The Hellenic Dancers of New Jersey is a group of 40 young adults who are first, second, or third generation Greek Americans, and are dedicated to perpetuating their heritage through enthusiastic performances of the regional folk dances of Greece.  Under Master Instructor Eleeni Chakalos more than 300 dances, songs, and related traditions have been preserved .  These are indigenous to mainland Greece, its island and Asia Minor, and have been passed on to two generations of Greek Americans and the American Public.  Their traditional music and folk dance is representative of a cross-section of these divers regions, past and present.   Performed in authentic ethnic dress, the Hellenicâ€s wardrobe represents the 20 regions from which the dance originated including: Macedonia, Thrace, the Pelopennese, Epiros, Roumeli, Crete, Cyprus, the various island groups; and Pontos, Cappadocia, and Ikonion in Asia Minor.

The post Kennedy Dancers, Inc. Announce their 2nd Annual Folkloric Concert: “Dances from The Diaspora” first appeared on River View Observer.

by Sally Deering 

 In the 1920s, when Shirley Temple tapped into America’s hearts with her bouncing ringlets, ruffled crinolines and shiny black tap shoes, mothers from Canarsie to Kenosha trundled their daughters off to their local dance school dreaming of their baby girl’s name in lights. Nowadays, child stars go by first names like Britney, but the local dance school still thrives as the only training ground for kids who dream of a dancing career.

 One local dance pioneer who has kept the stage lights burning in her neighborhood dance studio for the past 34 years is Diane Dragone, Artistic Director of The Kennedy Dancers, a professional dance company and dance school that stands in the wings of New York City.  Through her school and with her years as a teacher and choreographer, Dragone has trained and enriched the lives of thousands of inner-city kids – some who became professional dancers — and she has brought modern and classical dance performances to the multi-cultural and economically-diverse Hudson community.

 On Friday and Saturday, May 7 and 8, dance-lovers will have the opportunity to see Dragone’s dynamic troupe perform when The Kennedy Dancers take the stage at St. Joseph’s School for the Blind in their beautiful theater space on Summit Avenue in Jersey City. This Spring Dance Concert will feature contemporary choreographer Sean Curran’s “Force of Circumstance,” and three Dragone choreographies:  “Caven Point” – about a Jersey City encampment during WWII; “La Dolce Vita,” Dragone’s valentine to her Italian heritage with songs by Rosemary Clooney, Dean Martin and Louis Prima; and the World Premiere of “My Obsession with Cats,” – a choreography that’s close to Dragone’s animal-activist heart.

 A successful business-and-Renaissance woman, Dragone runs a dance company and school, choreographs , raises a family, performs community outreach and rescues stray animals – all in a day’s work. And at the heart of it all, she is a dancer teaching others the “language of dance” so that they may feel the thrill she has known twirling across the stage, leaping into the air and springing into a dance partner’s arms. 

 “Dancing is ageless, I believe that,” Dragone says, sitting at her desk while a teen ballet class is in progress in her studio on Central Avenue.  “Everybody can dance; you have to break through those inhibitions.  Dancing can be a healing process. It’s excellent for your body, mind and soul.”

 FELINES AND THE REPERTOIRE

The Kennedy Dancers performances on May 7 and 8 in the theater at St. Joseph’s School for the Blind will feature the professional company and the Inner-City Youth teen company composed of students who have trained with Dragone since they were toddlers in tights and taps. One of the highlights of the program will be Dragone’s “My Obsession with Cats,” a choreography about the felines Dragone adores and rescues with the help of her husband, teacher and professional videographer Tom Horan and their children Gigi, 17, and Danny, 15.

 “Cats are beautiful, their movement is beautiful and their personalities are all distinct. They’re a great source of inspiration for dance because they move in many ways,” Dragone says while her two studio cats Sylvester and Silvio are busy cat-napping near her desk. “There have always been cats in my life from the time I was little.”

 Dragone has choreographed hundreds of dances and currently, The Kennedy Dancers perform about 30 dances from the repertoire in venues throughout the tri-state area. Committed to bringing dance to all members of the community, Dragone offers ballroom and exercise classes to seniors; ballet and tap to toddlers and adolescents; ballet, tap and hip-hop to teens and ‘tweens and Zumba and Yoga to adults. A certified dance teacher by the New Jersey Department of Education, Dragone has taught special education dance at Hudson County Schools of Technology and brought dance to children and adults with physical and learning disabilities at St. Joseph’s School for the Blind in Jersey City.

“They loved the dance classes,” Dragone says of the children with disabilities. “It was very emotional for our teachers because some of these children are encapsulated in their own world or they never really experienced creative movement before and you could see they loved dancing. If you can’t see very well and you’re afraid to move, this was a really freeing experience.”

 That program lost its funding. So did the program teaching dance to incarcerated teenagers at the Hudson County Juvenile Detention Center in Secaucus, which was funded by the New Jersey Council on the Arts.  Dragone hopes someone will come up with the funding to reinstate both programs. The students looked forward to it, she says.

 “I think dance gave them something beautiful and challenging,” Dragone says.

 A LOAN TO BUILD A DREAM ON

Creating beautiful and challenging dances was the most important thing to Dragone back when she first opened her studio in 1976 with money she saved and a loan from her parents Anne and Daniel. It was a tiny, bohemian studio on Kennedy Boulevard in Jersey City that her dad helped her paint and where she used her training as a dancer and her certification as a teacher to teach ballet, tap and jazz to kids and teens. 

 “The dance students are the mainstay of a company,” Dragone says. “You’re developing young minds and bodies and your goal is to give them an aesthetic, enjoyment and a sense of physical accomplishment. The beauty of dance inspires children and adults to keep coming back to the dance studio.”

 And if the students can’t come to the studio, then Dragone goes into their living rooms with the cable-TV show she hosts and produces with her husband, Tom.  “Dance Vista,” features interviews and choreographies by contemporary dance artists and, after 13-years on the air, the show is now seen on cable stations throughout New Jersey and New York.

 THE STUDENTS’ SUCCESS

Many of The Kennedy Dancers’ students go on to professional dance careers and Dragone is thrilled by their successes. One former student is performing in the musical “Buddy” in London’s West End; another is currently in a show at the La Mama theater in New York.  One dancer joined the Miami Ballet, one is with the Martha Graham dance company and another is featured in the Julie Taymor film, “Across the Universe” – and those are just recent accomplishments.

 “I’m thrilled for them and proud of them,” Dragone says. “I love it.”

 Determined to bring The Kennedy Dancers to new heights, Dragone’s choreography “God Bless America,” was recently named a finalist in the NJN Hispanic Dance competition to be held at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in May. And last year, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts gave Dragone and The Kennedy Dancers an Award for Excellence for their outstanding work and Dragone’s compelling choreography.

 THE DANCER IN HER SOUL

So, how does a choreographer make dances? What comes first, the movement or the music?

 “I see people walking down the street, kids dance around, the windshield wipers move;” Dragone says, “I sit in the car listening to the radio and someone walks by to the rhythm of the music – all things can inspire your dances.”

 And that goes for cats, too.                                                                                         

 The Kennedy Dancers present their Spring Dance Performances on Fri, May 7 and Sat, May 8 at St. Joseph‘s School for the Blind 761 Summit Ave, Jersey City.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door; $18 for students and seniors with ID.

Call 201-659-2190 for tickets and class information or visit www.kennedydancers.org.

 

 

 

 

 

The post COVER STORY-Leading The Kennedy Dancers first appeared on River View Observer.

Channeling Your Inner Fred and Ginger!

Press your nose against the glass of that storefront next to the dry cleaners or peer into that dimly-lit loft above the take-out joint and youâ€re likely to see everyday people from all walks of life gliding, dipping, shimmying and swiveling in their search for their inner Fred and Ginger.
Americaâ€s got dance fever, so put on your Blue Suedes, dust off the record player and letâ€s dance!
Ever since “Dancing with the Stars,”“So You Think You Can Dance,” and “Americaâ€s Got Talent!,” hit the airwaves, couch-potatoes everywhere, who wouldnâ€t know a Meringue from a Lemon Meringue are kicking off their fuzzy slippers and Mamboing around the coffee table.
And right here in Hudson, weâ€re doing it, too.
Wallflowers are blooming anywhere thereâ€s a dance floor, taking classes in Salsa, Swing, Tango, Mambo, Meringue, the Waltz and lots more. Schools like the Ballroom Center of Hoboken, Salsa Fever on2 Dance Academy and the Kennedy Dancers in Jersey City are offering classes taught by professional instructors who will lead you across the floor and into a rhythmic and exotic world where time is counted in steps and words are spoken in touch.
For minimal class fees, dancing wannabees can study with teachers who have professional training and years of experience, like Tracy Everitt of Hoboken, who teaches his students to kick up their heels and have a ball in the Ballroom
A professional dancer and choreographer who performed in the original Broadway cast of “West Side Story” and other Broadway musicals, Everitt runs the Ballroom Center of Hoboken where he teaches Swing and Ballroom dances. For the past five years, Everitt says thereâ€s been a big demand for “Wedding Dance,” classes where soon-to-be married couples schedule private lessons to learn a routine for their first dance as husband and wife.
On a recent Sunday afternoon in Hoboken, the shades were drawn at BAMA, a corner storefront art gallery where Everitt rents floor space. Lean and lithe, Everitt could be seen through the window working with soon-to-be newlyweds Janet Olchowicz, 34, a sales rep who resides in Hoboken and Drew Helfst, 34, who is studying for his MBA at State College of Pennsylvania.
Both Olchowicz and Helfst have athletic backgrounds– she was a competitive runner and he played football – and neither one has ever danced formally. But the couple wanted their first wedding dance to be special and Helfst really didnâ€t want to dance his usual “Gorilla Two-Step” and embarrass his parents.
A fan of “Dancing with the Stars,” Olchowicz also wants to make her parents proud.
“My parents are very good dancers, so this is my gift to them,” she says.
For their music, the couple decided on “Annieâ€s Song” by John Denver, a beautiful love song that holds a private, sentimental meaning. Everitt is teaching them a Viennese Waltz, a romantic, classic slow-dance where the couple shows their love for each other through graceful, steps and meaningful eye contact – an important part of couples dancing, Everitt says.
 “Dance is a wonderful way of connecting with another person,” he says. “It usually succeeds in making people appreciate the other person more than they ever did.”
Couples and singles mix, mingle and trade partners in the group classes held at the Kennedy Dancers studios in Jersey City. Artistic Director Diane Dragone and her staff of pros teach all the Latin dances including Cha-Cha, Salsa, Mambo, Meringue, Samba, Rumba and Tango and the demand for classes is booming.
“Itâ€s the biggest resurgence of dance fever Iâ€ve seen in a long time and it has a lot to do with the dance shows on TV,” Dragone says. “People are seeing beautiful dancing on these shows. The dancers are so well-trained and people are excited by this.”
Dragone says one of the most popular classes at Kennedy Dancers studios is the hot, hot, hot Salsa.
“Salsa is the biggest draw. I have seniors who come in for Salsa lessons in the day time and they dance up a storm.”
Salsa lovers of all ages can also shimmy over to Salsa Fever on2 Dance Academy in Jersey City owned and operated by Salsaâ€s “Lord of the Dance,” Mario B., a former baseball player who fell in love with Salsa and the Mambo, too.
“Before I became a dancer, I couldnâ€t tell the difference between a Salsa and Meringue and coming from a Cuban and Puerto Rican background, this was an insult to my culture,” Mario B. says, during a break from a lesson. “My parents were great dancers and played great music all the time, but I wasnâ€t interested. I was young and a little close-minded.”
Mario B. started taking informal dance classes with a friend who owned a club in Union City and the desire to become a dancer took flight. He performed in shows Off-Broadway – including a stint as a “Mambo Papa” in an all-female Mambo dance troupe — and danced in several movies, too. He soon became a Salsa expert and opened his own dance studio. Now the school is open seven days a week with more than 300 students gliding through the doors. And in 2010, Mario B. will host the New Jersey International Salsa Congress at the Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel in Secaucus.
Heâ€s a big name on the Salsa circuit, these days, and on a recent Sunday night, in the back room of the Portuguese restaurant Solar do Minho in Roselle Park, people who love to Salsa assembled on the dance floor to take a class with Mario B. and his assistant Erica Rambay, 35, of West New York.
“The biggest misconception is that you have to be Latin to dance Salsa,” Rambay says, as she teaches a student how to count the 8-beats to the basic Salsa step. “Filipino, Asian, Polish, Russian – people from all cultures love to Salsa. Itâ€s international.”
 And although dancing is considered a left-brain activity, many right-brainers are stepping out of their computer cubicles to learn how to dance. Thatâ€s what happened to Kevin Gonzalez, a 24 year-old project engineer from Hoboken. Gonzalez has been studying Salsa with Mario B. for the past four years and he says, dancing is not only fun, itâ€s a great way to meet people and socialize.
“When youâ€re dancing, youâ€re having an intimate moment with that person,” Gonzalez says. “You can ask a complete stranger to dance and when youâ€re dancing, something happens. You can hold a conversation without ever saying a word.”

Sally Deering is a freelance writer who loves to dance.

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The post Put on Your Dancing Shoes and Let’s Dance! first appeared on River View Observer.