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. Everyone’s ner-
vous but everyone ends up
being really great friends
and you end up making
great memories with every-
one and it’s definitely worth
it.”
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