Gospel Video shoot
This summer brought a lot of diverse experiences for the STUDIO dancers. Back in June, Wilson Randall, Director, was on the lookout for a young ballet dancer for his latest project-a video for the Gospel artist Porschia. After searching Savannah-he finally found who he was looking for in our own Isabel Macgill. I worked on the choreography with Isabel for it and helped prepare her for the shoot. What a little pro she was! Here are some shots taken by Robert Bryce Milburn during the shoot.
WIlson and Isabel
Izzy in motion
Ms. V with the crew
Registration time……..
It’s that time of year here in Savannah, when new and prospective students are looking for a dance program. Most of the time I post about what my students do, mainly because they are amazing to me and I love sharing that side of my job with all of you, but today I felt I needed to share the other side with you.
It is not easy to run a small studio in a small town. It is of course, like every aspect of the dance world, highly competitive, and I LOVE that part. We are all so competitive aren’t we? I have always loved being pushed to be the best I can be, to find out if I still have what it takes, so to speak! My first teacher however, brought me up to give respect to my peers, that unless you are the dance critic of a big newspaper, stick to the good old- “if you don’t have anything nice to say-don’t say anything at all”. So I learned those lessons very early, it wasn’t always easy though, I might have slipped up a couple of times-dancers are very passionate people!
Since it is registration time-I thought I would give you a short list of things I have heard said about me, always about this time of year (which are not true of course) :
Did you know she curses at her students?
She is a really a Jazz teacher (well, I am a great Jazz teacher-but this was meant to be an insult)
If you want your child to have good manners, don’t bring her there
Her students are only good because she is really mean and drives them into the ground
They don’t do REAL ballet there
I am sure there are dance teachers all over who have had similar and even worse said about them-I even heard that some rival studios will even call your students on the phone to say these things!
I find it incredibly funny when I hear this kind of talk, I guess because I am happy! I love what I do, and I love that I get to do it the way I want to. So I will head into this season, with my little group of dancers who all have such big hearts and I tip my hat to those studio owners who are really good at what they do!
We are all in this together, my students might meet your students at a summer program, or dance together in a company one day! And best of all they will all grow up and hopefully continue to love to dance, go to the ballet, see a Broadway show and have great memories of their first teachers, who taught them so many important things, just like mine did!
Getting Specific
It certainly has been a hot summer! While I have been busy spending time with my family, many of my students have been working hard and getting creative. Some at summer intensives and some right here at home.
Caitlin Dutton graduated from SUNY Purchase, came home for a few weeks and launched the Coastal Dance Collective, utilizing local artists, musicians and dancers, visiting different areas of downtown with some site-specific fun. What a cool surprise for Savannah! Right now Caitlin is setting her sights on California-I am so proud of Caitlin, who was one of my first students in Savannah, so much MORE lies ahead for her!
Coming up in my next post-on the set of a Gospel music video, with singer Porschia, myself and Isabel Macgill!
Fly Dragonflies!
Another year has come to a close at the STUDIO and this one was bittersweet.
We had our Spring Showcase at Indigo Arts Center in downtown Savannah, which is inside an old freight station-it is a fantastic space that I look forward to working in again. All of the performances went beyond any expectation I could have had and my small, but enormously talented group of dancers left their audience in awe.
It is always hard to say goodbye to a student when they move on and this time 4 very special young women had their last performance with me, but they are heading toward some very exciting times! Alston Macgill will spend the summer at SAB and then off to the Rock School year round, Linzy Flinn will also be at the Rock year round, Katrina Dowling is heading to Boston Ballet for the summer and then she’ll be attending North Carolina School of the Arts and Siera Williams graduates high school and will attend Georgia Tech where she will also be on the Goldrush dance team!! What fantastic things lie ahead for them all.
It has truly been a great time together and my heart will be with them when they go.
Here are some shots from the show:
Students on the move
A couple of my students have been up to some fun outside the STUDIO this past month. Alston Macgill just got back from the finals for YAGP, (where she brought the house down!) and Angela Novelli returned from Miami where she was chosen to perform her own choreography at the National High School Dance Festival.
I am really proud of these kids for continuing to believe in themselves and reaching new heights. Angela is going to the Complexions Summer Intensive this year and Alston will be at SAB. I hope all my NY friends will be looking out for them:)
Alston ready to take on NY
Angela and dancers in Miami
Class time
I realize I tend to put up posts after events which can make it seem like all we do is get ready to perform or compete. This couldn’t be further from the truth! I have some of the hardest working students around who spend the majority of their free time in class. I have a nice group of high achievers at the STUDIO, many of them excel in much more than dance. All of them aspire to be the best they can be and I am truly lucky to be surrounded by young people who have such high hopes and bright futures. Those hopes weigh heavy on me as a teacher sometimes-it can be a great responsibility. When you run a small school you can run a danger of stagnating, dancers can at times get a false sense of how good they are, they can forget there is a whole world out there besides the 4 walls of our little studio! I make my best efforts to get them out there and see themselves in a different light. I love bringing in great teachers too. Last night we had the pleasure of hosting Valery Lantratov, he is the Artistic Director of the Russian National Ballet Foundation. He is from Moscow and had a career with the Moscow Stanislavski Ballet and was also named the “People’s Artist of Russia” in 1997 and spent some time as a guest teacher at Boston Ballet. He was an incredibly warm teacher, who stressed strong technique alongside expression.
It was a very rewarding class for my students.
Mr. Lantratov saying "hello" to his hand
Isabel, Mimi and Alston at the barre
Katie and Katrina
Happy dancers and teachers!
Always working!
I realize I haven’t posted in quite a while and I apologize that my last post inspired a firestorm of comments!
It seems like I have been working non-stop for the past few months and have had little time for much else.
We just got back from YAGP, but it’s back in to the studio today.
This year I didn’t ask any of my students to go, they all asked me. I feel it is a good experience for them and important for them to step outside of their comfort zone. It is one thing to be a big fish in a small pond and another to have the courage to put yourself out there and ask to be judged by some of the most distinguished professionals in the field.
The dancers that went all had their own inner demons to contend with, they rose to the occasion and gave some of the best performances of their lives so far. This in itself is amazing. I admire each one of them for the work they put in and for the personal results that they got.
When asked by Shelley King (regional director of YAGP) if my students were happy, I was honest and told that there was both joy and disappointment. She told me that it was me-or my job back in the studio to continue to guide them to greater heights.
I will definately do my best.
Amazing!
Alston Macgill, 12, 1st Place winner Junior Division at the Columbia, SC Youth America Grand Prix Regional…See you in NY in March:))
Our last Club Sweets!
Hard to believe that this is going to be our last performance of “Swingin’ at Club Sweets”! I decided that it is time to retire it and move on to some new creative adventures. The performance is coming up quick at the Lucas Theatre on December 5th. My students have been working very hard this past year and I am amazed with how truly fantastic they are!
This year we did our photo shoot at the new swanky Bohemian Hotel and feel so lucky to have Josh Branstetter photograph my dancers. He is an amazingly talented artist. Here are just a couple from the shoot.
Lola, Smokey and Minnie (Angela Novelli, Matt Agudelo and Alston Macgill
Angela Novelli, Siera Williams, Alston Macgill, Matt Agudelo, Linzy Flinn and Skye Cornwell
YAGP and Spring Fever
Winter seemed to take a long time to make it’s exit but finally, Spring has sprung, well here in Savannah it’s more like summer!
Here is a quick update on what’s been happening at the STUDIO:
I went to the Youth America Grand Prix NY finals in April with Alston Macgill, 11, who had won 1st place at the regionals and also with two younger students Karilena Barfield,9 and Isabel Macgill, 8, who were invited to the workshop. It was an interesting 7 days. We worked hard rehearsing at STEPS and also made some time to meet with Finis Jhung, who was so encouraging and helpful. All in all the time leading up to competition day was a great experience for Alston. When that day came, Alston really gave her best performance. We all felt as though she danced not only with great technique, but with artistry as well-not forced, but like she just loved every second of it. But when it came time for the awards ceremony-we were pretty surprised that she hadn’t made it into the top 12. Oh, well you think, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I was absolutely thrilled with what she has accomplished this year so it was not important to me, but I think Alston was pretty disappointed. Usually the boys are separated from the girls if there are a lot of them, and there were. But for some reason they didn’t separate them when they announced the winners. Anyway, I can’t even try to understand or explain any of that. It turns out that just a couple of days ago YAGP decided to put up the results and sure enough Alston’s name was up there in the top 12! She was one of just 3 girls from the United States to make it in there. I am just sad that she didn’t get to enjoy the moment at the awards ceremony after having worked so hard!
I brought my son Enzo with me on the trip, to get him back in touch with his roots:)
In the meantime, I would like to mention another student, Angela Novelli, 16, who has just gotten her first job! She is making a dance film called “Silence:dancing through fear” with choreographer, Vincent Brosseau. She was pretty excited about this, since she has had a rough year recovering from Mono.
I am, as always, super proud of all of my students!
The economy has really affected the studio, since it is so small. I had to cancel our Spring performance, partly due to that and partly due to low attendance. It has been quite frustrating. I think it is time for me to re-evaluate what I am doing and make some changes. It seems I am always in a constant state of wondering why I do this at all!
I also, very stupidly, tore my calf muscle! It is a real pain. I do not like it one bit!
Well, we are looking forward to our June workshop with Martha Faesi and Amy Uhl and then who knows what the summer will bring, other than some much needed time spent with my kids!
