A Second Home

It’s been four years, but I’m home.

I started training with Jenn and Becca the year ADC opened. I was 12 - braces and glasses clad, silent and unsure. What I did know was that nothing made me feel the way dancing did. For 6 years I was fortunate to study at ADC, absorbing a wealth of technical knowledge, nearly hours of choreography, and the foundations of artistry and performance. Through my high school years, ADC was my home. I liked to call it my “part time job”. It was the only place that I felt I could really just be. I know I’m tending towards the mushy here, but it’s true! I’m sure many of us can relate to the sentiment that high school wasn’t always the bee’s knees. But, at the end of my senior year, it was no longer a question – I was going to dance for the rest of my life.

Jenn suggested Connecticut College one Saturday afternoon during a private lesson. Thinking back, this small gesture means everything. It means she knew me more deeply than most at that point in my life. And man, it’s a good thing she proposed thatalliteration on that day. I practically began filling out the application supplement on my way home from my first visit to Conn. I couldn’t be happier or more grateful for the array of training I’ve received so far between ADC, Connecticut College, Dance New Amsterdam and Bates Dance Festival. Daily, I’m thankful for my foundation. Who knows where my path would have led had I not stopped by “that new studio next to Arnold’s Meats” 10 years ago.

Spending my first post-grad year at my “high school home” is perfect. Teaching and performing is what I adore, and I’m lucky enough to do both at a place I love. I just can’t say enough about ADC, its faculty, and its facility. Being on the other side, facing the students, glasses and braces clad, is just where I want to be.

--Amy