Getting to Know Caitlin Meehan!

This year's First Night show might be over, but we still have some dancers we want you to meet! As we were preparing for the show Nicole Harris took some time to interview another one of the new performers, Caitlin Meehan.

NH: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
CM: At 5, a paleontologist, at 6 or so, a figure skater... at about 10 I came to my senses and realized I wanted to be a dancer.

NH: What was your first Monkeyhouse experience?
CM: Avec Nous, concert at Green Street Studios, Fall 2007

NH: When did you begin dancing? What is your dance/education background?
CM: I began dancing at age 4. I have a strong background in ballet, jazz, tap and modern- though today I am working mostly in modern.

NH: Who have you been performing with recently?
CM: Danny Swain Dance Company, Dunkel and Friends

NH: Where did you go to college?
CM: I went to Muhlenberg College and double majored in Dance and French.

NH: A lot of young dancers question whether they should study dance in college. Do you think you greatly benefited from choosing that path?
CM: I got a whole lot from my study of dance- from learning to improvise and developing my own style, to re-working my technique with a dance physical therapist, to choreographing my own pieces. I also got to study and perform a variety of styles with some excellent professors and choreographers. My college dance education made me a more well-rounded performer and choreographer by exposing me not just to new techniques, but to new ways of thinking and talking about dance.

NH: Who would you say has had the greatest influence on your dancing?
CM: An early influence was Donna Miceli, one of my very first teachers, Nailah Bellinger, also Karen Dearborn, Jennifer Kayle, and Charles Anderson from studies at Muhlenberg.

NH: What made you know that you wanted to dance professionally?
CM: I can't pinpoint the time when I first knew, but my moment of affirmation was when I found myself in a classical ballet studio in France, at the mercy of a ruthless former ballerina. I realized that if I'd gotten myself there on purpose, I just had to do this.