Gotta Dance!

The annual spring dance, held June 1-3, drew on the talents of more than 80 student dancers.

For the Academy's dance program, "in the beginning" means 1972, the year the first female boarding students entered the Academy. Ted Seabrooke, chair of the physical education department, took an eclectic approach in planning a fitness curriculum for girls: along with soccer, basketball and crew, he added dance as an option and hired Linda Luca, a young, energetic "all eyes and smiles" dancer from the New Haven Ballet, to establish the program. In the almost 30 years that Luca has been the Academy's principal dance instructor, she has developed a program that is as PEA-specific as any at the school.

Luca says she was never interested in directing a ballet company. While she loves seeing a line of beautifully trained dancers doing grands battements at a barre, a program for classical dancers alone would meet neither the needs nor the interests of Academy dancers, says Luca. "I feel strongly that dance should be for anyone who is interested in it-no matter their previous experience, natural ability or body type." She advises several student dance organizations, among them Imani, which performs dances and music of native African tribes and modern African-American artists, and Rhythmics, a group dedicated to performing tap dances. Luca opens the school's annual Martin Luther King Day commemorative performance to all interested participants. Through the PEA Dance Company-made up of those students who select dance as their spring sport-she offers enthusiasts of many different dance genres the opportunity to study, choreograph and perform.

The excitement this concert generates ensures that dance has a place on the Exeter campus. "The students bring enthusiasm and diversity that one person alone couldn't manage-and they draw an audience in," says Luca. "They take pride in their work. In setting and rehearsing their dances, they just step right in and put it all together." In this, they emulate their teacher, whose boundless energy and thoroughness are program strengths. The result was that this year's concert reached a new level of professionalism for a high school performance.

Linda Luca (center), who founded the PEA dance program in 1972, has taught a generation of dancers, including Priscilla Parris '01 (left) and Lisa Hardej '01 (right).

Held June 1 to 3, the concert contained 22 pieces, a full program that would have been much larger if Luca had not had to limit the running time to under two hours. The 26 members of the company performed several numbers each and many tried their hand at choreographing as well. Some student choreographers and clubs cast their pieces with noncompany members, swelling the total number of student performers to more than 80.

Among the 17 student-choreographed dances were ballet, modern and jazz pieces, a precision step number, a North Indian bridal shower dance, a flamenco/zambra piece, swing and tap dances and pieces that defy easy classification. Luca was especially pleased that Myra Jones Romain '74, one of her first dancers, taught the company Mahi Voodoo dance, which was performed to the accompaniment of the Academy's African Drumming Ensemble and rousing applause.

"The ongoing popularity of the dance program and its vibrancy can be attributed to Linda," says her colleague and friend Pam Parris. "She not only talks diversity, but actually sets it before our eyes." Parris has seen Luca dispel the hesitancy of students who would like to dance but think they can't do it. "Linda is a tremendously sensitive teacher and happiest when she is introducing someone new to the art she loves," says Parris. "She cares as much about the person's peaking interest as natural ability."

Luca's dance classes stress the same skills her physical education colleagues do in their programs: technique, flexibility, strength, cardiovascular fitness, control and coordination. But dance has the potential to lift the physical to the realm of art, and Luca regularly arranges lessons, among them flamenco, point and partnering classes, for students with particular interests. Luca also teaches dance history and composition. For these courses, students earn performing arts credit.

As an instructor in physical education and drama, Luca finds herself and her program in a unique position: she is embraced and supported by two departments. "It is an interdisciplinary arrangement that keeps the program vital," she says. "Athletes and artists share a lot of common ground-both are movement- and exercise-based and provide the foundation for lifelong fitness." From the standards set by the PEA Dance Company, it is clear that Luca's goal of combining sport and art has met with success.

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