Big Apple for the teacher: Christine Colby-Jacques, winner of the 'Dance Magazine Appreciates Dance Teachers' essay contest, takes New York City by storm.

Christine Colby-Jacques, winner of the "Dance Magazine Appreciates Dance Teachers" essay contest, takes New York City by storm.

Christine Colby-Jacques experiences a pleasant shock when she steps out of the elevator into the lobby of Dance Magazine. "Oh my gosh, it's me!" she exclaims, pointing to the montage of action photos used as a wall poster for the television series Magic of Dance, hosted by Dame Margot Fonteyn. Sure enough, Christine is the leggy blonde in a vivid green leotard and high heels, representing jazz with a terrific high kick. She'd been a principal dancer in Bob Fosse's 1978 Dancin' (on Broadway at the time) and had already kicked her way through a stint with the Rockettes. The staff, assembled to meet the winner of the first "Dance Magazine Appreciates Dance Teachers" essay contest, was equally surprised and delighted to learn that she wasn't entirely a stranger.

Twenty years after that poster was made, Christine--jazz teacher, professional dancer, and guest artist at the State Ballet of Missouri, and a B.A. candidate at the University of Kansas--still has the same slim body and winning smile. But it was not her appearance nor her impressive resume (which includes the revival and national tour of Fosse's Sweet Charity, and the movies A Chorus Line and Annie) that won her the contest's "Wonderful Weekend of New York Dance" prize but her essay, which we run on page 52. She had succinctly and eloquently described the technique, style, and generosity of jazz maestro Luigi; his effect on her as a dancer; and how she passes his influence on to her students.

On this visit to New York City, Christine is able to take class with her former teacher at the Luigi Jazz Center on the Upper West Side. In the 1:00 P.M. advanced class, she works through floor exercises with an ease, fluidity, musicality, and elegance that draw appreciative attention from her fellow students. The class culminates, fittingly, with Christine and Luigi dancing his choreography to a Harry Connick Jr. recording of "It Had to Be You."

Over lunch at Santa Fe, a nearby restaurant, Christine and Luigi reminisce about their first meeting. "I was twenty-one," says Christine, "but I was about ten or eleven when my Cincinnati teacher, Jane Miles, started teaching us Luigi's technique. So my dream was to get to New York, and one of the reasons that I wanted to go was that I wanted to take Luigi's technique class from Luigi."

Luigi's face lights up at the memory: "I noticed her right away. I thought she was fantastic. She was the most beautiful thing you ever saw in your life. I've never seen anything like her onstage." It wasn't long before Luigi asked her to join his company. "It was such a joy for me to see her do my work. It was like, I've done it, I'm successful, look at her, look at that. That was very important to me, to see such a beautiful dancer in my work. And now she's carrying it on."

When asked specifically about how Luigi has influenced her teaching, Christine turns thoughtful: "I think that what I try to give my students from his work is the same quality and the same polish that a ballet dancer would have, but also a connection between what your body's doing and what you're feeling. I think Luigi really concentrates on making that connection, which I don't think ballet always integrates successfully. I've been able to use that approach, no matter whose choreography I'm doing."

Christine's prize also included a round-trip flight for her and her husband, Steven, on American Airlines; a Zena Rommett floor barre class at Broadway Dance Center; and tickets to Chicago and Eliot Feld's Ballet Tech. "Everyone should know how wonderful Eliot Feld's Ballet Tech is," she exclaims. "He's really assembled quite a group of dancers. They have technique, they have smooth partnering, and they related, they actually related to each other onstage. It was a joy.

"And Chicago was wonderful. Once you're a Fosse dancer, you're always one! As I was watching, I would feel myself move with the dancers--and I had to laugh, to think about how natural that way of moving is to me now. When I first started doing his work in Dancin' it was so foreign. It was wonderful to see people I worked with in Sweet Charity and Dancin', knowing that they're still working. They bring a certain flavor to the show that a cast of only young dancers couldn't. They were perfect!"

Although Christine is a guest artist with the State Ballet of Missouri--The Vamp in Todd Bolender's Souvenirs is one of her roles--she is thinking about putting together her own evening of dance for professional dancers who are over forty. Dance Magazine's coverage of this growing age group delights her: "Your coverage has given us a validity and elevated dancers over forty to normalcy. So we're not seen as oddities and it's not `Oh, how unusual, how rare.' It used to be like that, but now it's less so."

The visit to Dance Magazine to meet the staff is also a high point of the weekend. Of editor-in-chief Richard Philp, she says, "Richard was delightful. He's like a parent of dance, watching over all dancers. He has great respect and compassion for us; it's good to know the magazine is in this kind of hands. And to see all the steps involved in the writing, editing and production really put into context the choreography of putting out a magazine."

Asked what she'll take home with her, Christine says, after reflection, "I've been renewed, to some extent, and that renewal is something I'll bring back to my kids in class. I have a renewed sense that everything about Luigi's work is correct. And it's even more profound to me now than it was before."

RELATED ARTICLE: THE WINNING ESSAY

LUIGI: MY MOST INSPIRING TEACHER

Because great dance inspires, the great dance teachers are inspirational, and Luigi--for his style, his tenacity, and his triumph over adversity--has earned his place of honor in the pantheon of celebrated and revered teachers. His technique had been an integral part of my dance studies for several years before we finally met in 1974, when I began taking class with him in New York City. The story of his life, with its struggle and triumph, was also familiar. Nearly paralyzed in a car accident at the age of twenty-one, Luigi had overcome his injuries through sheer determination, mental discipline, and a belief in the healing powers of dance. In the process, he pioneered a technique uniquely his--dance, for him, was all about "moving from the inside."

The Luigi jazz technique incorporates ballet basics, such as plie, frappe, developpe, and battement. But his style is more than simply technique. It possesses an inner life, an eloquence, an elegance in every movement--all embodied, in class and onstage, by Luigi.

I have carded his technique with me throughout the years, and I have utilized it to wonderful effect. It has become for me, as it did for him, mental as well as physical therapy. It is not only a means of self-expression, it is a vehicle for healing; I have seen students with various physical disabilities make incredible progress with Luigi in private classes. I have used the Luigi technique in a variety of situations, teaching jazz and ballet to students ranging from beginners to advanced, among them actors, singers, and athletes; they tell me that Luigi's technique opens up channels of expression they have never experienced before.

It has helped me in performing other's choreography on Broadway and in motion pictures, industrial shows, and commercials. Every phase of Luigi's warm-up is exceptionally effective in building strength and developing a graceful, confident carriage. It is timeless, and its impact can be applied in many areas of physical endeavor.

Luigi commands the stage when he teaches, as well as when he performs, and I believe it is his "moving from the inside" that is the basis for his presence. He draws people to him, in teaching as well as in performance, and he stirs the passion for dance in his students and in his audience. I was always able to see that passion in the faces of his students, and feel that passion during every class.

As I matured as a dancer and as a person, I found that I was able to evolve and develop in my own way within Luigi's technique. Perhaps this is why he has such a huge appeal and has endured so long in the dance world; dancers do not have to forfeit their own instincts to accomplish Luigi's work. Through the years my students have found the same to be true. I have witnessed their growth within a context inspired, to a great extent, by the Luigi technique.

I will always be grateful to Luigi, not just for his technique but for his generosity as a teacher and as a human being. When he teaches, it is not just a lesson in dance--it is a lesson in life.

Christine-Colby-Jacques is a teacher at the State Ballet of Missouri, a professional dancer, and a B.A. candidate in dance at the University of Kansas.

Susan Elia is the promotion manager of Dance Magazine.