Charles' Web BlogJuly 7, 2008
It is the summer of 2008 and I am once again in Tuscaloosa, Alabama — for the eighth consecutive year — coordinating the American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive program. I always look forward to seeing my ABT colleagues at the program and catching up with them.
Me at the end of a long day at the ABT Summer Intensive Program
This year, my faculty at the ABT summer program consists of: Winthrop Corey, Lorin Johnson, Melissa Hale, Denise Warner Limoli, Colleen O'Callaghan and Amy Rose. Together we formed the nucleus of a great team that offers our summer program students a feast of valuable information and insights. From a teaching point of view, this interaction is a stimulating and enriching experience and it gives me an opportunity to reflect on my own teaching, as well as on the workings of the Maple Conservatory of Dance.
ABT Summer Program faculty (l-r): Colleen O’Callaghan, Charles Maple,
Amy Rose, Denise Warner Limoli, Melissa Hale and Lorin Johnson
And...Winthrop Corey
It has been a little over a year since Kathy Crade and I opened the Maple Conservatory of Dance in Irvine. In retrospect, for much of this past year we, along with our assistant directors Chris Martin and Pili Doheny, were pinching ourselves in disbelief that we had taken on such a huge project. As I contemplate the scope of that mission, I realized that what we had begun at the Maple Conservatory is a ballet school that not only has become a top-notch training program in Southern California, but also has become a hotbed of artistry and creativity.
This thought reinforces my conviction that artistry is not simply about the "vessel." That is, artistry is not about the human body, but rather, what the individual chooses to pour into it. And it is our mission as teachers to inspire our students to discover their passion for dance and help them to realize the full potential of their instruments or "vessel." We have the opportunity to instill in our students a love of dance that will stay with them forever and make them part of our larger dance family. Once a dancer, always a dancer.
Lorin Johnson making a point with Amy Rose
I personally find ballet far more interesting than almost any other form of movement to which I have been exposed, and I know that this fascination with ballet is inherently positive. For me, ballet is a performing art that acts as a language which enables communication, fosters wonder and liberates our souls — passing itself from teacher to student, to performer, and finally to the audience, transcending itself from generation to generation. The ripple effect is simply marvelous.
Just the other day, it occurred to me that the Maple Conservatory faculty, Kathy and I have just begun to find our rhythm at the Conservatory. The studios are beginning to feel like home and they have become a wonderful vehicle on what it offers our students. In fact, the studios have allowed our faculty to focus solely on the human work of teaching our students on how to become dance artists and it has enhanced our faculty's ability to address the individual needs of the students. There is no better feeling than to walk into the studios and be surrounded by the passionate energy of eager, young students who await the day of new discoveries with our faculty!
And so, our studios have become the vessel, but the Conservatory has become the passion of our students, their parents, the faculty and directors, all of whom have poured their heart and soul into it. It is this zeal that drives the art form to a wider audience and has created the artistic and creative ecology at the Maple Conservatory of Dance.
Charles A. Maple
Director, Maple Conservatory of Dance
Email: info@mapleconservatory.com
