True to the Carole Cascio Fund’s core mission, the event was entirely free and open to students, faculty, and community members of all levels. What set this Day of Dance apart was the extraordinary variety of classes and master instructors featured across the day: Jazz with Molly Heer, Tap with Stephanie O’Hare, Musical Theater with Adrienne Kraus Latanishen and Ballroom with Lia Mervis.
A primary intent of this particular Day of Dance was to introduce participants to styles and masterclasses that are not typically offered in standard curricula. With diverse groups of over 50 total participants spanning beginner to advanced skill levels—including college students, faculty, local studio dancers, and family members—each class offered something entirely new to explore.
Molly’s class provided a breezy, easy-going way to start the day, allowing students to get thoroughly warmed up and ready to move. She took them a wonderful phrase that they were able to accomplish by the end of class.
Following jazz, Stephanie’s tap class was challenging, fun, and incremental in the tap rhythms she laid out. By carefully demonstrating each step, she guided the dancers to build up to a long with phrase with different rhythms that the entire group danced together.
Adrienne taught all the participants a dance from the musical Nine, creating an experience that was catchy, rhythmic, and a lot of fun. By the end of class, the dancers look fantastic doing the two minute phrase.
Lia’s Ballroom class drew another large group of close to 40 participants divided into leaders and followers, it was a really fun mix of different people from the campus, a swim coach, a campus administrator, some athletes dancers and community members. Lia taught three different social dances: swing, foxtrot, and salsa.
Feedback gathered from a few attendees and student leaders highlighted the profound community impact and accessibility of the workshop: Grace Pitman, dance minor and Vice President of the Dance Club, shared: “We need more dance! It brings people together, and I hope to see more faces in this wonderful community that I’m so happy to be a part of.”
Amelia Bickel, Dance Club Secretary, emphasized the importance of accessibility: “I think it’s important to have open community dance classes to make dance more accessible to more people.” She also appreciated the rare opportunity to explore diverse styles not typically offered on the Eastern Shore, such as ballroom.
It was a very successful day for everyone! Ken Schweitzer and Executive Director Peter Pucci were excited about the Day of Dance and possibility of having another Day of Dance at Washington College.
