Girls at William B. Ogden School in Chicago got some professional advice on how to spin, leap, jump, lunge — even roll their heads. Wait a minute!
You need a pro to figure that stuff out?
You bet — if you want to learn how to dance, that is.
Joffrey Ballet dancer Trinity Hamilton paid a visit to the Ogden After School Dance Program last week to give them some pointers on ballet, modern, Spanish, hip hop and disco dancing.
Their first lesson started with their ears:
“You’ve got to connect with the music to be able to express it,” Trinity told the 8-, 9- and 10-year-old girls.
There were lots of laughs and tons of concentration, too, as the girls stepped the cha cha and bent into pli’es.
Wrenn J., 10, was impressed with Trinity. “She can do so many different things. She got us to move a round a little bit more.”
After an hour of dancing to everything from classical music to rock’s “My Sherona,” Quinn W., 9, said she was surprised ballet could be so different. And, though she did have loads of fun, dancing (professionally anyway) might not be in her future.
“I want to be a lawyer,” Quinn said.
———-
The dancers at Ogden are going to get a chance to see the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago perform the rock ballet “Billboards,” set to music by the Artist Formerly Known as Prince, at the Rosemont Theatre. You can too, May 2-4 at the theatre, 5400 N. River Rd., Rosemont. Call 312-902-1500 for tickets and information.
