I learned to dance on different levels. With the floor, my fellow dancers and myself.
As the rehearsals went on I could see it begin to come together. The danc- ers began embodying the theme. When they synchronized with my imagination I jumped and shouted. It was so beauti- ful to see so many interpretations of my movement. It was so beautiful to see so many people moving together. C ontemporary classes had always been inferior to ballet. It was so easy compared to the rigor of ballet. My eyes couldn’t see past the absence of a placed fifth posi- tion. However, during my last summer at the San Francisco Ballet School I took choreographer and dance educator Dex- andro Montalvo’s contemporary class. It challenged me like no dance class ever had. My brain strained to grasp the fast- paced combination and instantly flooded me with a dance high when I finally got it. Towards the end of one of our classes, he told us to do the combination but in a different way. He said that we could do it fluidly and connected, or to hit and finish the movements. It blew my mind. I had never experienced so much artis- tic freedom within such tightly choreo- graphed movements. After that class he invited me to join the ODC teen pro- gram, a pre-professional dance program that focused on contemporary dance. I spent the next year taking Dexan- dro’s class twice a week. There were only 5 other girls that were part of the ODC Dance Lab that year. With such
people around me, who noticed what. Were they as confused as me? What evoked a reaction? I began to reflect on my opinions in my choreogra- phy. I wanted the audience to under- stand the movement and relate to it. I wanted to use movements that make the audience want to move. I wanted it to be clear, emotional, and unignor- able. I wanted my art to be able to be seen by anyone. Every time I watched Passing , when it was on stage, it left me shaking. Seeing the audience walk into the the- ater, chattering in their red chairs. The hush as the lights dim, the bright yel- low light unveiling the dancers. The quiet exclamations from the people beside me. The adrenaline of know- ing the choreography. This is the cre- scendo, the accumulation of all my work. I thought that Passing was about community, time, and social patterns but I realize that it is also a reflection of how I see dance now. The stage goes dark and there’s an erup- tion of applause from the audience. DASHA YURKEVICH is a young dancer, cho- reographer, educator and artist. She was born and raised in San Francisco by her parents who immigrated from Uzbekistan. She trained at the San Francisco Ballet School, Ruth Asawa School of the Arts and ODC. She is also an advocate for youth empowerment and leadership in the out- doors. She started Youth Bike America to provide outdoor experiences through bike touring. She has helped lead two major bike tours across the United States.
a small class the teachers worked closely with each of us. Still, despite my teachers’ honest efforts, it was hard to shake my early experience with ballet. Every ballet class felt like a kick in the face; my leotards suffocated me, the music jeered at me, a constant reminder of my fail- ure. But, I attended the ballet classes, so afterwards I could put on socks and shorts and go to rehearsals with ODC co-directors Brenda Way and Kimi Okada, and learn the ODC company repertoire straight from the directors. I learned to dance on dif- ferent levels. With the floor, my fel- low dancers and myself. W hen I was a freshman at SOTA we had a weekly choreography class. Our first assignment was to create a solo. This was the first time I had ever choreo- graphed, and it quickly became my favorite class. From that point on I choreographed whenever I had the opportunity. Over the years I made lots of short phrases in classes, learned about choreographic tools and began to develop an eye for watching dance. When I got to ODC I began to develop my own opinion on dance. What movement made me feel something, what made me sleepy, what did I dislike, what shocked me? I also listened to the
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In Dance | May 2014 | dancersgroup.org
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