Last night I watched several talented dancers perform an array of work including a Latin number, an upbeat swing piece—choreographed by our former DT cover subjects Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin, and a restaging of Jose Limon’s There Is A Time. Pretty impressive stuff, right? What’s more impressive is that this group consists of only high school students.
    Gestures Dance Ensemble, currently celebrating their 20th year, is the pre-professional dance company of The Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts based in Harlem, New York. And leading these talented dancers is Nina Klyvert-Lawson, who, in between numbers, was praised repeatedly for her hard work and dedication by several faculty members. The group also recieved an official letter from New York’s Governor David Paterson, congratulating Klyvert-Lawson and the company on 20 years of enriching New York’s culture.
    Darrel Grand Moultrie, an alumni of Gestures and current cast member of Broadway’s Billy Elliot, spoke about how the conservatory was like home to him, not just an after-school program. He also thanked Klyvert-Lawson for broadening students’ scopes to beyond the inner city.
    Not to worry if you think you missed out—Gestures will return to the Joan Weill Center for Dance in New York on Friday and Saturday to perform again. For more information:
http://www.harborconservatory.org/d_gestures.html#