This past Friday, I co-taught my first DANCE POWER class with Kathleen Smith, DANCE POWER Coordinator.  I walked into the gym at Lincoln Elementary School in New Brunswick with almost no idea what to expect.  I teach beginner ballet to a variety of age groups, including third graders, but this would be much different.  There would be no Marley floors, no tights, no ballet slippers; there would be 60 third graders, most of whom would have no idea what they will be getting themselves into.  When you teach at a dance studio, beginners come in with an interest in and desire to learn dance, or at least strong encouragement and support from their parents to give it a shot.  DANCE POWER participants, on the other hand, come into the room where they normally play kickball and are thrust into a world of foreign steps and vocabulary and a new perspective on movement.

Since this past week was the start of DANCE POWER, classes featured a dancing ice-breaker/introduction session.  Each student was asked to say their name to the class and then show everyone their favorite dance move.  Everyone was instructed to applaud respectfully - no laughing allowed - after each person performed their move.  (This was a first introduction to theater etiquette for most of the students).  Before starting the ice-breaker, Kathleen and I explained that a dance move could be the movement of any part of your body in any way.  We demonstrated some silly moves in an effort to encourage the children to not be shy.  Some were very receptive and eager to participate, doing everything from the beginnings of break-dancing steps to traces of pirouettes and penchées.  Other students were extremely reluctant.

This brought to my attention how performative and nerve-wracking even the simplest dancing can seem to total beginners.  "Move your elbows, you fingers...tap your toes!" we would suggest, but some still didn't want to dance in front of their peers.  Of course factors such as nervousness about the first day of DANCE POWER, general shyness, or peer pressure probably played into these students' reluctance.

However, their reluctance also underscores the vulnerability of a dancer on stage.  When you present your own movement, or your own interpretation of a step, you're giving those watching a glimpse into a part of you.  You're displaying your movement and your instrument for everyone to see.  I'm sure this is not what was consciously going through the heads of these shy third graders, but I do think the implicitly performative nature of dance is partially responsible for their reluctance.  Dancing for a crowd can be jarring for those who have never danced before.

The next evening, I went to ARB's Opening Night at Raritan Valley Community College.  The Company dancers, I'm sure, are aware of their vulnerability on stage, and they used it to their best potential.  They let the audience see their excitement, and let it fuel their performances.

Matthew Keefe's premiere Fantasy for Violin, Piano, and Ballet seamlessly flowed from steps in the classical vocabulary to tongue-in-cheek, showy moves.  Some even resembled what the DANCE POWER students showed off on their first day!  (Of course, this time, it was appropriate for the audience to laugh).  As I heard people say in the lobby, you could see Matthew's sense of humor in the piece.  He showed a little piece of himself through the work.  Kirk Peterson's The Eyes that Gently Touch was riveting.  A blunder would have left the performers very vulnerable in that piece; it could have been unsalvageable.  However, the dancers and pianist Jonathan Banjamin attacked Philip Glass' driving score with precision.  Last up was Mary Barton's premiere Straight Up with a Twist.  Talk about vulnerable...the dancers were in unitards!  They leave nothing to hide!  But, in all seriousness, the costumes were great for the piece as they allowed all the nuanced, expressive moments of the movements to show.  Mary's uniquely sensual and sprightly movements gave each dancer a chance to shine.

The DANCE POWER program is aimed at giving children in New Brunswick Public Schools chances to shine.  I'm excited to see reluctant students open up as the year goes on, performing rather than shying away from feelings of vulnerability.  Maybe when they perform for friends and family at the end of the program they can feel something like what ARB's dancers did on opening night.