Meet four dance alumni who are still performing together at the Patricia Kenny Dance Collection.
For a growing number of Adelphi alumni, these are far from mere fantasies. They are encapsulations of how the network they created as students has fueled them as professionalsâand how it continues to nurture todayâs students.Ìę
Still Dancing Together at PKDC: Ashley Chandler â10, Kelly Butterworth â11, M.A. â12, Amanda Webster â12, Andy Jacobs â13 and Brian Butterworth â15
by Andrea Maneri
As Adelphi undergraduates, Kelly Butterworth â11, M.A. â12, Ashley Chandler â10,ÌęAndy Jacobs â13 and Amanda Webster â12 trained together in âs studios and performed on its stages. Today, they are still dancing together as members of theÌęÌę(±Ê°¶Ù°ä).
Ms. Chandler was the first of the four alumni to gain a spot with the PKDC. “I never would have thought Adelphi would play such an integral part of my life,” she said. It was through her Adelphi instructor, Heather Berestâa former Paul Taylor Dance Company memberâthat Ms. Chandler got a chance in her senior year to perform with the PKDC. That led to a permanent spot with the company.
As the PKDC continued to grow and artistic director Patricia Kenny was interested in bringing new dancers on board, Ms. Chandler looked to the talent at herÌęalma mater. Each year since 2010, Adelphi alumni have joined the company. “It was so natural,” said Ms. Chandler of the four finding a home with the PKDC. “And itâs so nice to dance together. This company has an unbelievable connection on stage.”
Ms. Chandler explained that in addition to the time they dedicate to the companyâthey practice weekly and perform monthlyâshe and her Adelphi classmates also hold other jobs and manage to fit in dance or fitness classes in the mornings or evenings.
âYou need to be disciplined,â said Mr. Jacobs who also dances with the Mazzini Dance Collective and Amy Marshall Dance Company. âIf you donât get up to take that class or go to that audition, somebody else is going to. And theyâll be one step ahead of you. Thatâs something [Adelphi Assistant Professor] Orion Duckstein told us, and Iâll never forget it.â
The four dancers were drawn to Adelphi (from Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York) for similar reasons: the dance programâs caliber and intimate size, the Universityâs locationâjust 20 miles east of Manhattan; and the talent or merit scholarships each received.
At Adelphi, they benefited from a broad education. âWe studied techniques from Taylor to Graham to Muller to HortonâŠand were trained in so many different styles,â Ms. Webster said. âYouâd be upstairs taking classical ballet in the morning. In the afternoon, youâd be downstairs sliding across the floor, being as raw with your movement as you can.â
âWe worked with brilliant professors and world-renowned choreographers,â Ms. Butterworth said. âIâm so grateful for that and for the performance opportunitiesâthose led by faculty and outside choreographers as well as the student choreography we get to put on at the end of every semester.â
Recently, the alumni returned to Adelphi to teach aÌę. ÌęâIt was surreal to demonstrate at the front of the class and be able to say to the students, âI was exactly where you are, thinking, âCan I do this?â And now I am where I hoped Iâd be, dancing with a company,ââ Ms. Webster said.
âThe fact that Professor Frank Augustyn and Adelphi welcomed us back says that our university cares where its students move on to and that they want to showcase their alumni,â Ms. Butterworth said. âIt shows Adelphi supports its dancersâpast, present and future.â
For further information, please contact:
Todd Wilson
Strategic Communications DirectorÌę
p â 516.237.8634
e â twilson@adelphi.edu