Guest Artist Reflection: Alie Vidich

Guest Artist Reflection: Alie Vidich

Alie Vidich came into the studio with a down-to-earth smile and calm demeanor. Once class started, the room was upbeat and groovin’ side-to-side and back-to-front. The sneaker-wearing Vidich shouldn’t have surprised us with her Zumba-like warm-up, considering she teaches the practice and is also well-known for her large movements that can be seen from a bridge. Yep, a bridge! Alie + the Brigade has been working since 2012 on INVISIBLE RIVER, a dance performance project that takes place on, hanging from, and around Strawberry Mansion Bridge. Check out updates on this work at http://www.alieandthebrigade.org/.

In anticipation for Relay for Life, Vidich worked with fifteen Junior Company members to create a Flash Mob to be performed at the event.  Jr. dancer, Haley Galloway,  reminded us why a Flash Mob would be perfect for this event.  “In a Flash Mob you have to think of dance moves that people watching can also learn. It will attract other people’s attention.” 

Our own brigade of dancers impressed each other and impressed the representing Professional CoEXIST members. Not only were they able to keep up with the fast-paced class, but their commitment in class had them quickly executing the moves and performing with a smile. Maddie Ash said, “Your dance teacher isn’t telling you to put your leg up to your head and do a thousand turns. In a Flash Mob, you just let all your energy out.”  Julia described it as “a combination of different styles of dance,” and Kashmir said “it’s spontaneous and… different things.”

Vidich’s ongoing suggestions and playful teaching style challenged and improved the quality of performance from the company. They did not just learn a fun combination – this was a full-on production! Formations, learned steps, and self-invented choreography melded together to create the Flash Mob in less than two hours!

We’re very excited to be bringing this to Relay.  “When you’re at something like Relay for Life people don’t expect you to just jump out and start dancing,” Maria Grandizio explains.  Come see us perform our Flash Mob on May 30, 2014 at the Norwood Relay for Life at Amosland Park! Support our fundraising at: here! 

Relay for Life

April's DotM: Haley Galloway

April's Dancer of the Month: 

Haley Galloway

One of my favorite dance memories was in my old studio, when I was probably 10 years old, for competition our song was "let's get loud" it was a great dance. When I was younger we performed really early in the morning, and our dance was one of the very first ones. The judges of the competition said our dance was the dance that got everybody awake and happy to start the day so that felt really good to have a dance like that.

My absolute favorite genre of dance has to be lyrical, because lyrical for me is a kind of dance that really tells a story and I like to connect with the dance. The movements of lyrical are beautiful and I get to really express myself. When I go to competitions I always love watching lyrical the most because the ones that tell a story are always memorable. 

My role model is Miss Katie. She always has been since the first time I had her as a teacher. She teaches me a lot and her dances are always the best. 

I hope that my dancing will take me through college and be part of my career. In college I will minor in dance, I hope to be a dance teacher or choreographer and inspire people to dance and to love dance the way I do.

I have plenty of favorite songs to dance to, but recently my favorite to dance to is holding out for a hero by Ella Mae Brown. I don't have a choreographed dance to it, but I wish I did.

I feel really nervous and anxious before a performance. Before a performance sometimes my team tries to give little pep talks, we huddle in a circle and we all point our foot.

My favorite thing about CoEXIST is that we get to dance with new people and try new ways of dancing. I like master classes also, to learn new styles and see what other people focus on when they're dancing.

The hardest thing I have overcome as a dancer is pointing my feet. Most dancers can point their foot and it looks beautiful but my feet don't point the correct way because of a certain bone, so it's hard for me because I have to work twice as hard. I used to get yelled at all the time because teachers would think I wasn't pointing my feet.

My favorite dance move is a calypso jump, it took me a while to finally get it, but I love it.

Thursday is my favorite day of the week for dance, because we start with comp jazz which usually exhausts me, but then I have pointe, pointe is a challenge but I like to challenge myself and see myself improve. Lastly, I have modern. I really like my modern dance this year, so it's a good end to my day.

My birthday is September 16, 1998.

CoEXIST has really helped me as a dancer and a person because it gave me a feel for how to handle auditions in the future, and it gives me experience with dancers that I really didn't know that well, it was overwhelming at first but now I feel accomplished because of CoEXIST. 

Keila Cordova Dances.... with CoEXISTdance!

On a rainy lazy Saturday afternoon in March, the Jr. dancers of CoEXISTdance were moving, sweating, stretching, exploring, and reaching outside their limitations. Keila Cordova gave an amazing master class to our dancers, inspiring and challening them all at once!

The class began with an intricate exploration or diagonal lines and making Horton-inspired T shapes. (Re: "What is Horton technique?" Check out here: http://www.dancemagazine.com/issues/February-2007/Technique-The-Hows-of-Horton)"The movement style was very tight and controlled", Julia Huppman noted. This linear technique of modern was something very new to most of the dancers, another student, Erin Moran, commented that "The movement was unique!"

Dancers were challenged to count in six as opposed to the traditional eight count while creating T shapes and simultanesouly changing their facing from the mirror to the floor and back again. "The most challening part for me was the T because you had to keep your core strong",  Abby Miller said. Dancers learned how to maintain a see-saw relationship between their torsos' and legs' in order to demonstrate a perfectly proportional T. Their abdominals certainly got a workout from all of the T work they performed!

After a thorough warm-up and modern technique exploration, the class ventured across the floor. The Jr. Company tried Egyptian Walking, which challenged them to hold a 90 degree shape across their arms and chest. Dancers also worked on isolations and walking across the floor at the same time. This allowed dancers to stay strong in their focus and physicality while having fun with each other. Abby Miller mentioned, "Keila taught me how to stay strong and have fun at the same time. I will remember that." Dancer Alexa Fooskas mentioned, ""I did not know that I could hold up my knee and shake it out at the same time." This class was a wonderful opportunity for dancers to achieve new potentials they did not believe they could!

The remainder of the class included balancing, connecting with other dancers, and reaching outside physical limitations. Dancer Sophia Severson said that ""I will not worry so much about my size while I am dancing!"and fellow Jr. dancer Haley Galloway "I was inspired by Keila's speech about dancing outside of your limitations. No matter how short or tall you are, you can use your dancing to become whatever you want to be." Keila truly passed along a lifelong lesson to our dancers through her beautiful words and gentle presence.

To conclude class, Keila pushed our dancers to travel in a reaching T in pairs. Dancers would start at opposite corners of the room and do their best to make eye contact with each other while traveling. Dancer Maria Grandizio mentioned, "I will take Keila's lesson about making eye contact into my other dance classes and performances". The exercise was quick, challening the dancers to think on their feet and to jump into new connections with different dancers each time. Dancer Maddie Ash notes, "I will remember what it felt like to be paired up quickly with another dancer and make a connection with them. It was fun!"



Keila Cordova surely shook things up in the Jr. Company, waking us up for spring! The dancers fell in love with Keila's nurutring teaching style and inspirational stories, we are so excited for her to see us perform at World Dance Day on April 27th! Check out http://954dmc.weebly.com/world-dance-day-2013.html to see pictures from last year's World Dance Day performance!