MIA CIECHALSKI
Staff Writer
Amidst the closed-offness that lingers from what seems like never-ending Fredonia snowstorms, it is rare to see anyone, professor or student alike, become excited by the return to a perpetually snowy Fredonia.
New adjunct professor Natasha McCandless appears to challenge this assumption.
McCandless has recently joined the dance department as an adjunct professor and the Fredonia Dance Ensemble (FDE) as a guest choreographer.
McCandless is originally from Pennsylvania and spent her undergraduate career at Penn State University, where she double-majored in dance and education.
During her time at Penn State, she was a part of their School of Theater and was involved with some productions as an assistant choreographer.
After graduating, she moved to New York City for a few years. However, she always knew that she wanted to go to grad school.
She decided she wanted to go back to school to achieve her master’s degree in dance around the same time that COVID-19 started happening.
McCandless recently graduated from the University of Buffalo (UB) in May of last year, and this is her first year as an adjunct.
She currently teaches Tap Dance I and is creating a new piece for the dance department’s mainstage show, FDE, here at Fredonia.
When she isn’t teaching at Fredonia, she teaches jazz technique classes at Niagara University and also teaches an online class for the Boston Conservatory.
“It’s exciting getting to do a lot of new things, and expand my repertoire,” said McCandless.
McCandless started dancing when she was seven years old and decided dance was for her after her grandma took her to see a production of “The Nutcracker.”
“I loved it and wanted to be up there on stage, and I knew that I really wanted to dance and it just spoke to me,” she said.
McCandless’ favorite genres to teach are jazz and tap because that’s where she decided to position her specialty and really focused on growing her teaching. “I love both of those genres [because they] are so musical, focused on rhythms,” she said. She also thinks the historical and cultural context of those two genres are really important and interesting to talk about as well.
The one thing McCandless loves the most about being able to teach dance is being a part of a legacy.
Photo via natashamccandless.com.
“I think being part of a legacy of all of these wonderful experiences that I’ve had with different teachers and choreographers I love … feels really important and exciting to me,” she said.
She also enjoys musical theater and when she isn’t teaching, she performs in some local shows in Buffalo, New York.
McCandless just performed in “The Prom” this past fall with the theater company MusicalFare.
One of the things that she’s most excited about in regards to teaching at Fredonia is getting to know all of the students here and creating her new piece for FDE.
McCandless shared some information on what to expect with her FDE piece; she plans on making a contemporary jazz genre piece.
“I’m really excited to focus on some of the aspects of musicality and highlight some storytelling elements, and highlighting a sense of community between the group of dancers across the course of this piece as well,” she said.
The theme of her piece is waiting for good news and trusting the process that good news will eventually come, even if we can be impatient about it.
Fredonia Dance Ensemble will be performing May 1 through May 3 of this year, which is when you will be able to see McCandless’ piece live, along with many other pieces as well.
McCandless is very excited to have this pedagogical opportunity and can’t wait to see how this semester goes.