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I was once told that dancers are the most dedicated and obedient creatures on earth. You were taught at an early age to say “thank you” to your tutor after each class and show respect to the musicians. At the end of each combination of ballet ballet, you hold on until your trainer finally says “Thank you, rest.”
In Graham’s modern technique class, you stand when the instructor enters the room, then immediately sit down and start your floor assignments when they say “Go, 5, 6, 7, 8.” Everything happens for a reason. There is structure. While most dancers probably won’t question this structure, I can guarantee that your dancers will question every move they make after the class begins.
Even years after my acting career ended, I still find solace in this structure. Most of the time, you’ll find me bright and early in the studio, doing my morning warm-ups and creating movement in my mind. Dedication to our art is not a choice, it is our life. I think this applies not only to dancers, but to all artists who can’t imagine life without this outlet. Painters, writers, musicians, sculptors, dancers—whatever your art is, you need this structure to better understand the world and how to thrive in it through your craft.
For me, being in the studio is a form of meditation, a daily ritual if you will. I never thought my passion would take me this far. Nor did I realize that the words of my teachers, directors, and choreographers would ultimately live on through me and my own students. As a professional dancer, I can’t imagine life without acting. For the first time in my life I feel like I can offer something special. It is my lifelong dream to travel all over the country under the stage lights.
Once a dancer, always a dancer – but there does come a time in your acting career where, perhaps, due to injury or other unforeseen circumstances in your life, your acting career begins to move into the next phase of existence . For many, teaching is where we land. This makes sense. We are fortunate to have such wonderful dance teachers and talented individuals in our small community who are introducing children to dance and developing a love for the sport. I was one of the kids who grew up here and I will forever be grateful for the beginning of this small town.
After studying, performing and teaching from coast to coast, I know I’ll be back at some point in my life. I want to somehow join our thriving dance community. I’d like to find a way to enhance what’s already happening here. So, I started asking myself where all these talented young dancers went after high school and whether they continued to dance beyond puberty. Dancing doesn’t have to stop in your senior year, and you don’t have to rush to New York to start your career. There are other paths to your goals, and other career options to help you get where you want to be.
It seems to me that we are missing something that feels so important, but I can’t put it into words. Before young artists go out into the world, there must be a happy space where dance education can continue in our small town. Maybe if we make the space special enough, these dancers will come back again one day to share their love of dance and everything they’ve learned along the way. After all, dance isn’t just movement for movement’s sake, but maybe that’s another conversation.
As part of Sheridan College’s Associate of Arts in Theatre and Dance, all of my questions are about what, how and why I was guided on the journey of forming dance music. But before I started, I had to gain a deeper understanding of what students needed in today’s dance world, and I knew I couldn’t do that alone. What they say about the dance world is real. Once you’re a part of it, it’s a small world, and somehow you’re with someone, somewhere, almost always someone who wants to offer something they’ve built or share something they’re passionate about.
I started wondering what it would be like to bring in a different performing artist each semester to offer something I couldn’t. Can I get big name companies to show up in Sheridan? As it turns out, I can. Not only will they come, but they can’t wait to share it with our students. Our humble little program already has some big names. It is my dream to provide a rich educational experience for Sheridan College dance students.
The life of a college dancer begins with a morning technique class. Dancers are usually in the studio by 8am five days a week. If you thought it seemed crazy to have college students get up at 8 a.m. for dance class, then you might be right, but you know what, they turned up. There is no doubt about the preparation. Modern and ballet technique classes are our daily vitamins without which our instruments would be out of tune. Figuring out how to tell our story, or any story, through our bodies is a never-ending journey. Every day we find new ways, every day we encounter where our bodies are. It takes practice, it takes patience, it takes persistence.
Dancers following a technique class are rehearsing or doing dance explorations, usually some sort of somatic exercise – all before lunch. When guest artists are in town, dancers can work with them anywhere, from a studio, a master class, to a week-long reinforcement learning company repertoire or original production. Dancers put in more hours than they are required to walk out of our program with an associate degree; this dedication starts to permeate and putting in the extra hours is what most dancers do because they want to get out of every experience Everything they can get, not because they have to.
Seeing that day in and day out these students are so passionate about what they’re doing in our program, I know we’re doing something. For a small town we have a fiery little show with dancers eager to learn and always hungry for more. I don’t take having a safe workspace to create and explore how young artists can go out into the world. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Stephanie Kortiska is a faculty member in the Department of Drama and Dance at Sheridan College.
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