Nancy Hillman, left work with students in the drama dance class currently being offered at Dynamic Dance Studio in Tenino, which is owned by Marcela Martinez, right, in the pink sweatshirt.
Two local talents are combining their strengths to offer a unique class for children.
Yelm’s Standing Room Only Artistic Director Nancy Hillman and Tenino’s Dynamic Dance Studio Owner Marcela Martinez have teamed up to offer a drama dance, a class that teaches kids about dance for the stage. It is one of 20 classes currently being offered at Martinez’s studio.
“These kids are going to create their own music. These kids eventually will be singing as well as dancing and acting. That’s why it’s called drama dance,” Hillman said. “That’s the part that makes this class a little different, ,cause we’re not just going to be moving, we are also going to be emoting, so when you’re dancing you have a feeling.”
After class last Friday, all the students said they were having fun and almost all of them said they would take a similar class again. About half of the students said they would consider taking either a dance or acting class they might not have before drama dance.
“(Nancy) teaches really good things that turns out you should learn in life,” Haylie Hetland, 10, of Yelm, said.
“I wanted to come here also because my mom says I have a lot of drama in me, and I really wanted to try a drama class and meet new people,” Shayna McNeil, 11, of Tenino, said.
Austin Anderson, 11, of Roy, started attending the class after some friends invited his twin brother, Jayden Anderson, and Logan Flores, 7, of Rochester. He is taking the class in order to achieve his dream of being a Disney star.
Abigail Henkes, 7, of Yelm, and others in her family have been in Hillman’s plays before, so she thought it would be fun to try. Abby Creer, 10, of Roy, said drama dance is as fun as it looks.
One month into lessons, both the students and the teachers are happy with how the class is progressing.
“I’m very excited about the way this class is developing,” Hillman said.
“The kids are loving it,” Martinez said. “You can see that in a month they’ve come out of their shell and want to learn more, they want to express themselves more, they participate more. You can tell they’re really excited to be there.”
This group of students will be the ones introducing performances at an upcoming recital in July at the Triad Arts Theater in Yelm, though the exact date has not been determined.
Hillman and Martinez have teamed up in the past via Standing Room Only with Martinez acting in and choreographing productions for Hillman. Now that Martinez has opened her own studio, Hillman wants to do what she can to help support it, and this class is one way to do so.
“I love Marcela, I love working with her,” Hillman said. “Her dream was to open a dance studio. ... I was just so thrilled that she was able to do it, and I said to her, ‘I want to be part of it. I want to somehow assist in it because I think that I can support you as you have supported me.’”
Hillman has always admired dancers. Having never studied dance herself, Hillman credits her knowledge of movement from working with and watching dancers. These lessons about how to put emotion into the body while dancing and enjoy it is what she is looking to pass on. Not only is this knowledge important for the world of the theater, it also translates into helping kids with their shyness, confidence, focus and character.
“They have very little idea what to do with their body,” Hillman said of young people in general. “These things that I teach are so they begin to understand how to use those tools.”
On the other hand, Martinez has been studying dance since the age of 10. She was 18 when she got her first job as a dance instructor and has competed around the nation, garnering a nomination for the Miss Dance Award in 2006. Martinez opened Dynamic Dance Studio last June and offers tap, jazz, ballet, hip hop and lyrical dance classes in addition to drama dance.
“This is my passion,” she said. “It’s rewarding to be able to see a kid smile and enjoy what they’re doing.”
Martinez’s family opened Don Juan’s Mexican Kitchen in Tenino, and Dynamic Dance Studio is located in the same plaza.
“We love Tenino,” Martinez said. “It’s a great small town that’s growing, and we want to put it on the map.”
She feels embraced by the city and supported by the community as well as other businesses.
“Tenino needs art,” she said. “Children need to be taken off the streets and put into a good place where they can use that energy and put it somewhere and find their passion instead of just being lost and engaging in things that don’t serve their greater purpose in life, their greatest potential.”
This collaboration allows Martinez to work alongside one of her mentors.
“I really appreciate the kind of director she is, and I see myself in her and I think she sees herself in me,” Martinez said of Hillman. “We are both very passionate about children and the arts. ... I want to be that age and still be passionate about what I do.”
During last week’s class, Hillman reviewed the four aspects of acting that are also necessary when dancing, which are the voice, the body, imagination and emotion.
“To use all of those things ... to use it when you’re dancing, you have to have ... rhythm,” Hillman said.
The students practiced the words and steps for their performance to “We Go Together” from the musical “Grease” and then learned the next round of lyrics and choreography.
“I think the combination of being able to do singing and dancing and the drama appeals to children who don’t just want to dance and they don’t just want to act,” Hillman said.
Each student has an aspect of the class they find most enjoyable. Logan and Austin like the dancing while Abigail has been challenged by it. Abby said she finds the dancing to be both challenging and fun at the same time.
Avery Creer, 9, of Roy, has enjoyed getting to learn how to read body language, and Haylie likes learning how to use body language while dancing and singing.
Though singing comes easily to Shayna, she said hitting the higher notes has been her challenge. For Austin, learning the gibberish in the lyrics of “We Go Together” has been his.
“These are driven kids that want to learn more and experience more of the class,” Martinez said. “It’s a good group of kids.”
By the time the class is over, these 15 children will be one step closer to becoming triple threats in the theater world. Even if none of them pursue acting or dance in the future, Martinez and Hillman have given these kids lessons that will last a lifetime.
“I want to be there for the children,” Martinez said. “I want them to have a place where they can go and forget about all their kid problems and just allow themselves to express whatever they feel through dance. That is one of my dreams, to create an opportunity for children to excel in their creativity. It’s important for kids to have creativity.”
