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Dancing
in the Water
Course Offers students Freedom of Expression Through Creativity |
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story by Elizabeth Watts '00
Mindy Abshire, a beginning swimmer, is deaf.
But, the sophomore education major from Lexington was determined to enroll in
an aquatic art class for the January Short Term, despite the fact that special
swimming skills and performing to music were required.
That's where Melissa Hines was of help. She learned sufficient sign language
from Mindy so they could communicate in the water. Using visual cues, they then
developed a four-minute routine for three public performances that concluded
the class.
Mindy and Melissa, a senior biology major from Stearns, were among 30 students
in the Aquatic Art Theory and Practice class taught by Dr. Bill Best, '59 professor
of physical education and health. Less than one-third of the students were experienced
swimmers and none had any prior aquatic art experience.
"The class challenges me to use what talents the students have while allowing
them to do what they can do best," the Berea professor noted. "I only facilitate
the development of the students and help them discover their own road maps, while
not being the cabby who drives them."
Aquatic art, Best explained, is the artistic side of swimming and has considerably
more freedom in terms of choreography than does synchronized swimming.
"Dancing in the water allows more variety in performance than any other form
of dance," he said. "For most dancing, you simply have a dance floor, but, in
aquatic art, you have the water with its different depths, plus a diving board
and the deck."
There are more than 100 aquatic art techniques, or dance movements, that students
in the class can learn. Best also provides them a skill basis from which they
can develop their own routines.
"I have two options as a choreographer," Best said. "I can have in mind what
I want to be accomplished in the program and in individual routines and dictate
that to the students. But I prefer to let the students be creative with their
own routines while I weave them into a coherent program."
Best's own interest in aquatic art began with former Athletic Director and Coach
O.H. Gunkler, who started the aquacade program at Berea in 1947. Best performed
in Gunkler aquacades in 1957, '58, and '59. Each aquacade carried a musical show
theme such as "My Fair Lady" and "Oklahoma."
After completing graduate studies in physical education and modern dance at the
University of Tennessee, Best returned to Berea in 1962 as the director of the
Alumni Building and began coaching the swim team. He became director of the Project
Torchlight and later served as the director of Upward Bound. It was through that
program, he started teaching aquatic art, which he also had learned at UT.
In 1987, Best began teaching aquatic art as a college class. Since then, he has
offered it as a short term class every other year.
Best's program differs from that of Gunkler in that Gunkler's aquacade was more
athletic, in time to the music, and more like synchronized swimming. Best's aquatic
art shows incorporate the same movements, but are more artistic, not as athletically
demanding and allow more freedom for creativity.
Best claims that the basic limitations of students in his class are self-imposed
and opening themselves up to their potential allows them to learn much faster
and become more polished.
There is a certain attraction that the class has on both experienced and inexperienced
swimmers. Joy Rasmussen, a junior art major and member of the swim team from
Glenwood Springs, Colo., who took the class as a freshman, remembers she enrolled
because she "knew it was going to be something different than learning from a
book - a fun experience while learning a skill of expression."
Another student, Marsha Reeves, a sophomore sociology major from Bridgman, Mich.,
grew up on a resort near Lake Michigan, where she spent most of her time in the
pools. She has been lifeguarding and giving swim lessons since she was 15.
"I wanted to take the class because I've participated in every other aquatic
activity, and this is one I haven't done," said Reeves. "In this class, you're
learning how to play in the water, like a little kid."
Lee Winkle, a Persian Gulf War veteran, was drawn to the class because he could
see he would be able to create his own routine and "control its creativity." He
also was looking for an alternative to an overwhelming classroom environment.
A freshman art major from Irvine, Winkle was one of the many beginning swimmers
in the class. He said he was not intimidated or nervous as he was able "to start
out on the ground floor, learn all the information and not miss out on any part
of the experience."
The show at the end of the class concluded with a "floating routine" in which
most of the 24 performers floated on their backs while the others guided them.
A United States flag, made up of all 30 students, closed the performance.
The routines in between included one to Tibetan music, choreographed by Kalsang
Yangzom, a sophomore business major from Tibet, and a romantic routine entitled "For
the Love of a Princess," which was performed by married students Kassandra and
Scott Hewitt, sophomores from Brownsville. The performers in "Gone Fishin" simulated
fish as they swam downstream to "Sweet Home Alabama." In all, the show consisted
of 16 routines.
"Many of us came into the class as very awkward swimmers, but now we can see
that it was really worth it and we enjoyed it," Winkle said. "There was a mind
and body connection and awareness that is being lost. Learning how your body
will function in the water makes you much more aware of body coordination."
Best considers the month a positive experience.
"I want students to have learned something they can take away and teach to others
some day," he said.
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