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
Terry Lacy's classroom doesn't have books, overhead projector screens, whiteboards filled with notes or desks for students to take a seat. Instead, a smooth, black floor and walls covered by mirrors enclose the entire space. His students don't sit; they stand. When he pushes play, they dance.
At five feet 10 inches tall, Lacy carries an impressive frame of wiry muscle which flexes and twists with every precise movement he makes. Lacy, who started dancing three decades ago at the age of 19, claims his days on stage are numbered.
After taking his final bow at his last performance in New York City, which ran through the third week of April, Lacy returned to Maine. He concluded his performance career at the State Theater in Lincoln Center for a NYC Opera production of Leonard Bernstine's "Candide."
Though a seasoned performer, Lacy has looked forward to his final days on stage for quite some time.
"I'm actually not sad to see it go. I've been trying to stop for such a long, long, long time, and it's hard to turn the money down. I don't really enjoy performing, and it's unfortunate to say, but it's about the money and being in New York."
Because the opera, which is a spin on the original work by Voltaire, focuses more on the singers than the dancers, Lacy said he enjoys performing this piece more than other productions. With less spotlight on him, he said he feels more at ease on stage as he portrays smaller roles.
"They are shorter on dancers because it is an opera company," Lacy said. "I may come out as a Spaniard in one scene and an Italian villager in another. Last time, I played the rear end of a horse."
During his absence, Lacy's classes were substituted by friends in the dance community. One of his most popular classes, advanced jazz, was taught by his former student Stevie Dunham, a 23-year-old graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University.
"I've been taking class with him at Robinson Ballet since I was eight. He's been dancing with the Opera forever, so when I was a junior and senior in high school, I started to run rehearsals for his pieces when he would go to New York," Dunham said. "Now that I'm back in Maine for good, he thought it would be a natural thing for me to pick up his classes again."
At five feet 10 inches tall, Lacy carries an impressive frame of wiry muscle which flexes and twists with every precise movement he makes. Lacy, who started dancing three decades ago at the age of 19, claims his days on stage are numbered.
After taking his final bow at his last performance in New York City, which ran through the third week of April, Lacy returned to Maine. He concluded his performance career at the State Theater in Lincoln Center for a NYC Opera production of Leonard Bernstine's "Candide."
Though a seasoned performer, Lacy has looked forward to his final days on stage for quite some time.
"I'm actually not sad to see it go. I've been trying to stop for such a long, long, long time, and it's hard to turn the money down. I don't really enjoy performing, and it's unfortunate to say, but it's about the money and being in New York."
Because the opera, which is a spin on the original work by Voltaire, focuses more on the singers than the dancers, Lacy said he enjoys performing this piece more than other productions. With less spotlight on him, he said he feels more at ease on stage as he portrays smaller roles.
"They are shorter on dancers because it is an opera company," Lacy said. "I may come out as a Spaniard in one scene and an Italian villager in another. Last time, I played the rear end of a horse."
During his absence, Lacy's classes were substituted by friends in the dance community. One of his most popular classes, advanced jazz, was taught by his former student Stevie Dunham, a 23-year-old graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University.
"I've been taking class with him at Robinson Ballet since I was eight. He's been dancing with the Opera forever, so when I was a junior and senior in high school, I started to run rehearsals for his pieces when he would go to New York," Dunham said. "Now that I'm back in Maine for good, he thought it would be a natural thing for me to pick up his classes again."
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