Let’s " Dance USM " A formerly red-headed stepchild gets legitimate BY CHRISTY MCKINNON

For years dancers have walked amongst each other in the halls of USM without ever connecting. With no dance program to unite their similar sensibilities, they’ve remained a scattered bunch. Now, like magnet in an Etch-a-Sketch, they’re clumping together and taking shape, this year collaborating on the most professional production of the annual "Dance USM" to date. With guest choreographers, a budget for lighting and costumes, and a collective experience by participants in taking a workshop in choreography, it’s like the theater department proposed to the show with a 10-karat diamond. The department seems finally ready to commit to the art of dance. With the addition of a musical theater major four years ago and the impending theater and dance certifications that may be required of public educators, the USM theater department wants to nurture a full-blown dance major in the coming years. And the professional quality of the current "Dance USM" is indicative of that progression.

However, the dance program, in order to grow, needs a full-time dance instructor. Charles Kading, theater department chair, has his toes and fingers crossed hoping it’ll happen soon. "It’s frustrating asking for a position for a couple of years and seeing it almost making it to the top . . . but I feel it’s gonna happen sooner rather than later."

He just might be right. With the Maine Legislature looking at the latest round of Maine Learning Results, there is a chance theater and dance certifications will be required of arts teachers for the first time. Kading hopes that USM’s theater department will be the first in the state offering the certification. "We’re kind of hoping we’ll be on the front lines for that," he says.

Though the legislation has been tentatively approved, there’s always the issue of money. "For the arts it’s always been, ‘We like the idea, if there’s money,’ " says Mary Ellen Shaper, a Buxton teacher who’s worked on developing a curriculum for dance instructors if certification is required in the new legislation.

As a dancer and choreographer for Dance USM, I’m taking the choreography workshop and presenting my own piece for the show as well as dancing in my peers’ pieces. I’ve witnessed the growing pains this production has endured without the support and guidance of a dance program or even a full-time faculty person responsible for its development.

It’s gone from what’s been described by students and faculty as a kind of free-for-all talent show to a semi-professional production with respected guest artists, such as Portland artist and Bowdoin dance instructor Louis Gervais, Bates dance department chair Carol Dilley, and Jill Eng, a professional artist who’s worked in New York and Boston. That’s major progress.

Dance USM, staged since at least 1978, was a production that Kading laughingly described as "a sort of celebration of spring — all comers, at all levels, varying from entertaining to not so terribly so," and was not taken very seriously by the department. For years, the show was a kind of neglected child, with nobody caring for it.

Then came Maria Tzianabos, part-time dance instructor and current director of the show, who can take much of the credit for positive changes as of late. She’s spent much of the past five years retraining this unruly child. With no formal structure guiding the largest annual production staged at USM, this wasn’t an easy task. "There was no management and Maria immediately started to set some standards," says Assunta Kent, theater professor and producer of the show.

Realizing the danger of dancers on the loose, Tzianabos convinced the department three years ago of the need for a choreography class. She encouraged those interested in creating a dance for "Dance USM" to register, but only half the students enrolled.

"She came in with standards and there was a kind of collision," says Kent. The students who’d been around for years and were accustomed to managing the show were resistant to structure. Today, many of those students have graduated and that legacy has dissipated. The show is far from what Kading says used to be "tacked on for the fun of it."

Wendy Getchell, who has a BA in theater from USM and is a dancer and choreographer for the show, participated for the first time in 1995, when there was no choreography workshop. "It wasn’t set up like a class before and there was nowhere to go to work on your creativity," she says. Getchell, who experienced the discord of past years, feels that the choreography workshop has created a stronger community among the choreographers and "reminds us that we’re all working towards the same goal."

Tzianabos says that choreography and dance are skills no different from acting or writing. Without training in these disciplines, sending students to the stage is like sending sheep to the wolves. "Most of the kids had never taken a dance class. . . they have no training, but they’re making dances," she says. "And I give the students a lot of credit for doing as much as they do."

The show, since her arrival, has become more of a priority for the theater department. Though hesitant to credit Tzianabos fully with the positive changes in the show, Kading concedes that she’s raised the bar overall. "She brings a work ethic and standard to the program . . . a more professional approach and more discipline."

"The evolution of ‘Dance USM’ is that it’s really moving towards an event that will be part of a dance program," says Kading confidently.

Until then though, "Dance USM" is an oasis in the desert for those USM students interested in pursuing the art of choreography.

Christy McKinnon can be reached at mckinnonchristy@hotmail.com

"Dance USM" runs April 29 through May 1 on the USM Gorham campus. Call (207) 780-5151.