Twin City Titans
Posted on May 1, 2013 by Camille LeFevre
Uri Sands coaches students in TU Dance repertory.
An intermediate African-based movement class is getting underway at TU Dance Center in St. Paul, which opened two years ago. Ninety minutes later, Toni Pierce-Sands, one of the center’s founders, smiles and leans across the piano, clapping to the dancers’ rhythmic movements as the class wraps up. Sweaty and exhilarated, the students, who are enrolled in the school’s pre-professional program, quickly trade their chayas and lappas for ballet slippers and begin their ballet class. On other days, the students study modern dance—often Horton technique—with Pierce-Sands (the “T” in TU). They also learn TU Dance repertory choreographed by co-founder Uri Sands (the “U” in TU) from company members.
The Twin Cities has numerous nonprofit dance schools and for-profit studios. But the Sands started their school after noticing a lack of racial and cultural diversity that didn’t reflect the increasing multiculturalism of the Twin Cities. “We saw a need for another choice and another way of training kids in dance,” says Pierce-Sands, referring to a program she initiated for students from schools in underserved areas (see “Making it Happen,” below). Also, in a community heavy on modern and postmodern dance, the school’s curriculum is unique. Pierce-Sands calls it “tri-part training” in modern, ballet and West African dance.
“The professional world today demands that dancers have fluency in a number of different genres,” she says. “We teach West African because it is a grounding force that complements modern and ballet in ways other styles do not. To be ready for the dance world today and tomorrow, students need these three foundational pillars, and to know how they’re connected.”
Toni Pierce-Sands leads a modern class.
“We knew we had to have a company in order for the school to be successful, so the students could be connected with professional dancers,” says Pierce-Sands. “We’re not necessarily grooming future dancers for TU Dance,” Sands adds. “With our pre-professional program, we give students the tools to develop as young artists, so they have the best possible chance of success as they enter a company apprenticeship, or are accepted into a college or university dance program.”
While the curriculum isn’t “necessarily modeled on The Ailey School,” Pierce-Sands adds, “Mr. Ailey had one thing right.” Actually, pipes in Sands, “He had a couple things right!” They both laugh as Pierce-Sands continues. “Those three techniques are within the Ailey technique, along with Graham, Horton and Dunham. So we can’t help our influences. They’re part of our tool kit.”
Growing more reflective for a moment, she then adds: “Some days, for instance, I look at all these beautiful kids who are looking up at me, waiting. And I call on Mrs. Houlton, as I remember being that kid and how she inspired us. I also call in Mr. Ailey, and his idea of training young people to be dancers and present in their time.”
“Toni and Uri’s vision of building a space for teenagers from all walks of life to discover the discipline and joy of rigorous contemporary dance training is already achieving great results with young people,” says Carl Flink, chair of the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance, University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. “I feel certain the center will have a ripple effect in the makeup of the Twin Cities dance community in the coming years.”
Pre-professional students take classes in West African dance as well as modern and ballet.
The center also provides training opportunities for dance professionals, including open TU Dance company classes and TU dancer Berit Ahlgren’s Gaga workshops. “Given how robust the Twin Cities dance community is, I’ve always been surprised at the extremely limited number of studios available for professional artists to maintain, explore and expand their training,” Flink says. “The TU Dance Center, and its very accessible central location to both St. Paul and Minneapolis, represents a critical new training option in our dance community.”
“Through this level of training, we’re turning out amazing human beings, whether they dance or become audience members or administrators in dance,” says Pierce-Sands. “When Uri and I started TU Dance, we knew we also wanted a school. And one day I envisioned young kids waiting on the corner for a bus to our studio, just like my sister and I took the bus to MDT.” Then, her vision came true.
“One evening I walked out of the center and saw one of our young dancers standing in the bus shelter, with her leg up on the glass wall, stretching. I thought, ‘People are driving by and there’s a young dancer. We’re putting dance out in the world, just like in New York.’” DT
No comments:
Post a Comment