Note: This essay was first published in Stance on Dance’s spring/summer 2023 print issue. To learn more, visit stanceondance.com/print-publication.

A little girl, a young man, and perhaps you… take a chance to dance!

As Martha Graham said, “There is only one of you in all time.” We each come into the world with different capacities and talents and follow unique life paths. Sometimes we discover these early in life and sometimes later. Adelaide Vienneau née Mallette entered the dance world at six years of age in Nashville, Tennessee, and achieved success as a ballerina with New York City’s Dance Theatre of Harlem. Years later, her son, Preston Vienneau, entered the world of dance in Nashville at age 27 with MOVE Inclusive and, at age 29, began performing when he joined Dance Express in Fort Collins, Colorado. And I have the privilege of sharing their stories with you.

Photo by Jim Vienneau

Following a pediatrician’s advice to study ballet to help correct Adelaide’s clubfeet, her mother, Pazetta, phoned multiple dance studios in Nashville. After being rejected by some because of race, the family found the Albertine School of Dance. Founder Ellen Albertine Chaiser Maxwell did not discriminate in accepting students of color. From years of dance with the Chicago Opera, Adolph Bolm Dance Company, and Ruth St. Denis Dance Company, she believed in the power of dance for everyone.

Early on it became apparent that Adelaide had a passion for ballet. She studied with Albertine for 12 years in Nashville and performed with the Nashville Ballet. For eight summers in Bar Harbor, Maine, with Albertine Maxwell’s Summer Dance Program, Adelaide honed her ballet talents under classically trained Russian ballerina Felia Doubrovska and the kind ballet master from Kentucky, Norman Shelburne. Accomplishments followed her hard work and dedication. In 1980, she moved to New York City with the support of Madame Doubrovska to train at the prestigious School of American Ballet founded by George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. With such great talent, Adelaide gained the privilege of being coached by Russian-born prima ballerina Alexandra Danilova, renowned teacher Suki Schorer, and the enthusiastic and inspiring Andrei Kramarevsky while at the School of American Ballet.

Studying part time at Fordham University in Lincoln Center and working as an au pair for a family, she pursued dance studies for three summers with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Noted as the first Black classical ballet company, Dance Theatre of Harlem, founded by Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook in 1969, was taking the world by storm. Adelaide was invited to tour as a member of the professional touring company in 1983. She traveled extensively with the multiethnic company of 50 dancers throughout the United States, Canada, South America, and Europe. She still recalls the productions of Firebird, Creole Giselle (as re-visioned by Arthur Mitchell), and especially Balanchine’s Four Temperaments, Serenade, Square Dance, Concerto Barocco, and Stars and Stripes.

“Creole Giselle,” Dancers from left to right are: Mitchell McCarthy, Adelaide Mallette, and Allen Sampson. Photo courtesy Adelaide Vienneau.

When asked about highlights in her dance career, Adelaide says: “Many come to mind…” Dancing in Balanchine’s famous ballets; performing in London in the presence of Dame Margot Fonteyn and at the esteemed Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; appearing at the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center in front of family and friends. Certainly, performing during the Closing Ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles “was a great honor.” Dance Theatre of Harlem represented the dance arts of the United States on a world level for more than 2.6 billion people. Adelaide will never forget the applause of the crowd (with approximately 92,000 people in attendance at the LA Coliseum that night) nor the genuine unity and camaraderie of the moment.

Leaving the spotlight, in 1988 Adelaide retired from the stage to continue her education at Vanderbilt University and start a family with her husband, James Vienneau. Resettled in Nashville, their son, Preston, was born in 1993, bringing additional joy to their world. At age five, Preston was diagnosed with high functioning Asperger’s on the autism spectrum, and at age ten, with type 1 diabetes. For any family this would be a challenge. The Vienneaus navigated the peaks and valleys along the way, looking for the joy and taking a positive approach in the difficult and challenging times. One fellow parent whose son had Angelman syndrome shared a bit of advice with Adelaide: “Always leave room for your child to amaze you.”

Preston is amazing. He completed a certificate in Business Administration and worked for five years at Vanderbilt University Medical Center as an administrative assistant. He’s excelled in playing tennis and basketball. He trained as a veterinary technician to work with animals in humane shelters and volunteered at various nonprofit agencies, including the local food bank.

As an accomplished visual artist, his art is displayed throughout the United States. And where does dance enter his life? Naturally, Preston first danced as a baby in his mother’s arms. As a young adult, just after the onset of the pandemic, he enrolled in dance classes with MOVE Inclusive Dance in Nashville, Tennessee, founded by Lauren Morris in 2018. There he enjoyed learning dance for himself and in community with others. In 2022, when the family moved to Fort Collins, Colorado, Preston joined Dance Express.

As an inclusive dance company, Dance Express improves lives through dance. Founded in 1989, Dance Express focuses on creating quality, artistic dance productions balanced with the joy of dance. Enhancing self-expression and community engagement through dance for persons with developmental disabilities over 16 years of age, Dance Express meets a community need in the arts and inspires not only the dancers, but also the regional community. Founder Mary Elizabeth Lenahan’s sister, Theresa Lenahan, loved to dance and showed an innate sense of rhythm and joy in movement. She also had Down syndrome. Because of her, Dance Express was born. Of the first eight dancers to audition, seven had Down syndrome and six were selected. The mother of one of the men in the original troupe said she was thrilled to have a place for her son to dance other than the end of the driveway. As a modern dance troupe for persons with and without disabilities, Dance Express is dedicated to providing dance training and performance opportunities with the long-term vision to be nationally and internationally recognized.

Through participating in weekly classes and rehearsals, Preston was ready to perform in his first production, DREAMS in DECEMBER, in December 2022 at the Lincoln Center Magnolia Theatre, the smaller proscenium theater at the local performing arts center in Fort Collins. At first he admits he was nervous, and then the thrill of the stage won him over.

Preston in “DREAMS in DECEMBER,” Photo courtesy Dance Express.

His mom feels he has found another community of friends that she wants to see flourish over time. Preston enjoys learning choreography and having the opportunity to perform. He even says he would consider helping to teach the adaptive dance workshops offered by Dance Express in schools and community centers. He has a musician friend on the autism spectrum who composes original music, with which Preston might like to dance. At home, Preston practices and consults with his mom about dance steps, technique, and how to manage anxiety before performing. “It warms my heart when he asks me questions about the dance world or shares some of the choreography with me,” Adelaide shares. “On a deeper level, it makes me tremendously happy to see him flourish on his own in another creative field. The arts are a powerful way to build self-esteem, confidence, and self-expression. I see all of those in Preston when he is dancing.”

You might be asking yourself whether Adelaide returned to dance and what career path she followed. With a BS in Human and Organizational Development from Vanderbilt University, and the invaluable skills acquired through a career as a dancer, Adelaide worked in community relations. She directed the Family Resource Center at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University and, in 2016, she received the Credo Award. She has not closed the door to dance in her life. She briefly returned to teaching ballet in Nashville, yet the fullness of her life precluded investing very much time there. Watching her son perform in December 2022, she felt inspired; the seed idea of pursuing choreography was planted.

Arthur Mitchell, Dance Theatre of Harlem founder, believed everyone can be empowered through dance, performance, and arts education. In the Vienneau family, we see how dance spans a broad spectrum of possibilities. Adelaide achieved success as an accomplished, highly skilled ballerina performing internationally. Preston achieves personal success, creative self-expression, joy, and comfort through dance at Dance Express.

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REFERENCES:

Baldwin N. (2022). Martha Graham: a life when dance became modern.  Alfred A. Knopf

Dahlberg, T. (2020). Lionel Richie recalls closing 1989 Olympics. The Columbian, August 3, 2020.

www.columbian.com/news/2020/aug/03/lionel-richie-recalls-closing-1984-olympics/

Tyrus, J & Novosel  P. (2021). Dance theatre of Harlem: a history, a movement, a celebration.  Dafina Books.

A second-generation New Yorker of Irish-Polish descent, Mary Elizabeth Lenahan, MS, OT, is the artistic and executive director/founder of Dance Express in Fort Collins, Colorado. She brings enthusiasm, joy, understanding, and love of dance to Dance Express and creates a unique niche for persons with disabilities in the modern dance world. She earned a BA in German from the State University of New York at Albany and an MS in Occupational Therapy from Colorado State University. After four years of training with Sound Circle Eurythmy of Boulder, Colorado, she performed at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. 

To learn more, visit www.danceexpressfc.com.

The post A Chance to Dance appeared first on Stance on Dance.

Happy 11^th birthday to Stance on Dance! When I started Stance on Dance in 2012, I had no idea I’d be continuing it more than a decade later, or that it would grow into its present iteration as a nonprofit and print publication. As Stance on Dance reaches its third print issue, I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to continue publishing the perspectives of myriad dance artists and sharing those perspectives with Stance on Dance’s donors as well as with students of dance around the country. I’m honored to be able to send a copy of each issue to folks who donate at least $25 a year to support Stance on Dance’s arts journalism nonprofit.

The spring/summer 2023 print issue features movement artist breana’s poignant poem about their history in ballet and subsequent trauma; Liz Duran Boubion’s meditation on how her residency in the desert has influenced her thoughts on death; Julia Cost’s sumptuous paintings of people in motion; Micaela Gardner’s reflections on making Resuenen, an interpretive dance film that explores the US-Mexico border; Mary Elizabeth Lenahan’s story of former dancer Adelaide and her son, Preston, who is on the autism spectrum and dances with Dance Express; Shannon Leypoldt’s intriguing look at the link between artistic practice and the menstrual cycle; Kevin O’Connor’s ode to his “dancestor” Billy and his suggestions for scores to improvise with one’s ancestors; and longtime dance teacher Diana Turner-Forte’s account of her experience facilitating a group of students with intellectual disabilities. This issue also includes my interviews with Maggie Bridger, a choreographer and PhD candidate who explores the relationship between pain, dance, and disability; and Wonyoung Kim, a choreographer, dancer, and lawyer who views choreography as metaphorically similar to law. If you’d like to receive a copy, please consider donating to Stance on Dance. Otherwise, all the articles and interviews will eventually be published online and will be free and accessible to anyone interested.

A big component of Stance on Dance is to not only create a platform for dance writers but also to send free copies of Stance on Dance to colleges and other dance learning spaces with the hope that the next generation of dance artists will become excited by the possibilities of dance journalism. To date, Stance on Dance has sent free copies to 20 dance programs around the country. If you work with a college dance program or other dance learning space and are interested in receiving free copies of Stance on Dance, please reach out to me at emmaly@stanceondance.com. And if you’re reading this and thinking, “I have a stance on dance!” don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Cover by Julia Cost
“Betty Ann’s Hula” (2014)
Oil on canvas, 16” x 12”

The post Supporting and Spreading Dance Journalism appeared first on Stance on Dance.

BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT

Mary Elizabeth Lenahan, MS, OT, is the founder and artistic/executive director of Dance Express, an inclusive dance company based in Fort Collins, CO for people with and without disabilities. Here, she shares the history and structure of the company, which has been promoting diverse artistic expression and creativity for 30 years, and how she’d like to grow its vision in the future.

Photo by Lori Jackson of Jaxon Pics

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Can you share a little about your own dance history – what kinds of performance practices and in what contexts shaped who you are today?

I loved to dance as a young child. My family went to the polka hops on Sundays, which was my first dance experience. I loved the radio as a teenager and going to Friday night dances with a live band at the high school gym.  My sister had Down syndrome and, because of her, I thought I’d look into dance therapy in college, though decided against it when I let the thought of not earning enough money discourage me. However, I took dance in college and there were opportunities to perform with the dance and theater departments. Saratoga Springs is near where I’m from, and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center would bring in guest artists, such as Paul Sanasardo, for inspiring summer dance intensive workshops.

I moved to Colorado and got my master’s in occupational therapy. I still wanted to take dance classes and was still interested in dance therapy. I met Jane Slusarski-Harris, who was the new dance department director at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. With Jane, we auditioned our first company of dancers for Dance Express. On February 25, 1989, Dance Express was founded.

How is Dance Express structured?

Initially, there were eight people who auditioned, and we ended up with a troupe of six. We performed that summer at Fort Collins’ first official New West Fest. Our year runs from June through May with more intensive community engagement from September through May. For the past 30 years, we’ve met on Sundays to rehearse, as this seems to be a day with fewer scheduling conflicts for people. We have varying number of productions per year. Initially we did more studio concerts and guests appearances. Then we grew into having our own productions at the local performing arts center and other sites, in addition to making guest appearances. Some years, we’ve done as many as four productions, while other years we’ve done as few as two. In general, we meet once a week and perform three times a year.

There are now nine dancers in the company, mostly comprised of dancers with cognitive developmental disabilities. Over the years, we’ve had as many as 17 people in the company and as few as six. My sister was involved when she lived in Colorado from 1996 to 2015. She died last year. She was part of the dance company for many years, and continues to be an inspiration for us all.

Three years ago, in 2017, we began the Dance Beyond the Limits regional inclusive dance convening to include more people outside of our realm. It’s a one-day event held the first Saturday of the month of October. The first year, we had three or four workshops of inclusive dance led by different teachers. Then we had community leaders speak about inclusion in the culture. Last year and this year, we cut down on the discussions because we’ve gathered the information we felt we needed for our local cultural plan. For 2018 and 2019, we had Jana Meszaros of DanceAbility International teach master classes, as well as other teachers present workshops in ballet, partnering, improvisation, Feldenkrais and eurythmy. It was great to have that variety of movement followed by short discussions. I want Dance Beyond the Limits to grow to a two-day event with a major inclusive dance company performing as a culminating segment. This convening is intended for the Western region of the United States.

What dance methods does Dance Express mainly utilize?

Our style has evolved over the years.  We work with modern dance, improvisation, and popular dance. I like to facilitate movement two ways. I create choreography and allow it to live and breathe with the dancers. Or I facilitate choreography, where one person creates one sequence and another person adds to it and we build a dance. The second method grows from the people in the room.

One dancer has been with Dance Express for all 30 years. She is a good leader and oftentimes creates choreography for the troupe. The dancers share a memetic sense, in that what one person does, another person is able to read, so that a piece comes together without being superimposed. There’s a feeling more than a structure. We dance both to the music and use it as background. I’ve had to learn to be flexible and give a little open rein to the product, and to realize it’s not going to be the same every time.

Photo by Lori Jackson of Jaxon Pics

How would you describe the dance scene in Fort Collins, and how has Dance Express fit into that scene?

I was at CSU when Dance Express began, so we had an alignment with both the dance department and the occupational therapy department. Since my children were growing up while I was developing the dance company, we also had relationships with elementary schools and high schools. Through those relationships, we’ve always included people without disabilities.

In Fort Collins, there is a ballet company that has been around 10 years longer than Dance Express. There are also modern dance companies that come and go. We have a new dance school for adults who want to do performances. We’ve done collaborations with many different organizations over the years. For seven years in a row, we collaborated with the ballet company. For another five years, we did a DanceMakers series to invite ballet, modern, flamenco, tap, belly dancers and other genres to create concerts with us. There is an inclusive dance company called Spoke N Motion out of Denver who we have yet to perform with, though we’ve shared the stage with them at guest appearances and some of their dancers have participated in Dance Beyond the Limits.

Over the past 30 years, how have you seen Dance Express impact the community?

What I’ve seen over the years is that there is more acceptance that people with disabilities can be dancers with access to the arts scene, making contributions to the culture. I imagine the mindset began in the 1980s to allow people of all abilities to participate more widely in the community. Now we see more people of differing capacities being accepted into the mainstream. However, this can depend on what circle you’re in or what community. We have 165,000 people in Fort Collins. Not everyone is aware of us, or even aware of the local ballet company. There are circles of people who know, and circles of people who don’t know. In the circles of people who know, it’s become more accepted and desirable that people with disabilities dance. In the circles who don’t know, they wonder if it’s really art.

Part of working with school groups and other dance companies is to bring that awareness into the conversation. Doing workshops in the schools or detention centers, there was initially a bit of a question mark. Now there’s almost instant acceptance.

How would you like to expand Dance Express in the future?

We have used various spaces around town, so our big goal is to have our own space at an expressive and healing arts center where Dance Express could have its home with other dancers, artists, therapists and healers, such as acupuncturists, massage therapists and/or arts support groups. There would be a huge performance space that could be shared with the community. This is my really big dream!

Adjacent to the center would be housing that would serve as nurturing care environments for people who are aging and don’t want to go into a facility or for persons with disabilities. They could live nearby within walking distance of the community center and access the art, dance and therapies. As they age further and can’t go to the center, the services could go to them in their homes, and finally allow them to die in their homes. That idea is a result of my sister and brother and their end-of-life experiences. There has to be a different way.

Those are the big dreams. Right now, I’m looking to create a larger board of directors and strengthen our infrastructure to offer more services. Rather than simply being a performing dance troupe, Dance Express can offer more workshops for people of all ages and abilities, such as the elderly, incarcerated, and/or those who feel challenged by dance.  We want to create greater capacity. Right now, our company is for dancers over 16, though we also work with children through workshops in the schools and collaborations in one of our annual productions.

In addition to re-vamping our strategic plan, we are building a sustainability plan for when I leave to travel around the world and walk the Camino de Santiago! I think Dance Express is important, and I want this dance to go on beyond me.

Any other thoughts?

There’s a balance between enjoying what you do and creating a professional product. Sometimes, what people love the most about Dance Express is the joy that is given from the dancers to the people who see them. It may not be perfect execution, yet the sincere joy in dance is apparent and is the gift we share.

Photo by Jenae Geren of Geren Imaging

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To learn more, visit www.danceexpressfc.com.

The post Dance Express Celebrates 30 Years of Inclusive Dance appeared first on Stance on Dance.

Meet our director and editor:

Emmaly Wiederholt is a dance artist and arts journalist based in Albuquerque, NM. She founded Stance on Dance in 2012. Emmaly earned her MA in Arts Journalism from the University of Southern California and her BFA in Ballet and BS in Political Science from the University of Utah. She further trained at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance and performed extensively around the Bay Area. Her first book, Beauty is Experience: Dancing 50 and Beyond, was published in 2017, and her second book, Breadth of Bodies: Discussing Disability in Dance, was published in 2022. Emmaly is also a master DanceAbility instructor and facilitates movement groups at the UNM Hospital adult psychiatric ward, as well as is a founding member of the dance advocacy nonprofit ABQ Dance Connect. She continues to perform throughout the Southwest.

Photo by Allen Winston

Our contributors have included:

Snowflake Arizmendi-Calvert, a performance artist and organizer in the Bay Area.

Gregory Bartning, a photographer in Portland, OR.

Liz Duran Boubion, the director of the Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers in the Bay Area.

Liz Brent-Maldonado, an artist, writer, educator, and producer in San Francisco, CA.

Michelle Chaviano, a ballet dancer with Ballet North Texas.

Bradford Chin, a disabled dance artist and accessibility consultant in Chicago, IL, and San Francisco, CA.

Shebana Coelho, a writer and performer currently studying flamenco in Spain.

breana connor, an interdisciplinary artist, facilitator + healer in Albuquerque, NM.

Lauren Coons, an interdisciplinary artist, performer, healer and educator in Albuquerque, NM.

Julia Cost, a painter, textile designer, sewist, and dancer in Maui, HI.

Sophia Diehl, a dancer in New York City.

Bonnie Eissner, a writer in New York City.

Katie Flashner, a.k.a. The Girl with the Tree Tattoo, a World Champion ballroom dancer and author in ME.

Micaela Gardner, a dancer and choreographer in Baja, Mexico.

Sarah Groth, an interdisciplinary artist from Albuquerque, NM.

Cherie Hill, a dance educator and choreographer based in the Bay Area.

Lorie House, a dancer, choreographer, and lawyer in NM.

Silva Laukkanen, a dance educator and disability advocate in Austin, TX.

Mary Elizabeth Lenahan, the director of Dance Express in Fort Collins, CO.

Shannon Leypoldt, a dance artist, teacher, and sports massage therapist in Berlin.

Erin Malley, a dance artist and tango teacher based in West Michigan.

Julianna Massa, a dance artist in Albuquerque, NM.

Aiano Nakagawa, a dance artist, educator, facilitator, writer, and event producer in the Bay Area.

Jessie Nowak, a dance artist and filmmaker in Portland, OR.

Kevin O’Connor, a multidisciplinary artist in London, Ontario, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Bhumi B Patel, an artist/activist based in the Bay Area.

Stephanie Potreck, a sports nutritionist and health advocate who currently resides in Germany.

Jill Randall, artistic director of Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley, CA.

Kathryn Roszak, a choreographer, filmmaker, educator, and activist in the Bay Area.

Donna Schoenherr, director of Ballet4Life and Move into Wellbeing in London, UK.

Maggie Stack, a dancer and teacher in Reno, NV.

Camille Taft, a CO front range-based mover and visual artist.

Mary Trunk, a filmmaker, choreographer, and multimedia artist in Altadena, CA.

Diana Turner-Forte, a teaching artist, healing arts coach, and writer in NC.

Ana Vrbaski, a body music practitioner in Serbia.

Nikhita Winkler, a dancer, choreographer, and teacher from Namibia who currently resides in Spain.

Erica Pisarchuk Wilson, a dance artist, visual artist and poet in Albuquerque, NM.

Rebecca Zeh, an interdisciplinary artist in Sarasota Springs, NY.

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Our board:

Snowflake Arizmendi-Calvert

Cathy Intemann

Alana Isiguen

Courtney King

Malinda LaVelle

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