By Justin Theodotou

For CSB senior Kyle Gerhart, the dance studio is her sanctuary.

“One of my favorite things in the world is being … in the dance studio,” she said. “I’m in my element.”

Gerhart, sophomore Ashley Artmann, juniors Katie Neisen and Allie Seifert and seniors Katie Carlson and Katie Zabinski demonstrated two dances March 14 as part of Benedictine Education Day. They will present the pieces as part of the CSB/SJU theater department’s show “Inside Out” that opens at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

“I have been working on ideas, finding music and collaborating with artists since September,” Gerhardt said via e-mail. “The actual choreography started in January.”

The dances, called “Body and Soul,” are part of Gerhart’s senior project. Under the guidance and mentorship of Leigh Dillard, assistant professor of dance in the theater department, Gerhart has been given the freedom to do whatever she wants.

“Most of the work I’ve done with her has been in the planning stages,” Dillard said via e-mail. “The final product is very much her own.”

Gerhart has been involved in other projects while at CSB/SJU. She performed in “Kiss Me Kate,” which the CSB/SJU theater department put on in the spring of 2004, as well as “Approximations, Assimilations and Appropriations” in the spring of 2005. She was also the co-choreographer for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in fall 2005 and “Dames at Sea” in fall 2006.

Gerhart equates choreographing a dance to writing a paper.

“You have a topic, and certain things you have to touch on, but you still have a blank page to start with,” she said.

Gerhart said this project has been a challenge, even for someone dancing since age six.

“It’s something truly different and like nothing I’ve ever done before,” she said.

The dances Gerhart is choreographing are not set to music, but to spoken word. She has enlisted the help of Ill Chemistry, a pair of Twin Cities spoken word artists, to perform live at Friday and Saturday’s shows.

Since the dances are set to spoken word, the pieces are more like a conversation between the dancers and the spoken word artists, Gerhart said.

But Gerhart wants to do more than choreograph dances. Within the next 10 years, her dream is to open a dance studio for special needs children. She took a step toward that dream last summer when she interned at a dance studio in the Twin Cities that works with special needs children.

“I have always felt compelled to work with them, and I feel it can improve their life and their abilities to function daily,” she said. “I have found in my experience that it helps them feel like they can accomplish something.”

Dillard is in full support of Gerhart’s dream.

“She does have the capacity to make her dream come true,” she said. “I have been very impressed by Kyle’s dedication and commitment to getting the experience she needs to fulfill her dream.”

Over the years, Dillard has also watched Gerhart grow.

“She is more creative, willing to take greater risks, smart enough to ask for help when she needs it and generous in recognizing those that have supported her process.”

 

Filed under: Arts, Variety by Justin Theodotou