Modern Dance in the Oldest City
Written by Susan Johnson - OLD CITY MAGAZINE
September 13, 2014
Life in the oldest city has been keeping Modern Dance instructor and choreographer Ellie Potts Barrett on her toes for almost 20 years now. Literally! “I absolutely adore my work but it does involve a lot of traveling. When I’m home, I can slow down a little, take my music out, bring my iPhone to the beach with me and do a lot of my groundwork as a choreographer. But the real beauty of coming home to St. Augustine, and especially St. Augustine Beach, is that I have my own private oasis. It’s a place where I can relax, refocus and recharge my energies.”
At the pace Ellie Potts Barrett moves, a little re-energizing is definitely in order! I’ve known her for years and am aware of her seemingly limitless capacity for movement. I was forewarned and forearmed, in this case with caffeine. but I still felt like I needed a nap about halfway through our conversation. We were off and running though, so I forgot about my 40 winks and tried my best to keep in step.
Barrett attended Boston Conservatory, the University of Miami and the University of South Florida, from which she received her BA in Dance. Among her many accomplishments are: producer and choreographer for the Modern dance concert, BARRETTWERKS; choreographer for the Orlando Philharmonic/Mad Cow Theatre’s productions of “Guys and Dolls”, “Carousel”, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”, “La Traviata” and “Hair”; recipient of the 2008 Central Florida Lifetime Achievement Dance Award, given by the University of Central Florida Theatre Department; dancer with the Ina Hahn Modern Dance Company and Boston Dance Company, and associate to Master Artists Merce Cunningham, Meg Harper and Elizabeth Streb at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Barrett also composed the Modern Dance Syllabus for the Florida Dance Masters Organization, to be utilized as a study tool by future Modern dance instructors in Florida. This is just for starters.
Currently, Ellie Potts Barrett serves as choreographer for the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and Orlando’s Mad Cow Theatre. She has been on the faculty of The Dance Company in St. Augustine for almost 20 years and is on staff at the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville and The Center for Contemporary Dance in Winter Park (yes, all at the same time and no, we’re not finished…). A former songbird on the dinner theatre circuit, Barrett can also claim professional alliances with Walt Disney World (choreographed and danced in the opening ceremonies), Sea World and Church Street Station, and is a past performer with Circus World, owned by Mattel / Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey. According to Ellie, “I have a fear of heights but I did a little Spanish web work in the circus.” Spanish web work? She explains that one in language even I can understand. “It’s an aerial routine where you hang from your ankles and they spin you around.” Yikes!
Ellie continues: “The people I worked with in the circus were some of the most wonderful and most talented people I’ve ever been associated with. I stay in touch with some of the girls even today.” What about relaxation? You might not be surprised to learn that even her down time activities are so up-tempo as to make most heads, never mind ankles, spin. For instance, Ellie’s latest recreational passion is learning how to work with silks (as in hanging from, not sewing with). She is always ready to hop on a plane at the drop of a dance shoe, and was leaving for NYC just a few days after we spoke. When home, her re-energizing routine includes a daily four-mile beach run and spending quality time with her husband of almost 20 years, photographer Ken Barrett, Jr.
How did the creative whirlwind that is Ellie Potts Barrett touch down in St Augustine? And what’s her secret to her seemingly inexhaustible amounts of drive, determination and motivation? “I was born in New York City but we moved to Orlando when I was about 8 years old,” she says. “My first professional job was in St. Augustine’s production of Cross and Sword where I earned $55.00 each week! I was just seventeen and had rented an apartment on Oneida Street for the summer with two of my high school friends from Orlando.” But the job, the money and the freedom weren’t the only new attractions in the oldest city. “Ken was working as a bag boy at the A&P and he was the most gorgeous boy I had ever seen in my life! He asked me out and we started dating.” So it was happily ever after from there on in? Not quite. “He went to Woodstock and I went to Boston,” laughs Ellie. It was a few years before their paths crossed again. “In ’89 or ’90, I called his mother to ask about him. He was doing an art show downtown and it was his birthday so I took him out for dinner. One thing led to another and we were married in 1996.”
What about motivation? Where does the drive and energy to keep going in the fast paced world of professional dance come from? “For me, it’s what I do. It’s what I love. There’s a drive to create that is constant and comes from within. Another factor is that you are always proving yourself in this business. You can’t let up for a minute or allow yourself to become complacent. “
Complacency doesn’t seem to be anywhere on the horizon for Barrett. She can hardly stay in one city for more than a few days. She traveled regularly to Korea for more than ten years, divides much of her current working week between St. Augustine and Orlando, and will soon be spending some time teaching in both Omaha and New York City for Dance Olympus/Dance America. Wouldn’t it be easier to stay in one place? “I’ve always been a proponent of going where the work is. I am very content with where I live but I don’t think geography and logistics have much to do with where you work. In this day and age, it doesn’t really matter where you live. As long as the phone keeps ringing, I’m happy to go where the calls take me!”
To whom does Barrett turn for inspiration? One dancer and choreographer whom she has always admired but only recently had the opportunity to meet is Jacques d’Amboise, founder of the National Dance Institute. “He teaches young children how to pick their feet up, how to move and how to love dance. It was such a thrill for me to meet and talk with him.” She has also been fortunate enough to have taken classes at the Martha Graham School in NYC and studied with artists like Lar Lubovitch and Doris Humphrey company member Ina Hahn. But when it comes to her own work, Barrett doesn’t look to anyone or anything aside from her own instincts. “I like to just listen to the music and put my own take into it without being influenced by anything else. I want my inspiration to come from my own soul and my own heart.” It seems to be working.
Consider this review of “Hair” by Carol Lee:“Ellie Potts Barrett: I can’t handle you. I would like to live in your head for just a day… I want to see what crazy messed up delightful entrancing world you live in. You are a beacon of light that shines on dancers (and non dancers) and lets them shine like the top of the Chrysler Building.”
Or this, from the book “Understanding Dance With Janice Barringer”: “Ms. Barringer quotes from some of the best-known teachers and choreographers such as Ellie Potts Barrett, Kirk Peterson, Mandy Moore, Desmond Richardson, Lulu Washington and Nicholas Leicher.”
With all her accomplishments, accolades, challenges and successes, I wondered what goals were left to which Barrett might aspire? Quite a few, as it turns out. “In a general sense, I would like to see dance take a more prominent place in the field of the arts. It is one of the most difficult and most disciplined creative platforms yet it seems to be the lowest on the rung of the artistic ladder. My personal goal is just to maintain the level of professionalism that I’ve earned in the field that I love so much. But even more than that, I would like to remember to live each day to the fullest. Because every single moment is a gift.”
Thank you, Ellie Potts Barrett, for sharing some of your gifts with all of us.
Old City Life readers can learn more about Ellie Potts Barrett by visiting www.elliepottsbarrett.com
Written by Susan Johnson - OLD CITY MAGAZINE
September 13, 2014
Life in the oldest city has been keeping Modern Dance instructor and choreographer Ellie Potts Barrett on her toes for almost 20 years now. Literally! “I absolutely adore my work but it does involve a lot of traveling. When I’m home, I can slow down a little, take my music out, bring my iPhone to the beach with me and do a lot of my groundwork as a choreographer. But the real beauty of coming home to St. Augustine, and especially St. Augustine Beach, is that I have my own private oasis. It’s a place where I can relax, refocus and recharge my energies.”
At the pace Ellie Potts Barrett moves, a little re-energizing is definitely in order! I’ve known her for years and am aware of her seemingly limitless capacity for movement. I was forewarned and forearmed, in this case with caffeine. but I still felt like I needed a nap about halfway through our conversation. We were off and running though, so I forgot about my 40 winks and tried my best to keep in step.
Barrett attended Boston Conservatory, the University of Miami and the University of South Florida, from which she received her BA in Dance. Among her many accomplishments are: producer and choreographer for the Modern dance concert, BARRETTWERKS; choreographer for the Orlando Philharmonic/Mad Cow Theatre’s productions of “Guys and Dolls”, “Carousel”, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”, “La Traviata” and “Hair”; recipient of the 2008 Central Florida Lifetime Achievement Dance Award, given by the University of Central Florida Theatre Department; dancer with the Ina Hahn Modern Dance Company and Boston Dance Company, and associate to Master Artists Merce Cunningham, Meg Harper and Elizabeth Streb at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Barrett also composed the Modern Dance Syllabus for the Florida Dance Masters Organization, to be utilized as a study tool by future Modern dance instructors in Florida. This is just for starters.
Currently, Ellie Potts Barrett serves as choreographer for the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and Orlando’s Mad Cow Theatre. She has been on the faculty of The Dance Company in St. Augustine for almost 20 years and is on staff at the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville and The Center for Contemporary Dance in Winter Park (yes, all at the same time and no, we’re not finished…). A former songbird on the dinner theatre circuit, Barrett can also claim professional alliances with Walt Disney World (choreographed and danced in the opening ceremonies), Sea World and Church Street Station, and is a past performer with Circus World, owned by Mattel / Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey. According to Ellie, “I have a fear of heights but I did a little Spanish web work in the circus.” Spanish web work? She explains that one in language even I can understand. “It’s an aerial routine where you hang from your ankles and they spin you around.” Yikes!
Ellie continues: “The people I worked with in the circus were some of the most wonderful and most talented people I’ve ever been associated with. I stay in touch with some of the girls even today.” What about relaxation? You might not be surprised to learn that even her down time activities are so up-tempo as to make most heads, never mind ankles, spin. For instance, Ellie’s latest recreational passion is learning how to work with silks (as in hanging from, not sewing with). She is always ready to hop on a plane at the drop of a dance shoe, and was leaving for NYC just a few days after we spoke. When home, her re-energizing routine includes a daily four-mile beach run and spending quality time with her husband of almost 20 years, photographer Ken Barrett, Jr.
How did the creative whirlwind that is Ellie Potts Barrett touch down in St Augustine? And what’s her secret to her seemingly inexhaustible amounts of drive, determination and motivation? “I was born in New York City but we moved to Orlando when I was about 8 years old,” she says. “My first professional job was in St. Augustine’s production of Cross and Sword where I earned $55.00 each week! I was just seventeen and had rented an apartment on Oneida Street for the summer with two of my high school friends from Orlando.” But the job, the money and the freedom weren’t the only new attractions in the oldest city. “Ken was working as a bag boy at the A&P and he was the most gorgeous boy I had ever seen in my life! He asked me out and we started dating.” So it was happily ever after from there on in? Not quite. “He went to Woodstock and I went to Boston,” laughs Ellie. It was a few years before their paths crossed again. “In ’89 or ’90, I called his mother to ask about him. He was doing an art show downtown and it was his birthday so I took him out for dinner. One thing led to another and we were married in 1996.”
What about motivation? Where does the drive and energy to keep going in the fast paced world of professional dance come from? “For me, it’s what I do. It’s what I love. There’s a drive to create that is constant and comes from within. Another factor is that you are always proving yourself in this business. You can’t let up for a minute or allow yourself to become complacent. “
Complacency doesn’t seem to be anywhere on the horizon for Barrett. She can hardly stay in one city for more than a few days. She traveled regularly to Korea for more than ten years, divides much of her current working week between St. Augustine and Orlando, and will soon be spending some time teaching in both Omaha and New York City for Dance Olympus/Dance America. Wouldn’t it be easier to stay in one place? “I’ve always been a proponent of going where the work is. I am very content with where I live but I don’t think geography and logistics have much to do with where you work. In this day and age, it doesn’t really matter where you live. As long as the phone keeps ringing, I’m happy to go where the calls take me!”
To whom does Barrett turn for inspiration? One dancer and choreographer whom she has always admired but only recently had the opportunity to meet is Jacques d’Amboise, founder of the National Dance Institute. “He teaches young children how to pick their feet up, how to move and how to love dance. It was such a thrill for me to meet and talk with him.” She has also been fortunate enough to have taken classes at the Martha Graham School in NYC and studied with artists like Lar Lubovitch and Doris Humphrey company member Ina Hahn. But when it comes to her own work, Barrett doesn’t look to anyone or anything aside from her own instincts. “I like to just listen to the music and put my own take into it without being influenced by anything else. I want my inspiration to come from my own soul and my own heart.” It seems to be working.
Consider this review of “Hair” by Carol Lee:“Ellie Potts Barrett: I can’t handle you. I would like to live in your head for just a day… I want to see what crazy messed up delightful entrancing world you live in. You are a beacon of light that shines on dancers (and non dancers) and lets them shine like the top of the Chrysler Building.”
Or this, from the book “Understanding Dance With Janice Barringer”: “Ms. Barringer quotes from some of the best-known teachers and choreographers such as Ellie Potts Barrett, Kirk Peterson, Mandy Moore, Desmond Richardson, Lulu Washington and Nicholas Leicher.”
With all her accomplishments, accolades, challenges and successes, I wondered what goals were left to which Barrett might aspire? Quite a few, as it turns out. “In a general sense, I would like to see dance take a more prominent place in the field of the arts. It is one of the most difficult and most disciplined creative platforms yet it seems to be the lowest on the rung of the artistic ladder. My personal goal is just to maintain the level of professionalism that I’ve earned in the field that I love so much. But even more than that, I would like to remember to live each day to the fullest. Because every single moment is a gift.”
Thank you, Ellie Potts Barrett, for sharing some of your gifts with all of us.
Old City Life readers can learn more about Ellie Potts Barrett by visiting www.elliepottsbarrett.com