Georgia College & State University (GCSU) in partnership with Kit Modus Dance Company are hosting the Summer Intensive program, a community dance program.
The company was founded in 2017 in Atlanta and is movement driven. It partners with various colleges and performs shows regularly. According to GCSU Senior Lecturer in Dance Natalie King, this is the second year GCSU has worked with the Kit Modus Dance Company.
“The heart of what we do is education,” said Kit Modus Artistic Director Jillian Mitchell. “We have knowledge we want to pass on to the upcoming generation of dancers. Partnerships, like the one with Georgia College, put us in the arena to widen our audience and reach more dancers.”
A former GCSU dancer, Mary Evelyn Kirkland, is a company member and suggested GCSU work with the company to set a piece for Georgia College undergraduate dance students in the Spring Dance Concert, which established the ongoing partnership.
“The collaboration extended to our GC Community Dance program as well with Jillian Mitchell guest teaching in evening classes,” explained King. “Seeing Mary Evelyn with Kit Modus allows our students to envision where they can go in the professional world of dance as a full-circle moment, and the involvement of additional company members from diverse training backgrounds allows students to expand their connections to the dance world.”
The Summer Intensive program aims to bridge programming between GCSU’s undergraduates and GCSU’s community dance programs.
“These workshops aren't just for Georgia College dancers and students. This is a Milledgeville program meant to engage dancers community wide,” said King. “We were thrilled to see industry professionals, current dance students, and alumni all taking classes together, and hope to continue engaging a network of movers with similar workshops.”
The first session of the summer intensive was held in June and the final session will be held July 27. The Kit Modus class includes Contemporary Ballet, Partnering, Improvisation, Company Repertory, and Applied Artistry for ages 12 and up. The company provides professional teachers and Mitchell to guide and mentor the dancers.
“We want to give the students a condensed experience that mirrors what they would encounter if they were working as professional dancers,” said Mitchell. “Usually what they are learning would happen over a longer period of time but, through the class, we shortened that to give them a robust company experience in a day. Anyone is welcome, though we recommend participants have some dancing experience prior to the class.”
In the first session, dancers began by using the ballet bar and practicing a hybrid model of dance known as contemporary ballet. This moved into partnering class, then being taught Kit Modus company dances (that the company performs professionally), and concluded with the applied artistry lesson, in which dancers choose how to perform as a class based on a few specifications set by their instructors.
“At the end of the day, the entire class will perform together and participants do not have long to construct it. They will have a choice in how to perform,” King explained. “They will be given a task based on what they have learned and will construct their dance around it. The first session of dancers performed for about 10 minutes, which is impressive given the time constraints.”
According to Mitchell, the hope is to make the Summer Intensive a longterm program for the community. Session 2 of the Summer Intensive is $65 and will take place July 27 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. To sign up, visit gcsu. edu/cpe, click on youth programs, then community dance, then summer programs, and finally Summer Intensive with Kit Modus. Waivers and more information can be found at that link. For more information, call 478- 445-5277.
“Sign-ups are available until the day of. We hope more dancers of all ages and experience will take this chance,” said King.