Choreographer gets students moving

There’s biology, algebra and English — all staples in the diet of a well-rounded high school education.

But some students at Riverside Brookfield High School have a course on their table that’s drawing in creative talent from out of state.

The advanced dance students at Riverside Brookfield High School will be showing off what they learned from a professional choreographer at a performance this January.

Jon Lehrer, of LehrerDance, a Buffalo, N.Y.-based modern dance company, spent three days last week teaching the honors-level students a dance routine. They will perform for the school on Jan. 15.

Mindy Haines, RB dance teacher in the Fine Arts Department, created the honors dance class, known as the Repertory Dance Company, this year.

“The students receive honors credit for the class,” Haines said. “They meet for about an hour a day, every day, and they study modern and contemporary dance. They choreograph their own work and work with guest artists, and they analyze dance.”

The class is made up of 16 students, each of whom auditioned for a spot in the class.

The students also perform both on and off campus, most recently at Dance Slam, a Dance Chicago competition in October and at the school’s Veterans Day assembly.

Haines met Lehrer at a conference for dance teachers in 2007.

“I adored his style and philosophy about movement and dance,” Haines said. “He worked with the Gus Giordano dance company in Evanston, and told me he came back to the area often, so I asked him to work with my students.”

This is the second year Lehrer has worked on a dance piece with one of Haines’ classes. It is the first year Lehrer has worked with the honors-level students. 

“This lets students work hands on with a professional choreographer,” Haines said. “He is currently in the dance world making art. The girls are very fortunate to work with him. They are learning his philosophy and style. Exposing them to as much dance as possible here is going to enrich their experience at RB.”

Lehrer will be taking a piece that his company performed in Chicago in September and altering it for the students.

“The piece that they’ll be doing is called Fused,” Lehrer said. “It mixed classical music and hip-hop rhythms musically. Choreographically, I’m combining traditional ballet with extremely athletic, high energy movement.”

Lehrer said the girls will performing some difficult moves, including jumping in their area and landing flat on the ground instead of on their feet.

Lauren DeRosier, a member of the Repertory Dance Ensemble and a senior at RB, is excited about performing Lehrer’s piece.

“It’s a lot of jumps,” she said. “It’s about momentum. It’s really fast paced.”

Lauren is looking to be on a collegiate dance team. She has been accepted to four colleges so far, and has not yet made a decision on where she will attend.

“I love it and it’s not something I’m ready to give up yet,” Lauren said. “I can’t really imagine my life without dancing. It’s a way to express yourself without talking.”

Along with being able to perform a dance piece created by a professional choreographer, Lehrer and Haines both noted the girls could see many benefits in the future from the experience.

“They are learning how to cooperate and be part of a team,” Haines said. “Dance asks the student to be intellectual, physical, and social. The students have to practice organizing, visualizing and planning. They’re conceptualizing something and can see it in their minds, and then have to figure out how to create it.”

Lehrer said that the best advice he could give the students would be to go to college, whether for a dance program or another subject. Lehrer originally went to college for business, and switched to dance after taking his first dance class at 19 on a dare.

“Now, you have to know how to do everything,” he said. “You can’t just do ballet, or jazz, or modern. People want well-rounded dancers, and students should get experience in as many styles of dance as possible.”

Haines said that high school likely won’t be the last time the students are dancing.

“Most of them will go on to dance in college,” Haines said. “One student is definitely pursuing a dance major, and a couple others are doing a dance minor. Dance is a big part of their lives, and they really love what dance does for them.”