This Is My Dance Company
Ballet Team
This will be my fourth year coaching the Ballet Team in Berwyn during the 2022-2023 school year. The dancers range in age from 12-17 and most train about three hours per week. Last season, the team took a step out of their comfort zone into their first competition. The team placed in the top five in their competitive group. Our senior soloist placed second! I was so proud of them!
The choreography is all my original material in several styles - contemporary, modern, some acro, some pointe. My adaptations of classical choreography is tailored to the group's skill level and technical ability. My long term vision is for the team to present its own concert of dances they have learned. The other part of my vision is for the team members to take classes in the choreographic process so that improvisation and development of choreographic material is something that comes naturally to them.
The Choreographic Process
Copious Notes
The picture above is from my choreographic notes for my 2019 dance "Mokita." I take copious notes in my choreographic notebooks which I have kept throughout the years. They include ideas for phrase material, gestures to develop, combinations, floor patterns, costume sketches, stick people drawings, and journal entries of deeper inspirations or research on a topic. Famous choreographers like Trisha Brown, Twyla Tharp, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham all kept notebooks.