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Watch: Amelia Kidd '11 Combines Love of Music, Dance


Watch: Amelia Kidd '11
Combines Love of Music and Dance

by William Hopkins
8/25/10

Amelia Kidd '11
Amelia Kidd '11 during her performance

Amelia Kidd '11 loves to dance. "I started dancing when I was three, if you can count running around on stage in a tutu," she says. As an honors psychology major and dance minor, Kidd finds many opportunities to move on campus. While at Swarthmore, she has studied ballet, modern dance, and flamenco.

In spring 2010, Kidd conducted an independent study in ballet. The culmination of her semester was a performance of two classic variations from Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty, as well as a piece of her own composition.

"I've been focusing on reinterpretation lately," Kidd says. "When I prepared the Black Swan [from Swan Lake], I wanted to imagine what it would be like for Odile, who is manipulated by men throughout the ballet, to dance on her own with only the audience."

For Kidd, dance at Swarthmore offers many opportunities to improve technique, but even more enriching is the opportunity to study the history and context of dance, and the chance to combine her love of music with dance. "In my original piece [last semester], I danced to a recording of myself playing the cello," Kidd says. "I'm looking forward to choreographing a new piece in the fall."

Luckily, Kidd need not tackle the challenges of creating a new dance alone. The faculty of the dance department have helped her through hours of class and performances. "[Associate in Performance] Jon Sherman and Sharon Friedler [director of the program] were an integral part of the creative experience," she says. "They advised me every step of the way."

Whether performing something original or a classic piece, the joy is in the dance. "Even if your technique is off or you don't feel like doing another plié," she says, "you can step on stage and draw the audience into a story."