Spring into spring. Or fling yourself, like the dance department hopes you will.
The Spring Fling Dance Thing workshops are held every two years at New Trier’s Winnetka Campus, and they attract notable teachers and choreographers from the Chicagoland area. Held in the dance studios, this event on Saturday, April 20 is a treat for New Trier student and dancers alike to partake in. This year, classes range from Bollywood to ballet to hip-hop and include hot, young Chicago dance companies such as Same Planet Different World.
The Dance Division has offered the workshops since the 1980s, and the history precedes the name. “It used to be called the ‘Dead of Winter Dance Festival’ because we figured we needed something that would enliven the season. It came after dance day, and was usually in February,” said Christopher Rutt, the Dance Division Coordinator.
“We call guest teachers from around the Chicago area and see if they would be interested in coming out and sharing their own expertise with our students. The workshop is open to any student at New Trier. In fact, this year I’m also inviting Loyola Academy,” he added.
Rutt has also noted that with the change in title there has been a change in what classes students want to take. “In the past it’s always been more fashionable classes that the students take; in other words, they might take hip-hop because that’s a trendy thing. But now, we have just as many, if not more, signing up for other modern dance classes, like the modern partnering class, which I think is a really good sign. They’re trying other things, they’re experimenting, they’re stepping outside their comfort zone and that tells me we’re doing our job here in the dance division,” he said.
The teachers who visit are chosen by the Dance Division teachers here at New Trier. “We’re looking for someone who we know is a proven entity, someone who is good with students,” said Rutt. “Do they have something to offer that’s unique, maybe something that’s beyond what we do? That’s what we’re looking for,” he said.
There are approximately ten professional teachers visiting the school this year. Rutt is excited to see students try new things and experience these unique classes.
“We have some excellent variety here in the dance division with all these teachers, we all teach in a different way. But when you start to see what’s available out in the city and have these teachers come in, they have other ways of exciting kids through the movement that they’re doing. I think any time you have an opportunity for a student to get inspired by something than it’s a win-win situation. It’s a really good chance for them. I never know how a teacher is going to light a fire under somebody,” he said.
The biggest hope for the event? Inspiration. “I’m hoping that students are inspired to create movement, inspired to do lifts in ways they hadn’t thought of before; inspired to try some things further; to delve deeper into yoga or into Bollywood; what have you. Anyway that they can go beyond the surface experience is a great win for us. You never how what’s going to inspire someone and where a student is going to go with it.”