Dance company teaches baroque

The New York Baroque Dance Company taught a group of music teachers to dance to Johann Sebastian Bach during a workshop last weekend.

The three-hour session was the finale of a two-week residency the Dance Company completed with the Jacobs School of Music.

The troupe had partnered with ballet and opera students to teach early Baroque dance.

Catherine Turocy founded the company in 1976 and said she has since been amazed by the public’s reception to the 18th-century dance, especially while on a tour in London.

“Our mouths dropped in astonishment when we saw our name in subway stations all over London,”

she said. “In a land where Monty Python ruled, we were embraced and felt right at home.”

Turocy wanted to expand that interest through Indiana. Because the residency was so short, she enlisted the help of local music teachers.

At the workshop, Turocy gave lessons on how to introduce the minuet, bourée and gigue — all dance moves prevalent in baroque dance — to students.

In addition to the workshop, the Dance Company also offered four classes to Jacobs students: two for the ballet department that explored the beginnings of ballet and the steps of the 18th century and two for the vocal and opera departments to teach theater techniques.

“This was our first experience with Baroque dance at IU,” Early Music Institute Director Michael McCraw said in a press release. “The classes are very important, as much of the music we play is dance music or is patterned after dance music. The physical experience of really learning the dances makes understanding the music easier.”

McCraw, who received the grant to fund the residency from IU’s New Frontiers in the Arts and Humanities program, said it is important to understand the origins of ballet to enhance future performances.

“As Baroque opera is now being produced in most of the major opera houses, it is important that our students have exposure to this,” he said.

— Michelle Sokol