Volé - The Penn State Ballet Club
I have had a passion for dance since I was a child. When I was in high school, I had my first experience with teaching in a tap class for toddlers. At Penn State, I joined Volé, the ballet club. They hold technique classes three days a week and we have an end of the semester showcase every fall and spring semester in addition to a nutcracker performance during fall semester. During my second year in Volé I decided to choreograph for the showcase. Every semester I was given a group of girls to teach a dance I created to. I mostly worked with the beginners.
Below you can find photos of me teaching and dancing and videos of some of the numbers I choreographed.
Porcelain Nightmare
This is a video of a contemporary dance I choreographed and taught to a group of beginner and intermediate dancers titled Porcelain Nightmare. The theme of the showcase was "Story Telling" so every dance in the show told a story.
The story behind this number was inspired by a childhood memory. My grandmother always bought my porcelain dolls and when I was young, I was always terrified of them coming to life while I was asleep and carrying out evil plans.
In this number, half the dancers are little girls and the other half are porcelain dolls. When the girls go to sleep, the dolls wake up and attack. The fight goes back and forth throughout the dance until the girls win and throw the dolls into a pile. But in the end, one doll pulls herself out of the pile, hinting that there is more to come.
Wild
This is a video of a lyrical dance I choreographed and taught to a group of beginner and intermediate dancers titled Wild, by Troye Sivan.
Earth
This is a video of a lyrical dance I choreographed and taught to a group of beginner dancers titled Earth, by Sleeping at Last. This was the first dance I ever choreographed with Volé, The Penn State Ballet Club.
This is a video from one of the rehearsals, it is not the final number and a few of the dancers were missing from the recording.
We Could Be Heros
This is a video of a contemporary dance I performed in but did not choreograph. The performance was a big deal because it was on the stage at THON, Penn State's IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon. THON is a 46 hour, no sitting, no sleeping dance marathon raising money for pediatric cancer. THON is the largest student run philanthropy in the world.
I included this video, even though I did not choreograph the dance because I am so involved with THON through Volé and I am very proud of the volunteer work my entire school does to support the cause.
The performance itself was also a big deal with an audience of 60,000 people at the venue plus a live stream on the internet. This is the largest audience I have ever performed for.
