2012 Winter Update
After the holiday show and winter break, PYD in past years has had a lull in events and performances before the Spring season kicked into full gear. This year, we decided to take advantage of cold weather and short days with minimal daylight to…sleep in? Hibernate? No, quite the opposite. To take on New York City with a vengeance, have three shows in two weeks, and basically run ourselves ragged with amazing classes, shows and bonding experiences that hopefully we won’t be too tired to remember for years to come. What a month January was! I could write a tome describing last month’s activities, but I will try to keep it to a couple of paragraphs.
NEW YORK CITY TRIP
The New York City trip was two days of incredible classes and shows that everyone found educational and enjoyable. The dancers took a Cunningham modern class at the Merce Studios, a Samba class and House hip hop class at the Capezio Peridance Center, and a West African class at the Ailey Studio. Some dancers found the energy to take a Contemporary or Musical Theater class at Broadway Dance Center while others observed. The shows we saw were Traces, Fuerza Bruta, and Parsons Dance. I hope your daughters shared some pictures/video clips of these events with you, as they were quite amazing.
SHOWS
Both Company and Company II danced at the Red Claws halftime on January 20th. The Company also danced at Scarborough High School on January 19th, and then at Thornton Academy on January 28th. With such a busy schedule, Company dancers had a much needed day off on January 21st. Some members of Company II danced for the Barbara Bush Children’s hospital on February 10th. Our dancers recieved wonderful feedback on their performances and we were so proud of their hard work and energy during these shows.
IN REHEARSAL
Company dancers have been working creatively on their own choreography projects and debriefing about the New York trip and the year thus far. I enjoyed meeting with each dancer individually to talk about their dancing and their PYD experience this year.
Company II has been working on technique with Elizabeth and cleaning Kate’s modern dance. As well, they have continued to work on Run The World (Girls) with Elizabeth.
OUTREACH
The Company is participating in a couple of exciting Outreach events. Eidann, Zoe, Kristina and Bri are working with a group from the Center for Grieving Children, creating movement for a new music composition based on the students’ experiences with cultural loss and grief. Susan is overseeing this. Former PYD Outreach dancers and awesome breakdancers, Peter and Daniel will be teaching a class at the East End School, overseen by Missy Cloutier. All other Company dancers will be working on an in-house Outreach at Casco Bay Movers on April 7th, April 28th, May 5th, and May 12th, 4 Saturdays from 12:30 – 1:30pm to create a piece for Outreach Dancers to perform in the May show.
