Ashtabula Arts Center Dance Department News

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2928 West 13th St. Ashtabula, Ohio 44004 phone: 440-964-3396 Search This Site: COMING HOME: Posted: Tuesday, January 15, 2002 Former student returns to AAC as teacher When her parents first signed her up for ballet lessons at age four, Clover Robinson had no idea that she was actually beginning her career. Now she brings that career back to where it all began, as she prepares to teach classes in the winter session here at the Arts Center. Robinson recently moved back to the area from Chicago, where she has been living and working since graduating from college in 1996. While in Chicago she danced with Ballet Theatre of Chicago and a contemporary company called 58 Group. She also spent nearly two years with an international company called Hubbard Street, of which she was involved with their Second Company. Although her primary reason for moving back to Ashtabula was to be closer to her family, Robinson says that it has always been a dream of hers to teach here at the Arts Center. "This place has always been like a second home to me," she says. "It has been a very special place to me for a long time. I feel a special connection to the Arts Center, and I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to come back here as a teacher. I firmly believe that I wouldn’t have had the experiences I’ve had in my life without the training I got here." Now she hopes to turn the tables and use all of her experiences in Chicago to "bring a new element to the Arts Center." Her primary focus will be jazz classes, something which has not always been offered here in years past. She hopes that through her classes some dancers may have the opportunity to experience and enjoy a type of dance that they may not have had the chance to previously. "I want to stress through my classes that it’s all dance," says Robinson. "You don’t just love one type of dance - if you are a dancer, you should have a respect and understanding for all different types of movement. "Growing up, I always liked ballet best. But I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I was never really exposed to anything else." Robinson got her first experiences with jazz and modern dance while in college. As a dance major at Wright State University, she says she "had to take the class" - but then learned to love it. "The spectrum for jazz is so wide," she says. "That makes it very challenging, but also very fun." She gives credit to her teachers for keeping her in the medium. In particular, it was Dance Coordinator Shelagh Dubsky who first suggested that she could make a career out of dance. "Shelagh told me about scholarships and colleges which offered the best programs. Up until then I guess I didn’t think I was ‘good enough’ to be a professional dancer. I wanted to be a doctor," she says. But after receiving a partial scholarship to Wright State ("I was thrilled," she says), she decided to see how far she could take it. It was while in college that she first heard about Hubbard Street, and, while her first audition did not get her into the company, she decided to move to Chicago to train until she felt confident enough to try again. She began dancing with Ballet Theatre Chicago, and it was there that the decision to move into jazz and modern dance was solidified. "I remember I was in ‘Swan Lake’ with Ballet Theatre Chicago, and I was miserable," she recalls. "I saw the contemporary dancers performing, and they looked like they were having so much fun. That’s when I decided it was time to move on to something else." It was then that she joined 58 Group, a company started by a dancer named Ginger Farley. Farley, an original member of Hubbard Street, asked Robinson to be a part of her new company. Robinson says she was honored by the chance, which later lead to a job with Hubbard Street’s Second Company. "Someone believed in me," she says. "It just confirmed my belief that good teachers can make all the difference." Now she hopes that she can be one of those teachers herself. While she has taught classes in Chicago, she is excited to have the opportunity to come back to the place where it all started. So will she miss being the student? "I’ve learned a new perspective on dance through teaching," she says. " I would say that it has made me appreciate it even more. "Dance will still be my world. I’m just lucky that I get to do what I love."