This is my seventh season with The Dance COLEctive (TDC). W-o-w. That means for the last 6, going on 7 years, I have spent almost every single Tuesday and Thursday night, and every other Sunday morning, rehearsing at the Drucker Center. I have performed in multiple dance venues, parks, stairwells, and other site-specific locations in and around Chicago. I have toured, done residencies, taught, performed and improvised across the Midwest and Southern United States. I have devoted my time and energy to the activities both in and out of the studio that support the mission of TDC. And in return, I have learned, sweat, laughed, cried, and grown tremendously with an absolutely amazing group of women.
For me, this journey began at Beloit College, my alma mater. TDC came to do a residency sometime during my senior year. I took class and rehearsed with Margi for a week that culminated in a performance by her company and a work she set on the Beloit dancers. The TDC women were all strong, as were the works on the program. I was very intrigued by Margi’s exploration of relationships and use of partnering. I also remember seeing the dancers warming up in the dressing room and wondering how they were able to do so many push ups…now I know.
At the end of the performance, each dancer was given a personal thank you note from Margi. Mine ended with something along the lines of “When you’re back in Chicago, don’t hesitate to look us up.” A few weeks after graduation from Beloit, I ran into Liz Carlton (a now retired TDC dancer) at Lou Conte. She said, “We’ve been looking for you!” and asked me to come to an invite-only audition for the company. Feeling equally nervous and confident, I reached out to Margi and accepted her invitation to audition.
After completing a pretty grueling set of essay questions about my perception of women in dance and women in the media, technique class, and several chunks of difficult company repertory with an intense level of partnering, Kaitlin Bishop, Jessica Post, and I were asked to join the company as apprentices. The beautiful thing about Margi’s apprentice program is that performance opportunities are no different for apprentices than they are for full company members—the only difference is that you don’t get paid. So, I danced my pretty little head off that first season as an apprentice, and have been given an equally beneficial opportunity to perform with the company as a full member ever since.
Through the handfuls of other companies and independent choreographers I have danced for, TDC has remained the backbone of my professional dance career. I continue to learn so much from Margi. She is an excellent teacher, an amazing performer, an extremely intelligent businesswoman, and has grown to become a great friend. I am so appreciative of the level of detail and professionalism she brings to the organization. I always feel that my time is valued and well spent, and that is very important to me. The dancers she cultivates tend to grow not only as a palette of bodies that gel together on stage, but a group of women who have become incredibly close both in and outside the studio.
Season seventeen for the company. Season seven for me. I still can’t believe how much time has passed. And I have no doubt this will be another amazing year.
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Submitted by TDC Dancer Maggie Koller on Monday, September 24, 2012.
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