There is a dancer in all of us, and, as new dance teacher Jules Szabo has learned, that dancer never truly retires.
Szabo retired from dancing for 15 years to pursue a career in the pharmaceutical industry, eventually returning to create The Dancer’s Workout course meant to help former dancers stay in shape through toning and choreography.
Szabo began dancing at the age of 12 in classical ballet and modern dance and uses the styles in her teaching to blend contemporary, jazz and hip-hop with modern pop music. She estimates that she has developed choreography for about 350 pop songs.
In early October, the Arts Education Coordinator of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district approached Szabo, a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts and Appalachian State University, to fill the position left by former dance teacher Danielle Cohen.
“[I] knew I could instantly provide [the students] with outstanding instruction and choreography,” she said.
The Dance I class has learned the choreography for six songs, and the more advanced courses have learned nine songs. Szabo credits the classes’ success to dancing for the full period and pausing for feedback at times.
“Getting a teacher was definitely different, but Ms. Jules is very experienced. It was nice to have someone in charge,” freshman Mia Kalish, a member of the Dance I class, said.
There was no dance teacher for the first two months of the school year, causing reductions in the number of students in the dance program. About 21 students left the Honors Dance III class at the beginning of the school year, according to senior and dance club vice president Hadley Connell.
Senior Xochi Smulyan has been dancing for 14 years, two of which were at Chapel Hill under Cohen’s guidance. She is currently enrolled in the Honors Dance III course and is president of the dance club, which was unable to rehearse or meet after school when it did not have an advisor.
“[The lack of a dance teacher] impacted us because we joined dance to learn and be a part of something that has been at this school for a long time, and we no longer had the chance,” Smulyan said.
Connell created a lesson plan of exercises to stay in shape until Szabo arrived.
“I made a playlist of music, like the music we listened to with Ms. Cohen, and did a daily routine of warm-ups, exercises, techniques and dance combinations,” Connell said.
The first dance performance is scheduled for December 5, despite the initial absence of a teacher, and Szabo intends to keep the date.
