Featured Story
Two Hours with Mia Michaels
Apr 7, 2009
By Michael Boo
It hardly seems humane to have asked hundreds of winter guard members to consider showing up for a morning choreography session just hours after the end of the WGI World Championships World Class Finals. But for the hundreds who heeded the call Sunday morning, April 5, 2009, the sacrifice of time and sleep was repaid in huge dividends.
Filling up the floor of the University of Dayton Arena, the effects of any partying that took place after the World Class finale was replaced with a heightened flow of blood coursing through the veins as an aerobic workout of the most invigorating degree woke everyone up like the slap of a halibut across the face in Monty Python’s famous “Fish Slapping Dance.”
On an elevated stage in front of the guard members, famed choreographer Mia Michaels, aided by her personal assistant, Ryan Ramiriz, taught the guard members a dance routing step-by-step, leading them through the process of learning someone else’s routine and then inspiring them to create their own.
Along the way, Ms. Michaels spoke from the heart about allowing one’s vulnerability to show through, about being oneself and letting their body speak. Most profoundly, she reminded all of their importance as being the only “them” that will ever walk this planet. When they realize that to its fullest, they can show the world who they really are, and as a result, allow their bodies to go where their inner self really wants their bodies to go.
This encouragement to explore their inner dimensions was put to use in a section where the performers were instructed to improvise and make up their own choreography at the end of the choreographed section. Each performer was instructed to not show off any tricks, but to just allow every fiber of their muscles and being to speak for itself.
There were so many in attendance for the session, members had to be divided into three groups to perform the routine with some space between each other once all the moves were taught.
By the end of the session, the members were choreographing themselves according to how they felt at the moment. Hearing their enthusiasm for what they were experiencing and discovering within themselves demonstrated how far they had come in just two hours.
The warm-down period was equal parts physical and spiritual, asking the performers to connect with the greater power that gave them their gifts of expression and to always realize they are praising that power when they allow their inner self to be exposed to the world.
Members walked away with a renewed sense of their abilities and a stronger feeling of the camaraderie that exists between all members of the color guard community.
For those who viewed the proceedings, the two hours seemed to fly by. It can only be assumed that the time on the floor for the performers is something they will relive for months to come.
Here’s what some performers had to say about the experience.
Nicole Shutt and Elizabeth Schull are from Stockdale HS in Bakersfield, CA.
Nicole: “She is an inspirational speaker and she helped me discover I need to be who I am…and I should show the world and face the world based on my true self.”
Elizabeth: “She showed me that it doesn’t matter how you dance, that if you feel that’s how you need to dance, then you should do it. She taught me how to feel the music.”
Masha Lazer, Kendra Fox, Shawn Tabrizi and Katie McBride are all from Leigh HS in San Jose, CA.
Masha: “it was an amazing experience and it taught me a lot about letting my body go and what it should feel like instead of what others tell me it should feel like.”
Kendra: “I learned how to really move my body in a different way and how to be more comfortable with myself. It helped me perform better, too. She was so inspirational, giving me something to work for.”
Shawn: “She taught me to not conform to the rules of dance and to express my body the way I feel is natural. She’s really down to earth and she has an image in her mind and she knows how to teach that. She can see if someone has potential and how to help them and change them to the way that matches her image. That was the two parts of her dance, combining the structured choreography with interpretive dance.”
Katie McBride: “She really showed that it was okay for people to not just be the center of attention, but to expand their composition and range through other people and other movements. It’s okay to have other sides to your dance that are not ‘proper’. She encouraged us to be ourselves and not show off. That really stuck with me.”
Ms. Michaels concludes with a few thoughts of her own on the experience: “I think it’s interesting because most of the color guard members don’t have the experience of the dancers I normally work with. They’re hungry and there’s even more raw talent in color guard than I see in dance. I love doing this here because the members give so much back. As a teacher, that’s all you really ask for…the mutual give and take. I leave here with a smile on my face. They heard me, they got me and now that I planted the seed, they can take it and run with it.”
As a Pied Piper, Ms. Michaels is without peer. It is a job to watch her work and interact with others. Here’s hoping her relationship with WGI is only in its infancy.
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