Wednesday, March 17, 2004

The art of the dance

Tech student sisters excel at Irish step dancing

Brandy Slagle Valencia County News-Bulletin

BSLAGLE bslagle@news-bulletin.com

Like many college students, Kim and Jenny Coleman look forward to graduating this summer and gathering with friends to celebrate. The kind of celebration the Coleman sisters have in mind, however, might just set them apart.

"We really want a Kalee," said Kim, nearly bouncing on the family's sofa in Los Chavez, north of Belen. "A big one."

A Kalee, or Ceilidh, is not unlike a square dance, she said. There is a caller who informs the crowd of dancers which steps to perform. However, instead of executing an allemande left or right, the Coleman girls will reel and jig.

"We started doing this long before "Riverdance" came around," said Kim Coleman.

The girls, who attend New Mexico Tech in Socorro, started dancing when they were 5 and 6, after their mother, Barbara Coleman, had visited with a neighbor involved in Irish dancing and showed her some of the trophies and costumes from a recent competition.

The girls danced in Denver until the family moved to Ft. Wayne, Ind., three and a half hours outside Chicago.

"Our mother made that long drive to Chicago so we could go to class. She had more dedication than we did, I think," said Jenny Coleman.

When the family relocated again, this time to New Mexico, the girls briefly lost interest in the craft. When they saw the rising popularity of "Riverdance," both girls decided it was time to get involved in a class again.

"We advertised that we wanted to do a class from Santa Fe to Soccoro," said Jenny Coleman. "We started out with 40 students, and now we have 100."

The girls stood up as teacher's assistants before a class of beginning adult students when they were only 14 and 15.

"It's challenging to stand up in front of adults who think they know more than you do about most everything. There was a little conflict. It is also kind of hard when you have students the same age as you. You find that they don't want to listen," said Kim Coleman.

After six years of instruction, the girls say students have learned to listen.

"I counted our trophies the other day," said Kim. "We have about 70 trophies each and hundreds of medals."

"We went to championships in Europe three times," said Jenny.

Kim Coleman said the trips to Ireland were especially intimidating to participate with the natives.

"In Ireland, they dance for their PE classes growing up in school. We have teachers who come over and do a workshop that lasts five hours a day for four days straight. We do it every year to learn our new steps and really master them," she said.

The Coleman sisters said that when they first came to New Mexico, they worried there might not be many places for the Irish community to gather.

"There is actually a really strong Irish community out here. They sponsor the Celtic festival and a lot of other events. We thought we might be the only ones when we came out here, but there are a lot," said Jenny Coleman.

The Colemans say their involvement in dancing is really a family affair. Not only do both girls compete and perform, their parents spend countless hours detailing elaborate and intricate costumes. The knotwork patterns shine in silken threads on velvets and satin, frequently set off by miniature jewels.

"Our dad helps design the dresses. He chose a lot of the colors. Before he was a pastor, he was a civil engineer. So he helps scale the knotwork so it fits on a panel. It's harder than you think," said Jenny Coleman. "He even helped sew."

Kim Coleman said each dress takes about two months to sew and detail. The girls have about 10 in their closets from previous competitions.

"Really, our mother sewing our dresses became how we learned to cook because she would be working and we would go in and ask what we needed to be doing and then make dinner while they worked on our dresses," said Kim Coleman. "It's the only way anyone ate dinner in our home."

The sisters say Irish dance provides not only great exercise, but it improves memory skills; each girl has memorized approximately 100 dances.

"It's unusual," said Kim. "Not everyone does this. You get a lot of interesting reactions from people. The best part about Irish dancing, though, is performing. When you are on stage and the audience is watching, you feel like you are flying."

The Coleman sisters dance with the Lloyd Shaw Studio in Albuquerque. They will perform at the Albuquerque Convention Center on Wednesday at 5:40 p.m. during the Brother Mathias Irish feast.

For information on other upcoming performances, call Beth Meyer at (505) 896-2633. For information on joining the dance class — taught in Socorro and Albuquerque — call the Colemans at (505) 866-5867.

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