Today at Open Studio, the home of the Hannah Kahn Dance Company, Rob Kleinendorst of the Paul Taylor Dance Company taught a master class. The class was made possible by the Colorado Dance Alliance in cooperation with the Carson-Brierly Dance Library and the University of Denver Newman Center Presents Series.

Robert Kleinendorst is originally from Roseville, Minnesota. He graduated from Luther College in 1995 with a B.A. in voice and dance. After moving to New York, he danced with the Gail Gilbert Dance Ensemble, and Cortez & Co. Mr. Kleinendorst also performed with Anna Sokolow’s Players Projects at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Having studied at The Taylor School since 1996, he joined Taylor 2 in August 1998. Mr. Kleinendorst joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Fall 2000. (bio taken from www.ptdc.org)

Rob was warm and personable, a beautiful mover and a surprisingly good teacher.  It it true of any profession, those who are the most talented are not always the teachers with the most insight, but this was not the case with Rob. Class was not rushed, Rob connected with many of the dancers for individual corrections and we all got to really move through the space with a phrase taken from “Cloven Kingdom” (1976). Class was a great mix of intermediate and advanced dancers and all seemed happy at the end….after all, we spent the morning dancing!

You can see Rob and the entire Paul Taylor Dance Company perform tonight at the Newman Center, if you were lucky enough to get tickets!

photo: Theresa Anton, Susan Tracy, Rob Kleinendorst