Ithaca's On The Floor Dance Company

by karen Krolak

Since On the Floor Dance Company is hosting my visit to Ithaca this weekend, I thought readers might be interested in meeting co-Artistic Director, Sarah Feinberg. She is a former student of mine at Impulse Dance Center in Natick MA, where she was also a member of the Connecting Point Dance Company. Some of you may remember Sarah from her professional debut with Monkeyhouse during the first Boomtown Festival in 2008. 

On the Floor Dance Company

karen Krolak: Thanks for inviting me up to Ithaca. What can you tell me about On the Floor Dance Company?
Sarah Feinberg: It is a student run organization at Ithaca College dedicated to providing experienced dancers with an opportunity to explore, rehearse, choreograph and perform all styles of movement and dance.

kK: You have mentioned that there are a number of other student dance organizations on Ithaca's campus. What attracted you to join On the Floor during your freshman year?

photo credit: Jen Darrell

SF: In all honesty I didn’t know anything about it. When I got to college I just kept an eye out for any and all dance company auditions. I saw a flyer posted on campus and went to the auditions. I enjoyed the audition choreography and liked the fact that the company focused on all styles of dance. On The Floor Dance Company allowed me to continue with all the styles I grew up learning while many of the other dance companies at IC focus on specific styles. Over the last four years I have learned so much from all of the company members. Everyone brings with them a unique style of moving that is all their own. We complement each other to create a dynamic company of dancers. Additionally, On The Floor Dance Company is a family, the friendships made go beyond rehearsing in the studio.

kK: Has your company ever brought a visiting artist to Ithaca before?
SF: No, this is the first time. We are very excited about it.

kK: Wow, I am even more honored that you selected me to present a partnering workshop at Ithaca now. Can you talk a bit about your goals for this program?
SF: Modern partnering is one of my favorite things to do. I want people to share it with and to practice it with. When I first came to Ithaca College and joined On The Floor Dance Company, nobody had the partnering experience and training I had received growing up. Though warned that the modern dance I grew to know and love at Impulse Dance Center was unique and not necessarily what others knew modern dance to be, I still expected more people to have had partnering experience. You are so skilled at teaching this style of movement and explaining things and demonstrating in such a way that fosters such wonderful and interesting compositions.

kK: Thanks, Sarah. I was pleasantly surprised by the photos of On the Floor, however, as it looks as though the company has developed some confidence with partnering. 
SF: I have tried to teach it in bits in pieces to anyone interested and willing to trust that I won’t drop them or let them get hurt, but it is a tough thing to teach.

kK: How so?  
SF: It is sort of tough to partner without a partner.  Contact improvisation/partnering isn’t as concrete as teaching someone to do a pirouette. Of course there are a set of skills required and strategies that can be learned through different exercises. A lot of it comes from within; the willingness to take a risk, to let go, to trust yourself, your partner(s) and your surroundings. I can demonstrate and teach exercises that I used to do in your class but I struggled to pull the improvisation, experimentation and creativity out to take those exercises to the next level, to really capture the essence of contact improvisation. I am curious to watch you now to continue to develop my own teaching skills.

photo credit: Jen Darrell

kK: Well, I am really eager to meet everyone this weekend. Does On the Floor have any upcoming performances?
SF: We were invited to perform in the Locally Grown Dance Festival over at Cornell University on March 5th. We are sharing a performance with another IC dance company. We have contributed three pieces from last semester to the show. As far as our final semester performance showcasing all of the semester’s work goes, we have not settled on an exact date yet but it looks like it will be sometime during the first week in May.