Studio Stories: Reminiscing on Twin Cities Dance with Michael Engel - Season 5, Episode 69 (re-air)

Micheal Engel (5.12.1953 - 5.19.2022)Growing up in Western North Dakota with 4 brothers and 2 wiry parents, I enjoyed many movement moments such asdodging, running, rolling, spinning, chasing, and jumping whileusing many props such as dirt clods, snow balls, footballs, andfrisbees. After taking my first modern technique class in collegein 1974, I realized that dance epitomizes the ‘recreation’ ofmovement for movement’s sake, exactly what I had enjoyedabout childhood backyard and sideyard adventures.I pursued an Education Major for a year at the U of Mn butwas soon taking more Dance Technique / Theory than Educationclasses so I changed my major to Dance Performance / DanceEducation. For the next 20 years, I worked as a professionaldance artist, studying, teaching, and performing many dancegenres, from modern to theatrical, ballroom to world folk dances.What follows is a list of the dance companies I worked forand their founders over these 20 years. Instructional DanceTheater –Molly Lynn, Contemporary Concert Dancers – GeolWeirs, New Dance Ensemble / Lab – Linda Shapiro and LeighDillard , Maria Cheng and Dancers – Maria Cheng, and ContactWorks – Patrick Scully. I also worked with several independentdancers to put on our own shows. And I co-founded a dancecompany with my wife Wendy; Ansley / Engel Dance, ARepertory Company of Solos and Duets. We did shows andresidencies in various States and locations around the country.During this time I was also an Artist in Residence in dozensof school districts throughout Minnesota and North Dakota whilealso choreographing solo and group work for various dancers,dance companies, and theaters. I choreographed 2 productionsat the Guthrie Theater, The Tempest and As You Like It.In 1994, I joined the Minneapolis Public Schools as alicensed specialist teaching Dance and Theater, K- 8 Grades. Iwas allowed to teach without a license for 3 years and by 1997,doing evening and weekend classes, I had completed a Master’sDegree in Education with an Elementary Teaching license at St.Thomas. Later, when MN finally developed a teaching license forDance, I went back to school at Mankato University to get adance license. From 1994 to 2014 I worked at 5 Mpls PublicSchools; Webster Open, Anne Sullivan Communications, Ramseyand Folwell Performing Arts Magnets, and North Star Elementary.Besides teaching dance and theater classes I alsodeveloped the skills and a curriculum to teach Video Literacy toMiddle Schoolers. And I developed curriculums integrating danceand theater arts literacy with math, science, and language artsliteracies. After leaving MPS, I was hired by Heart of Dance andtrained by ‘Dancing Classrooms’ to teach 6 Ballroom dance formsto 5th graders. I worked for that amazing organization for threeyears in about a dozen schools in the Twin Cities area.In these last few years as an aging dancer I have beenfortunate to be able to keep doing work, to being challenged andawed by this craft I began in 1974. I did a solo from the 80’s atthe 2012 50th Anniversary of the Walker Center Choreographer’sEvening directed by Patrick Scully. And I have hugely enjoyedworking with Gerry Girouard and other dancers on his pursuit ofand gifts for creating new contact improvisational structures.Also, in those years before COVID, there has grown stronginterests in Group Improvisational gatherings. Some were calledDance Church, among other names, and were located in variousdance spaces around town, including a church. Engaging withthese movement gatherings were a highlight of my dancing lifebefore such indoor group dancing came to a halt. They wereoften the only way I could experience a delicious sweet sweatdanci