March 22, 2026, the Todd Performing Arts center at Chesapeake College.
The local dance community, including Mid Shore Dance Academy from Centreville, Design in Motion from Annapolis, The Ensemble from Baltimore, New Motions Dance Studio in Cambridge and dancers from the Towson University Dance Program. The dancers recently had the enriching opportunity to participate in a Paul Taylor intensive, guided by former Paul Taylor Dance Company alumni, Amy Young Kleinendorst and her husband, Rob Kleinendorst, both hailing from New York City. This collaborative community event at Chesapeake College was coordinated by the Carole Cascio Fund and Rob Thompson, Director of the Todd Performing Arts Center (TPAC).
The day started with the Paul Taylor technique class talked by Rob for all the dancers as a warm-up the repertory classes. The workshop drew a variety of local dancers who immersed themselves in the celebrated Paul Taylor repertory. Over the course of the intensive, participants successfully learned four distinct dances from the company’s vast repertory, gaining firsthand experience with Taylor’s signature blend of athleticism and naturalistic movement.
The program concluded with an informal showing, where the dancers presented the repertory they had learned over the course of five hours rehearsal with Amy and Rob. This was followed by an engaging Q&A session, which allowed all audience members to interact directly with Amy Rob, and Executive Director Peter Pucci, who narrated the discussion. There were a wide range of topics discussed, including, the Paul Taylor dance technique, the history of the company, and the inspiration behind one of modern dance’s most enduring legacy of iconic dances by the master choreographer Paul Taylor. The audience that attended the workshop showing had a rare opportunity to see some of Paul Taylor’s repertory locally.
March 19, 2026 Centreville. CCF Teaching Artist Amy Young Kleinendorst, has cultivated a relationship with Queen Anne’s County High School over the last two years in coordination with Dance Program Director Kristin Tyler, taught a Paul Taylor master class at the high school. The dancers, already familiar with Amy, embraced the opportunity to take her lively, fun, and athletically driven class prior to her later participation in the Paul Taylor Dancing Intensive.
