Aaron Showalter/Kansan
Melia Johnson showed her students some footwork last Thursday night during the pre-professional tap dance class she teaches at Dance City, 5150 Clinton Parkway.
These long hours are both physically and mentally exhausting. "It's so time consuming that if you have other classes on the side, you really have to manage your time," Kuribayashi says. He says that after he is finished with his rehearsals and classes he is more tired than he would be after studying.
Johnson has watched students who are in high school or younger quit dance because of the long hours required, typically three to five days a week for three or more hours per night. Plus they are going to school and doing homework. At Dance City, competitions are a large part of the dance life. Johnson says preparation for these competitions takes 11 to 15 hours alone per week, and the actual time spent competing normally includes an entire weekend or more on the road, practicing and performing. She says it is hard to watch her students deal with the pressure of the competitions and long hours spent in preparation because although she wants them to succeed, she doesn't want to stress them out.
Potter, Great Bend senior, began tap dancing when he was five, but says he quit after sixth grade because he started to get the feeling that by dancing he was doing something weird. Many of his classmates made fun of him for dancing claiming dance was for girls.
Another stressor for some dancers is fighting the perception of them being effeminate or gay. They have to face Fred Phelps' anti-gay pickets, teasing from friends and classmates, and others assuming they are homosexual or girly because of their movements.
Although he quit, his passion for tap could not keep him away from dance, no matter how much grief he received. Inspired mainly by Riverdance, Potter was determined to follow his dreams to be a dancer. He performed an Irish step routine for his high school talent show and his classmates suddenly thought he was cool. But he knew the reaction would have been quite different if he had performed ballet.
Although Potter has not directly been a victim of harassment, such as that of
the Fred Phelps pickets, which express hate for homosexuals, the message still offends him. His appreciation for the art is what keeps him dancing, regardless of what people think of his or other dancers' sexual orientation. Potter says he thinks the picketers are missing out on great dancing and performing because they are too busy protesting.
In the end, it is passion that keeps
dancers on their toes, so to speak. After two weeks without dancing, Kuribayashi is back on his feet learning new choreography for the same modern dance that gave him his injury. Although a slight inconvenience, the injured knee did not stop him from dancing.
-Julie Jantzer, Jayplay staff writer, can be reached at jjantzer@kansan.com.
Jeff Potter's appreciation for the art is what keeps him dancing, regardless of what people think of his or other dancer's sexual orientation.
Jeff Potter, Great Bend senior, practices a port de bras, a ballet arm position.
Courtney Kuhlen/Kansan
thursday, october 9, 2003
GILLS, S. RENNONS #18280
jayplay.15