Lezlee has been teaching dance and music to people of all ages and abilities for over 25 years. She has taught older adults at the University of Chicago, 4th Pres Older Adult Learning Center, Robichaux & Marquette Parks. She choreographed & performed Dance On! and Ballroom Medley with a group of dancers age 55 and up, at over 200 nursing homes and senior centers. Earlier in her professional dancing career she performed with numerous Chicago companies and independent choreographers, including Jan Erkert and Dancers, as well as being a dance teacher, musician and costumer. Most recently in 2014/15 she performed and choreographed as Guest Artist for Perceptual Motion concerts at Ruth Page Center for Dance; and in 2013-15 at the American Rhythm Center Showcases in the Fine Arts Building. She currently teaches Movement w/Music and Drum Circle to blind and visually impaired students at Friedman Place; MovementWorks exercise for private clients in their homes and at Montgomery Place Retirement; and modern dance at American Rhythm Center. She also sews, plays and teaches piano, and occasionally plays upright bass and accordion with the Grand Ole Aubrey Band at the Chicago Barn Dance! Degree: Bachelor of Music
ABOUT MODERN DANCE Born in the early 20th century, modern dance began as a reaction against ballet. It focused less on fairy tale stories, rigid positions and defying gravity, and more on using the ground, feeling the floor with bare feet, using gravity/momentum, fall/recover, tension/release, and movement for its own sake--for the pure physical joy of moving through space in rhythm and pattern. Modern can tell stories or be abstract, or express inner feelings, emotions and moods. Modern can be highly technical and precise or can also be free and improvisatory, or both at the same time! Often pedestrian movements are developed into choreography; all different types of music, sounds, rhythms, or even silence, are utilized to inspire choreographers and dancers. Today there are many styles of modern, each unique and interesting.