Two weeks ago I completed my eleventh annual Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive as director and lead instructor. I took the intensive in 1993 and started teaching it in 1999. The first year was a solo endeavor, and quite a challenging one. Wherever did I get the energy for that? After that I worked with a number of different fellow dance artists, each usually for a couple years at a time. This summer was a transition year. As I mentioned in a previous post, Antaeus Dance bid farewell to founding company member Shanna in May. While Sherri has been teaching a variety of classes for the past five or so years (anatomy, yoga, massage), Heather and Carla were new faculty. I was impressed with their inaugural work in the program, and the students truly appreciated what each of them had to offer. While the faculty has changed every couple of years, the student body remains fairly consistent. They are young, curious, intelligent, full of energy (though all of us tend to have a little less starch by the end of the first week), and lovely all around. I am returning to Allegheny this weekend to rehearse Recent Deviations, a dance that nine intensive participants will perform as part of Antaeus Dance's fall concert, October 16th at 8:00pm in Montgomery Performance Space. I must say that these young dancers impressed the heck out of me. They learned a rather complex piece in 8 short rehearsals, on top of taking classes all day and attending evening sessions as well. I am really looking forward to their performance!
Joan
Photo from the end of Week Two by Joan Meggitt
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