A class on imagination and curiosity

Composition students from fall 2015: Caitlin Austin and Joel Davila

There’s something powerful about making your own movement, giving into your curiosity and seeing just how far your imagination can take you. 

Last year, Professor Catherine Solaas encouraged her composition students to let the choreography process take them beyond technique, challenging them to find their own meaning of dance. Creating a supportive environment in the dance studio, Catherine helped students use movement to showcase their unique identities, thoughts and experiences.

Caitlin Austin in rehearsal.

“Stillness is really important,” Caitlin Austin said about her choreography process, “the world is crazy and hectic, and you need to come back to stillness, to find balance.” Austin’s solo was inspired by a 10-day silent meditation she participated in that semester. Working with in class assignments, written reflections and feedback from classmates and Professor Solaas, Austin created a solo showcasing “the role of stillness in life.”

Joel Davila also responded to in class assignments and feedback during his process. Using personal writings to find inspiration for his choreography, he summed up the semester-long process as a “manifestations of thoughts.” 

Professor Catherine Solaas is teaching her Introduction to Composition class again this fall. Welcoming beginner and advanced students, she’s looking forward to tailoring the class to fit everyone’s individual level; whether it’s a first time choreographer or an advanced student wanting to dive into a new choreographic genre or medium. 

Introduction to Composition is a class that opens up space for the kind of artistic exploration that allows dancers to nourish their aesthetic and discover how to engage through movement. In December, the explorations of the semester will be collected, polished and presented to the public for the Fall Choreographers’ Showcase. 

Joel Davila in rehearsal.

Join Catherine on Mondays and Wednesday from 12:30 – 2:15 pm in the Rio Grande Campus Dance Studio. Let your imagination take over this fall and give in to your curiosity!

Apply online and register for Introduction to Dance Composition: DANC 1101 Section 08924. 

For questions or more information, email Catherine Solaas at csolaas@austincc.edu.

Photos by Anne Wharton.

Transpositions

Visit the Facebook event page for more information or call 512.223.3352.

One of our own is coming home!

Melissa Watt - ACC's newest dance professor!

“Anything is dance - it doesn’t have to be a perfect ballet or a perfect modern piece. You can be a creator. You can be a choreographer, whether you think you can or not. It just takes the willingness to experiment and play.” - Melissa Watt

Former ACC dance student Melissa Watt is returning to the Rio Grande Campus to teach the dance performance workshop class this summer.

Between her undergrad at North Texas University and earning her Masters in Dance at Texas Woman’s University, Melissa dove into classes at ACC. She studied under Allison Orr, took ballet from Kathy Dunn Hamrick, learned Martha Graham repertory from Jessica Coxe, and fell in love with Darla Johnson’s pedagogy.

“I just love the community aspect,” Melissa said. She fondly remembers Darla’s circled warm-ups and the immediate feeling of connection fostered in the studio.

Similar to Darla’s workshop classes, Melissa also values improvisation and highly encourages her students to collaborate with her during the choreography process. “I like non-traditional, kind of experimental dance,” Melissa said about her choreographic style.

Previous dance performance workshop performance by Darla Johnson. Photo by Anne Wharton.

She particularly enjoys a variety show format. At TWU, her final project brought together dance, talking, live music and projections. “It’s so engaging and fun, and it brings people of all different backgrounds together.  We can all watch this together and share laughs about whatever is going on,” Melissa said. She also loves the unpredictability of mixing up genres and mediums. “You never know what’s going to happen next - it’s a surprise!”

The summer dance informance this year is right up her alley. The informance has been transformed into a multidisciplinary showcase pulling together students and faculty from dance, music, drama, creative writing, RTF and visual art.

Dancers from Darla's previous summer dance piece. Photo by Anne Wharton.

Melissa’s class will focus on creating a dance piece to premiere in the August showcase. Whether the piece involves filming or jamming to live music, the only guarantee is you’ll be moving and having fun!

Registration is open now through July 29 for Melissa's class: DANC 1351 Syn 05384. Grab your spot today before the class fills and open your world to everything that dance can be!

Mark your calendars now for the showcase of the summer, August 11 and 12 at 8 pm; it's free and open to the public!

To dance with wild abandon

Joel Davila and Nedda Tehrany in Johnson's previous work.

By Anne Wharton

Austin Community College’s Spring 2016 Choreographers’ Showcase opens with brightly colored polka dots splashed behind twirling ribbons, gyrating hula hoops and delightful acrobatics. Darla Johnson’s newest work, Balter* Party Throw Down, is all color and blithesome movement. Her piece pulls the audience into an evening of exploration, comedy, narrative and abstract movement.

Ten ACC dance composition students premiere works ranging from Nico Locke’s postmodern cavort through faerie woodland to Ryan Parent’s contemporary exploration of constellations. Locke and Ryan are veteran choreographers on the Rio Grande Campus Mainstage Theater, but newcomers like Lillian Gerrity also add their voice to the evening. 

Lillian Gerrity lifting Lindsey Gerson in Johnson's previous work.

“It was an emotionally interesting process of starting, stopping and backtracking,” Gerrity says about her first time choreographing for the showcase. A former performer in Darla Johnson’s workshop class, Gerrity wanted to continue studying under Johnson and signed up for dance composition. “It grows you a lot when you have to be that emotionally vulnerable,” she says. “You have to channel your emotions through the need for technique and structure; creating something within a recognized art form. I came away with a better understand of how to do that,” she says.

Joel Davila also presents work for the first time on the Mainstage Theater for the showcase. His piece, A Look Inside, is a constant ebb and flow of contact, partnering and structured shapes. “I was never worried about the process,” he says. “I could go into rehearsals without a concrete idea and just ask the dancers to improvise while thinking about something or using specific tools, and then I would throw that into the dance.” 

Professor Roxy Gage setting the bow on the full cast for the spring 2016 showcase.

Improvisation is the equalizing factor for the dance department’s open-door policy. It allows technical dancers to mentor those with less experience while everyone explores and creates new patterns together. “There really is a lot of variation in dance experience,” Parent said about the dancers in his piece. “I worked with people who hadn’t done a lot of modern dance partnering before.” 

Choreographing at ACC allows Parent to mentor students while also challenging himself and others to grow. “You don’t want to do the things you already know how to do,” Parent says. The fun is finding out you can do things you didn’t know how to do. 

Nico Locke in a previously choreographed solo.

Locke’s challenge for the showcase was breaking away from his more serious work as a choreographer to try his hand at a lighter piece. His dance, Faeries are Love?, incorporates entrance bloopers, comedic sound effects, dialogue pointed at the audience, Shakespeare references and a smidgeon of singing. “People think modern and contemporary work is about angst or being serious. I wanted to challenge myself to create something that reflected my personality,” Locke says. 

And that’s the strength of the Austin Community College Spring 2016 Choreographers' Showcase – reflecting personality onstage. It’s a beautiful mesh of faeries, epic journeys, cheesy romance stories and cheeky adventures in Paris. But it’s also the tapestry of new dancers and experienced dancers coming together with open minds and the courage to be vulnerable together in the name of dance. 

*Balter: to dance with wild abandon.

For tickets and more information about the showcase, visit the ACC Dance Facebook Page.

Photos by Anne Wharton.

Four reasons to drop everything and dance at ACC

Nico Locke having a good day at ACC.

1. Bad mornings ruin good days.
The only thing standing between you and a bad day is Roxy’s Jazz Class. Get some sass in your step first thing in the morning and have yourself a good day. 
(Jazz Dance I DANC 1147, Tues/Thurs 8:50-10:10 am at the Rio Grande Campus).

2. It’s been two weeks and the gym is getting old.
Congrats for making it this far, but you know you’ll have more fun working out in a dance studio than lifting weights, right? Darla has you covered with her infamous warm-ups in Dance Performance. And bonus, you get to show off those new abs in the Choreographers’ Showcase at the end of the semester! 
(Introduction to Dance Performance DANC 1151, Mon/Wed 5:10-6:55 pm at the Rio Grande Campus).

3. You need a little more happy in your life, and who doesn’t?
Take Catherine’s composition class and find your happy zone while making dances. There’s scientific evidence that creativity is linked with happiness, even if you aren’t a dancer. So sign up for your slice of bliss and remember, 
science wants you to dance! 
(Introduction to Dance Composition DANC 1101, Mon/Wed 12:30-2:15 pm at the Rio Grande Campus).

Jill Lake accessing happiness through creativity - science is telling you to dance!

4. You need some dance parties to get you through the semester.
We hear you. There’s no room for stress in our improvisation classes. It’s a dance party waiting to happen, minus painful shoes or embarrassing moments where you trip over living room furniture. 
(Catherine’s Dance Improvisation I DANC 2145, Mon/Wed 10:40 am -12:25 pm and 
Darla’s Dance Improvisation II DANC 2146 Mon/Wed 7:00-8:45 pm at the Rio Grande Campus).

Pretty convincing reasons right? Now literally drop everything and register for class because Wednesday at 5:00 pm is the deadline.

See you in the studio!

See you in the studio for 2016!!