As the day’s dying sunlight streamed through the windows of the Huey P. Long Fieldhouse, about 30 students strode across the dance floor, chanting their names with one arm reaching toward the heavens. “You’re a matador,” shouted dancer Blakeley White-McGuire to the students as she beat a tribal hand drum. White-McGuire has returned to her hometown from the stages of New York to share world-class modern dance with students in Baton Rouge. She and her partner, George Smallwood, have been holding master classes in south Louisiana all week. The dancers will hold an informal showing Saturday at 6 p.m. at The Dancers’ Workshop Studio Theatre, located off Bluebonnet Boulevard near Perkins Road. During Wednesday’s class, White-McGuire showed University students techniques in modern dance, such as contraction and weight shift. As a principal dancer – the equivalent of a prima ballerina – White-McGuire used the dramatic and emotional approach to teaching typified by the Martha Graham style of dance. For example, she made groups of students repeat a dance phrase if she did not feel they meant it or if they did not perform to their full potential. Graham is widely considered the most influential pioneer of modern dance, and her New York-based dance company is the oldest modern dance company in the world. White-McGuire emphasized the use of dynamics, a technique that requires movement at different speeds and levels. She compared dancing to speaking. When a person says everything at the same pitch, it can be confusing and ineffective. “Dance is a language,” she said. White-McGuire occasionally referenced the “third eye” on a person’s forehead and emphasized the heart and chest be “open” when performing certain moves. “You are stretching your skin to meet your aura,” she said at one point. “You are stretching your imagination. That’s your job as a dancer.” White-McGuire’s intense gaze and frequent use of the deep-sounding hand drum kept the students’ rapt attention. “Graham was very intense,” said Molly Buchanan, head of the dance department. White-McGuire first experienced the Graham style of dance when the company performed at the University in 1991. She was a student at the time and was inspired to move to New York at age 19 the next summer. Shortly after her move to the Big Apple, White-McGuire received a full scholarship to study at the Graham company. Since then, she has toured the globe, visiting almost every continent. This week, she and her partner, a New Orleans native, are in the area visiting family. She said she wanted to raise dance awareness in the area. “While we’re in the prime of our career, we want to share our work. We don’t want to wait ’til that’s past,” she said. Buchanan said she is glad the students have an opportunity to experience this unique style of dance. “It’s an opportunity for them to experience something we don’t usually get down here … a real Graham dancer,” she said. English senior Shannon Cowie said she enjoyed that McGuire focused on the emotional and psychological aspect dance. “You forget that you are an artist,” she said. “You’re used to being just an instrument, and it’s nice to be reminded that you are an artist.” Psychology senior Mayle Picou said she enjoyed the class. “It was very inspirational,” she said. McGuire and Smallwood’s performance on Saturday is called “Common Ground: Contemporary Dance, Past and Present,” and tickets are $10.
—-Contact Lauren Walck at [email protected]