Rhythm and Logic

Billie Lepczyk inspires dancers and non-dancers alike at Virginia Tech

Flying home from Tampa, Billie Lepczyk ran into a former student from her creative dance class at Virginia Tech. He was traveling for his job with a computer company, but when he saw her he forgot all about business and exclaimed, “Your class was awesome!” Lepczyk happened to be traveling back from the National Dance Association conference, where her peers had expressed the same sentiment by honoring her as the NDA 2009 College/University National Dance Educator of the Year. Lepczyk’s unique brand of teaching is informed by her training and intelligence, but also her compassion and ability to make all students—whether planning on professional dance careers or going into computer science—feel equally involved and respected.

A love of logic
Lepczyk holds a doctorate and a master’s degree in dance education from Columbia University’s Teachers College, and Dance Notation Bureau Certifications as Professional Notator, Movement Analyst and Labanotation Teacher. She began studying dance as a child while living in Monterey, California, and Frankfurt, Germany, with her family, and she had a professional dance career in Europe before furthering her studies at Columbia.

From Lepczyk’s earliest interest in dance, her mother (who tirelessly encouraged all five of her children in their various pursuits) suggested she study Labanotation. “But like most dancers,” says Lepczyk, “I wanted to just move and dance. Then when I was getting my master’s, I went ahead and looked into it because the Dance Notation Bureau is right there in New York. I started studying the Labanotation, and it was really so helpful and so logical that I kept going. It opened my eyes as a choreographer, as a dancer, a teacher.”

In our digitized age, Lepczyk advocates for the continued usefulness of Labanotation, which preserves a dance’s pure existence as a series of notated movements without performance mistakes or interpretation. “It’s objective, in a way. Then you, with your dynamics as a performer, can color the movement,” she says. And, “as an educational tool, Labanotation really helps with movement perception.” She has taught courses in it at Virginia Tech, and regularly uses elements of Laban, such as floor plans, in her movement classes with both dancers and non-dancers.

Many paths to knowledge
At Virginia Tech, dance courses (there is no major, and a minor in dance was discontinued) occur within the School of Education’s Department of Learning Sciences and Technologies, in the Health Promotion program. Lepczyk teaches “Field Study” courses in dance and serves as the faculty advisor for VT’s Contemporary Dance Ensemble. But right now, in the absence of an official dance program, Lepczyk’s most popular class is Creative Dance, which is part of the university’s core curriculum. Students from any department can take the class, regardless of their dance experience.

Lepczyk loves working with such a range of students, from engineers to art majors. “It’s really wonderful because you get so many diverse ideas. We have non-trained dancers who are working alongside dancers who have 13 years of training. So it’s very interesting, the creative ideas they come up with. I keep mixing the group. I enjoy their ideas and their personalities.”

The class is divided into content sections such as space, shape, effort, etc., and each assignment culminates in dances made by the students in groups. Her students, says Lepczyk, “really get into it. This is one class where nobody misses. They learn teamwork and how to contribute, to share and how to be a good citizen. And also to appreciate and respect diversity and listen to people. And they usually say they gain more self-confidence through this class.”

Debra Knapp, who teaches at New Mexico State University, served on the NDA selection committee for Dance Educator of the Year. “One of the things that I really respect is her ability to come to the students and find their entry level to the work,” says Knapp. By watching and listening, Lepczyk “finds where they are, and then presents the material in such a way that they can access the work, no matter what their skill level.”

“As dance teachers we have all the vocabulary of the various styles at our disposal: ballet, modern, jazz,” Knapp explains. “What Billie has is the ability to enter the work from many different pathways because she’s so literate. She can talk anatomy and kinesiology to her students; she brings in the language of somatics and the Laban point of view.”

Knapp feels tremendous respect for Lepczyk’s unique contribution to the academic environment at Virginia Tech, and for her faith in her students’ understanding. “This is dance philosophy. This is very high-ordered thinking skills she’s preparing them for—problem-solving. A lot of the students she’s teaching are not pursuing dance as a career. Sometimes I feel that when we are teaching that type of student, we don’t go into the same depth as we would with someone who’s making it a career. Billie does. She wants them to find the meaning and purpose behind the movement.”

“She’s able to create an atmosphere where students can flourish,” says Knapp. In reviewing videos of Lepczyk’s teaching for the NDA award, Knapp says, “She wasn’t teaching to students. She was sharing the teaching process with her students. And she was learning as she was teaching. I think that is the gift of being a teacher—you’re teaching because you are a learner, and you’re a student. And these students in front of you are giving you the gift of allowing you to learn how to teach.”

Inspiration and mentor
Dancer Christine Stone Martin graduated from Virginia Tech in 1997 with a degree in English. At that time, a dance minor was in place. But when she first got to college, Martin had stopped dancing due to an injury in high school. She went to visit Lepczyk’s contemporary dance class and asked if she could observe, but Lepczyk, she says, “walked over to me and asked, ‘What do you have on under there?’ And I said, ‘A tank top and pants,’ or something. And she said, ‘Well, you might as well take the class, because there’s no point in watching.’ So I took the class, and that was it! I signed up, and she got me dancing again.”

Martin’s dance experience before college consisted mainly of ballet. For her, Lepczyk cracked open the wider world of dance and Martin’s own wellspring of creativity and expressiveness. “I would say that Billie’s just very inspiring. I came from a ballet background where I felt like I was supposed to look like everyone else. Billie really pushed us with technique, but she also pushed us with individual expression, which I never really had a chance to do when I was younger.”

“She’s really gifted at giving you the information and letting you run with it. She never stifled our creativity; she just had this way of getting under us and pushing us along and giving great feedback.” Martin went on to complete the dance minor, and to direct the Contemporary Dance Ensemble, under Lepczyk’s mentorship. “I learned a lot from her about how dance works,” she says. “It’s an artform, but it’s also a business, and she’s a smart woman.”

Eventually, Martin completed a master’s degree in performing arts at American University, and she now works for The Washington Ballet and dances for several Washington, DC–based modern choreographers. She cannot speak too highly of Lepczyk. “The impact that she had on my life is huge. I wouldn’t be here! I would not be working where I am. I would not be dancing. Nothing.”

“We carry it with us”
Lepczyk’s gift at pulling students together proved especially beneficial when tragedy struck the school. Like all at Virginia Tech, Lepczyk and her students were deeply affected by the April 2007 campus shooting tragedy when 32 students and faculty died. Lepczyk lost one student and another suffered traumatic wounds to the face. Though she prefers not to talk too much about the event itself, Lepczyk’s thoughts on the aftermath reveal even further the deep empathy that has colored her teaching and earned her such respect among students and colleagues.

“When that first happened, of course, it was just unbelievable, horrific, shocking,” she says. The students were given a choice to take their grade as it was at the time or they could complete the remaining few weeks of the semester as usual. Lepczyk’s classes opted to finish. “When we did meet,” she says, “we made circles and hugged each other, and we talked about it.”

The fall 2007 semester opened with a memorial service and dedication. Mental health counselors were available on campus along with increased security. Lepczyk’s voice fills with sorrow when she talks about returning to school that fall. “I think we were all very sensitive to it, and without even speaking about it, it was in our hearts. It was there, the presence,” she says. “I noticed on campus that everybody was much kinder to everyone. It’s still hard to believe that it could happen. It’s a very sensitive area, and it always will be. Yes, we’re moving forward but we carry it with us. It doesn’t mean that we can’t be happy, but it’s there.”

Despite such heaviness, despite such a tragic crack in her world and the world around her, Lepczyk’s joy in her teaching, in her students, appears undiminished. Within the huge, predominantly science- and business-focused Virginia Tech community, she serves as a healing, inspiring presence. “I think she’s so needed there,” says Knapp. “I think students really know that she’s passionate about what she does—that’s one of the things she’s trying to teach them. Not just to be passionate about dance, but to be a passionate human being, no matter what you do.” DT

Lea Marshall is producer/assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University’s department of dance and choreography, and executive director of Ground Zero Dance.

photo by David Hedges