When all of the costume bags were empty and the Mt. Lebanon Dance Company’s 21 young women smoothed out each leotard seam and ballet shoe strap, their director, CeCe Kapron, found her favorite spot in the auditorium, about a quarter of the way back and dead center.
Though she’d seen the audition-only company’s five dances dozens of times, and watched them grow from ideas to finished products over just a semester’s time, she sat on the edge of her seat, her body pitched toward the stage, with the excitement of a proud parent watching for the first time.
The only part of her body that seemed relaxed was the hand holding her microphone, maybe because she knew it wouldn’t get much use. Though she’s technically in charge, these advanced dancers mostly lead themselves, even calling out suggestions for changes to the lighting or the music’s volume.
The rehearsal was in anticipation of the dance company’s annual concert, which occurred for the community on the evening of Jan. 13 and in a series of six matinees for students on Jan. 14.
“It gives the girls an opportunity to perform in front of their peers so they can see how accomplished they’ve become in dance, and it gives our student body an opportunity to come see dance as an art form,” she said. “Many students will leave here and they’ll probably have seen a football game, but they may not have seen a dance concert.”
And, maybe for the rest of their lives, they won’t see one directed by a more experienced dancer, choreographer and educator. This year marks Ms. Kapron’s 50th as Mt. Lebanon High School’s dance director, a program she crafted from its beginning.
‘Never applied for the job’
In the early 1970s, the Mt. Lebanon School District offered an array of fine arts classes that would be housed in a brand new building, but the fine arts director at the time, Joanne Bailey, knew one thing was missing, however uncommon at the high school level: a dance program.
After convincing the school board, the district contacted then-Slippery Rock College and requested five of its senior dancers who might fit their need for a dance instructor. Ms. Kapron was one of those candidates. With a long list of dance-related extracurriculars, she earned the job in 1972.
The presence of a high school dance program is still rare, existing in only 16% of U.S. high schools, according to data from The National Endowment for the Arts. Mt. Lebanon High School offers three levels of dance classes available to anyone. Because of Ms. Kapron’s belief that strong ballet technique can be applied to all other genres, the first unit of each level starts there and evolves into jazz, musical theater and modern units as the year progresses.
For some, those classes simply satisfy the physical education requirement, but for more seasoned dancers, the classes allow expression of a passion they previously only enjoyed outside of school while soaking up Ms. Kapron’s dance pedigree.
“She’s a voice inside my head when I’m performing,” said Chloe McGee, a 15-year-old ninth grader, level-one dance student and longtime extracurricular dancer. “She’s big into performing and very picky about technique. It’s kind of just ‘cleaning’ everything else I’ve learned.”
For 10 years, Ms. Kapron sat on the statewide committee that created the Academic Standards for the Arts and Humanities, which dictates that dance students should learn the art in context: the historical implication of different dance genres, how to critically respond to dance based on a set of criteria, and how dance creates feelings, especially when paired with costuming, lighting and music projected through a sound system.
But beyond technique, history and learning dances choreographed by instructors, she saw additional need. Also beginning in 1972, she started an audition-only dance company, where the school’s most advanced students “blossom.”
“People like to move, so I created these dance classes,” she said. “But when do you cross over from technique classes to learn to become the dance artist?”
Under her design and direction, dance company members are empowered to choreograph their own dances, choose costumes and discuss lighting design, “the entire process of producing a dance concert,” just like the one performed earlier this month.
High honors
Ms. Kapron was a 2015 finalist for the Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year Award, and named a Pennsylvania’s Best Dance Educator of the Year, the National Dance Association’s Dance Educator of the Year, a Teacher of Distinction by the Teacher Excellence Foundation and has authored numerous talks and articles on her philosophy of dance and its value in high school education.
Her dancers have performed in professional dance companies across the country, on cruise ships, in Disney shows, worked as arts administrators, and one 1995 graduate, Joelle Gates, attended The Juilliard School before dancing in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera,” both the touring company and in New York City.
And several of her former students followed in her footsteps.
Dana McCaskey, a 1998 Mt. Lebanon graduate and former dance company member, became an eighth grade math teacher in the West Allegheny School District but had an itch for something completely different.
“I always wanted to start a dance program because Mt. Lebanon’s was such a significant experience for me,” she said.
Ms. McCaskey’s dance program at West Allegheny is now in its fourth year and has Ms. Kapron’s fingerprints all over it. “Her program, as well as mine now, which is modeled after hers, it’s not just a dance studio where you learn technique. You learn the academic side. It’s a little more artistic, I would say.”
Another former dance company member and 1988 graduate, Maddie Tieman, danced professionally with LABCO dance company and Dance Alloy in Pittsburgh before earning a master’s degree in dance from Temple University and joining the dance faculty at Mt. Lebanon High School.
The accomplishments of Ms. Kapron’s former dancers speak to the quality of her program, but she’d know nothing about those achievements if it weren’t for the lasting connections made while they were still her students.
‘We make this like a family’
Ms. McCaskey is friends with all seven other dance company members from her graduating class and knows they’re all still in touch with Ms. Kapron. “It was such an important space in high school to be creative and stress-free compared to all the academic classes, and CeCe really made that happen.”
Ms. Tieman was a student, is now a co-worker and also has a daughter in the dance company, allowing her to see Ms. Kapron’s work from more angles than most. “As a student, you feel that she really knows you,” she said. “She’s really good at getting to know them individually, rather than always approaching the class as a whole. That’s so hard to do in classes of 25 students.”
Those relationships are forged, in part, because she listens.
About 25 years ago, the school’s layout required dancers to dress in one room, then walk down a communal hallway to reach the studio — a trek made in their pink tights and tight black leotards. When Ms. Kapron learned that situation scared off some would-be dancers, she changed the dress code on the spot, one that still stands today: black T-shirts, black tights and a low ponytail.
Relationships with students are furthered because she always seems to be there.
Ms. Kapron and her dance company choreographs the musical and teaches the moves to the school’s musical theater students, an endeavor that requires countless hours after school and on Saturdays.
She’s known to chaperone all the dances, proctor SAT tests, show up at students’ extracurricular performances and events, and, in pandemic times, volunteer to cover for other teachers, as necessary.
Ms. McCaskey describes her as “a big ball of energy and positivity that makes everyone feel good,” but that doesn’t mean she isn’t tough.
“It’s always very constructive, but she definitely doesn’t hold back because she knows it’s always to benefit us in the end,” said dance company senior Lucia Debski, 18, who aims to attend Elon or Fordham University for a dance double major. “She’s not scared to tell the truth with us because we’re super close, and we all want that common goal of wanting what’s best on stage to make our show really good.”
Golden year(s)
Sitting several rows back from center stage during rehearsal, just one week before the dance company’s January performance, Ms. Kapron often resisted talking about herself. She turned the conversation instead to how a number’s choreography hit all the accents of the music, how older dancers move from their core so consistently and how perfectly a costume’s uncommon rusty hue added to the overall aesthetic.
Only as the dancers changed costumes, did she allow herself to reflect on 50 years of holding the microphone, a role she isn’t thinking of giving up just yet.
“I sit here, and I’m just so proud,” she said touching her heart and needing a moment. “Being able to teach, being able to create this dance program, and do something that I absolutely love and am passionate about for 50 years has just been a wonderful blessing in my life.
“I love coming here. I love being in this theater and in the studios. In the morning in the winter, when it’s gray and gloomy, you go in the studio and flip on the switch, and it’s bright. You put on the music and start dancing. What more could you ask for?”
Abby Mackey: amackey@post-gazette.com, Twitter @AnthroAbbyRN and IG @abbymackeywrites.
First Published: January 20, 2022, 11:00 a.m.
Updated: January 20, 2022, 1:15 p.m.
