I was born June 1st, 1987 and after 2 years of being brought into the world, I began to dance. I knew I loved to dance, perform and be on stage. To me dance is fun entertainment and aesthetic art. I danced jazz, tap, and ballet since I was 18 months old. To me dancing made sense to my entire being. Until I was 11 years old, I studied and performed with the Dawn Crafton Studio in Maryland. There were performances bi-annually, and although it was hard work, I enjoyed every moment. In Beijing, China, I took intense ballet courses. Within two years, I was able to be en pointe and performed in my own solo in an excerpt from Coppelia. At Foxcroft School, my high school in Virginia, I had joined the hiphop club, Rhythm Nation, and the Dance Company, which performed jazz, contemporary, and tap pieces. I performed in every dance concert there was, including talent shows where I highlighted by own choreography in hiphop. When I came to Skidmore College, I really became involved in modern dance. I have not only taken modern and ballet dance classes at Skidmore, but I co-founded and am now president of one of Skidmore’s hiphop dance clubs - the Thoroughbred Dance Starz. But I still needed more! For the past three years I have enrolled in the Skidmore Dance Summer Intensives with the Limon Dance Company, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and finally, the Martha Graham Dance Company. I am so excited to be part of this intensive and to truly understand the strength, power, and ultimate beauty of the Martha Graham technique and choreography. This intensive has truly changed my life. I can now take everything that I am learning and apply it to my work as a dancer. This intensity and strength of the work has turned me into a better dancer and a stronger person. Thank you Martha Graham Dance Company!!
“Clytemnestra” to me is a masterpiece of work. The story is classic but so is the movement (and I’m not just saying that because it is Martha Graham). The work is classic to me, as Shakespeare and Swan Lake, but only better because the movement is so unique and powerful. And the facial expressions…WOW! I feel I really understand the story and the characters more, as well as Martha Graham’s choreography. It made me think how the characters all relate to each other and made me reimagine my own choreography.
Helen, whose movements I learned, seems more complex now. She doesn’t give everything away and isn’t as straightforward as the other characters - Cassandra, Electra, Clytemnestra. Although there is this difference, the twins are similar in that they are both torn between two men and made decisions that caused diaster - Helen with Paris and Clytemnestra with Aegisthus. They have different personalities but their situations are similar.
Overall,”Clytemnestra” was furious, dynamic, and morbid. Loved it! Quite an inspiration to us all.
