How Do You Define Success?

By Marsha Proser Cohen

 At NFAA's ARTS Week, it's good teaching and a lot of heart

When it comes to success in the arts, it’s all in the teaching, and Rennie Gold—Rhee Gold’s brother—is proving it. In 2005 Kyle Robinson, then a student at Gold’s school, Sherry Gold Dance Studios in Brockton, MA, won the $10,000 Gold Award in modern dance from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA). This year another of Gold’s students, Rory Freeman, won the Silver Award. At NFAA Freeman identified Gold as one of the two teachers who have had the most profound influence on his artistic development; consequently Gold has been nominated for the organization’s Coca-Cola Company Distinguished Teachers in the Arts award program.

The NFAA’s ARTS (Arts Recognition and Talent Search®) Week program is not the only way to measure success, but it is a respected yardstick, and one that gives weight to the argument that teachers, not schools, are the driving force behind their students’ success. It also sets different parameters for defining success than competitions do, placing an emphasis on training and professional exposure rather than trophies.

The NFAA recruits applicants from performing arts high schools (for example, New York’s Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts), public high schools, and after-school dance programs around the country. The students are judged by a panel of renowned dance experts. From the entries received each year (700 in 2005), 25 dancers are selected for the all-expenses-paid trip to Miami for ARTS Week. What do the most successful students have in common? According to NFAA vice president and programs officer Christopher Schram, “[they] have dedicated teachers who say, ‘I’m going to do it. I’m going to help you find what shows you off best.’ It’s the people behind you helping to make it happen.”

Talent is a given among ARTS Week participants, but how they present that talent, and themselves, is often up to their teachers. Schram says that students who choreograph their own pieces may not make the best choices. Often they choose what they like to perform, but what they like doesn’t necessarily show their strengths. They need dedicated teachers who will help them. Gold agrees, adding that when students do their own choreography, they don’t see what the audience will see. So although Robinson and Freeman had input into what they performed, Gold made the final decisions about choreography. He believes that kind of personal attention to the student may be one advantage of training at a private dance studio. After watching the ARTS Week performances, Gold commented that it seemed like the teachers at the performing arts high schools might not have scrutinized their students as intensely as he had looked at Robinson. “I saw some phenomenal dancers but thought, ‘Wow, this dancer needs to be coached.’ ”

Gold first learned about ARTS Week when he saw a PBS special that showcased the 2003 dance winners. “I watched the dancers and thought, ‘I’ve got students who can do that,’ so I called Kyle and told him to turn on the program,” says Gold.

At first Robinson was unsure about entering the ARTS Week program. “But I was exposed to a lot of art forms that I had never had a chance to experience,” he says. (The program includes film and video, jazz, music, photography, theater, visual arts, voice, and writing as well as dance.) “And I met new people who were as passionate about their art as I am. [The other dancers] were fascinated that I was able to go to public school and study dance as intensely as I did.” Although he admits that some of the other participants had more knowledge of modern technique than he did, Robinson credits his training for giving him versatility and strength.

Robinson noted big differences between ARTS Week and the competitions he has attended. “The NFAA is more concerned with educating the participants,” he says— which is probably due, at least in part, to the professional artists and many colleges and universities that come to ARTS Week to recruit students. He also found a much higher level of camaraderie among the dancers than he has experienced at competitions.

ARTS Week participants are judged against a standard of excellence within their chosen discipline, not against their peers. The focus is on the whole dancer, not merely one performance. Workshops and master classes are a major part of the experience, taught by professionals who work with the students, coach them on two pieces of choreography, and help them decide which one to perform. In  determining who receives which awards, the adjudicators consider the students’ in-class performance and how well they take direction as well as their final performances.

The experience also exposes the students to professionals whom they might not otherwise meet. After a Q&A session held for the dancers, Robinson met Mikhail Baryshnikov, who had received the NFAA’s Arison Award (given to “an individual who has had significant influence on the development of young American artists”) and was conducting master classes for the dance finalists. “My fellow dancers were asking questions throughout the session, and he would comment on their dance before he would answer their questions,” Robinson says. “I couldn’t think of a question that I thought worthy of asking such a prominent figure in my field, so I sat there the whole time wondering what he thought of my dance. At the end of the session, we got to say thank you and shake his hand. When I approached, he asked if I was the one who performed in white pants. I said that I was, and he said, ‘You are from Massachusetts, right?’ ”

Baryshnikov talked about Robinson’s training, the dance studio, and Gold’s choreography; after asking which schools the young dancer was applying to, he recommended Juilliard. “Before you leave,” he said, “let me give you my phone number. I might have a few things for you.”

“At that point the room spun,” Robinson says, “and I was on a quest for a pen and a piece of paper.” Robinson took the famous dancer’s advice and landed at Juilliard, where he is in a BFA program in dance. He says he has spoken with Baryshnikov several times since he’s been at the school.

By the time students get to ARTS Week, they are 17 or 18 years old and at an advanced stage of training. It seems obvious that their futures lie in dance. But a student’s potential to succeed in the professional realm is not always obvious at first. While most of those who attend performing arts schools are drawn to the arts as a profession, that’s not always the case at private schools, where children often start dancing at a very young age. Gold believes that studios like his should provide opportunities for all kinds of dancers—those who simply want to dance in the annual recital as well as those who see themselves dancing professionally. He tries to make sure every child at his school, whether serious about dance or doing it for fun, gets the attention of the same faculty. He says that doors need to be open for those who want more serious training, and it’s not always obvious who those students will be. Often, though, “[success] is about the student with heart,” Gold says. “The student who really has to work to accomplish something tends to appreciate it more. He develops discipline, something often missed by the ones to whom it all is so easy. It has to be something of a struggle.”

Robinson is a case in point. He started in drama and voice at the Gold studios when he was 9, then tried the dance program when the drama classes were discontinued. “I don’t know if I would have recognized that he would be an artist at that time,” Gold says. “He was a little behind because he was placed in a class with kids his age [who had been dancing longer].” But the youngster had good role models in some of the older boys, and Gold made sure that Robinson also took classes with them. It wasn’t until he was around 15 years old that the future Juilliard student decided he really wanted to dance.

That desire to succeed in dance is rampant among the NFAA students. “I read on the [NFAA] website that the adjudicators were looking for the most passionate dancers they could find,” says Gold. “And these kids were passionate about what they did.”

Robinson’s advice to dancers headed to ARTS Week? “Meet as many people as you can. Enjoy the different arts and performances, give it your best, and just have a good time.” Giving it your best—that’s an excellent way to define success.

NFAA Facts

The National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts was founded in 1981 by Ted Arison, founder of Carnival Cruise Lines. Its mission is to “identify emerging artists and assist them at critical junctures in their educational and professional developments, and to raise appreciation for, and support of, the arts in American society.”

The NFAA encourages artistic growth through workshops, performances, internships, underwriting of creative projects, and residency fellowships. High school seniors may submit videos and portfolios in their chosen discipline, including dance, film and video, jazz, music, photography, theater, visual arts, voice, and writing. Dance categories include ballet, tap, jazz, modern, and world dance forms and choreography. The dancers are evaluated for technique, presentation, musicality and phrasing, and artistry. Panels of experts in each field evaluate the audition portfolios and invite 160 finalists, 25 of whom are dancers, to participate in the annual ARTS Week, held in Miami, FL..

Winners of the $900,000 in cash awards are announced after the participants have returned home. All participants receive an award, ranging from the Level V award of $250 to the Gold Award of $10,000. The final judging is based solely on the standard of excellence for the specific discipline. For more information on the NFAA and ARTS week, go to www.nfaa.org

Photo Captions:

Top photo: Jose Rodriguez

Bottom photos: Juan E. Cabrera