Dance COLEctive Summer Technique Week with a Twist!

Shannon Edwards Archives

For more than 12 years The Dance COLEctive has conducted an annual Summer Dance Workshop.  The beginning of this year, our 20th Anniversary Season is no different really....

The Dance COLEctive Summer Technique Week with a Twist is a great way to be exposed to the company.  While we are not having an official audition this season we are scouting for dancers to participate in our 20th Anniversary Performances.  Read long time company member Shannon McGuire Edwards' story about her first workshop and how it impacted her journey to join the company.  

Shannon says:
 
It was the summer after graduation in 2009. I never had the privilege of taking Margi's class in college, but I did have her as a sub once. I remember loving her class and found myself particularly eager to master "the run around".  So I signed up for the summer intensive. I was planning on attending the audition at the end of the week. I especially remember Margi talking about weight in the pelvis, the importance of authentic touch, and allowing the body to sink into the floor. These are concepts that still resonate with me show in the work I do with The Dance COLEctive. I still take Margi's class today and think about the special corrections and notes she gave me during those five, intense days at the TDC Summer Workshop.

This is the calendar still hanging in my bedroom at my mom's house. It's still on this page and I look at it often remembering how important that week was to me. (On the 8th it says "audition" and "family" because I went to my family reunion a day late so I could make it to the audition).

Margi says:

I remember Shannon working so diligently as a student in my Repertory Performance Workshop class at Columbia College.  I was drawn to her work ethic and to her powerful presence as a performer.  It has been such a pleasure to watch Shannon grow as a person and an artist in her years with the company and I am still magically drawn to her beauty and vulnerability as a performer.  

This year, in honor of our 20th Anniversary, we will not only do technique but we will teach repertory from our long history.  Should be fun! 

You can find more information here!

Submitted by TDC dancer Shannon Edwards, August 2, 2015.   

The Big Leagues

After graduating from Appalachian State University in the mountains of North Carolina with degrees in Dance Studies and Psychology in May 2011, I knew that I wanted to continue dancing. I didn’t exactly know how I was going to do that, but I knew that I wanted to find a dance community in which I wouldn’t lose myself. A place where I could be challenged creatively and fulfill my desire to be a part of making and presenting interesting and meaningful work. Somewhere I could be part of the process and part of a team. I feel so blessed to have found all of these things as an apprentice this season with The Dance COLEctive! 

Photo by Eric Olson

I visited Chicago only a handful of times before I decided to move here this past June. I loved the city. It felt like a big city with a small neighborhood feel and extremely friendly people. I was up for a new adventure. I took dance classes at a number of dance studios whenever I was in Chicago. Then, during one of my visits, TDC company member Olivia May invited me to  an open company class. I knew Olivia from our hometown of Raleigh, NC. I am so grateful to her for allowing me to tag along and get a taste of the the Dance COLEctive. The class was wonderful! All the dancers were welcoming and Margi’s class was challenging and fun.

When I finally built up enough courage (and money) to make the move to the big windy city, I made the leap. With a good friend from home, in a Penske truck filled with all of our belongings, we steered north – and a little west.  Once in Chicago, I tried to take advantage of as many dance classes and opportunities as I could. I was overwhelmed (and still am) by how much is going on here. I attended The Dance COLEctive audition in August, immensely intimidated to be at my first ever professional audition. After auditions and call backs, I was so pleased to be offered an apprentice position with the company. I literally jumped up and down when I received the email from Margi. And now, after our first performance together this season, I really feel a part of it all. Surrounded by inspiring and powerful women, dancing to my heart’s content, I can officially say I’m livin’ the dream.

Submitted by TDC Apprentice Molly Kirkpatrick on Sunday, February 10, 2013.