I Am Not a Dancer

For the second time this school year, I volunteered to understudy for a guest artist dance show. A week ago today (so on Jan. 23), three members of Ballets with a Twist arrived on campus. They auditioned campus dancers in the morning, announced the cast around noon, and immediately began rehearsing. Over the course of four days, thirteen Ohio Northern University dancers learned a nine minute long professional dance piece to be performed on Jan. 30 and Jan. 31.

ONU dancers performed a piece called Champagne in the cocktail-themed show.

I came to ONU with only a few months of formal dance training under my belt. However, I fought to become a dance minor so that I could have priority for class scheduling and try to catch up to my peers, many of whom have been dancing for several years. As I mentioned in my previous blog post, the theatre arts department here is very good about bringing in guest artists to train with. In this particular case, Ballets with a Twist came in to set a piece using a combination of their company members and ONU dancers, then performed an entire show from their repertoire.

Though I was not cast at the initial auditions, I volunteered to understudy for the performance, meaning that I would be a part of the entire rehearsal process and be prepared to take the place of another dancer if circumstances required me to. Luckily, the artistic director and choreographer of the company, Marilyn Klaus, was so impressed with my eagerness to learn that she added me to the piece. I did the exact same thing for the fall semester of 2015 when the Taylor 2 dance company made a similar visit.

From these experiences, I have learned an incredible amount about myself and the world of dance. The visiting company members that helped to set the piece were incredibly kind and helpful, praising my strengths and helping me improve upon my weaknesses. Every day before rehearsal, we would have a 90-minute warmup based entirely on technique. The fresh perspective worked wonders for me; I began to feel things in a completely different way than I ever had before and benefited from it. One of the company members, Aengus Ortiz, told me that I was "dancing with a whole new body."

Though I am far from considering myself a dancer, I love the experience of working with professionals and having the opportunity to suck up as much information from them as I can. Of course, I also benefit from it as a resume builder and a networking opportunity. The company is based out of New York City, an artistic hub. I befriended several of the dancers, including one who actually offered to help me find an internship at the PR firm that she works for when she is not touring.

Despite the late nights of rehearsal and my aching feet, working with the Ballets with a Twist company has been an incredible experience. I think it might be within my best interest to volunteer to understudy for every dance show that comes through Ada until I am skilled enough to finally be cast the first time around.

Until next time!

Kathryn