On November 4th CCF sponsored its 3rd Day of Dance at the Todd Center for the Performing Arts at Chesapeake College. Over 40 dance students from the community were able to participate in four free dance classes. Ballet, Modern Dance, Hip Hop and Partnering. The dancers that participated were from 10 schools and studios that included, the Mid Shore Dance Academy, To the Pointe Studio, Queen Anne’s County High School, Chesapeake College, Washington College, Eastern Shore Dance Studio, Step 1 Dance 2 Studio, the Baltimore School for the Arts, Northwood High School and JFK High School.
The dance students had the opportunity to take class with renowned professionals from the field of dance. Rena Bernardini from the Washington Ballet in DC taught an American Ballet Theater certified ballet class. She is currently a faculty member at the Washington Ballet Academy and a former ballerina with the Fort Wayne Ballet. Rena’s class was friendly, informative and challenging. Joann Moorer, a faculty accompanist with the CCBC Dance program, played piano for the class.
Following the ballet class, Robert Kleinendorst taught a modern dance class based on the technique of Paul Taylor. Rob was a former principal dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company in New York City for 21 years. Rob is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at Towson University. Rob’s class was something completely different for the dancers in style and technique. Rob created all music that played in class. His approach was fun, joyful and vigorous.
After Rob’s class the students enjoyed a healthy snack provided by the CCF and a very informal and informative Q&A session with Guest Artists. The students were able to ask many questions pertaining to the dance business, the histories of the individual artists and how to properly maintain and take care of your body as a dancer.
After the break, CCF Teaching Artist, Adrienne Kraus Latanishen taught an energetic hip hop class. She prepared three minutes of choreography for the students. It was very ambitious, but all of the dancers learned the material during class time. Over the last year and a half many of the students have become very familiar and comfortable with Adrienne’s technique.
The final class for the Day of Dance was a modern partnering class taught by Krystal Butler. Krystal was with Pilobolus Dance Theater for 10 years and toured internationally with the company. She recently completed a dance residency at the Kennedy Center called Office Hours. Krystal’s class was a lively and challenging approach to duet partnering that was inventive, action packed and fun filled.
Krystal’s class was a wonderful way to finish the day. The students thoroughly enjoyed the day and had many different experiences between Rena’s ABT ballet class, Rob traditional modern dance class and Adrienne’s hip hop choreography.
The dancers and parents were very appreciative to have the opportunity to work with so many renowned professionals from the dance world.
