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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2021)
6A | JULY 1, 2021 | COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Arts & Culture ‘Down the rabbit hole’ of dance SOPHIA EDELBLUTE/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Darcy Rust (pictured left) has been dancing since third grade. Her performance, enti- tled “Cheshire Cat,” was her senior showcase before she starts attending American University to study dance. Kenady Conforth (pictured right) started dancing at six years old and has since explored a variety of dance styles. Her solo performance, entitled “Wonderland,” dis- played her dance skills after nearly 13 years of experience. outdoor show,” says Mandy. But with COVID-19 regu- lations constantly shifting, the specifics of the show were up in the air. “We just didn’t know,” she says. “We had to go ahead with the show like it was gonna be happening.” Luckily for the studio, the show did come to life. Without the ticket sales in- come, the studio would lose its nonprofit status. “To lose [that] means we’d have to move out of our building and at that point I’d just close,” says Mandy. Dancers like Kenady Conforth and Darcy Rust, both graduating seniors, have spent years at the stu- dio and see it — and per- formance — as a way to express themselves. “We have this saying in dance that is leave your baggage at the door, and it’s really good for us because we just leave everything be- hind and we go in and we just dance it out and we feel better,” says Kenady, “It’s a really great way to deal with emotions as well.” Kenady is a dancer as well as an instructor at the studio and choregraphed eight performances for the show, including her own senior solo. She works with a vast array of students; the studio teaches kids from ages three to 18. “I have a lot of age rang- es and so it was interesting By Sophia Edelblute sedelblute @cgsentinel.com The scene in Bohemia Park on Friday, June 25 and Saturday, June 26 was bus- tling with dancers. Their expert bearings in tutus, ballet shoes and plenty of bobby pins, would never have betrayed the weath- er to be in the upper 90s, peeking through into the 100s at points. But the show must go on, and through the near un- bearable heat, a truly amaz- ing feat of performance came to life through South Lane Ballet Academy’s “Down the Rabbit Hole” 2021 performance. “It’s 85 kids, costumes, stage, lights, sound, dis- tanced seating, dressing rooms and then also trying to keep everyone cool and safe in 102-degree heat on Saturday, on top of teach- ers, choreography, it’s a lot of work,” says Mandy Con- forth, academy adminis- trator and tap instructor at South Lane Ballet Academy (SLBA). She also spear- headed the organization for the entire show. Practice starts in Septem- ber with weekly classes and then through January and February specific perfor- mances are choreographed and the show starts to take shape. “The plan was to do an to work with everyone and get them all to do the same thing and they did it,” says Kenady. “It is definitely a blessing for our communi- ty to be able to have some- thing like this because I know that there are those kids [who] need to have a safe place like a studio and friends who are coming every week and learning together.” Darcy, a dancer and classroom assistant at SLBA, also choreographed her own senior solo titled “Cheshire Cat.” “I hadn’t choreographed a lot of pieces for myself, especially something like this, so there was lots of moments where I just felt like I couldn’t do some- thing,” says Darcy, “but then I would try it and it would turn out really great and I’m really proud of it.” She also started ballet at a much later age than most kids, at 13 years old. “Starting ballet at an old- er age is difficult because ballet is so specific with the technique and the structure you have your body in,” says Darcy. At times she felt discouraged but “then I pushed through it, worked hard and got to where I am.” She has plans to continue on to American University to get a bachelor’s degree in dance. After that “I hope to be a teacher at a studio somewhere and really just open the world up to — I mean in general the dance community can be a little toxic towards certain body shapes, races or gender identities and sexual iden- tities — If I open a studio I’d like to make it open for everyone, because dance isn’t about that. It’s about the passion.” It’s no easy feat to get to the skill level of Kenady or Darcy, but some younger dancers, like Taylor, who’s in Hip-Hop 2 class at SLBA, are starting out not because of grand plans, but because it’s just plain fun. “I think it’s very stress relieving. It’s really fun. I think it’s maybe something I’m gonna do next year,” says Taylor, “I think I real- ly love it. I started this year because there’s not much sports to do and I actually really liked it.” His favorite style is hip- hop and he says dance is “really fun and you won’t regret it. It also gives you something to do and look forward to.” After over 20 perfor- mances per show night, the dancers of SLBA have shown the town of Cottage Grove what they are capa- ble of. From the Creative Movement Monday class’ “Bread and Butterflies” per- formance to Kenady and Darcy’s senior solos, dance is everywhere and for ev- erybody. “Some kids, the perfor- mance is all they care about. Some love the training. But for most of them it’s the performance,” says Mandy. “Getting to be on stage and create a character and wear a costume, it feels magical for them.” “We have another saying in our studio that every body is a dancer’s body,” says Kenady. “Anyone can do it. If you are feeling ner- vous, so is everyone else in the class. 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