Style, technique and soul
Dance master from Chicago brings jazz expertise to Exeter.
“How are we doing?” asks Nan Giordano, the jazz dance master and artistic director of Giordano Dance Chicago, as she strides into the Goel Center’s expansive dance studio. Twenty students from Exeter’s advanced dance class are milling around in front of her, wearing black leotards and ponytails, restless on a frigid midafternoon in late December. Giordano finds the answer too quiet, so she repeats the question in a voice trained to be heard above loud music. “You guys are too young to feel tired!” she says. “So, let’s start breathing.”
The students spread out in rows, and Giordano, also in black and ponytail, uses her body to illustrate stretches and introductory exercises. A performer for many years, Giordano stopped dancing in 1985 because of injuries. Her body still knows the moves, though, and as she sketches them out, the students, in copycat form, extend them with agility and curiosity.