November: Juwan Alston

NOV: Who in your dance/professional life are you most thankful for and why?

As a dancer we encounter so many different people that pour something into us. I have had so many people inspire me and help me get to where I am. I am truly thankful for everyone in my life. And I am ever so thankful for Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux.

Jean-Pierre is the Artistic Director of Charlotte Ballet, or in other words my boss. He is such a wonderful person and coach. I am thankful for Jean-Pierre and I really look up to him. He can just say one little thing for me to think about as a correction and it makes the biggest difference in the way that I approach my work. He is constantly pouring knowledge and wisdom into me. I am so thankful that he believes in me and reminds me to believe in myself just as he does. Due to this man, I have grown so much in the past few months. I will forever be thankful for Jean-Pierre.

October: Leslie Garcia

October: Choose one class/project that you are teaching/taking on this year and give us an inside glance at what is going to go on?

Every year I put together a production Hip Hop and every year I try to be outside the box and make it even better than the year before. This year I am putting together the longest piece I have ever done and on top of that I am performing with my Hip Hop company for the first time in 8 years.

My process is a long one. I start thinking of the next year’s production before we even finish competition season of the current year. Once I know what I want to do, I then research music for a good month or two before I decide what songs and parts I want that will go along with my story line. Once I have mixed the music the way I see the story going I then break my team into group and sections and go from there. After each group has learned their section, I start piecing it together and filling in the gaps as we go along. It usually takes me a good 2-3 months to put it all together from top to bottom the way I want it to look.

We always get great reviews on our productions every year but none as awesome as the actual artist themselves seeing our performance and making it go viral. It was the highlight of my year and my career last year. So let’s see what we can make happen this year!

October: Heather Hardesty

OCT: choose one class/project that you are teaching/taking on this year and give us an inside glance at what is going to go on?

Happy Fall Y’all! It’s hard to fathom that we are almost done with October. Where did the time go?!! I’m knee deep in projects right now and couldn’t be happier. Once project in particular is my work with the Reflections program through my daughter’s school (Callison Elementary) in Round Rock. For those that don’t know what the Reflections program is here’s a brief description:

Started in 1969 by the Colorado PTA President Mary Lou Anderson, Reflections has encouraged millions of students to express themselves by giving positive recognition for their artistic efforts. Students in preschool through grade 12 may create and submit works of art in six categories: dance choreography, film production, literature, musical composition, photography, and visual arts.

This year I volunteered to be the chairperson of this committee. My daughter’s school has had very low participation in the past year’s so my goal was to do what was needed to increase the number of children submitting projects. I started by getting the teacher’s involved before the children started school. Our goal this year is have 100 kids submit projects. When you share your goal with others, there’s more that will be invested in helping you reach your goal.

My committee and I set up a table at Open House and educated parents and students on Reflections and signed up children that wanted to participate. We shared with them that this year there would be a workshop series for children after school on Wednesday afternoons. This would provide an environment for children who want to work on their projects. We provide the equipment that some children might not have access to: video camera, camera, recording equipment, paint supplies, canvases and music.

Our first workshop was on October 7 and we have since had two others (October 14 and 21). We had 20 in the first one, 25 in the second one and 27 in the third one. Children were split into groups based on the category they wanted to enter and then a volunteer was assigned to their group to help them form their ideas and visions. Over the weeks, we have had students take pictures, paint pictures, record original songs, play an instrument, film a short skit and make up dances.

Projections for our school’s submissions so far is somewhere between 40 and 50 entries. There is still work to be done and we are making a final push for participation in these next two weeks and our last workshop on November 4th. It makes my insides smile to see so many children get passionate about the arts.