Artist of the Week | Lindy transitions from ice skater to dancer

Isaac Lindy '14 was just a five-year-old boy at home from school when he was watching television. "I was watching figure skating," Lindy said, "and I turned to my parents and said, ‘I want to do that.'" Lindy's father took him to the ice rink at University of Pennsylvania, and Lindy took up competitive figure skating.

After arriving at Vassar his freshman year, Lindy stopped skating competitively, though he still tries to get to the rink at least once a week. His figure skating experience led him to Vassar's Dance Department.

"I trained in ballet for several years to supplement my figure skating training, so I had had exposure to dance," explained Lindy. "Figure skating was my entry into the world of creative expression and that introduced me into the world of choreography and expressing choreography with music."

Lindy enrolled in Professor of Dance Stephen Rooks's Low Intermediate Modern Dance class his first semester at Vassar. "Rooks's classes are rooted in Martha Graham technique, which I found to be an emotionally raw and cathartic style of movement," Lindy wrote in an emailed statement. "I connected to this visceral element—a Graham class is an amazing way to vent some frustrations, and as an inordinately angsty first-semester freshman, I appreciated the outlet."

For his class final, Lindy choreographed and performed a skating piece using elements of Graham dance techniques. "Steve's energy is literally contagious. He runs his classes not by being a feared disciplinarian but by being inspiring and communicative," Lindy wrote. "He paid attention and gave constructive comments to every student in my class and made each of us feel welcome."

Lindy discovered a new outlet to replace ice skating, and a love for dancing from Rooks' class. In turn, Lindy decided to audition for Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre his sophomore year. "Seeing all the parallels that existed between skating and dance and all of the opportunities for choreography, especially in our Dance Department—which is pretty accessible I find—I felt the need to audition," Lindy said.

Lindy also found himself interested in working with Vassar's vibrant theater scene, which had impressed him as a prospective visiting student, and found himself only further intrigued with choreography after exposure to the process. In turn, Lindy co-choreographed "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" his freshman year alongside co-choreographer Isabella Kosmacher '14.

"‘Dr. Horrible' was my first experience with the responsibility of orchestrating movement for an entire production. It was certainly daunting at the beginning of the project," Lindy wrote. "After that initial intimidation, though, the experience was wholly positive and extremely edifying. I loved working with [Kosmacher]—I learned so much from her, as she is a far more experienced dancer than I am, but our choreographic processes also meshed really well."

Lindy finds great pleasure in the choreographing process. "My favorite part about choreographing pieces honestly stems from the moment I hear a piece of music and know that I need to create something alongside it. I love being lost—albeit for a brief few moments—in visualizing movement to accompany a piece to which I particularly connect," Lindy wrote.

Lindy added, "After that initial inspiration, I usually listen to the piece repeatedly—and print out the lyrics if there are any—to delve into the meaning, or what I find to be the meaning, of the music," Lindy wrote. "This meaning that I establish through such analysis drives my choreographic process, whether I'm telling a story or exploring more abstract ideas or feelings."

Lindy also worked last semester as an outside tutor and mentor at the Catherine Street Community Center through an Education Department class. Lindy and fellow students Wes Thompson '13 and Yanee Ferrari '14 began a media and literacy program for students at the Center.

"I was assigned to work with fifth to seventh grade students," Lindy wrote. "We polled the students and discovered that a unit about pop music might really grab their attention. The kids ended up latching onto the idea of gender roles in the music videos we showed, so we capitalized on that interest and investigated gender norms and the ideas of equitable relationships in pop music."

Lindy enjoyed his time at the center mentoring its students. "I like to teach a lot, I like to teach skating and I like to have that mentor position," Lindy said. "I would love to use my Urban Studies major to do arts education and arts outreach."