2008 Woodie Awards
Curtain Call: UMaine dance professor returns after final performance in NYC
Wild animals, shooting women out of cannons and yoga all on Terry Lacy's resume
Katee Stearns
Issue date: 4/28/08 Section: News
While Lacy has been teaching at the University of Maine for the past four years, dance has brought him all over the country.
He grew up in Arkansas, a place he was desperate to leave, and went to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas after high school.
"I started in the theater program and I realized I was just no good," Lacy said, laughing. "Then I took a dance class as a requirement and it was like a drug, I had to have it."
In college, he took up to five dance classes a day, which is the reason he notes college as one of the best times in his life.
The kick of endorphins dancing produced hooked Lacy on the art. Directly out of college, he began his career as a performer with companies like the Washington Ballet, Radio City Music Hall and the New York City Opera Company.
"I've been all over the map when it comes to work," Lacy said. "I broke in to show business by doing summer stock and theme parks. I started out at Six Flags in Texas as a senior dancer. Later I got a gig at Busch Gardens. I was also in a Mark Wilson magic show," which Lacy recalled as one of his more eccentric jobs.
"I shot a girl out of a cannon, made Shakespeare disappear inside a one-inch replica of the Globe Theater, shoved a girl through a pane of glass, and I even did the cliche sawed-a-girl-in-half trick."
Lacy has also danced with a crew of a different sort - wild animals.
"I was part of the Williamsburg Circus World in Orlando dancing with 17 elephants, 15 tigers, five horses and even a baby bear."
Lacy came to the state of Maine when he received an instructor's position at Thomas School of Dance in downtown Bangor, where he taught for seven years before switching to River City School of Dance.
"I love Maine," Lacy said. "I love the climate and the seasons - everything except the mud season. But the people are great, and everyone just lets everyone be who they are here." He also noted Maine was as different and as far from Arkansas as he has gotten.
He grew up in Arkansas, a place he was desperate to leave, and went to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas after high school.
"I started in the theater program and I realized I was just no good," Lacy said, laughing. "Then I took a dance class as a requirement and it was like a drug, I had to have it."
In college, he took up to five dance classes a day, which is the reason he notes college as one of the best times in his life.
The kick of endorphins dancing produced hooked Lacy on the art. Directly out of college, he began his career as a performer with companies like the Washington Ballet, Radio City Music Hall and the New York City Opera Company.
"I've been all over the map when it comes to work," Lacy said. "I broke in to show business by doing summer stock and theme parks. I started out at Six Flags in Texas as a senior dancer. Later I got a gig at Busch Gardens. I was also in a Mark Wilson magic show," which Lacy recalled as one of his more eccentric jobs.
"I shot a girl out of a cannon, made Shakespeare disappear inside a one-inch replica of the Globe Theater, shoved a girl through a pane of glass, and I even did the cliche sawed-a-girl-in-half trick."
Lacy has also danced with a crew of a different sort - wild animals.
"I was part of the Williamsburg Circus World in Orlando dancing with 17 elephants, 15 tigers, five horses and even a baby bear."
Lacy came to the state of Maine when he received an instructor's position at Thomas School of Dance in downtown Bangor, where he taught for seven years before switching to River City School of Dance.
"I love Maine," Lacy said. "I love the climate and the seasons - everything except the mud season. But the people are great, and everyone just lets everyone be who they are here." He also noted Maine was as different and as far from Arkansas as he has gotten.
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