After years of dance training and many years away from it, I timidly and ambivalently thought I would try taking a dance class again. I had attended very strict schools of ballet thoroughout my early years, and I remembered it as grindingly hard work. I remembered it also as terribly disciplined and tensely competitive. I did NOT remember it as a whole lot of fun.

So it was a revelation to me to find it so enjoyable to dance again with Concord teacher Suzanne Liebich. Suzanne combines a variety of dance styles -- modern and lyrical jazz, modern, ballet, African, and Latin -- in classes for teens and adults. She is so darned cheerful, encouraging, and enthusiastic that I couldn't help but find class to be a fun way to exercise and reconnect with movement.

Most of the students in our class have had little if any dance training; about half are complete beginners. Watching them learn dance in a fun, supportive, and non-competitive atmosphere has been great fun. And it has been a secret pleasure for me to see these novices find out they can move and express themselves in ways they never knew they could!

"My philosophy about dance and teaching is that everyone can move, and everyone should learn how to use their body and express themselves through movement," says Suzanne. "Not everyone moves the same way. Some people have the physiology to be able to learn complicated and highly technical moves, but have difficulty presenting or feeling passion when they perform." Others may not have excellent flexibility or turnout or strength, she goes on to explain, but can manifest their emotions through movement, allowing their dancing to compensate for their physical limitations.

Suzanne is a relative newcomer to Concord, having danced, taught, and choreographed most recently in Pittsfield, MA until two years ago. As a teenager, she studied at the Boston School of Ballet. As an adult, she focused more on jazz and modern, learning primarily Luigi and Horton technique but always with heavy classical overtones. She performed with the modern dance company, Airborne, during her college years.

When she lived in the Berkshires, she taught adult and teen classes and organized a small performing company called Aboutdance. They performed at the Inside/Out Space at Jacob's Pillow, the March Hare Festival at Simon's Rock College, and other civic functions in the community. She has also taught at Kevin Allen Dance Camp in Vermont, and ran a dance workshop for advanced dancers at Boston College.

"My job is to help people to love their bodies for what they are, and express their inner selves through movement, which is basically what dance is all about." she says. "Dance is very cathartic and soulful; but you have to have patience and learn the basics first in order to be able to reach the point where you can feel these qualities."

She will be teaching teen/adult classes at the Emerson Umbrella in the fall. You can also reach her via email at sml1967red@aol.com.