Hurts So Good
Wheaton's Dance Company discusses the promise and the pain of working one-on-one with world-class dancers.
So, how cool was that?
Katelyn Lynch '04: It was such a great experience to see a group of professionals doing what they loved. Sometimes you get lost in the whole academic world, doing what you're required to do to work toward a profession. To see these people doing what they love and making that into a profession is really inspiring.
Sarah Kingsbury '04: One of the dancers I spoke with after that master class told me that she was trained in ballet and planned to go into ballet, but then realized her career wouldn't have lasted very long; ballet dancers have to maintain a certain body type and the work is especially difficult. She chose this career path because she wanted to dance every day for the rest of her life, and that hit home for me. I could tell that they enjoyed dancing; it is their passion. I was impressed by how much they loved it and how much they were willing to give to it.
Julie Kapur '05: One of the coolest things was working with Troy Powell because he made dancing fun. He wasn't intimidating; he created an environment that was welcoming and relaxed. When you're relaxed as a dancer, you can really give it your all. The whole company was like that.
Lynch: Before the Ailey company arrived I was intimidated, but Troy was so encouraging. He made us feel good about ourselves.
Marissa Holland '05: The experience for me was really quite amazing because I have taken so many master classes that were filled with hundreds of students and one teacher. We had fourteen girls and Troy Powell. We heard about him and read about him, and then there he was giving us one-on-one attention. We could see firsthand his passion for dance; we could see his love for performance-not just technique-and I had never had that experience in a master class.
Rachel Mitrovich '04: Our dance company dances in its spare time, and it was so great to have this professional dance company work with us and treat us with respect. We were all surprised at how easily and quickly everyone was able to come together to produce a dance work. We work with professional choreographers all the time, but to have a new group that's so well known come in was refreshing.
Marissa, you brought up an interesting point. Did your ideas about dance change after this experience?
Holland: I think it inspired us all to want to dance more, and it certainly raised our energy level to see Ailey II perform.
Lynch: Most of us have been dancing the better portion of our lives and we come to Wheaton with very different backgrounds, styles and experiences. One of the things we learned from the Alvin Ailey company is that they all haven't been dancing together since they were four years old and everyone has something very different to bring to the group. You can see that on the stage when they dance. It's inspiring for us to know that we all don't have to look the same and we can all bring our own talent to our group.
This season's Dance Company was together as a group for all of about 48 hours before the Ailey company arrived in town. Tell me about your first day with them.
Kapur: I'm teaching a Horton class [the Ailey dancers use the Horton technique] this year and I taught it to our dance company to give them a little flavor of it before Troy walked in. This technique moves parts of our bodies that we never knew were there and it hurts. I danced at Alvin Ailey this summer and I remember that in the first week I couldn't move a muscle. It's intense. But Troy worked with us and adapted the choreography to our bodies.
I hear that at times this was a physically painful experience?
Lynch: After the first day we didn't even have to say anything to one another; we could just look at each other and laugh. We were all walking a little funny. On the second day I remember thinking, "How can I dance; I can't even move?" But we worked through it. By the end of the week I felt better than I've ever felt. Many people don't realize the strain we put on our bodies because they don't think of dance as a sport.
Mitrovich: We were all comparing our blisters. The only way for us to get stronger was to work through the pain.
Holland: On our first day we were so nervous. It was Alvin Ailey! By the second day we were in pain, but it didn't matter because we were so happy to dance with the Ailey company.
Lynch: It never felt so good to be so tired!
What else would you want to tell people about this week?
Mitrovich: This week did so much good for our program. We gained attention from people on and off campus, helping people to understand that the work our company does is as demanding and timeconsuming as any sport. That's part of what draws us to it. The dance company was one of the things that convinced me to attend Wheaton, and I'm glad to contribute to the growth of this program.
Kingsbury: I want people to know how important the dance company is to us. I never imagined having the opportunities that I've had here at Wheaton, and it was all due to this company and Cheryl. Alums--former students who used to be in the company--come back and support us because they loved it so much. We're so happy that the college arranged this Ailey visit and showed its support for us.
