Dancers step up in Joffrey workshop

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Scott Fox, with Joffrey
Ballet, gives local dancers instruction at Julie’s Dance Studio in Bowling Green. (Photos: J.D.
Pooley/Sentinel-Tribune)

Scott Fox is putting the dancers at Julie’s Dance in the Woodland Mall through their paces.
The teacher at Joffrey Ballet School in New York City was teaching new steps and moves, and the studio’s
owner Julie Setzer, who was looking on, couldn’t be happier.
Watching her students Tuesday, she was already thinking about how to incorporate what they were learning
into her choreography.
Setzer recalled she had received notification from the Joffrey Ballet telling her Fox was available to
present a workshop.
"I couldn’t get to the phone fast enough," she said. When an internationally renown dance
company like Joffrey calls, "I’m going to jump on that." She wants her dancers exposed to the
same training provided to those dancers.
Now about 20 local dancers, between 12 and 17, step and turn to piano versions of Adele tunes, under
Fox’s guidance.
At the Joffrey School, Fox, 41, works with trainees in jazz and contemporary dance. A veteran dancer, his
passion is now for teaching, he said.
A native of Roanoke, Virginia, he was inspired to pursue dance when at age 9 he saw Christopher Gattelli,
now Tony-winning choreographer, dance on "Star Search."
"That’s what I wanted to do," he said.

Scott Fox, with Joffrey
Ballet, gives local dancers instruction at Julie’s Dance Studio in Bowling Green.

His mother agreed to let him give it a try if it would make him happy.
Being a boy in dance did set him apart somewhat, and when it came to donning tights, he balked. But his
mother said that if he was going to dance, he had to be committed to it, and that included wearing
tights.
Fox had success early and toured Eastern Europe for five months as part of the youth troupe Peace Child.
He spent two years at the Interlochen Arts Academy, where he was the first non-white dancer to portray
Fritz in "The Nutcracker." He returned to study the Virginia School for the Arts before
attending college at North Carolina School for the Arts.
He’s been teaching for Joffrey for two years. As a professional training program, he said, students will
have multiple lessons a day.
His workshop in Bowling Green is part of a new Joffrey program to send its teachers out. He taught in
Cleveland earlier in the week.
Fox said he enjoys working with students from different schools. He finds new approaches and sees
"new mistakes."
"It’s collaboration of teachers where one teacher will miss something, and another teacher will
catch it," he said.
The attitude of local students was "excellent."
For those wanting to continue in dance, Fox said, the key is to stay focused on their goal. "Never
lose the hunger for it."

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