In between reviving the art of dance to its full force at City College and preparing for Friday’s showcase, new dance instructor Jennifer Seigle sat down to talk about the upcoming performance. The Dec. 7 showcase in Physical Education classrom 113 show a medium through which her students, of all levels, will share a semester’s worth of progress, hard work and sweat.

Hernandez: What motivates you and the students to perform, even though you will be performing at an informal venue?

Seigle: What motivates me is that I am a performing artist. I was what they called a triple-threat performer: I’m an actor, dancer and singer, and that’s what I love about this. I know that we have to go to class and we have to do all that, but for me, my passion is the performance, the communication, the audience, and I think that many of my dancers share that. We thrive on performance, and it’s also how we take measure of ourselves. We can become very insulated as a program, and if we never invite in an audience there’s no measure of how we are doing as a program, so I’m motivated by that.

Hernandez: You mentioned that students choreographed their own dance pieces, how did you guide them without constricting them?

Seigle: I requested proposals from students and I read through them. I chose two students Noah Tessler and Rebecca Schindler. Noah has choreographed a Hip Hop piece and Rebecca is working on a contemporary/modern fusion work. They created their own work, held an audition and cast their own dancers. I don’t interfere with that although I am present and give them suggestions, but they are free to take them or discard them, so they can get the experience of putting their own work out there and seeing how people react to it.

Hernandez: What background knowledge must all students know before setting foot on stage?

Seigle: In the beginning the students try to get out of the performance, but once they get close to the end they realize how much work they’ve done. In ballet, the terms are in French so they need to learn the direct translation and also what it means in ballet..

Hernandez: Speaking to those who find it hard to relate, how important is it for everyone to be able to communicate with their body and not just with language?

Seigle: Incredibly important! A huge percentage of how we understand the world is through kinesthetic communication.

For a student who has never danced before to begin to explore their own joy and their own sorrow, that is an art.

Hernandez: What do you think about City College and the effort put forth by the students and faculty to revive the dance program here?

Seigle: The students are amazing I can’t believe the amount of effort they put in. Sometimes I am tired and want to go home and they want to rehearse for one more hour or one more half hour. They push me and they are so full of energy and they can’t wait to get back to work. My dean is Mike Warren and he has been doing a lot of work trying to find us a venue. He’s certainly not a dancer, but he’s behind us 100% and that’s really great.