Willie Lenoir and his seven students will represent the KU Dance Company with a jazz performance in Lenexa, Kan., April 27.
Lenoir is the instructor of jazz dance at KU. Students treat him more as a friend because he is passionate and optimistic both in the class and in daily life.
According to Michelle Heffner Hayes, professor and chair of the dance department, jazz is the most popular class among students. The beginner-level jazz course usually has full enrollment.
Lenoir gave two reasons that his class is popular. First, the class meets at 5:30 p.m., which seldom has conflict with other classes. Also, students have been in school all day long, and they are tired—quick movements and popular music keep students’ attention in a relaxing atmosphere.
Sophia Summer, a dance senior graduating this May, said she enjoyed Lenoir’s class because she could fully release herself. She said Lenoir has a unique teaching method that is less traditional than similar dance classes.
“I show the movements that most parts they have never seen before, and I even play sound they have never heard before,” Lenoir said.
Lenoir keeps students engaged and gives them energy.
Beginner-level jazz dance introduces different structures and jazz vocabulary. For example, “cut” means quick displacement of one standing leg by the other while remaining on the same spot. The class also introduces a little African movement because jazz dance comes from African dance.
Lenoir’s jazz class uses popular music, and he grades students mainly on their improvements instead of attendance, exams, or how they compare to other students.
“I don’t grade you based on what someone else does,” Lenoir said. “I grade based on what I see you are doing.”
He gives practical exams, which means students have to perform a dance they have worked on for a couple of weeks.
Lenoir has danced for 46 years and experienced many different jazz styles. He draws different elements and techniques, and puts them together in his class. Lenoir suggests that students take ballet dance if they are serious about dancing.
“ I think ballet is very central,” Lenoir said. “Ballet sets nice bases for the technical things you have to do. I think you have to learn how to dance before you can dance.”
Lenoir also encourages students to learn modern dance. He said compared with jazz dance and ballet dance, modern dance requires different motions and breathing.
“You use torso a lot.”
Every Monday and Wednesday, Lenoir stays over at the studio for at least 45 minutes to work with students who have trouble. He helps students one-on-one or in small groups. Sometimes, students even stay to chat with him.
Lenoir plans certain movements for each class, but he is willing to make adjustments to make his students more comfortable.
“I walk to class with preconceived ideas of what I want to teach.” Lenoir said. “ If a certain situation arises, I am able to change it.”
As students proceed through the semester, Lenoir gives them more advanced movements and sometimes even pushes them to do that. He said the more practice students have, the more progress they make.
Lenoir used “syncopation” to describe jazz dance.
“If people are doing 4/4 tempo, they dance one-two-three-four,” Lenoir said. “ But in jazz, we do one-two-and three-and four.” In other words, dancers dance off the beat and need to move their bodies quickly.
“People say it is a raggedy type of dance because it goes off the beat.”
Script:
Charlene Chen VO: Every Monday and Wednesday, Jazz three class meets up at two in the afternoon. This week, instead of having normal class, students are giving their solo performance. They dress up, and dance with the music chosen by themselves. Instructor Willie Lenoir takes video for the students. Next week, students can get videos to see where they can improve.
Willie Lenoir: Some of the points I told them about was I was trying to get them out of the comfort zone. I wanna them to do steps and to do movements that they used to doing, to use the music they wanna to dance to. A lot of them told me they have not done such movements before. And they rarely listened to Jazz music which was the project all about. But all of all, I would say, it’s probably the best quality of work I never had before in my class.
The Voice of Dance 