Class Notes

A R T SHome GrownSummer Stages Dance (SSD) atConcord Academy will explodewith even more CA talent than usualthis summer, including performancesby two of the school’s mostacclaimed alum-dancers.Rashaun Mitchell ’96, called“the most riveting” of Merce Cunninghamdancers by the New YorkTimes, will perform with poet AnneCarson at the Institute for ContemporaryArt/Boston (ICA) on July 20,in “his Boston debut and his firstwork as a major new, youngchoreographer,” according to SSDcodirector and CA dance teacherRichard Colton.In another Boston-area debut,the new dance company that ZackWinokur ’07 codirects, The Troupe,performs July 17. Winokur will bedancing—back in CA’s studio, justlike old times.Forging a CA parent connection,internationally recognized artistJenny Holzer, parent of Lili Holzer-Glier ’06, will collaborate with choreographerMiguel Gutierrez July 28 atthe ICA, adding her text-as-art projectionsto the Summer Stagespalette. SSD has more performancesat the ICA than in years pastbecause CA’s Performing Arts Centerwill be closed this summer forfire safety upgrades.Behind the scenes, dancersMarissa Palley ’04 and Lily Susskind’04 will work with SSD choreographers,Justin Samaha ’94 will beback once again as residentdesigner, and Emma McCormick-Goodhart ’08 will be artistic liaisonfor SSD’s series, “Co Lab: Process+ Performance at the ICA.”Summer Stages Dance held "A Winter’s Cabaret"in February, which raised $10,000 for scholarshipsto support the program’s young dancers andemerging choreographers. Among the performerswas Zack Winokur ’07, below.Lisa VollC O N C O R D A C A D E M Y M A G A Z I N E S P R I N G 2 0 1 0Philippa Kaye ’8738PHILIPPA KAYE ’87 is artistic directorand choreographer for Philippa KayeCompany, a “laboratory for movementinvention” based in Brooklyn. Kaye hasdanced with choreographers includingScott Wells, Sara Rudner, Laura Staton,and Pat Birch and has created worksfor organizations including the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum ofthe Smithsonian Institution, the 92ndStreet Y, and the DC InternationalImprovisation Festival.Karen SterlingWhen did you start dancing? Whatinspired you when you first began?I started ballet classes at Miss Neubert’sin Carnegie Hall when I was six. I wasswept up by the music, the mystique ofold NYC art institutions, and the expressivepersonalities. It was the 1980s, so allthe defections to the U.S. from theUSSR added to the drama.What sparked your move from classicalballet as a child to moderndance?I experienced my first memorable rejectionat age fourteen when I was notasked back to the School of AmericanBallet. The rotation of my femurs in myhip sockets was not considered flexibleenough to achieve the lines necessary fora professional. Although I rememberfeeling devastated, I was already kickingmy legs every which way in theatredance classes and in nightclubs. I beganto explore the range of dance vocabulary.What is the appeal of moderndance over other forms?Maybe the appeal of modern dance is itsconnection to the individual voice andits earnest striving for purity. I am in thislineage, however I call what I do contemporarydance. This may be semanticquibbling to some, but I find historians’distinctions helpful. (The ModernEra for dance is roughly 1890–1960.)Modern dance masters such as DorisHumphrey, Martha Graham, and LesterHorton codified their movement practicein order that dancers could embodytheir form. I am not interested in makinga total theory of movement orimpressing my movement preferencesonto other bodies. Like contemporaryartists or contemporary composers, I’mdiscovering what methods are most relevantnow.What inspires your choreography?For example, you have developeddance for the Prospect Park Zoo,reflecting on animals’ courtships.How do you get yourself into themind of an animal?I am inspired by nature and science. (Iloved AP Biology at CA.) To make thework in Prospect Park Zoo, we studiedother species’ behavior, anatomy, andmetabolism as a way to get more fullyinto our own animal minds and bodies.Our activity in the zoo was a mirrorencouraging people to watch their ownanimal behavior. (There were occasionswhen I had to pull us back, reapplylearned social conventions, in order not