2009 Alumni Jonathan Delgado Returns as Guest Artist

On Monday, February 27, MacDuffie alumni Jonathan Delgado ('09) returned to MacDuffie to spend the day teaching ballet to our upper school dance students.  Jonathan is currently in his junior year at the University of The Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he is a ballet major.  

Here is what our current students thought of their special class...

"I liked that we were introduced to some new dane techniques" - Natalie

" I loved how the music was more modern. It made the technique fun!"

"I really liked how Jonathan used upbeat music for ballet.  It made it a lot of fun and gave the class a good feel!"

"I liked the playful atmosphere Jonathan brought to our ballet class."

"I loved his style.  He used movement that we knew how to do so we could focus on the technical aspects like our arms and heels in the rond de jambe exercises." - Eva

"I enjoyed the music.  It was contemporary and made doing the movements easier and lots of fun!" - Kim

"I loved the whole class in general! I liked the music, the warm up, the across the floor work and Jonathan's personality!  He was great!"- Nikai Fondon

"I loved the Whitney Houston music and the whole class including the warm up and stretch.  I appreciated our charming teacher a lot!"- Dela

"I loved the music he played when we did the stretch.  He combined popular music with classical ballet music.  The across the floor work was difficult but it was fun.  He was so nice!" - Li

"I loved the music and the way he taught us to dance.  He is so fun and I learned a lot yesterday!"- May

"The music was good!" - Evelyn

Hey Grade 7...What do you LOVE about dance?!

In honor of Valentine's Day, the seventh grade dance students were asked what they love about dance.  Here are their answers!

"I like being able to exercise and joke around with my friends.  In dance I feel I have the freedom to imagine whatever I want."  - Connor

"Tableaux because we have fun and we do funny poses.  We always have a great time!" - Maya

"Ballroom dancing because I LOVE Dancing with the Stars!" - Hannah

"I love tableaux because it is fun and educational!" - Dan

"Tableaux because it constantly changes but it is fun because we have a creative class." - Mary

"I like having the freedom of being able to move however you want." - Matt

"I like tableaux because our class is able to work together and form many settings as a whole." - Faith

"I like all different types of dance, it's so hard to pick! I like everything we do in dance class, too.  Ballet is fun because it is beautiful, dramatic and graceful.  We're learning a lot about cool choreographers, but tableaux is really fun too.  We break out into awesome poses.  Everything is awesome!" - Alexis

"The costumes because they are fun and pretty."- Hannah

"I like being given the chance to express myself through dancing because it is an opportunity to put my emotions into movement." - Mary

"Tableaux.  I like tableaux because it makes us think in a creative way." - Meghan

"Tableaux because it is fun and I like improv and that kind of stuff." - Hannah

"I like the freedom to do things from your own imagination." - Dan

"Watching different choreographers to see how others present or tell stories through movement." - Mary

Spring Concert Update!

All of our upper school dance classes have been hard at work learning new choreography for our Spring Concert which is coming up in late April.  Here is a sneak peak at what some of our dancers are doing!

Dance Team Celebrates First Performance

On Wednesday, February 6, The Dance Team celebrated their first performance at one of the home basketball games.  Great job girls!

Turn To Stone (Melanie & Marko Contemporary)

Our G Block Dancers have recently viewed Melanie & Marko from So You Think You Can Dance perform "Turn To Stone" choreographed by Travis Wall. Here is what they had to say about it!

"I've never seen a statue dance. It made me sad. The emotional connection between the two dancers seemed to be the heart of the dance. I liked that both of the dancers worked in parallel position." - Susie

"I liked this dance better than the others because the dancers danced with feeling and you could see a hint of their easygoing relationship (off stage). The piece was believable because Melanie & Marko danced each step precisely and made sure their movements corresponded with the message of the dance. Their costumes made them appear as statues and helped the dance by not only emphasizing the idea of statues but by making the dancers look good. When the dancer's costumes correspond with the theme of the dance it helps because it reminds the audience what the dance is about." - Natalie

"I really loved the dance. I appreciated the last scene when Melanie stops being passionate and slowly turns into a stone. The turning point is so good that I can't move it out of my mind. I think it was the story behind the dance that made the choreography believable to me. As an audience member I can feel the story from the emotion between the dancers and the movements show us that they are really expressing the essence of the story to us." - Dela

"This was our favorite dance. We liked how the music was relating to the dance. It made it clear that they went together. The costumes and the body paint made both of the dancers look like real statues. They were great dancers who didn't hold back in any of their movements." - Eva & Jenna

A Glimpse of Dance Classes Today, January 10, 2012

Today was a busy day in the dance studio.  We wanted to share a few quick videos of what the kids were working on.

Grade Six was working on lifts.  They were split into three groups and were challenged to create unique lifts.  This is what they came up with!

The Upper School G Block Modern/Contemporary class was working on a combination which incorporated pique and attitude turns.  Below you will see each group attempting the combination.

MacDuffie Dancers Attend UMASS Dance Concert

On Friday, December 2, nine of the dance students attended the UMASS

Winter Dance Concert at Bowker Auditorium on the UMASS campus. 

 

The students had a chance to view numerous works choreographed by faculty and

guests including "New Second Line" by Camille Brown which was

inspired by the events of Hurricane Katrina, as well as

"MinEvents" choreographed by Merce Cunningham.  A favorite of

many of the students was "Rotator", choreographed by the UMASS

director of dance, Billbob Brown.  

The students had a great time! 

Special

thanks to Spanish Teacher Mr. Taylor who accompanied us on this trip.  

Students from left to right are:  Stefanie Shen, Mei Liu, Li Guan, Susie Zeng, Dela Lin, Maggie Taylor, Jessica Schwartz, Naomi Phelps, Nikai Fondon and Evelyn Lu