Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company: Sassy steps
"5, 6, 7, 8!" shouts Ririe-Woodbury dancer Caine Keenan, sounding for all the world like one of the choreographers in "A Chorus Line."
As his teenage students whirl and kick to the pulsing electro beat of the song "Black and Gold" by Sam Sparro, he calls out the dancers' names. "Katie!" he says. And "Charlie!" As they glance toward him, he tightens his torso or lifts his shoulders, demonstrating adjustments.
"Aw, that's sassy," he says. "I love it."
These are the Step UP dancers, members of Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company's high-school program, and 27-year-old Keenan has been its director for five years. Now in his fifth season with Ririe-Woodbury, he recently made a national list of Dance magazine's "25 to Watch," noted for his kinetic approach, clarity and insight onstage, as well as his passion for programs like this one.
Step UP is a free outreach program. Dancers must audition, and those selected meet with Keenan on two Saturdays and one Thursday each month. The students also perform at Cabaret of Fools, Ririe-Woodbury's annual fundraiser, for which they're now rehearsing in the lobby of the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center on this Saturday morning.
"Slide up, slide up, fall down, down, up, up, up, up, up. Very nice," he tells them, as they wrap up for the day.
Afterward, several of the dancers, who are ages 16 to 18 and hail from high schools around the valley, are spilling over with enthusiasm about working with Keenan.
"He's fierce and funny!"
"He's so energetic. I never have that much energy in the morning."
"He relates to us. He's a really good friend."
"He's very creative [in] all of his choreography," says Charlie Fratto, a 16-year-old junior at Juan Diego Catholic High School. Fratto has been in the Step UP program since he was a freshman. He's the only male dancer at this rehearsal, though there are a few others in the program.
The admiration goes both ways. "I love that the high-school students have this ability to inspire me whenever they come in the studio," Keenan says. "As young artists, they have this hunger and passion that continuously reminds me of how much I love to dance. I have always lived my life by the mantra, 'I aspire to inspire,' and Step UP lets me live this out every time we meet."
Karlie Dodds, a 16-year-old who attends Bingham High School, has performed at Cabaret of Fools for four years. She has been working with Keenan since she was in the sixth grade. "They normally didn't take [students] until high school, but they just happened to really like her," says her mother, Rosemary. "They've just kind of taken her under their wing. These dance lessons? To work under somebody like that? It's incredible."
DawnAnn Owens is another mother attending this rehearsal with her daughter Lydia, 16, but she has an older daughter who was in the program as well. "This is a free program, but they relate to him so well, and he builds their self-esteem while training them as dancers," she says.
Mary Wells, a 16-year-old student at Springville High who's also involved in Brigham Young University's children's dance program, explains that the Step UP program is helping her technically. "I really push myself, and I can tell I'm becoming a better dancer through this program," she says. "What I like about this is that everyone who's here is here because they want to be."
It's this kind of growth that Cabaret of Fools is designed to support; proceeds go to fund Step UP, as well as Ririe-Woodbury's other educational and artistic programs, which are hurting for financing due to recent budget cuts by the Legislature.
Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company presents its annual fundraiser, designed to capture the light-heartedness of April Fool's Day. In addition to a performance by the Step UP dancers, the evening will include live and silent auctions; tarot card readings; Steffon and His Blue Light Orchestra performing music in the style of Frank Sinatra and Harry Connick Jr.; surprise performances by local celebrities; and appetizers and dinner provided by chefs from Aristo's, Rio Grande Café, Tin Angel Café, P.F. Chang's, Smart Cookie, Dolcetti Gelato and Donovan's Steakhouse.
When » April 3, 6:30 p.m.
Where » Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. 300 South, Salt Lake City
Tickets » $75, www.ririewoodbury.com
No comments:
Post a Comment