Day Two began with our dance class from Luis who was the assistant choreographer for "In the Heights". A musical about the Dominican neighborhood of "Washington Heights" in Manhatten. He was delightful. A perfect combination of skilled technician, latin hip hop dancer, teacher, kind human being, etc. An hour and a half of a lovely class that culminated in teaching students a fun section from the show. While we were taking class, our chaperone Dave was on the phone trying to secure tickets at a decent price for the show tonight. We are out of fundraising money but I wanted to make the show available to those that hadn't seen it and could afford a $45-$50 ticket. He found 18 at $45! That worked. We had 17 takers. Luis loved the students and of course why shouldn't he. We walked back tot he hotel at 10:00 and some ate and got dressed as we headed downtown to our performing gig at P.S. 89. Dance teacher, Catherine Gallant was our host. I had not met Catherine only had gotten her name as a possible taker in terms of a dance teacher in a public school that might be open to a performance. NYC District Dance Director Joan Finkelstein had given me a lead to her 2 years ago and it didn't work out so I though maybe this year it would. I could tell she was brilliant over email about dance in the schools, her philosophy etc. bled through all her emails and I was anxious to meet her. Little did I/we know what we would be walking in to. It was a K-5 school literally in the shadow of the former Twin Towers. As we got closer and closer to it and we saw Ground Zero from our path it was clear this would be a school that knew hardship. I asked her in private about the location and what it meant. She said she was the only teacher in the building that had been there on that day 9 years ago. She would be willing to share a little with the students but it there would always be things she couldn't talk emotionally. The school lost no parents or children to the catastrophe she told them, and for that they were grateful. That morning however she said that all the south facing windows revealed the up close and personal site of the planes into the building and the administration still not knowing what was happening, gathered the entire student body into the center of the building to keep people away from the windows. The national guard eventually came in to tell them to evacuate. She said it was too late. As they all started shuffling students down the West Side Hwy, the building began to fall. She couldn't talk about it more than that. Their school became a central location for police and firefighters. Her dance studio was filled with computers and some of the firefighter apparrel was left in her dance closet when they returned in March. The school was relocated to other areas of the city and she said she learned that home is what you take with you. The increase in kids interested in dance rose as they wanted more community and they created a dance piece together called "Towards Home" and ended up performing it at many many venues that year. Upon returning to their building in March, the school had shrunk by 50%, The families of the children, many who live and work in the financial district, moved their famlies to their summer homes or out of the city somewhere else.
The students in the school now are not the ones that experienced this horrific event. She is the school's memory of that day and the evolution back. Wow. Did I mention the students performed wonderfully and the 5th grade audience was delightful. Their comments about New York, dancing, etc. were priceless. To be written another time. We then walked across and circled Ground Zero. I'm not sure how powerful this was to everyone else. Obviously this was a big one for me.
They had free time after to shop or eat and we met at the hotel at 7:00 pm. to go to the 92nd St. YMHA to see a performance of the Doug Varrone Dance Company. Sitting on the floor of this upper east side studio in the Historic 92nd St. Y was a thrill. The earliest Jewish Cultural places in New York that supported and presented countless jewish dancers and dancers of color that no one else was presenting at the time(Pearl Primus, Katherine Dunham, Helen Tamaris, and on and on). The students enjoyed the work though I'm sure the gravity of the building and it's legacy they are too young to comprehend. They were asked to do research on it and find out more before we came. Former Southwest Student Benny Olk joined us as he is majoring in dance at NYU Tisch School for the Arts and he's a huge Doug Varrone fan. Benny was a delight to see as he is blossoming into a full blown artist. So great to hear of his journey as he learns more about his body, the New York dance scene, and the place dance seems to be making in new and sophisticated ways in his life. So exciting to see.
Took a few subways to get back to the hotel and tuck the children in by midnight.
Need to stop now as I get to have breakfast with Sue Weil! Our chaperone Dave Premack is the nephew of the first Walker Art Cente Performing Arts Director (who is now 77) and was responsible for the nurturing of Twyla Tharp in the 70's as she did many residencies in Mpls. Sue is one of my hero's and I was dumbfounded to hear him make plans to meet her and he was nice enough to let me and Heidi tag along.
More later. Colleen
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