Greek
is Great! A Student’s Perspective
A student writes about the benefits
she has experienced from her Classical Greek training
Megan
is a pupil of Karen Collings and attends the Totnes School
of Dance, Devon. She has been offered places at Bird College,
Performers College, Stella Mann, Millenium Dance and Cambridge
Performing Arts; and decided to take up the place at Stella
Mann. She is very keen to explain how Classical Greek Dance
has helped her develop at a dancer. She writes:
“Greek
is great! I have used all the freedom of expression I have
been encouraged to develop in the Greek technique to help
me make all the other forms of dance uniquely my own and so
my enjoyment and love of dance can really express itself without
any inhibition.
Greek
technique has strengthened my balance, line, control, and
flexibility, which are all important factors in any form of
dance ranging from Hip Hop, Jazz to Classical Ballet and everything
in between. As a dancer who does not have the natural attributes
for Ballet, Greek allowed me to excel in a classical genre
and encouraged my expressive and choreographic ideas.
Greek
has also helped me with the performance side of dance. It
is great to be able to use my sense of drama and develop my
acting skills as I interpret Greek Myths. I find that I can
convey all the emotions I feel in a dance whether it is a
fast and fun jazz routine or a character dance full of fear
and pain because of the encouragement I got during Greek lessons
to really open up and discover my strengths as a dancer.
Greek
has given me the confidence to use my strengths in dance to
my advantage. For Ballet I do not have the strongest turn
out or best feet but I use my upper body, sense of performance
and feeling for the music to draw the audience into my dance.
At
the Ruby Ginner Awards, in addition to strong Classical Greek
technique, I think the adjudicators look for performance and
joy of dance which are so strongly encouraged in class and
I feel this will help me at auditions for Dance College. To
stand out in a studio of over 30 dancers you have to enjoy
what you do and be able to project your enjoyment to those
watching so they want to watch you. Greek has allowed me to
freely express my enjoyment of dance and to transfer this
freedom of expression to Tap, Jazz, Modern and Ballet.”
Megan
Dowell
Above:
Megan Dowell (kneeling) dancing at the Royal Lancaster Hotel
during Congress |
