Dancer Profiles – Graduating Seniors ’12

Each spring we honor our graduating Seniors at Prairie School of Dance.  This blog series highlights what they love about Prairie School of Dance and their passions and interests.   This profile is Rachel Doyle, a Senior in our Performing Arts Division.

Name: Rachel Doyle

Number of Years at PSOD: 12 years

Plans for Next Year: Bethel University

What inspires you?
To me, it is inspiring to see people working hard to achieve their goals. I am very self-motivated, and other people’s dedication inspires me even more to keep a positive attitude in everything I do and work hard to get even just a little bit better. Also, I think it is awesome when people go out of their way to help someone, even if sometimes they receive no recognition. I think selflessness is such an admirable quality; friends and teachers that are selfless inspire me to be selfless as well.

What is your favorite style of dance? Why?
I connect most with lyrical styles of dance. I love adding breath to movement and feeling graceful, yet strong.

How have you been able to live out your faith at PSOD?
This year’s “Psalm 139” show was a great way for me to make my dance a form of worship. Dancing is like a prayer… Psalm 149:3 says to “Praise his name with dancing.” I am so thankful that God gave me a healthy body so that I can create art through dance.

What makes PSOD classes excellent and wholesome?
Definitely the people that make up PSOD. Some of my strongest friendships have been with girls that I see weekly at class. Also, I love how the teachers make an effort to have a personal relationship with their students and go beyond simply playing the role of the “teacher.” I know that they not only want to help me become a better dancer, but also a better person.

If you could give any advice to a young dancer, what would you tell them?
I would tell them to stick it out! When I was younger, I went through a phase where I wasn’t very interested in coming to class or even just stretching at home. But I never quit, and now I am soooo glad that I stuck with it!

At PSOD, you’re honored with a senior solo at the Spring Recital. What are you most looking forward to?
I am just excited that my final memory of my time here at Prairie School of Dance will be my senior solo. I hope that it will be a surreal experience, and I am excited to look back and remember the great time I had performing.

Prairie School of Dance Performance Make-up Video

Prairie School of Dance is proud to announce that we now have our own make up kits (available photo week!) We thought you might want to know how to use them, so we asked our resident expert, Mallory Dykema to show us how to put on make up for Performances.  This wonderful instructional video is a perfect how to for all our dancers, parents and anyone else who might help you put on your make up.  Special thank you to our model, Miss Jayne Heitner!

WATCH HERE!

Keys to a successful Photo week

This Saturday, April 21 (tomorrow!) marks the beginning of our all school Photo Week.  We wanted to be sure you are well prepared – here’s what you need to know.

1. Arrive on time to your class – all classes at PRAIRIE LUTHERAN STUDIO LOCATION THIS WEEK, April 21-27.

2. Bring the right shoes.

3. Come to class in costume with all accessories and tights.

4. Wear your desired make up for photos.

5. Wear your hair as for the recital (see your costume sheet.)

6.  Have your parents come in to pick up your recital information and dancer packet.

7. View/Order your photos online.

8. SMILE!

See you this week in the studio.

Tap Dancing Passion

We love when our teachers share their passion with us inside the dance studio and out.  Recently our school had Tap Company auditions so we decided to catch up with Isla Katz who is the teacher for our company.  Isla is a sophomore at the University of Minnesota studying Spanish and Speech Language and Hearing Sciences. Her love for tap began at age 3 and further blossomed when she became a member of Keane Sense of Rhythm Youth Tap Ensemble at 11 years old.  She remained with the ensemble through her high school years, and continues her education in Tap each summer at Chicago Human Rhythm Project where she takes classes with master dancers.

Miss Isla teaches tap at Prairie School of Dance and is leading our Tap Company in this year’s participation at the National Tap Dance Day on Sunday, May 20th at Southdale Mall in Edina, MN between 12-4 p.m.

We asked Miss Isla a few questions about her love for Tap Dancing and teaching it:

What is it that you love about Tap?

I love the rhythms that I can create with my own body.  I can’t listen to music without tapping it in my head or often with my feet! I can’t imagine my life without tapping.  Once when I was performing with 40 kids from the US on a trip to Beijing, China to perform a Christmas show.  We were visiting the Forbidden City and there was music playing and all of a sudden I realized all of us were “shuffling” our feet as we moved along because that’s what tappers do out of habit.  I realized with these people I felt “normal” – all of us in the same boat – and I will never forget it.

What do you like about teaching Tap?

I like to choreograph my own dances and see how each student puts it into their own way.  It’s nice to transfer my knowledge because I have studied with Master Tappers such as Jason Samuel Smith, Diane Walker, Sam Weber and Lane Alexander.  It’s nice to know all that I’ve learned is being passed down to future generation of students.

What should every tap dancer know?

How to count and timing!  The most important thing is to have relaxed feet.  Letting your feet be an extension of your whole leg is essential to the rhythm and controlling your speed.  You don’t DO tap, you let the rhythm move you and your body expresses that.

What is the future of tap?

It’s critical that we find a way to marry music and dance.  People need to recognize more the balance between the two and that Tap dancers are actually musicians with their feet.  If we found places for tap within music schools there would be a better chance of promoting this style of dance and continuing the long tradition of this style of dancing.

Dancer Profiles – Graduating Seniors ’12

Each spring we honor our graduating Seniors at Prairie School of Dance.  We thought you might want to find out what they love about Prairie School of Dance and their passions and interests.  This month we profile Kaara Hulstrand, a Senior in our Recreational Division.

 

Name:  Kaara Hulstrand

Years at Prairie School of Dance: 5 years

1. What is your most memorable experience at Prairie School of Dance?
“Substitute teaching for Miss Sonia’s sacred class, Miss Jenna’s tap class, and the way the teachers support me and encourage me through my dancing.”

2. What is your favorite style of dance? Why?
“I am in love with sacred. It’s a spiritual way of worshiping God, and also increasing modern technique.”

3. What inspires you?
“My past. Death, anger, rage, envy, jealousy but also hope and wanting to be the woman God has brought me up to be.”

4. What are your other passions that you have been able to pursue while having a quality dance education?
“Another way I love to worship is to sing. I have spent the past four years singing in the worship team at my church for youth group. I also have been working on my fashion designs for the past three years, sketching out my ideas onto paper. I also dance at my school ( Main Street School of Performing Arts).  I have studied Modern, Jazz, and ballet. In the past three years I have created my own dance pieces, and performed them in various settings.”

5. If you could give any advice to a young dancer at PSOD, what would you tell them?
“Don’t worry about what you look like while you dance, just be yourself (and take Miss Mallory’s class, she’s the best!)”