Brian Palmer A Passion for the Story
Every dancer has a story to tell. Many times those stories are the foundations of stage shows about dance like "Company" and "A Chorus Line." For dancer, teacher, and choreographer, Brian Palmer, the story is about perseverance and passion. Regardless of the pit-falls or the cat calls, Brian's story is one of never giving up and of learning how to redefine himself when one phase ended and another started. I'm telling this story as a witness to Brian's dedication and devotion. I've known him since he got his first pair of tap shoes in 1972.
Brian's older sister Ginny took dance lessons, and like "A Chorus Line," when he saw his sister tap dancing he said, "I can do that!" He took class without shoes at first and when they arrived in the mail he slept with them on his feet that night refusing to take them off. It was a sign of his unbending decision that dance was very important to him.
He continued to study all forms of dance through college receiving degrees in dance from Radford University (VA) and Florida State University. His early training in Parkersburg, WV consisted of tap, ballet, and jazz enabling him to perform and choreograph in musicals when necessary. Professionally, he danced nine years with Richmond Ballet and received a Suzanne Farrell Fellowship in 1999 giving him the chance to study and perform original Balanchine pieces that other dancers only dream about dancing. Because Farrell holds the exclusive restaging rights to several Balanchine works, Brian learned the method and performance technique necessary to demonstrate Balanchine's unique perspective on ballet.
"When I danced for Suzanne Farrell, I did the major Balanchine pieces and I worked with a first generation muse," says Brian. "She's a woman of few words and when she speaks you listen. It's always very clear. I love it when she says, 'We already know what we can do. Why do we practice that? Why don't we try something we can't do? Why do you stop at what you can do?'" Farrell left a lasting impression on Brian when she explained that, "Exits (from stage) should linger like the performer. After you're gone, your performance is still there." The fellowship with Farrell helped Brian study the process of setting ballets. "She spent the time to tell my why she was doing this or that," says Brian. "It's all about choices," he concludes.
Brian has taken twenty years of performance and study and created a new place for his dancing. He currently serves as the Division Chair of Theatre and Dance at Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, FL. Not bad for a little fellow who wouldn't take off his tap shoes to sleep!
Brian oversees all of the operations of the Dance department and the budget and evaluations of the Theatre and Dance Division. He teaches, recruits new students, directs curriculum development, and works with department productions. Additionally, he dances in the city wide production of "Nutcracker," serves as an adjudicator at several dance events, and teaches during the summers in Richmond and Parkersburg.
In his role as university dance professor, Brian embraces the various challenges he faces as he guides students through the dance and dance education majors. "New students rarely see how the two worlds of academics and activities meet when they come to college," says Brian. "They are used to the separate worlds of high school classes then dance after school. They have a hard time learning to blend the worlds in college. I spend a long time build an understanding that dance is a fine art. It doesn't have to be elitist. In the beginning, students haven't learned how to bridge the gap between pop culture and dance technique. They have a difficult time grasping that dance is an academic study in college."
Dance history is one course in which Brian strives to help students see the relationship of how dance is affected by societal changes. "I force them to look at culture, history, and politics and see what's going on in dance at the same time in history. Then I make them predict what is going to happen in dance in the future."
The students all agree that technology will have the next great effect on dance in some very interesting ways. Scenery for ballet productions will be computer projected onto a green screen on stage. Modern dancers will rehearse in real time with dancers in other countries. Dancers of all genres will take classes and coaching sessions via a computer screen and never be in the studio with the instructor.
Regardless of the technological advances that impact dance, the story will continue to need to be told. From Charlie Brown to Romeo and "Nutcracker" to "Who Cares?" Brian has danced the range of stories told in the dance world. He has demonstrated that a male dancer in America must make the commitment to follow his passion with daring, creativity, and flexibility to sing, dance, act, teach, choreograph, and direct the stories of the dance world.
"The idea of story telling appeals to me," claims Brian. "Everybody loves a good story. By teaching dance history the way I do I see the pendulum of conservatism and liberalism swinging. As long as the pendulum keeps swinging, ballet will always have a place. As long as there is a story that needs to be told, classical ballet will always have a place. How often it's performed and promoted will determine its popularity. Telling the stories of the culture through ballet is one way to keep the art alive."
Looking back through dance history gives Brian cause to look back at his career and into its future. "I'm very blessed and thankful because I have had a very rewarding career. I'm not dissatisfied at all," he says. "After watching years of dance videos growing up, I got to dance in many of the 20th century treasures of dance with lead roles in "The Green Table," "Moor's Pavane," and "Rodeo." I've worked with some of this country's greatest choreographer's and performed in every size and style of venue." Brian has his eye on the future as well. "I look forward to 'Dr. Coppelius' and 'Herr Drosselmeyer' because ballet affords men more performance opportunities later in a career."
Brian encourages his students to find ways to establish themselves as unique but to stay within the boundaries and rules of the dance world. At the advice of a former ballet mistress, he used to dress monochromatically to make himself look taller. It helped at auditions. He tells students to find something that will give them an edge over the wave of other dancers in the studios. Brian's distinguishing advantage is his ability to make the best of the present while appreciating the gifts of his past as he looks humbly forward to the challenges of his future.