Des Plaines dance students perform with Chicago company
Four dancers from the Des Plaines School of Dance, Kim Diebold, 14; Amy Dunn, 18; Molly Juneau, 15; and Meghan Hanrahan, 13; were selected for the Inaside Chicago Dance’s 2011 Youth Trainee Program.
The program offered an opportunity for 15 aspiring dancers from across the Chicago area to train with professional instructors and dancers and perform in Inaside Chicago Dance’s 2011 concert, “Constant Motion,” Sept. 24 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park.
The aspiring dancers performed in an original piece called “Pique-nique,” choreographed by Inaside Youth Trainee Program director and company member Jennifer Wycykal of Arlington Heights. The music for the piece blended the French voice of Tino Rossi with brassy sounds of Louis Armstrong. Diebold, Dunn, Hanrahan and Juneau also made a guest appearance in Autumn Eckman’s “A Lot Like Lot” with the Inaside company.
“Constant Motion” featured the work of two companies: Inaside Chicago Dance in Act One and Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre in Act Two.
“The collaborative show came about through a grant from the MetLife Foundation and Dance/USA, partnered with Audience Architects, called the New Stages for Dance Initiative. The goal was to bring small companies to large venues in hopes to broaden their audience base and gain new patrons. At the end, the two companies, along with YTP and the CRDT youth ensemble, came together to perform one finale piece,” said Mary Williams, Inaside Chicago Dance company member and former YTP director.
The student dancers began their training in the Inaside program this August, where every Sunday they took either a jazz or ballet class. The four also danced with Artistry in Motion, the Des Plaines Park District in-house dance company.
Founded in the fall of 2003, Inaside Chicago Dance is a nonprofit jazz dance company under the artistic direction of Richard A. Smith and associate artistic director Anne Gollenberg. The company promotes excellence in the performing arts, on and offstage, and makes dance accessible to all ages through performances, workshops, educational programs, school concerts, and outreach such as the Youth Training Program and benefit performances.
The Youth Training program began in 2006. Since then, seven dancers from the Des Plaines School of Dance have previously apprenticed at Inaside Chicago Dance: Dunn, Diebold, Hanrahan, Elena Caruthers, Sarah Glover, Jana Capozzoli and Meagan Volocyk.
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