No disgrace in dance
In summing up her career choice, Andrea Markus frequently shares a joke by a favourite comedian with the dancers she meets through her work with prestigious institutions in the United States.
To give some context, she was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and lived there until her parents uprooted for the US in search of wider opportunities.
“As a Jamaican immigrant in the States, I had four career choices — doctor, lawyer, engineer or disgrace to the family. And so I became a dancer and married a drummer!” she laughed.
Today, Dr Markus is a teaching artist for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre’s Ailey Arts in Education & Community programmes, the Misty Copeland Foundation's Be Bold programme, New York City Ballet and other organisations.
She is also a faculty member of New York University's Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions and Marymount Manhattan's Department of Dance.
“I did many things to try to avoid dance – I was a pre-med student – but dance found me, so I went for it,” said Dr Markus who has been here for the past two weeks leading an intensive at Bermuda Dance Academy.
She met the company’s founder, Nikia Manders, while they were students at NYU.
“She was a brilliant artist. She stood out right away, and we became colleagues and friends,” Dr Markus said. “Early this year she messaged me asking what I was doing this summer. She comes to New York often and so, I said I was around and to let me know when she was in the city.”
To her surprise, Ms Manders said: “Actually, I was thinking you should come here.”
“As a teaching artist, I work [with students in years] pre-K to 12, I work in higher ed, I do studio work, community work and so I'm able to change the channel and adapt in the moment,” Dr Markus said.
“And of course, I know Nikia’s work ethic, her artistry, so I suspected [her dancers] were good. And she sent me some videos, so I knew what I was working with.
“Of course you can't predict how they're going to respond when you're in the class with them, but I was ready for a high level based on the videos, and the students have risen up and beyond.”
Members of Bermuda Dance Academy have spent the past two weeks studying with Andrea Markus and local teachers.
The “dance artist” is here at the invitation of BDA founder Nikia Manders whose students were particularly impressed by Dr Markus’s lessons in African dance.
“It was kind of new for me and at first, I'm going to be honest, I didn't really like it, but then I started to like it and like the teacher who was teaching it,” said Tjaia Butler.
A senior dancer with BDA, she initially felt more at ease with her regular ballet, modern and hip hop classes.
“I was able to pick it up easily, but it was different,” she said. “The movements were louder and sharper. There was more expression.”
Yannick Rochester joined the intensive later than the other senior dancers and found it a bit difficult catching up.
“But overall, it’s pretty good,” she said.
Excerpts from Revelations, the signature work of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, were also well received.
Myah Outerbridge, another senior BDA dancer, was familiar with the work.
“It was a very exciting experience to learn the pieces of the Ailey performance,” she said. “It's a more mature performance than what I'm used to learning, and it allows us to build our skill and talent.”
Added Yannick: “It was very different compared to what I'm used to. I dance jazz and acrobatics mainly, and because jazz is more glittery and more cute, I felt this was much more meaningful to me. It's cultural and diverse, and less of what I'm used to. And I like that.”
Dr Markus was thrilled to see the support that students in Bermuda Dance Academy’s Summer Intensive have. At their age she was only able to take dance classes because they were part of the school curriculum.
“In high school instead of gym I could take dance. When I got to college I was a biology major in undergrad, but I took lots of dance classes and then would come home and work and pay for my own lessons,” she said.
Dr Markus ultimately went on to formally study dance in the US and then travelled to Guinea, West Africa where she received instruction in dance and drumming from national companies there, Les Ballets Africains de Guinea and Ballet Joliba.
Back in the US she has performed with the Alpha Omega 1-7 Theatrical Dance Company and danced and co-directed Magbana Drum & Dance NYC, a West African-based performance group of percussionists and dancers.
“As I was winding down my performing career, I wanted to teach more,” she said. “And then I got my master's at NYU and really went full force into being a dance educator.”
An “artist, educator and scholar” with ties to multiple respected institutions, finding balance is always a goal.
“It's not an easy thing to do. It's not for everyone,” Dr Markus said. “You have to be extremely organised; I'm built for it. There's a certain type of mind that has the ability to switch channels and actually gets excited to change channels.
“I enjoy having every day be different. I show up in spaces and hope to inspire moments of joy all the way up to the desire to be an artist.”
At Bermuda Dance Academy she’s teaching “an eclectic mix”: modern dance based on what she studied as a young dancer, West African dance and excerpts from two pieces from Alvin Ailey’s signature piece, Revelations.
Ms Manders is grateful to the Department of Sport and Recreation for providing the opportunity for her students to benefit from the partnership.
“Our intensive was three weeks for the general public, and then our Performance Team will also be rehearsing the last week of July, so it's four weeks for them.
“They are in classes all day, and then they have a Performance Team rehearsal from 3.30 to 5.30 every evening,” she said.
“Dr Marcus has worked with them during the day in class and then she’s also setting a piece of choreography and working with them in the afternoon.
“They have worked extremely hard, and they’ve really needed to push themselves. There are times where they come in and have been extremely tired, but it's been great to see them persevere and the piece is definitely remarkable.”
• Members ofBermuda Dance Academy’s Department of Youth and Sport partnership, Summer Dance Intensive and Performance Team showcased “a diverse range of dance styles including ballet, jazz, hip hop, modern dance and West African dance” as well as “visual art pieces” at a show on Friday for invited guests
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