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Neighborhood report

She sets dance free from its traditions

The University of Tampa dance program director wants students to dance right out of the box, even off the stage.

By ALEXANDRA ZAYAS
Published November 4, 2005

Backstage, fierce blue eye makeup electrified a face. Silver glittered devil horns peeked out of spiky hair, and girls in silk pajama pants pinned their hair to simulate a messy just-out-of-bed look.

The lights dimmed, and dance teacher Susan Taylor Lennon scrambled to remove the last piece of black tape on the dance floor.

The doors opened, and 200 students flooded the University of Tampa's Edison Center on Oct. 28, filling the folding chairs and every inch of floor space.

They had no idea what to expect from this fall's Student Dance Happening, but they knew the 14 student choreographers, 80 plus student dancers and the woman who inspired them all would challenge them to think, and dance, outside the box.

Started in 1991 by Lennon, the Student Dance Happening features different genres of student choreographed dance.

Halfway into the mosaic of movement - hip hop, lyrical, modern, tap and jazz - Lennon asked the audience to get up and walk across campus to a second venue, outside Plant Hall, to watch the rest of the show al fresco.

The show was born from her spirit of experimentation kindled by fellow dancers in the 1960s and '70s.

"The dancers and artists in general were challenging the status quo," she said. "They were kind of trying to shake that up a bit."

A dance teacher at UT since 1976, Lennon has continued that tradition of breaking tradition as both a performer and professor. She's taken dance off stage and into art galleries, combining visual arts, poetry and performing arts for multisensory experiences.

Last month, she was named 2005 Mayor's Artist of the Year.

"The arts are related; they are connected. I like the idea of collaboration with other artists," Lennon said. "That just really fuels my creative spirit."

Students soak that spirit up. Senior Jaclyn Watt, who has choreographed numbers for the Student Dance Happening for three years, is one of them.

"She is probably the most inspiring person I've ever met," Watt said. "She inspires every single person to live their dreams, because she does just that. She always follows her heart and listens to what the world is telling her."

Lennon, 56, never knows exactly how a dance number will evolve when she goes into rehearsals with her students. Every mistake and every surprise is a chance for the dance to take a new shape.

"You're working with human bodies, and not all bodies can do what you do," she said. "Movement is less reliable than physical language. Accidents happen. And you'll say, "I like how that happens.' "

Senior Rogelio Garcia incorporated that spontaneity in unconventional moves in his hip-hop finale.

"She would always get you to express yourself in ways you never thought you could," he said. "If you had to get from point A to point B, and you thought a straight line would be the way, she'd teach you to go around something."

The students' fresh perspectives also have taught Lennon some lessons.

"It's pretty stimulating being in the constant company of kids who are increasingly much younger in comparison to you. It's very stimulating and uplifting and invigorating and tiring sometimes," she said. "It's a good challenge."

- Alexandra Zayas can be reached at 813 226-3354 or at azayas@sptimes.com

[Last modified November 3, 2005, 08:47:07]