called in to work an extra shift at one of their jobs and they don’t show up for class.”

The studio/college connection
Despite her frustrations at St. Mary’s, Opel says she would never trade her experience teaching college, which has deeply affected her studio teaching. “It opened my eyes to how much dance history is lacking in studios,” she says. “My tap students, for instance, need to learn where the form came from. I want them to know the ‘greats’ and the way they’ve impacted tap’s evolution. If I take five minutes of class to talk about Bojangles, my students will be ahead of the curve. Soon we’re going to have a video day at the studio where we show excerpts of important dances and choreographers.”

Such cross-pollination between private studios and college programs is vital to the health of the dance field, especially as the professional and college dance worlds become increasingly interdependent. If your studio serves teens with professional dance aspirations, consider hosting master classes or talks by college dance students or instructors. Such encounters can inspire and prepare them for the realities of life beyond the studio.

As Janson points out, “Anyone who stays in the dance field must be a resourceful person. But it’s important that we encourage students that dance is a valid thing to do in the world. I can’t imagine anything better in the universe, after all, than to have dance in one’s life in a big way.”

For more information about dance in higher education: Dance From the Campus to the Real World (And Back Again): A Resource Guide for Artists, Faculty, and Students, edited by Suzanne Callahan, 2005, available from danceusa.org/publications.

The center, not the barre, is the optimal place for learning to turn

By Vanina and Dennis Wilson

If classical ballet instruction can be said to have a Golden Rule, it might be “Begin at the barre.” Classes begin at the barre, where students learn to perform a step competently before they attempt it in the center. Most instructors follow this rule in teaching pirouettes; standard instruction books such as Gretchen Ward Warren’s Classical Ballet Technique (pp. 141 and 177) advocate the practice of half-turns with relevé in retiré at the barre (while recommending that beginners execute one full pirouette in the center).

Note the position of student Elle Wagner’s feet relative to the blue tape prior to beginning a half-turn pirouette. Her right elbow is roughly 7 inches from the barre. (All photos courtesy Vanina and Dennis Wilson)

Elle is beginning to rotate en dehors. The right foot remains in the same position relative to the tape mark on the floor.

However, we would argue that the “begin at the barre” rule does not apply to teaching pirouettes. We started teaching pirouettes conventionally at the barre but observed that students’ apprehension about catching the barre at the end of the move led them to neglect other aspects of technique, such as spotting or turnout. We also saw them make adjustments when closing the half-turn at the barre that resulted in sloppy closings of the same turns in the center.

These observations led us to question the conventional practice of beginning pirouette instruction at the barre. Even though this teaching method is “common wisdom,” more teachers may be avoiding it than many people believe. We have observed many ballet classes in which students did not perform pirouettes at the barre and have noted that Cecchetti- or French-trained instructors are less likely than others to teach this way.

However, we agree that learning the positions and moves in preparation for the pirouette should occur at the barre. These include the correct balance of the whole body, first on one flat foot, then on demi-pointe; the pulling of the working leg into retiré (the pirouette pose); and the relevé drills.

Elle has come approximately three-quarters through the half-pirouette and has caught the barre with her left hand. The middle of her right foot is now over the tape mark on the floor and her knee is already very close to the lower barre.

Elle has finished the half-turn. Note how close her knee is to the barre. If she holds her leg slightly too low, it will hit the lower barre; slightly high and it will hit the upper barre.

Elle has closed in fifth position, and her right foot now straddles the blue tape and her arm is too close to the barre. To maintain the distance she had at the beginning of the turn, she would have to adjust her feet when closing fifth position, an undesirable movement.

But if the barre is a place to acquire balance, it is not the venue in which to gain skill in turning. When it’s  time to start rotation on one foot on relevé, move your students to the center.

What’s wrong with teaching pirouettes at the barre? A major problem is that beginning the turn,  especially the  half-turn portion, of pirouette instruction at the barre may  induce unnecessary technical adjustments and create undue anxiety, resulting in flawed and sloppily performed pirouettes when students move to the center.

Technical adjustments
Students who are practicing half-turns en dehors or en dedans must move either toward or away from the barre a distance approximately the length of their standing foot. When they close into fifth position, this change in foot position requires an adjustment in order for them to remain a comfortable distance from the barre. By contrast, half-turns in the center require no such adjustment; but students accustomed to making them at the barre may continue to perform them out of habit.

Students may have difficulty shedding anxieties and bad habits acquired at the barre when they begin practicing pirouettes in the center.

In turning at the barre, students must make another technical adjustment, with their arms. Since they depend on the barre to maintain their balance, at the end of the turn they must open the arm nearest the barre in order to catch it before the end of the rotation. This habit becomes counterproductive when students move to the center, since there they should keep their arms still (usually in first position) during the pirouette, to prevent arm motion from disturbing their balance. Students who are accustomed to opening their arms to catch the barre may continue the habit in the center, resulting in unbalanced turns.

The importance of self-confidence
Early pirouette practice should increase students’ confidence in their ability to turn, but those who begin pirouette training at the barre may develop a fear of colliding with it or even with the wall behind it. This fear can cause the students to pull away from the barre, lose control of the turn, stop the rotation before its completion, and hold their working leg too low during the turn. The loss of control may create additional anxieties and result in a mental block that inhibits any rotation at the barre, and later in the center. Students may have difficulty shedding anxieties and bad habits acquired at the barre when they begin practicing pirouettes in the center.

Students may also fear failing to catch the barre at the end of the rotation, which can cause them to lose their balance or even fall (although the latter is rare). They need not only catch the barre but also do so properly, with the “catching” arm slightly forward of the shoulder. If the arm is too far forward or (more likely) too far back, students have to adjust their balance vis-à-vis the barre.

When to use the barre
More advanced students who have mastered pirouette basics can profitably practice some forms of pirouettes at the barre, especially in anticipation of partnering, with rotation finished on one foot in attitude, with a développé or even retiré. These students will be able to adjust their balance at the pirouette’s end so that they can hold the final position. Another useful form of rotation at the barre is the preparation for fouetté turns en dehors and en dedans, which permits students to better control the passage of the working leg à la seconde. This “suspension” of the working leg à la seconde results in pleasing-looking fouetté turns in the center.

Optimizing learning
Beginning pirouette instruction at the barre can inhibit the development of real turning skills and can easily result in more harm than good. The pirouette is an intricate, compound movement that joins several techniques into one application; instructors need not add obstacles by beginning instruction in a second-best place, where learning can be compromised.

However counterintuitive it may seem, the center is the best environment for the first crucial practice of the quarter- and half-turns that begin the pirouette, because it has no obstacles and places the student where the pirouette belongs. Sometimes, the best place to learn swimming strokes is in the middle of the pool!

Translating dance movement for physically disabled dancers has opened doors and minds

By Steve Sucato

Mary Verdi-Fletcher remembers vividly the startled look on dancer/choreographer Bill T. Jones’ face when she showed up to take one of his master classes. “I told him, ‘Don’t worry about me; I will just translate what you are doing. Don’t give it a second thought,’ ” she says.

Jones’ brief moment of panic came about because Verdi-Fletcher dances from a wheelchair.

Born with spina bifida in 1955 in Cleveland, Ohio, Verdi-Fletcher says that even as a child in leg braces, she knew she had to dance. Coming from a family of artists (her mother was a dancer and her father a professional musician), she says dancing was in her blood. She would routinely break her leg braces trying to dance. After acquiring a series of progressively stronger braces, she finally broke her leg instead of her braces. Because of that incident she was advised by her doctor to use a wheelchair.

Being in a wheelchair did little to deter Verdi-Fletcher from dancing, and at age 12, trying to emulate dance moves she saw on American Bandstand, she broke a wheel off her wheelchair. As she grew up and into a career as one of the nation’s first professional dancers in a wheelchair, Verdi-Fletcher began to develop less destructive ways to use her wheelchair to dance.

A pioneer out of necessity, she not only had to overcome people’s perceptions about who could be a dancer; she also had to invent a new technique that allowed people in wheelchairs to dance. “Because I was only dancing and working with non-disabled dancers, I had to look at what they were doing and come up with translations,” she says. Part of her approach is what she calls “smooth technique,” in which wheeling the chair does not look pedestrian.

After years of proving her mettle as an independent professional dancer in the Cleveland area, in 1980 Verdi-Fletcher founded Dancing Wheels, the country’s first physically integrated professional dance company, combining disabled and non-disabled dancers. A joint venture with Cleveland Ballet followed in the 1990s, along with the additions of Dancing Wheels’ affiliated school, summer programs, and community outreach programs. As a result, numerous wheelchair, or “sit-down,” dancers have been able to take dance classes with their “stand-up” counterparts by using Verdi-Fletcher’s translation methods and techniques. Today Dancing Wheels’ integrated school boasts 984 students and its professional company, which tours nationally and internationally, employs 13, 4 of them dancers in wheelchairs.

The approach
Verdi-Fletcher’s translations key off of several factors in the movement, such as balance, quickness, speed, and intention, regardless of the technique (ballet, modern, or others). Sit-down dancers use their arms to represent leg and feet movements, arm movements, or a combination of both.

While Verdi-Fletcher’s translations are geared typically to wheelchair dancers with a good deal of upper-body mobility, her translations can be modified to fit the needs of dancers with lesser physical capabilities. Many of her translations are common-sense interpretations of dance movements, says Verdi-Fletcher. For example, a pirouette is translated into making the wheelchair spin in a circle, jumps into popping wheelies, and a grapevine motion into a zigzag motion with the chair. The trick, says Verdi-Fletcher, is incorporating both leg and arm movements into port de bras while at the same time controlling the motion of the wheelchair.

Teaching translation
“If you don’t know how to tap dance, you can’t teach someone to tap dance,” says Dancing Wheels School coordinator Kristen Stilwell. To that end, Stilwell—a stand-up dancer—feels that those who wish to teach dancers in wheelchairs need firsthand experience in a wheelchair in order to learn its capabilities. Learning how to move and manipulate a wheelchair is a good first step in learning how to translate dance movement to a sit-down dancer.

“Wheelchairs are like dance shoes,” says Verdi-Fletcher. “They are all different and are fitted to the person in the chair.”

Because wheelchairs are also very expensive, most sit-down dancers dance in their everyday chairs. That can mean limitations in mobility compared to a chair specifically designed for dance. Whether the wheelchair is powered or non-powered, whether it is weighted more in the front (making it harder to do wheelies), differences in turning radius, tip bars, the types of casters and wheels, the camber of the wheels—all can factor into the sit-down dancer’s range and ease of mobility.

“The chair is really the instrument by which a dancer can achieve their level of performance,” says Verdi-Fletcher. “A more capable dancer in an older chair with limited movement capabilities can be outperformed by a dancer of lesser physical capabilities but with a better chair.”

In teaching sit-down dancers, says Verdi-Fletcher, “the main focus in a classroom setting is looking at what would benefit [them].” She and the other teachers at Dancing Wheels identify the muscles being worked by a stand-up dancer in a given movement and translate that movement into a motion a sit-down dancer can emulate. For example, a plié works a stand-up dancer’s legs to build strength; sit-down dancers would emulate that motion and resistance using their arms, also to build strength. Or sit-down dancers with a broader range of mobility might hold onto a ballet barre and work one or both legs.

“There are so many variables in translation that have to be put together,” says Stilwell. “It is just like the makeup of a sentence; you need the right combination of movements to construct a proper translation.”

‘Wheelchairs are like dance shoes. They are all different and are fitted to the person in the chair.’ —Mary Verdi-Fletcher

It can be mind-boggling to novice sit-down dancers when they see a stand-up dancer moving arms and legs in all directions. How can they translate the movement they are seeing? Stilwell advises those who want to teach sit-down dancers to start slowly, just as they would with any dance student. She teaches her student wheelers basic moves such as a “wheelie bump” (slightly popping the front wheels of the chair off the ground). For this move, the dancer puts her hands on her chair’s wheels, then takes them back to her hips and pushes forward to raise the chair, being careful not to lean forward and fall. Once that is mastered, the student can move on to executing full-blown wheelies.

One student in the Dancing Wheels School who is learning to perfect the art of the wheelie is 13-year-old Alexandra Martinez, a member of Dancing Wheels Junior Dance Company. Born with spina bifida and paralyzed from the knees down, Martinez has been taking dance lessons since age 5 and sees balancing in her chair as one of her toughest obstacles in learning to dance.

Martinez and her sister Gabriella, a 14-year-old stand-up dancer and fellow Junior Company member, take ballet, modern, and hip-hop classes together and help each other with skills such as spotting during pirouettes and proper partnering technique.

“Watch out for your toes,” says Gabriella, referring to sit-down/stand-up partnering. “You can get run over if you are not paying attention.”

Sit-down/stand-up partnering is not traditional counterbalance partnering, says Stilwell. There are the same trust issues, but partnering someone in a chair requires both dancers to know the wheelchair’s capabilities with regard to ease of movement, braking, turning radius, proneness to tipping, and how fast the sit-down dancer can move in the chair.

“When partnering a wheeler, you never want to take their hands behind their head because that will cause them to tip forward,” says Stilwell. “Keep their hands in front of their face so you are not pulling out their shoulders.” As a member of Dancing Wheels’ professional company, Stilwell is all too familiar with what can go wrong in sit-down/stand-up partnering and group work if all parties aren’t mindful of each other. She once suffered a concussion when a wheelchair banged into her head.

Verdi-Fletcher believes there is a mechanism of control and stability that needs to happen in sit-down/stand-up partnering. “When that doesn’t happen, that’s when you see people in wheelchairs being flipped over backwards and stand-ups being run over.”

While much of stand-up dance technique can be translated to the dancer in a wheelchair, the opposite is not always true. Some movements in Verdi-Fletcher’s wheelchair technique, such as “feathering” the chair (so that viewers can hardly see the push) and gliding, can be done only by a sit-down dancer.

The future of translation
The Dancing Wheels Company and School have translated techniques in ballet, modern, jazz, ballroom, and hip-hop that have given opportunities to sit-down dancers they might not otherwise have had. Verdi-Fletcher hopes to include other forms of dance such as tap, if the problem of how to affix taps to a wheelchair can be resolved.

Dancing Wheels is also applying its translation methods to teaching dancers with other disabilities, such as impaired vision or hearing and learning disorders.

Verdi-Fletcher and former Dancing Wheels company member Mark Tomasic are in the beginning stages of codifying Verdi-Fletcher’s wheelchair technique and translations. In the near future they hope to release a DVD and training manual that will allow dance teachers to integrate sit-down dancers into their classes. Some other goals Verdi-Fletcher sees for the project are to offer teacher certification in translation and wheelchair technique, and to make it possible for college and university dance programs to offer degree programs for dancers in wheelchairs.

Verdi-Fletcher’s translations have allowed her company to work with notable choreographers, including Dianne McIntyre,  Pilobolus’ Rebecca Anderson, Nai-Ni Chen, and Keith Young. While many of the choreographers the company brings in have never worked with sit-down dancers, the dancers have the tools to adapt to most anything thrown at them. Thus the choreographers have the freedom to create while the dancers take care of the translations. Verdi-Fletcher says she gets involved in the process only when a choreographer requests it.

Verdi-Fletcher’s translations have also helped and inspired others, like sit-down dancer Alana Wallace. After taking a Dancing Wheels summer workshop, she founded Chicago’s physically integrated company, Dance Detour. Other physically integrated professional dance companies include Axis Dance Company in Oakland, California; Full Radius Dance in Atlanta, Georgia; and Verlezza Dance in Shaker Heights, Ohio, run by former Dancing Wheels co-artistic director Sabatino Verlezza.

Although physically integrated dance does not have a huge presence on the nation’s dance scene, it is on the rise, offering not only its own inherent artistic value but also challenging prevailing attitudes about disability and dance. Like Verdi-Fletcher’s Dancing Wheels, the aforementioned companies and others are giving rise to new methods of translation to meet the needs of their preferred dance styles.

With translation techniques like those developed by Verdi-Fletcher and others, the door to dance has been swung wide open to those with physical handicaps, helping to build a future of acceptance and possibility for everyone who wants to dance.

For more information, visit dancingwheels.org.

Tips for Teaching Sit-Down Dancers

Mary Verdi-Fletcher outlines her teaching approach

1) Don’t think inability. First think the students can, and then determine how far they can go. If a teacher starts out thinking that the students are incapable because they are disabled, then the students will not grow to their full potential.

2) Avoid assumptions. Not everyone in a wheelchair is the same. People arrive at their disabilities from different ways such as birth defects, sickness, and accidents; their physical abilities vary greatly.

3) Always ask. Generally the best way to learn the capabilities of a student with a disability is to ask. Initially students might not feel comfortable telling you everything, but as confidence in your relationship grows, you’ll be able to learn more about what they can and can’t do.

4) Be open. Don’t be afraid to bring these students into a class. Experimenting together can prove rewarding for both student and teacher. Have an open dialogue with non-disabled students and the student with the disability (and parents, if underage) about the newness of the situation, encouraging open-mindedness and patience.

5) Seek training. As in the instruction of all dance techniques, it is beneficial to seek out a school or dance company that offers physically integrated dance training to teachers. A wellspring of knowledge has come from years of experimentation and practice in the field.

Miller and Ben, the Israeli Hoofers, fuse Middle Eastern style with tap

By Joshua Bartlett

“Move your tuckus,” pleads Avi Miller to his students over the microphone. “God created your tuckus to shake it!” With 14 students packed into a small classroom at the Nola studios in midtown Manhattan, Miller and his partner, Ofer Ben, use their indefatigable energy and nonstop patter to nudge the aspiring adult tappers to step on it. The occasion is the semiannual Tradition in Tap workshop, sponsored by the dynamic Israeli duo and held over a weekend last November.

The Israeli Hoofers, Ofer Ben (left) and Avi Miller, sprinkle their high-energy dancing with vaudeville-like patter. (photo by Larry Giasi)

Moving and shaking are just two of the talents Miller and Ben offer to tap dancing aficionados. They hold tap seminars all over the world; teach regular classes on Fridays at Broadway Dance Center in New York; formulate creative ways to approach dance education; instruct students on the tonal quality of tap dancing; keep the heritage of tap dancing very much alive through Tradition in Tap, Inc.; perform with their company, Tap Tel-Aviv; and manufacture their own line of tap shoes. Oh, and they’re funny. Like, vaudevillian stand-up-comic funny.

Miller and Ben have been working together since 1990, when Ben began taking Miller’s tap classes in Tel Aviv. “A few months later, he took over the business,” jokes Miller.

“Which is a good thing, because we have no money,” counters Ben. During a conversation with these guys, sometimes referred to as the Israeli Hoofers, one can expect the kind of interruptions, contradictions, anecdotes, and mutual jokes normally restricted to older Jewish married couples or Borscht Belt veterans.

Israelis and tap dancing aren’t usually linked together in a phrase, but Miller and Ben have no problem smacking out a time step to the strains of “Hava Nagila.” In fact, Miller says that Israelis have a natural predisposition for tap dancing. “The main reason is that people in Israel like to improvise; in their lives, even in the military, they have to be creative,” he says. “Jazz is really popular in Israel. In the same way, tap is an individual language, a way to express yourself.”

According to Halakha, Jewish Orthodox law, men and women aren’t allowed to dance together. (Less than a quarter of Israel’s population adheres to the restrictions.) That would make solo tap dancing, if not exactly kosher, an art form that can pass.

Miller and Ben heavily emphasize their own approach to tap dancing; they call it “Middle Eastern movement” or “Israeli movement.”

Miller and Ben heavily emphasize their own approach to tap dancing; they call it “Middle Eastern movement” or “Israeli movement.” “Historically, tap dancing comes from African Americans,” says Ben. “The Middle East is part of Africa, somewhat part of Asia. All the movements come from the stomach down, not from the knees down.” Belly dancing and folk dancing, a significant part of the cultural fabric of the Middle East, stress the movement of the entire body. “Our Middle Eastern style fuses well with our tap style,” he adds.

Watch a class taught by the Israeli Hoofers and you’ll see a constant battle, often involving some good-natured kvetching, with students who don’t use their core while tapping. “We have found many wonderful dancers in jazz or hip-hop who move with their entire body,” says Miller. “But once they go into tap class, they suddenly become very limited—only dancing with the feet. We try to enlarge that by opening it up 180 degrees.”

Sometimes they don’t have to say a word to the students—a glare will do. “We call them dinosaurs,” says Miller, imitating a prehistoric reptile with tensed claws in the air that don’t move.

“And we don’t dance like Jesus Christ,” says Ben, sending up the students who tap dance with their arms stiffened into a crucifix position.

Miller’s theatrical roots began as a child actor; he played the part of Jody in the Israeli version of the television show A Family Affair. He started studying tap in 1972, at the age of 12, with the late Israeli master teacher Ya’acov Kalusky, who became his mentor and eventually his tap dancing partner. Miller performed to raise money for the troops during the 1973 Yom Kippur War and danced in operettas with the Israeli Opera. From the age of 13, he was teaching at Kalusky’s studio.

Ben, who is 13 years younger than Miller and was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family, didn’t start studying dance until he was 17. “Tap is completely alien to many Orthodox Jews,” says Ben. “It took years for my parents to agree to come and see me dance.”

Within a year of their meeting, however, Miller and Ben opened their own studio in Tel Aviv devoted strictly to tap classes. In addition to the kids’ classes they offered 16 classes a week for adults at different levels. Eventually, they opened branches in Jerusalem and Haifa.

They began dancing as a team, “Miller and Ben—The Israeli Hoofers,” at various events from jazz festivals to celebrations honoring Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to bar mitzvahs. (At one bar mitzvah, they arrived to find wall-to-wall carpeting. Unfazed, they unhinged a door and used it as a minuscule stage.) “Please tell the readers we don’t do bar mitzvahs anymore,” says Ben.

Some of Miller’s unique philosophy about tap dancing education originates from his five years in the Israeli military. “My training was as an instructor officer,” says Miller. “Teaching teachers was my job. In the military you have to have the soldiers ready to go into action, even if they don’t want to.” (With some exemptions, all Israeli citizens are conscripted into the army for a period ranging from 21 months to 3 years.) Miller had to find creative ways to teach many different techniques and break things down into segments and ideas. “I was teaching extremely complicated stuff—like firing missiles. Rocket science is rocket science. I was teaching those techniques, so I incorporated that into the techniques of teaching tap.”

One important principle that Miller and Ben have gleaned from working with highly revered tap dancers and teachers is the concept of tonality, or what they call “sound quality technique.” Years earlier, Miller had studied sound engineering and discovered that the drums are among the most complicated musical instruments to record.

“The tap is a drum, very sophisticated and complicated,” says Miller. Over time, as tap dancers experimented with dancing on the three parts of the foot—the heel, the ball, and the toes—different sounds were emitted. “The heel has a heavier sound, like a bass drum; the ball of the foot is a snare drum, and the toes are like tom-toms,” explains Miller. “In advanced classes, you can take those three parts and work them in different ways, like the outside, inside, and front of the toes; the inside of the heel; or the dig of the heel.”

Getting tap shoes to make those kinds of sounds requires more than putting taps on street shoes. In Israel, purchasing the cheapest tap shoes was still comparable to buying Dolce & Gabbanas, because they had to be imported. A local Israeli shoe manufacturer asked Miller and Ben to help him manufacture decent shoes, but after the Palestinian uprising of 1999, when Palestinian workers were ousted from the country, production costs became too expensive. In 2003, on a teaching trip to Thailand, they found a shoe manufacturer who was passionate about producing good tap shoes. The result? Miller & Ben Tap Shoes, naturally.

“We investigated how to make a shoe from scratch,” says Ben. “Now we have 8 styles of shoes and 48 different colors and patterns. At conventions, people get freaked out by the variety.”

Their learning process drove Miller and Ben to study with master teachers in New York, and then in turn invite them to Israel to expand their knowledge. What resulted was the formation of one of their greatest passions: Tradition in Tap, Inc. Working in the studio with masters like Chuck Green, Honi Coles, and Jimmy Slyde made them want to help preserve the legendary performances and technical styles of the greats. The nonprofit organization’s mission is to keep the legacies alive through workshops (like the one last November that honored Ardie Bryant), performances, archives, and research, as well as to educate the public about this neglected aspect of dance history and to provide scholarships for talented students.

Coming from a part of the globe where emperors often wiped out history to create something new, Miller and Ben want tap dancing’s heritage to be respected. “So much of tap is not documented, and so many of those African Americans are gone now,” says Miller. “If you say the word ‘preservation’ to most Americans, they turn and walk away. There is nothing performed in tap that I have not seen already. See Bunny Briggs perform, for example. We have some new stars that are taking it to new places, but of that generation of masters, 95 percent of them are gone.” Eventually, Miller and Ben would like to create a tap dance museum in New York.

In 2002, Oklahoma City University held a ceremony bestowing doctoral degrees on nine tap dance masters: Briggs, Slyde, Leonard Reed, Fayard Nicholas, Henry LeTang, Cholly Atkins, Jeni LeGon, Buster Brown, and Prince Spencer. Miller and Ben were invited to dance at the honorary performance. “It was amazing taking this slave street dancing and lifting it to the shrine of the university level,” says Ben.

Miller and Ben set up a permanent base in New York in 1995 after taking a year’s sabbatical to study there. “We learned so much in that year,” says Miller. “It took us years afterward to process what we had learned. We were extremely lucky because that year we met some of the greatest performers on earth. Most of them passed on afterward.”

Their advice to teachers, especially tappers, is clear: Take time to learn. Travel if you can. “You can be a wonderful teacher, but if you don’t have anything else to talk about . . .,” Miller says with a shrug. “It’s important as a teacher to have knowledge of other walks of life. Tapping and nature are primal. It all comes from the same place, so get out into nature.”

The Israeli Hoofers incorporate humor liberally into their classes and performances to help students and audiences enjoy themselves. “We take tap very seriously as an art form, but we don’t take it too seriously. We see too many people looking miserable onstage,” says Ben.

“The reason we do jokes onstage is because we don’t have much to show when we perform,” says Miller with tongue in cheek. “I am getting very old and out of shape.”

Ben adds, “Plus, he keeps forgetting the steps, so we have to make up for that.”

In a world where war is omnipresent, especially in the Middle East, could tap dancing help promote peace? Miller thinks that historically there is a precedent. “Gangs on street corners used to challenge each other at tap dancing instead of wielding knives,” he says. “You see a lot of energy vented in tap dancing at competitions. Instead of having a war, if the Palestinians and the Israelis would go to a street corner and tap their way out, they could maybe come to an agreement.”

And, after 19 years of partnership, how do they handle their own conflicts? “All of our disagreements are settled peacefully, because Ofer owns 51 percent of the business, and I don’t want to be thrown out on the street,” says Miller.

Ben replies, “Two slaps and you move on.”

Dance teachers give of themselves to children in need

By Debbie Werbrouck

Dance educators are, by nature, giving people. We give our knowledge and time to our students; we donate time to local schools or community theaters. But there are bigger opportunities for giving that reach beyond each of us as individuals. Two school owners, Tanya Bleil-Geiselman and Kelly McEvoy, found these opportunities through the Make-a-Wish Foundation; others find their own path to giving.

Deb Collier decided to “adopt” Tiffani, whose mother had cancer. She and her school provided Tiffani with everything she needed to participate in classes and performances. (Photo courtesy Deb Collier)

Approaching what she considered to be a milestone birthday in 2006, McEvoy, of The Dance Center in Skippack, Pennsylvania, had her first such encounter. To keep herself from being depressed about the aging process, she decided to focus on someone in need. Since her husband was a board member for the New Jersey chapter of the Make-a-Wish Foundation, they chose Make-a-Wish as the benefactor of their fund-raising efforts. As a surprise, McEvoy’s faculty planned an ’80s-themed birthday party to celebrate as well as support her cause. In lieu of gifts for her big birthday, her faculty sent notes home to all students requesting donations to the Make-a-Wish Foundation to support this project. The response, according to McEvoy, was overwhelming. The giving continued with students bringing in the contents of their piggy banks and donations being made to the cause in lieu of the usual Christmas gifts for the teachers.

Her project reached beyond the initial party and her school and into the community, which offered contributions and in-kind services. Many services, such as the DJ for the party, were donated. She said that it was not unusual to receive a $100 check for a $5 fund-raising candle. According to McEvoy, the budget for most wishes is approximately $7,000; through her school’s efforts, they raised $9,000.

The money raised by The Dance Center was earmarked for a young boy whose wish is to attend a major-league baseball game with his family. (According to McEvoy, children are nominated to Make-a-Wish by family and friends, and each nomination is reviewed by the foundation’s board.) When his wish is granted, he and his family will be treated like royalty. Typically the children and their families are flown to the chosen event, ride in a limousine, stay in a four-star hotel with outstanding meals, and meet the celebrities. At baseball games, the children usually are allowed to throw out the first pitch and, of course, go behind the scenes.

McEvoy says she is thankful to have had her school of 470 students for 13 years and wants to continue to give back. The good feeling that comes from making a difference keeps her involved with this organization.

Tanya Bleil-Geiselman’s (see “Teacher in the Spotlight,” DSL, October 2007) experience with Make-a-Wish was also a positive one. A parent of one of her students at her school, Just For Kicks School of Dance in Port Orchard, Washington, was a “wish granter” and came to her with a little girl’s request to be a ballerina. The girl, Micah Hargrave, age 6, was in a wheelchair, and when asked to grant this wish, Bleil-Geiselman replied, “I have the perfect song for this!” In the dance, set to “In My Own Little Corner,” each student sat in a small chair; Micah’s wheelchair fit right into the choreography.

The wish granting allowed Micah to participate not only in class but also in the annual recital. Through her continued participation in dance at Tanya’s school, she has realized her dream of becoming a ballerina.

Bleil-Geiselman says the experience “instilled in me the promise that anything you can dream is possible and that spirit and desire can overcome the most severe frailty. The results were that a little girl’s dream of being a dancer came true, and I was proud that I could be part of making it happen.”

Collier and her school decided to “adopt” Tiffani, who had no prior dance experience, in 2004, providing her with everything she needed to participate in classes and performances.

“I think it shows people that whatever the circumstance, you can dance, even if it is just in your heart,” says Tanya’s mother, Pennie Bleil, who works in the school’s office.

Bleil-Geiselman says that the other students in the class, and their parents, were positive and supportive. She feels that this experience, although geared to Micah, has benefited all those involved. Her students have established a special bond with their new classmate. She feels that all the students at the school, not only those in Micah’s class, have learned to have a positive outlook about reaching out to others.

While organizations such as Make-a-Wish provide many dream-come-true opportunities for ill or handicapped children, many dance educators are wish-granters in their own right. Often they find these opportunities through personal encounters; their cause or challenge is then “adopted” by the educator and sometimes, her or his whole school.

Over the years Debra Collier of Warsaw, Indiana, has held toy and food drives at her school, Debra Collier’s School of Dance, with good results, but she became involved on a more personal level by chance. When placing a follow-up call to a mother interested in dance for her daughter, 8-year-old Tiffani, the mother told her that she had cancer and other health problems and was not sure about the future in terms of her survival or her ability to pay for lessons.

Collier and her school decided to “adopt” Tiffani, who had no prior dance experience, in 2004, providing her with everything she needed to participate in classes and performances. In addition, Collier and her staff have provided birthday and Christmas presents for Tiffani and taken her on small shopping trips and to dance and theater performances. Students’ parents have also participated by providing meals once a week on a regular basis and more frequently whenever Tiffani’s mother returns from a hospital stay.

Collier and her dance family have been a stable force for Tiffani and her mother for almost five years. This continued commitment shows the power of one small act of kindness.

At my school, Debbie Werbrouck’s School of Dance in northern Indiana, we have always been blessed with giving students who have supported numerous fund-raising events for food drives, muscular dystrophy research, and the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life. We continue to receive support that provides scholarships in memory of students lost in tragedy. Through generous hearts, needs are made known and help is provided.

Our most recent experience involves a young girl who met one of our instructors at the hospital. When Karen Stump, herself a cancer patient (see “Quiet Strength,” DSL, May/June 2009), learned that this little girl, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor, wanted to dance, she set the wheels in motion. Stump let us know about this child and arranged to have classes provided for her—including one of her own classes so she could monitor the girl.

Almost every school owner and dance educator I know has given time, money, or services in a variety of special-needs areas, including providing joy and a short escape from the burden of illness through performances in pediatric wards, offering discreet “scholarships,” participating in food drives, sponsoring dance-a-thons, and adopting families in need.

As educators, we are teaching more than dance, and an important life lesson is reaching out beyond ourselves. Students who are reminded of their own good fortunes and who feel good about their ability to aid others gain perspective on what is truly important in life.

About the Make-a-Wish Foundation

Based in Phoenix, Arizona, and with local chapters across the country, the Make-a-Wish Foundation has been granting wishes since 1980.

Who is eligible: Children ages 2 ½ to 17 at the time their case is referred, who have life-threatening illnesses.

Types of wishes: In general, they fall into four categories: Children want to go somewhere (like a theme park, beach, or sporting event), be something (like a firefighter, model, or ballerina), meet someone (like an athlete, movie star, or recording artist), or get something (like a computer, tree house, or shopping spree). Last year the foundation granted 13,425 wishes at an average cost of $7,100 each.

There are many ways to help, including donating money, time, talents, or airline miles and doing fund-raising. Financial contributions are tax deductible. Visit wish.org or call 800.722.WISH for more information.

Building inspiration in students through concert dance

By Nancy Wozny

There’s nothing quite like a live dance performance to recharge the studio atmosphere. Whether it’s a local troupe or a world-renowned ballet company, dance teachers report post-show increases of focus, enthusiasm, and dedication in the classroom. In this story, three dedicated teachers chime in on how they have made seeing dance a priority in their studio culture.

Spezio’s Dance Dynamics
Michelle Spezio of Spezio’s Dance Dynamics in Getzville, New York, considers informing her students about opportunities to see dance as part of her job description. “I believe it is our responsibility as dance educators to open our students’ eyes to the dance world and all it has to offer. I feel especially positioned to integrate the studio world with Western New York’s growing dance scene. That remains one of my chief goals,” says the school owner, who has been running her studio for 15 years.

Watching competition dance is not enough, according to Spezio. “[Students] need to see what the real concert world of dance is all about. I want to develop students who grow into lifelong supporters of the arts,” she says. “If you are not doing that, you are not giving a full dance education.”

Nearby Buffalo might not seem like a huge dance center, but there’s enough going on between visiting companies, University at Buffalo’s dance concerts, and traveling Broadway shows to give Spezio’s students plenty to choose from. Posters about upcoming shows are a typical sighting in her lobby. Spezio and her faculty of 15 do all they can to encourage their students to attend shows, including making in-class announcements, organizing field trips and carpools to shows, and occasionally showing videos of professional companies.

The experience of seeing dance doesn’t end with the show; time for questions and discussion is allowed before, during, and after class. “My students need to be able to talk about dance intelligently; if they are heading to college to major in dance they will need to know how to critique dance,” Spezio says. “We encourage a lively discussion. I want to hear what they have to say about what they have seen.”

Spezio says that she notices a big change in her students in class after a show. “They get inspired and want to work harder.” She doesn’t limit the school’s dance concert outings to only the upper-level classes either. “Recreational students love being included and really enjoy seeing professional dance,” she says. “Parents are getting involved too, although I am mindful of their pocketbooks when it comes to the number of outings. We do some fund-raising to cover costs and always get group rates whenever possible.”

Since July 2007 the studio has had a special relationship with Buffalo’s newest dance company, LehrerDance. Jon Lehrer, former associate director of Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, relocated to Buffalo and quickly reconnected with his old UB buddies, including Spezio, whom he met while both were students in Zodiaque, UB’s top dance company. The company rehearses at her studio during the day, and Lehrer and several of his company members teach and set work on Spezio’s performance ensemble. “When I heard Jon was moving back I couldn’t wait to start collaborating,” says Spezio. “We share similar values about dance education. Having this intimate access to a professional company and its dancers is just wonderful for our students.”

The company performs informal in-studio shows for her students that are followed by a Q&A. Spezio includes information on LehrerDance on her website as well. For her, the faculty, and her students, it’s a win–win situation.

Metropolitan Fine Arts Center
Melissa Dobbs’ studio is close to the dance hub of Washington, DC. Dobbs is the director and owner of Metropolitan Fine Arts Center, a dance and music center with locations in Alexandria and Fairfax Station, Virginia. With 900 students in total (780 of whom are dance students) and a faculty of 51, Dobbs has her hands full. Still, she finds time to promote local and professional dance.

For Dobbs, getting kids to see more dance is all about parent awareness. “You have to start by educating the parents. If the parents are not on board it’s pointless to talk to just the students,” she says. “Our quarterly parent meetings are a perfect time to make announcements about upcoming shows in our area. We keep constant communication up with our parents, so there are lots of opportunities to inform them.”

Many of Dobbs’ faculty members dance with local companies, a fact that encourages students to get out to performances and support their teachers, with whom they often have a special connection. For many young dancers, seeing their teachers onstage is inspiring. Faculty member Marilyn York of Dancin’ Unlimited is one of those teachers; she puts on an annual jazz and tap festival, which is a studio favorite. “It’s a must-see event for us,” says Dobbs.

Sometimes there’s this attitude that a studio is a separate universe and that we should not get our kids out to see other things; that is not how I think. It’s actually good for business for our students to get out of the studio and see what dance is all about.’ —Melissa Dobbs

Dobbs is committed to her students being part of a larger world of dance. “Sometimes there’s this attitude that a studio is a separate universe and that we should not get our kids out to see other things; that is not how I think,” Dobbs emphasizes. “It’s actually good for business for our students to get out of the studio and see what dance is all about. I also want our students to know that dance is more than what’s on television and at competitions.”

The MFA Center has a colorful bulletin board in the lobby that’s brimming with posters. “We have an open-door policy—any dance group can put up a poster about their event,” says Dobbs. She takes her endorsement a step further by purchasing tickets at a group rate that are sold at the front desk. Tickets for The Washington Ballet’s Nutcracker sell quickly. “Why not make it easy on the parents?” she says. “This extra effort makes all the difference. If they can buy a ticket right there and then, they are more likely to attend.”

Dobbs also encourages her students to attend performances at nearby George Mason University, which has an excellent performing series. She even includes a link to GMU’s performance series on the school’s website. Her students have attended performances there by Mark Morris Dance Group and Philadanco.

In addition to promoting local shows, Dobbs organizes weekend trips to New York City to see Broadway shows. She realizes that prices can be expensive, so the studio subsidizes some tickets for those who need financial assistance. Students can work at the studio in exchange for tickets.

Dobbs’ commitment goes deeper than generating enthusiasm for dance; she feels that dancers’ careers can be shaped by what they see. She recalls the case of one student, Spencer Ramirez, who was committed to jazz dance—that is, until he started going to see modern dance. “His whole world opened up after seeing contemporary dance,” says Dobbs. Now a student at The Juilliard School, Ramirez was changed by what came into his awareness while sitting in the audience.

“Serious dancers have to understand that watching and learning from other people is crucial. The inspiration they get from watching a show is priceless,” Dobbs says. “When they come back after seeing a show, their focus and drive are off the charts. They see what they can become if they work hard. Although students might be the best in their class, they don’t often see how much further they need to go.”

Louanne Courtright Dance Studio
With a studio based in a farming community, Louanne Courtright’s situation is completely different than Spezio’s and Dobbs’. When she moved to Fremont, a rural area of Michigan, and opened Louanne Courtright Dance Studio 36 years ago, she knew that access to local performances would be limited.

Courtright grew up going to the ballet and symphony in Lansing, Michigan. With season tickets to the performing-arts series at Michigan State University, she remembers enchanting performances by the Kirov Ballet and other spectacular companies that inspired her to a career in dance and teaching. She danced with Greater Lansing Ballet while in high school and treasured access to seeing top companies. Now, even though she is in a relatively remote area, she makes an annual trek to Grand Rapids Ballet a major priority and a big deal for her students.

“Exposing my students to the arts is part of my mission,” says Courtright. Some years they see The Nutcracker; other times it’s another ballet. When Grand Rapids Ballet came to Fremont, Courtright’s students held a carwash to help raise funds for the tour. Wearing tutus and wielding hoses, the students scrubbed cars to demonstrate just how much they wanted the ballet to visit. A few of them even got to dance in the performance, as angels. The school owner remembers how exciting it was for them to be involved in a professional show.

The annual field trip to Grand Rapids Ballet is a big financial concern for her students’ families, and she needs to sell the parents on it. “With gas prices as they are, I may have a harder job this year,” she says. “The economy in Michigan has been very hard-hit.” Courtright arranges group tickets and carpools to keep costs down. “This year we may have to do some fund-raising to cover gas prices,” she says. “We also need to do a little education when it comes to theater etiquette and appropriate dress. My students need to understand that they are going to the theater, not a movie.”

For some of her students, the trip may be the first live performance of their lives. Recently a local family donated some funds for Courtright to use as needed; because she considers the trip to be an important part of her students’ education, she is considering using some of the money to defray her students’ costs.

To supplement the once-a-year trip, Courtright shows videos of classics such as Swan Lake, Coppélia, and Giselle during summer dance camp or uses excerpts to demonstrate a point during class time. Of course, she wishes she had more choices when it comes to seeing live performances nearby, but she feels a calling to stay where she is and do all she can to expose her students to the performing arts. Afterward, there’s usually time to talk about what the students have seen, either on the trip back or in class the next week.

“It’s worth it; I notice a big change in my students when they return from a show. They carry themselves differently. They finally get what ‘pulling up’ is all about,” she says. “There’s something about seeing professional dancers do the things that I am telling them all the time that makes it really sink in. Honestly, I see better dancing after they have seen the magic that can happen onstage.”

Knock On Wood’s way with rhythm tap

By Lisa Traiger

Plenty of dance teachers can get a 6-year-old to master a shuffle-ball-change. And with enough repetitions, the kid might even smile while doing it at the end-of-year recital.

Students as young as “Ms. Leanne’s” 5- and 6-year-old beginners learn about musicality at Knock On Wood. (Photo by Margaret Loomis)

But when it comes to teaching tap, among the Washington, DC, region’s best-kept secrets is Knock On Wood Tap Studio, nestled in the basement of a building filled with doctors’ offices. The studio, in a former jewelry store where costumes and a tap shoe bank now line the shelves of the old vault, is a cozy beehive of rhythm, with a touch of funk and jazz tossed in for good measure.

The studio’s founder and master teacher, Yvonne Edwards, affectionately known far and wide as “the Tap Lady,” and a cadre of experienced tap instructors work magic in a few windowless basement studios just a hop, skip, and jump over the District line in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The specialty: rhythm tap. Edwards and her crew pass on more than steps; they train students to fully assimilate musicality and gain confidence in improvisation. Here tap is serious business, even when the kids gambol out of class smiling. At Knock On Wood, from the littlest 4-year-olds to the hesitant adult beginners, from the gawky pre-teens to the fearless advanced teens in the critically acclaimed youth ensemble, Tappers With Attitude, improvisation rules. It stands as a core principle in the school’s thoughtful syllabus, developed by studio director Edwards (who co-founded Knock On Wood with Renee Kreithen) and executive artistic director Victoria Moss.

In a Saturday morning class with a group of wiggly 5-year-olds, you can hear their thin voices chanting, in singsong, “Jack and Jill,” which accompanies their tiny tapping feet. Moss explains, “First we learn the words. Then we learn to clap it. Then we learn to snap it, and that’s fun because most 5-year-olds can’t snap. Then we learn to count it. They don’t necessarily understand it, but they all learn it: 1 and 2 and 3. Then they learn a step: shuffle, step, shuffle-ball-change, flap flap, flap. Then they learn to sing the words of the step as well as to do the words of the step.”

Ultimately, by the end of term they’ve learned six or seven ways to think about the material, Moss says. “Then,” she smiles, “I blow everybody’s mind when they go to the studio’s open-mic night and they do it all. Sometimes they do them all at once: One sings, one claps, one snaps, one taps, one counts, and the grownup dancers in the audience who understand how really difficult that is, they’re blown away. The kids? They don’t know that was difficult. They just know it’s ‘Jack and Jill.’ ”

The syllabus expands from there, as children enrich their tap vocabulary, moving from single-sound steps to double-, then triple- and four-sound steps. But they also continue to practice improv, from clapping their names rhythmically to pounding out a phrase that illustrates being angry with Mom. It all counts in building confident and independent tap dancers who, Edwards and Moss hope, can one day hold their own in the center of a jam circle. And Edwards says that no teacher worth her salt would let a kid finish out a semester without mastering the fundamentals of the shim sham, tap dance’s national anthem.

Knock On Wood’s teachers use the syllabus as a guide, not a mandate. It doesn’t contain any specific step combinations; instead it’s a compilation of expected skills, movement vocabulary, and other tap information that students should master. Teachers also continually work on dynamics, timbre, clarity of tone, basic body alignment, and presentation skills with their developing dancers. After completing level 3, which could take three to six years depending on the age the child started and his proficiency, a student should understand musical structure and rhythm, be comfortable with improv and jamming, pick up steps in a master class quickly by ear and by sight, dance at a variety of tempos (including very slowly), understand how to maintain balance, be able to shift weight quickly, and maintain a strong working core.

On top of that, Edwards and Moss feel strongly that tap history receives its due in every class. Big names from tap’s heyday—Bunny Briggs, Charles “Honi” Coles, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Buster Brown, and Jimmy Slyde, to name a few—aren’t forgotten, they’re honored. Each semester students learn about one or more master artists through personal stories recounted by Miss Yvonne, as well as video and exercises replicating masters’ signature steps.

Finally, nobody gets through the full syllabus without learning four specific dances. In level 1A, it’s the basic shim sham. In 1B the students complete the shim sham, with more emphasis on ear training and finding the “1” in music. In 2A, they learn the Honi Coles stroll/walkaround, another 20th-century tap dance classic, and continue refining and expanding on the shim sham by adding breaks. By 2B, students expand their proficiency, learning the buck-and-wing time step with complete break, refining turns, and learning Edwards’ own Ain’t She Sweet, a more complex dance. In level 3, the step complexity increases with wings, pickups, trenches, complicated turns, and the final dance in the basic Knock On Wood repertoire, Baakari Wilder’s My Blue Heaven, which introduces contemporary rhythmic syncopation and a funkier, earthier style of tap.

At this point Edwards and Moss don’t care whether students progress to levels 4 and 5, which concentrate on fine-tuning rhythm tap, improvisation, and performance. Many, in fact, choose to remain at level 3 for further mastery.

Between them, Edwards and Moss have nearly 100 years of teaching experience. Edwards, now 74, has been at it for 61 years. She started as a student at Doris Jones Dance Studio in Washington, DC, one of the few places in the country at that time that taught classical ballet to African Americans. She and legendary singer-dancer-actress Chita Rivera sometimes took classes together.

Soon Edwards joined up with her sister-in-law, Chloe Price Shepherd, a dance teacher in Atlantic City, where the two taught children of the casino owners and workers. But Edwards also soaked up the style of old-time hoofers like the Nicholas Brothers and Sammy Davis Jr., who played the casinos. “Sometimes I didn’t know what they were doing, but I was trying. I learned a lot from just improv-ing with them,” Edwards recalls.

Moss grew up in Chicago, assimilating a smattering of many dance forms from Irish to tap, ballet to hornpipe, hula, and modern in her weekly dance class. At Knock On Wood she put her early training to good use in devising the detailed syllabus that takes tap students from rank beginner to pro. It’s a systematic method that focuses on the fundamentals and allows for multiple paths to learning: visual, aural, through counts, songs, patterning, art projects, and a dozen other tried-and-true tricks.

‘We want to give our students their own voices, and the only way you can develop your own voice is by having exposure to lots of different people.’ —executive director Victoria Moss

“We want to give our students their own voices,” Moss says, “and the only way you can develop your own voice is by having exposure to lots of different people. Otherwise they all turn out looking like ‘Miss Suzie.’ And she might be a great dancer, but it’s not our goal to re-create Miss Suzie.” Instead, the school’s teachers include a master Irish sean-nós dancer, a tapper with jazz experience, a Broadway hoofer, and a few rhythm tappers, along with Edwards and Moss. But they also continually bring in guest and master teachers from around the country and the world. They also invite modern dancers, bharata natyam specialists, salsa and flamenco teachers, a South African gumboot dancer, and others for enriching yearlong and summer workshops.

No matter that not everyone turns pro. Edwards says, “I just love to teach. I love to go into the room and look at the kids and teach. Not all of them are going to be dancers, but I don’t think of them as not being dancers. I try to give [them] the same focus and interest as I do to the members of the [Tappers With Attitude] company. They may never become dancers, but I want them to be able to appreciate the art of tap dancing, to become good audience members.”

Yet more than a few alums have found success with a pair of tap shoes. Among them are Baakari Wilder, who danced in the cast of Savion Glover’s expansive survey of tap in America, Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk; Cartier Williams, another Glover protégé, who while still in high school appeared in Noise/Funk and toured with Glover’s group, Ti Dii; Chloe Arnold, a body-double dancer for Beyoncé in Idlewild; and R&B singer Mya.

“One thing that’s great about tap in general and about the way Knock On Wood approaches tap,” says recent graduate Lena Solow, 18, “is that anybody can do it. That made it easy for me, a kid who didn’t have an easy time with ballet. Tap was something I could definitely do.” Currently a freshman at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, Solow started tap at 5. “From a very early age [there] you have to do improv and make up your own rhythms to go along with the music,” she says.

“And because you’re not in a kick line or all doing the same exact arms and faces,” continues Solow, “you have to learn how to develop your own personality onstage, and that’s something that my teachers always talked about: how to portray yourself onstage. Tap is not about your feet; it’s really about your full body.”

As for the school’s success, Moss and Edwards attribute it to being invested in the dance community at large. Neither of them worries when students take classes at other studios. In fact, they might send an intermediate or advanced student off to study ballet or modern if they believe the additional training will improve the kid’s tap. They open all master classes to the public and encourage their students to attend other studios’ master classes when appropriate.

“While there are only so many students to go around,” Moss says, “I think over time people here [in the DC area] have worked really hard to play well with others. In my mind it’s not only best for dancers, but it’s best for us as an industry: to learn to be open to each other, to learn how to use each others’ expertise, to not be afraid of losing something. I might temporarily lose a student, but if that student grows, then they’re ready for their next phase. It’s that law of karma.”

“I was always taught that the most important thing is that you have to listen to the music, go along with the music and not just do a really flashy step,” says lanky Baakari Wilder, 32, an alum who started dancing at 3 and now teaches the advanced Monday night class at Knock On Wood. “You have to learn when to fall and, when you make mistakes, how to pick up again,” he says. “When I teach improv, it’s about getting people to focus on the timing and keep it basic. I want my students to dance within the meter—if they do nothing else, keep it in the meter.”

Edwards says that’s what she tells her students also. Tap is, first and foremost, about rhythm. She believes that learning tap is akin to learning a musical instrument and even encourages students to practice, at minimum, 15 to 20 minutes a day, just like any beginning band student.

“We’re trying,” Edwards says, “to keep tap alive. Then it’s your job to make it your own.”

Finding mutual support for dance teachers and opportunities for kids through unity

By Maureen Janson

Surrounded by mountains in Treasure Valley, a region of southern Idaho named for its abundance of resources and opportunities, a group of dance teachers gathered last spring in the small meeting room of Dance Arts Academy in Boise. Enthusiasm filled the air as the studio’s owner, Dotty Hancock, reviewed some financial figures. The group’s mission? To determine how to give away $11,000.

All BDTA member schools participate in the annual "Freeze Frame" fund-raiser. Here, Meridian Stars Dance students perform “Men in Black.” (Photo courtesy Meridian Stars Dance)

This energetic group follows a successful formula for creating opportunities. Rather than compete with each other, they have joined forces as the Boise Dance Teachers Association (BDTA) to assist their dance students and support each other in the general functions of running a studio. Whether their studios emphasize ballet, jazz, or other dance forms, they have found common ground by devising and managing a unique scholarship system.

This night, one of their monthly membership meetings, was particularly electric. In their annual concert fund-raiser the previous January, the 15 studios that make up BDTA had raised $11,000, the most money ever in the organization’s 43-year history. And they will give back every penny to their students.

Dance studio owners in a small city working together sounds like a Utopian vision. Hancock, a former president and now treasurer of BDTA, thinks the group thrives because its objectives are both professional and social. “We gather during the school year to plan and promote dance events, primarily our annual fund-raiser show,” she explains. “We realize that by working together we can bring more opportunities to our dancers than we could individually, and that also fosters camaraderie of dance professionals in our area. Because BDTA’s goals can help our students further their education, involvement is positive for everyone.”

When BDTA was formed in 1966 by Boise ballet teacher Lloyd Carlton, it was with the goal of establishing scholarship opportunities. As an independent enterprise, the group presented an annual fund-raising concert called “The Night Before Christmas.” When it became a nonprofit organization in 1986, its mission remained the same but became more clearly defined. Presently BDTA has 26 members, although member studios do not require everyone on their teaching staffs to join. Dues are $15 per teacher per year, which brings in about $350 annually. (Some lifetime honorary members do not pay dues.) Membership requires attendance at the monthly meetings and includes an invitation to participate in the “Freeze Frame” fund-raiser performance; those who accept the invitation are obliged to help produce the large-scale show.

“Freeze Frame,” held annually since the 1980s, raises the majority of money earmarked for student scholarships each year. Coordinating the production and putting hundreds of dancers together for one day can be daunting, but the format is well established. Members help during the preceding months by selling tickets and printing programs. On performance day, other members sell flowers and T-shirts or manage the dancers backstage.

The scholarship money primarily has gone toward sending students to the Idaho Dance Arts Alliance/College of Southern Idaho annual Summer Dance Camp, held 100 miles away in Twin Falls. Dancers ages 12 to 18 attend the camp for one or two weeks, living in campus dorms and studying ballet, jazz, tap, and modern technique under master teachers. Their studies are supplemented with classes in musical theater and choreography, plus social activities. The July 2009 camps will cost $750 for two weeks and $418 for one week, including room and board.

Kim Machado and her business partner, Melissa Larson, run Elevated Dance Project studio and encourage their students to audition for camp scholarships. “We’ve been BDTA members since opening our studio several years ago. Last summer two of our students, out of about 16 girls who auditioned, received scholarships,” says Machado. “The excitement about the camp influenced 11 more dancers from our studio to go to Twin Falls. The camp experience affected one of my own daughters even more deeply than I thought it would. She gained a true appreciation of ballet.”

‘We are reevaluating the way scholarships are distributed. Some kids are never going to be the top, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t go to camp.’ —Dotty Hancock, BDTA treasurer

Seventeen-year-old Kristina Hahn has attended the camp for seven consecutive summers. For six of those, scholarships covered  60 percent to 80 percent of her tuition. “I love tap, and I had a chance to study with guest teachers—hoofers as well as classical tappers,” says Hahn. “I also got to take classes like world dance, which isn’t available at my studio.” She says that after two weeks at the camp she felt she was a stronger dancer. On a typical day, she would wake up at 6:30 a.m. and dance from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. “You have to take four classes a day, choosing from the seven daily classes offered. It’s exhausting and really intense, but so much fun. At the end of the time, you really feel like you’ve accomplished something.”

Hancock attended the dance camp in the late 1980s as a BDTA scholarship winner. “I was aware of the dance teachers association as a teenager because I had participated in ‘Freeze Frame’ and scholarship auditions. My own participation in the dance camp feeds my current appreciation and firsthand understanding of the impact of BDTA on students.”

Every year BDTA rents a Boise high school auditorium for a “Freeze Frame” date in January. The member studios work independently on creating a total of nine minutes of dance that can be divided into six dances—three for each of two shows. The grueling performance day starts with a rehearsal from 8 a.m. to noon for a 1:30 p.m. show, followed by another rehearsal at 3:45 and a 7:30 show.

Ticket fees cover the shared costs of the auditorium use and marketing. The remaining box office revenue (60 to 76 percent), plus the proceeds from BDTA T-shirt and flower sales, go toward the scholarships.

“It’s always a family-friendly show,” says Hancock. “We have a policy—no bellies, no boobs, no butts. We only allow clean music. So far, we have never pulled a number for breaking the rules, but we have asked choreographers to change movement if it’s too provocative. We encourage large classes to perform, and a variety of age groups and styles, particularly younger dancers. We want to build our audience. A 15-year-old is not going to pull in all the aunts and uncles that a 5-year-old will.”

Once the money has been raised from “Freeze Frame,” an audition process begins. Only students of BDTA member studios are eligible. There are no restrictions on the number of times a student can be awarded a scholarship; however, those over 18 years of age are not eligible. To keep the audition process objective, BDTA invites university teachers or dance team teachers who don’t have a studio affiliation to conduct the audition classes. Different judges award the funds each year and placement is confidential; students are informed only of how much money they received.

Hancock explains, “In our current model, we divide the students into age divisions, and they can audition for funds in ballet, tap, or jazz or any combination of the three. Dancers are judged on such criteria as technical ability, presentation, and potential. We distribute money to three to five dancers in each age division and class and then split remaining funds among the studios to distribute to deserving students.” Forty to 50 students receive scholarships each year.

Hancock says that the current incarnation of BDTA strives to keep things fresh by seeking new opportunities for students. “If you add up the number of students, we’re currently only helping a small percentage. Last year we gave $11,000 in scholarships. Since the summer dance camp gives $2,500 in matching funds, we are now thinking of reserving some proceeds for things like bringing master teachers to the area and hosting workshops. We are also considering offering scholarships to other camps. And we are reevaluating the way scholarships are distributed. Some kids are never going to be the top, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t go to camp.”

In spring 2008 BDTA implemented a new idea expanding its fund-raising and scholarship opportunities. The members arranged a day of classes taught by Sabra Johnson, the third-season champion of the TV show So You Think You Can Dance. Johnson, who was visiting her mother in Boise, agreed to donate her time as a master teacher and scholarship judge. This members-only opportunity cost each dancer $5. When 400 dancers took the classes that day, BDTA immediately turned around the participation fee money, giving out approximately $2,000 in scholarships.

Machado looks forward to increasing educational opportunities for her students, regardless of whether they plan to be professionals. She feels that under its new president, Alexis Langworthy, BDTA will grow in new directions.

Langworthy is considering moving away from the previous audition format for awarding scholarships. “We’re thinking of splitting the ‘Freeze Frame’ proceeds evenly among BDTA studios,” she explains. This would allow the studios, like her own Xpressions Dance Academy, to use individual criteria in determining who receives the financial support. “We aim to broaden the BDTA spectrum this year and put some of the money toward hosting a fall workshop for our dancers instead of putting it all toward summer camp.”

The ongoing connection with other studios has become invaluable to BDTA members. “It’s not always just about fund-raising,” says Hancock. “We refer students to each other when they are looking for a studio closer to their home. We have become familiar with the differences in each other’s programs so we can send dancers in the right direction based on their needs and wants in a studio.”

And the monthly meetings become a forum for news announcements and sharing other information. “We talk business; we talk pros and cons; we talk taxes,” adds Langworthy. “Our businesses grow more successful because we can bounce ideas off each other and learn something new every month. We’ve become a very good example of how even competitive businesses can come together for a common cause.”

BDTA members will admit that things are not always perfect. “Of course, like many organizations,” says Hancock, “there are always a few of us who end up doing more work than others. But we all face common issues such as difficult parents or students, and we share this information with each other. We don’t encourage bad business practices. If a studio is deliberately trying to steal students, it is not invited to become a member. And if we sense that there is some negative issue at one of our meetings, we try to get it out in the open immediately. We always aim to have a good time.”

Machado embraces the BDTA desire to offer new experiences to dancers. Looking beyond the primary focus of scholarship money, she expresses the fundamental value of her membership. “BDTA has created a place where friendships are formed among students and teachers alike. When students see their dance teacher smiling, hugging, and talking to teachers from other studios, it sets the example for them to follow.”

What one man couldn’t do, this duo could—here’s how teamwork turned a dream into reality

By Darrah Carr

Michael Barriskill and Dr. Elliot Pack could not have more different dance backgrounds. Barriskill performed with Rudolf Nureyev and the London Festival Ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House when he was just 10 years old. Pack, an obstetrician/gynecologist, discovered dance recreationally at the age of 29. An unlikely pair at first glance, the childhood talent and the late bloomer have nonetheless found success as partners in both life and work.

Elliot Pack (left) and Michael Barriskill: two halves of a successful teaching team. (Photo by Steve Clarke)

“We’ve lived very different lives and we bring that to our partnership,” Pack says. “Our partnership helps our business because we funnel our diverse experiences and all of our ideas into one endeavor.”

After meeting through mutual friends in April 2005, the pair opened Barriskill Dance Theatre School in Durham, North Carolina, in August 2006. Pack recalls feeling starstruck when he first met Barriskill and learned of his professional dance experience. Barriskill regaled him with stories of studying on scholarship at the School of American Ballet (SAB), performing with Houston Ballet, and making his Broadway debut as Mr. Mistoffelees in Cats. “I pumped him full of questions all of the time,” Pack recalls. “I had wanted to open a studio for such a long time—ever since I was 35 years old. I used to think ‘What will I do?’ I knew that I would never dance professionally and I knew that I didn’t have the credentials to open a studio alone. Then, along came Michael with the credentials and with lots of teaching experience.”

Pack coupled his business sense with Barriskill’s professional dance background. “As an OB/GYN, I ran a private practice. That experience helps me run the studio,” Pack explains. “Michael doesn’t touch the checkbook. And if he is choreographing something, then I won’t touch it with a 10-foot pole! Michael is on a learning curve about the business aspects of the studio and I’m on a learning curve about the artistic and the pedagogical parts.”

Pack soon learned that despite Barriskill’s professional success, he had endured a great deal of negative feedback from his teachers. “Michael would tell me stories of his training that would scare me, like a teacher lighting a match under his leg to get it higher—not at SAB,” Pack says. “He went through a very judgmental, perfectionistic type of training which was really unappealing. I didn’t have that experience because I was an adult when I started. There were no expectations of me, so I was able to concentrate on the process rather than on some nebulous goal that I’d have to sacrifice everything for.” Pack enjoyed performing locally with the now defunct Chapel Hill Ballet Company and with Sharon Bryant of Cai Flamenco Dance Company.

When launching Barriskill Dance Theatre School, the men reflected on their own training and questioned what could be improved in the field of dance education. “We asked ourselves, ‘Can learning to dance be an inherently positive experience?’ ” Pack says. “You don’t have to sacrifice technique. But you don’t have to use meanness to get there.”

For Barriskill, shaping the school’s philosophy has been personally gratifying. He describes his own training as “so intense that I couldn’t and didn’t have a childhood. Now what is neat is to be able to rectify some of what was done to me, and to make it better.” He admits that he wouldn’t have opened a dance studio on his own. “I need the kind of emotional support that Elliot provides,” he explains. “I’m so performance based, whereas Elliot doesn’t come from a performance background. He reminds me that it is about the process, not about the product. Elliot inspires me to enjoy the process of teaching kids and to look at the long-term results.”

‘I knew that I would never dance professionally and I knew that I didn’t have the credentials to open a studio alone. Then, along came Michael with the credentials and with lots of teaching experience.’ —Elliot Pack

Both men have been heavily influenced by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s principle of “flow,” which argues that people are happiest when totally absorbed in an action for its own sake. Barriskill and Pack call their teaching method “Flow Dance.” Barriskill explains, “The purpose of Flow Dance is to achieve a more intrinsic, present-moment–based interest in an activity rather than the more traditional extrinsic, future-based reward system. An activity that is reported as ‘flow’ is said to be so gratifying that one does it simply for the sake of doing it, regardless of how difficult it may be and without any regard for what one will get out of it. Flow Dance bridges the gap between what is considered to be the tedious, strenuous, and slow teaching of dance technique with the more fun and pleasurable teaching of recreational dance.”

Applying the concept of flow to their dance curriculum led Barriskill and Pack to steer away from competitions and recitals. “We don’t disapprove of competition,” Barriskill says, “but we’d rather focus on the daily progress of the dancers. Competitions can be unhealthy because they focus on a singular moment in time rather than on the process over time. In Flow Dance, the activity itself is intrinsically rewarding.”

Similarly, to avoid placing undue emphasis on the singular goal of a recital, Barriskill and Pack opt instead for two weeks of parent observation during the year. Flow Dance also serves to alleviate pressure on both the student and the teacher. “A lot of dancers have a perfectionist nature, but you can’t be a perfectionist as a teacher because you’ll become frustrated with your students and it won’t be healthy,” Barriskill explains. “I used to think that one day I’d love to teach at the School of American Ballet. But what I’m learning is that you can touch your students in so many ways and that you don’t have to be teaching on an elite level. So many teachers say that they’ve never had a dancer become a professional. But they’ve had students come back 20 years later and tell them how they changed their lives.”

Flow Dance may be unconventional, but it has proven to be very successful. In less than three years, Barriskill Dance Theatre School has grown to an enrollment of more than 300 students, ranging from children to adults. Remarkably, their enrollment continues to grow despite today’s difficult economic climate. “I really pushed the adult program,” Pack says. “I believe adults need dance even more than kids. We lead such stressful and self-absorbed lives. If adults can come in and forget their stress for just one hour, then there is a real sense of accomplishment.”

The studio’s most popular adult offering is a barre-only class on Friday night. “We leave out the center work so that people don’t freak out about having to do pirouettes,” Pack says. Having started dance later in life gives Pack special insight into teaching adults. “It is never too late. I was 58 years old when we started the studio and I was never a professional dancer. You can live your dream.”

Barriskill, on the other hand, has found a niche in teaching children. “Before we started the studio, I was looking into jobs in higher education. But now I realize that I love teaching pre-ballet,” he says. “My vision for the studio in the first year was much more conservatory focused. I thought that I wanted to train girls to go to North Carolina School of the Arts. But now I realize that it is about flowing in the moment and making happy people, not automatons.”

Barriskill and Pack speak of a “happiness cycle” whereby happy teachers make happy students who make happy people who make happy audiences who make happy dancers. “We want our kids to be truly happy, not just superficially happy,” Pack says. “Happy kids develop self-discipline and self-respect. Dance education is more than just teaching steps. It also gives life skills because most people are not going to be professional dancers.”

Regardless of their students’ professional goals, Barriskill and Pack believe in exposing them to a wide variety of dance forms. “My own training was very eclectic,” Barriskill explains. “I studied ballet, character, voice, and musical theater. I was a better performer and dancer because I had broad training rather than just a single, tunnel vision.”

In addition to ballet, tap, jazz, musical theater, hip-hop, and creative movement, the studio offers classes in world dance. “On Thursday nights we have hula, Irish dance, and African dance. It is like the United Nations of dance here in Durham,” Pack jokes. Other offerings include “Music Together,” “Mommy & Me,” “Dance Fitness,” and “Special Needs Dance.” Pack always thought they would offer this kind of diversity. “I didn’t want to come out of retirement [from practicing as an OB/GYN] for something boring. It is too much fun to have all of this!”

Barriskill and Pack acknowledge that they are fortunate to have a complementary partnership. “We learn from each other in and out of the classroom. We watch each other and bounce ideas off of each other. Our jobs blur at this point,” Barriskill says. At the same time, blurring the boundaries too much can be difficult.

“Because we live and work together, a lot gets carried over into our personal life. Living and breathing the studio is not always easy,” Pack says. “You learn to apologize a lot and very quickly. You can’t hold a grudge. Basically, you don’t sweat the small stuff and you remember that it is all small stuff.”

Barriskill and Pack hope one day to create a broader support network for studio owners by establishing a teaching institute. “We want to legitimize dance teaching as a valid occupation and career. It would be great to create a place where teachers can go to teach other teachers,” Barriskill says. “Given our proximity to the American Dance Festival, it would be great to have teachers come down here. We could run the institute during the day and go to performances at night.”

In the meantime, the men educate themselves by attending conferences, reading journal articles, and watching other faculty teach when they take trips to New York City. Throughout, their focus remains on the needs of their students.

“You leave your ego at the door as a teacher. It is not about you. Your students need your full attention. We all love having a gorgeous dancer in the room; it is harder to pay attention to the girl who is not getting it,” Pack says. “We have the opportunity to affect lives positively. Our byline is, ‘It is not how well you dance, but how you feel when you are dancing.’ ”

Dance kept three teachers rooted when illness struck

By Debbie Werbrouck

We all need inspiration at times. Sometimes it comes in an email or as a “feel good” piece at the end of a newscast; usually we don’t experience it on a personal level. But I have three stories of inspiration to share, all of them very personal. All three involve my faculty, and one is about my sister, whose fearful words on the telephone will always remain in my memory: “I want you to come home. I have breast cancer.”

Inspiration #1: Julie vs. breast cancer
My sister, Julie Bodle, is a perfect example of a dancer who knows her own body. When she went to the doctor for a sinus infection, Julie asked him to check a small bump that seemed to be just under the skin. Since she had had a clear mammogram only two months before, he told her it was probably nothing. When the bump was still there a month later, her 12-year-old daughter, Lauren, urged her to return. Julie asked to have a diagnostic mammogram. Again, nothing. But an ultrasound confirmed her fears: It was cancer. Fortunately the disease was in a very early stage, so she chose to have a lumpectomy with chemotherapy and radiation.

Julie Bodle missed only a few days of teaching during chemotherapy and radiation treatments for breast cancer. (Photos courtesy of Debbie Werbrouck’s School of Dance)

Although she shared some of her fears with me, Julie was a rock at our school. She informed the parents of her younger students of her illness and treatments and said that their children might have a substitute teacher on occasion. She also shared her discovery with the teen company dancers whom she teaches and let them know what to expect. She put herself on several prayer lists of all denominations, as she had done for others in the past, and she purchased a very spunky wig.

She endured six rounds of chemotherapy at three-week intervals, followed by 33 radiation treatments. She had bad reactions to the chemotherapy that required steroids for relief. During all of this, she missed only one day of teaching, continued her job as principal of Chicago National Association of Dance Masters, and even performed her character part nine times in our company’s holiday performance. She made it through the treatments and was happy that her hair was growing back.

Everyone was so happy that Julie’s ordeal was behind her. Julie and I and one of her close friends had a “girls’ week” vacation in Florida and returned in time to participate in our area’s Relay For Life, which is a 24-hour celebration of cancer survivors with information and resources available to the public. “Teams” walk for pledged donations around the clock, with luminarias lighting the way as memorials for those we’ve lost and as tributes to survivors.

Our school had once again gone all-out. Many people supported Julie with meals for her family so that she wouldn’t have to cook when feeling less than wonderful, and her dancers performed at the Relay. Our school’s contributions exceeded $2,000. Julie and other cancer survivors from our school walked the survivors’ lap in victory.

Or so we thought.

Six months later, Julie’s follow-up mammogram showed “something.” We all talked about scar tissue and calcium deposits to reassure her. But when her biopsy results came in, we had to face the fact that her cancer had returned.

She scheduled her surgery and a consultation with a specialist, three hours away in Indianapolis, while preparing for the school’s 40th-anniversary showcase. She even surprised me by dancing in a revue put on by current and former students. It brought down the house.

Ten days after her surgery, Julie took a ballet class along with her students. She managed all of her teaching as well as her responsibilities during the eight-day CNADM summer sessions. She started chemotherapy and other treatments as fall classes began, missing only two days of teaching. She finished her treatments, had her IV port removed on a Monday, and was in the studio for her Wednesday classes. And most important, her follow-up tests were negative.

Inspiration #2: Jaci vs. muscular dystrophy
Jaci Mullins’ story began in a ballet class. One day I noticed that Jaci, a faculty member who danced with a regional company, was having trouble keeping one shoulder blade flattened when her arms were in second position. She said she had noticed it also, but that she had fallen on the ice and that was probably the cause. When it didn’t improve, I made her promise to see a doctor.

We were shocked to learn that Jaci has muscular dystrophy, a major blow to someone who is dedicated to dance. A part of our dance family since childhood, she had grown into a wonderful performer and teacher. She was determined to continue to dance, and she did, until she fell and tore ligaments in her knee.

I was afraid that if she could no longer dance, she would lose her connection to something that was so dear to her heart. I could see the pain and disappointment in her face. But whenever anyone asked how she was, her reply was always, “I’m all right.”

Jaci never seems to feel sorry for herself. Instead, she focuses her creativity and love of dance on teaching and choreography. She has her bad days, but she’s always upbeat. It has been eight years since her diagnosis, and she still teaches unassisted for the most part. This year she even performed a tap duet in the school dance company’s spring concert. Her students love her and the gift of dance that she so generously shares. She serves as an inspiration, especially to the teens, who are her specialty. How could they possibly be moody or not give their all when they know what it takes for her to be at each class and rehearsal?

Jaci’s great rapport with students extends into the community through her work with high school and college dance teams. Her dancers, some of whom have no prior dance training, gain so much more than routines and trophies from her creativity and giving nature.

Inspiration #3: Karen vs. melanoma
One day in 2006 Karen Stump, a longtime faculty member who has been a friend of mine for many years, said she was headed to the dermatologist to have a bump on her cheek looked at. She got the same response from the doctor as from my sister and me: “It’s probably nothing.” But it didn’t turn out to be nothing. It was stage four melanoma. What a frightening word.

Probably the only thing worse than getting that kind of test result is having to wait to see a doctor about a treatment plan. Karen’s wait happened during our recital week. I don’t know how she managed, but she was there and handled many responsibilities during that time.

After surgery and radiation, she was not free of the disease. Four further therapy sessions put her in the hospital for a week at time, followed by a week at home. For a while she suffered from impaired vision, balance, and depth perception, but now she’s doing very well and her last several CT scans were clear.

Through all of her medical challenges, Karen continued to focus on others. She’s wonderful with very young students and older dancers. The seniors admire her courage and energy and her young students just know that she’s a really fun teacher.

Sharing their strength
I have been amazed by the strength of these three women, these dancers, these educators. With all they’ve gone through, it would have been so easy to focus on themselves instead of on teaching and all of the projects that they handle. But that didn’t happen. They continued to teach and nurture others while dealing with their own struggles and fears. Julie says that when she felt the worst, she made herself get out of bed and do just one small thing, and after that she could usually do more. All three women said that focusing on others and coming to dance helped them not to dwell on their own challenges.

Equally amazing was the support these women received from others, especially in our extended dance family, through events and fund-raising for muscular dystrophy and cancer research and countless meals provided by friends, colleagues, and students’ parents.

The students who have been witness to these educators and their challenges have learned the importance of knowing and listening to their bodies, of being proactive and determined. They seem to understand the quiet strength that these three display and how we all touch each other’s lives. And they seem to understand more fully the gift that all teachers share with their students.

Take this fun quiz to see how much you know about dance

By Marcia Aller

Most teachers aim to produce well-rounded and educated performers, and we’re here to help. Including fun facts in your classes will impress your students and keep them interested. Take this quiz yourself, and then share it with your students and staff.

1. Where are you standing au milieu?

A. in the back line
B. in the wings waiting for your entrance
C. in the center
D. in the corps

2. What are the chords played as an introduction called?

A. a vamp
B. a leader
C. a launch
D. a preface

3. In which year were the first National Endowment for the Arts grants awarded to dance?

A. 1954
B. 1962
C. 1965
D. 1969

4. This one-act ballet choreographed by Frederick Ashton contains a yodeling contest, a fox-trot, and a polka. Can you name it?

A. Fancy Free
B. Façade
C. Cinderella
D. Ballet School

5. The movie All That Jazz was based loosely on whose life?

A. Jerome Robbins
B. Mikhail Baryshnikov
C. Duke and Mercedes Ellington
D. Bob Fosse

6. Coppélia, with music by Delibes, was also known as The Girl With ________?

A. Emerald Eyes
B. Empty Eyes
C. Flirtatious Eyes
D. Enamel Eyes

7. If you didn’t make it in New York City, you used to be shuffled off to where?

A. Philadelphia
B. Buffalo
C. a casino, as a card dealer
D. Atlantic City

8. During the Middle Ages people danced hysterically to avoid what?

A. the plague
B. the wrath of the king
C. paying taxes for entertainment
D. an arranged marriage

9. The first taps, which were placed on leather shoes, were actually what?

A. bottle caps
B. stones
C. copper pennies
D. miniature horseshoes

10. Which of these ballets was not composed by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky?

A. Serenade
B. Designs With Strings
C. Allegro Brillante
D. The Sleeping Beauty
E. La Valse
F. Meditation

There is no ranking system for this quiz, but you do get a gold star for trying it!

Answers   1–C  2–A  3–C  4–B  5–D  6–D  7–B  8–A  9–C  10–E (La Valse was composed by Maurice Ravel.)