Erin Sauerhage 17 ~ Fred "Poppy" Ziaks Memorial Scholarship

My name is Erin Sauerhage and I just graduated from Booker T. Washington High School for the performing and visual arts where I trained intensively in modern and ballet. I applied for this scholarship so that I could have the opportunity to attend an intensive that would allow me to improve and start off my first year of college well. I will be using the scholarship to attend the Paul Taylor summer intensive in NYC this summer for one month where I will closely study the Taylor technique. In the fall I will begin my first year at the Boston Conservatory where I will graduate with a BFA in dance. Although I have been focusing on modern and ballet recently, I love all forms of dance and can not wait to explore various styles in Boston. My ultimate goals for dance are to join a modern or contemporary ballet company, dance on Broadway and possibly choreograph.

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I would like to thank the Dance Council of North Texas for providing me with the incredible opportunity to attend the Paul Taylor summer intensive for four weeks in New York City. This intensive exceeded my expectations and gave me more insight on the way a professional dance company operates. My teachers for the first two weeks of the intensive were former Taylor dancers and my teachers for the second two weeks were current company members of the Paul Taylor Dance Company. The teachers I studied under include, James Samson, Sean Mahoney, Amy Young, Lisa Viola, and Ruth Andrien. The works I performed include, Cloven Kingdom, Junction, Scudoroma, and Field of Grass. On a typical day I took a two hour modern class, a two and a half hour repertoire class, a stretch class, followed by a lecture or seminar. I found this schedule to be the perfect balance between rigorous dance classes and helpful guidance from accomplished professional dancers. I had the opportunity to observe company rehearsals and even participate in a question and answer seminar with Paul Taylor himself. The company members were unbelievable teachers and provided us with incredible advice that will help me immensely throughout my first year at The Boston Conservatory. I learned more about myself as an artist, performer, and the dance world in general than any other intensive I have attended and could not be more thankful to The Dance Council of North Texas for allowing me to experience that.