What CA Means to Me

Arianne

Day Student
Pepperell, MA

What role has dance played in your academic life?

Concord Academy’s Dance Company works in a wholly collaborative process to create a piece each year. Every experience that each dancer brings to class influences the final outcome of the project. In such a way, every academic class that I take has the opportunity to weave its inspiration into my work in dance. Specifically, this year my Thoreau and Kindreds English class has greatly helped me synthesize my thoughts about our outdoor dance improvisations. Last year my modern art history course gave me a new appreciation for the Expressionistic influences in our dance piece.

Dance Company also has what one might call a more academic side. Last year we resorted to a geometry textbook for direction. This year we are modeling our work after John Berger’s Into Their Labours trilogy. This sort of academic learning and discussion in dance class certainly compliments that which we all do in a classroom because it provides a very different viewpoint, an application, of that which we usually study for no end other than comprehension.

Finally, dance provides a release for me at the end of each day. The physical exertion and creative possibilities help me to free stress and follow my intuition. The encouraging and challenging atmosphere is elating. Dance is both culmination of and liberation from my academic life at CA.

How has dance contributed to your CA experience?

Dance has been a sanctuary for me at CA. It is the perfect receptacle for my creative and physical energy. In the challenging and friendly atmosphere of Dance Company, I have overcome many self-conscious fears, learned to take risks, and nurtured an artistic inclination beyond anything I had believed possible. In dance I’ve met many of my closest friends, developed a greater sense of confidence, and most importantly, found a passion that I hope to follow in the future. Dance serves as a stimulant and a release for me both creatively and intellectually. Each afternoon I look forward to the smiles of friends, our teacher’s spontaneous wisdom, and the intense physical exertion in my dance studio haven.

How has the science and math curriculum complemented your humanities courses?

Thanks to the constant encouragement from every CA teacher to synthesize, analyze, and internalize all that they teach, it really becomes inevitable that courses will overlap and ideas will connect. For example, last year we learned about relativity in Art History in order to better understand the affect of its discovery on an artist’s perception of time. I am currently taking a class in medical history that has allowed me to apply significant amounts of knowledge from my Advanced Biology course last year. The relationship works in the other direction as well; for example, the three-dimensional thinking I have gained from painting perspective became quite useful in my physics course this past fall.

On a more personal level, I have found the roundness of the CA curriculum as a whole to be incredibly stimulating. The balance enforced between science and math and the humanities (although admittedly, when given the opportunity, I lean more toward the science and math) has brought me to a new way of thinking. I find logic and rationality on one side with invention and exploration on the other, but in reality, these aspects often switch sides. It’s odd to say, but I don’t think of the curriculum as divided into such concrete categories. The resulting creative reasoning blankets all of my courses at CA with a sense of curiosity and innovation.

What assignments or teachers have inspired you at CA?

My dance teacher, Richard Colton, must be credited with almost all of my creative development. When I came to CA as a freshman, my dancing experience had been mostly large ballet classes where there was little to no room for originality. However, led on by Richard’s undying enthusiasm and seemingly endless endurance to fight for his beliefs, I have discovered my own capacity for invention in dance and strength of conviction in all that I do. I have been inspired with confidence and optimism. Richard also has instilled me with a sense of possibility. I have often struggled with a divided interest in science and dance, but Richard’s philosophy is that I do not have to choose. Instead, he has introduced me to artist/scientists like Alan Lightman who have successfully managed to live as a part of both of these worlds.

In a totally different manner, my Spanish teacher, Steve Cambria, has also been a great inspiration in confidence and conviction. Last year, as I planned my summer activities, Steve strongly encouraged me to go to a Spanish-speaking country. When my first set of plans fell through, it was thanks to Steve’s unrelenting help that we finally found a program that suited my requirements and then finally convinced my parents of the value of the experience. Steve places the person before the student. He has always been concerned with our well-being. In this way, I have been similarly inspired; it is always nice to relearn the importance of happiness.

One CA assignment truly stands out as inspirational. My expert project in Advanced Biology last year was on sickle cell anemia and its relation to the malaria parasite. Part of the assignment was to interview a scientific professional on our subject. Through a wonderful stroke of luck I found the man who actually first discovered the malarial selection of sickle cell trait and had the opportunity to interview him over the phone one night. The excitement in his voice and the fascinating events he related pushed me further into my research. The project became about my own interest rather than information I could just write about. As a result, this year I am doing a Senior Project that allows me to interact with more scientists and discuss their various findings as well.

What’s chapel?

Three mornings a week, a member of the senior class stands in front of the entire school to speak about whatever he or she wants for fifteen minutes. Some chapels are revealing, others entertaining; some are musing, and others highly opinionated or intellectual. Their power never ceases to amaze me. How many high schools entrust their students with the first minutes of the day? There’s no authoritative voice trying to inspire or coerce. Instead, we listen to each other, and gain a feeling of pride in and responsibility toward the school in return for the trust we’ve received.

Interests and Activities

Dance (performance, choreography); Improv Club; head, CASA (Concord Academy Service Activists); head, Women’s Organization; varsity field hockey; senior page editor, yearbook; writer, The Centipede (student newspaper); painting; drawing; jewelry-making

Of all these, do you consider any a passion?

Dance is a passion for me. All that I know I bring into the studio, and all that I do there comes with me for the rest of my day. It is both a challenge and a comfort.

Have you done any coursework or projects that crossed disciplines?

Relativity in art history, medical history, dancing in Thoreau’s woods, Spanish literature in both Spanish and English classes, art and geometry