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Summertime in the BelgradesContentsfor Printing Article Summaries |
Alphonse Poulin: International Dance Legend, Loyal Belgrader
What does a native son say who understands nine languages and speaks five fluently, who has taught and choreographed and danced all over the world, who knows glamour and applause and the elite side of society, who teaches at one of the best schools in the world — and who returns for the month of August to "my little piece of heaven?" "I'd like people to know that despite my highly successful career I never forget who I am, what I am, where I come from," explains Alphonse (Alphy) Poulin. "Therefore I can come back." Where he comes back to is Belgrade and the Belgrade Lakes, his close-knit siblings of whom he was the eleventh of fourteen, and his Augusta upbringing, where he attended St. Augustine's Catholic School and Cony High. Where he comes back to is a place he loves, and it's the place that was formative to his life of success. "I survived those nuns," Poulin recalls, "but they prepared me for life. Discipline, hard work, rigor Beginning at age six Poulin started dance classes under Augusta teacher Devina Mudge. When he was in high school he got an audition and scholarship with the Boston Ballet. His international career began with the Municipal Theater Ballet in Brazil. "It was beautiful, incredible," he says of living in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo for three years. Already bilingual in French and English, he learned Portuguese From Brazil, Poulin moved on to Portugal where he learned a new dialect of Portuguese, and to Germany where he worked in Munich and Berlin and immersed himself in German. His final international base was Geneva, Switzerland for twenty years, the last six as a freelance ballet master, before moving to New York City in 2000 to teach at the Juilliard School. Many moves, much travel, dancer, teacher, choreographer — how does it all add up? According to The Juilliard Journal, Poulin has choreographed 33 opera productions for 16 opera houses throughout the United States and Europe, and continues to work as guest ballet master for Nederlands Dans Theater, Batsheva Dance Company, National Ballet of Madrid, Boston Ballet — among other companies. "There are wonderful aspects of the whole profession," states Poulin. "Performing was a wonderful, exhilarating experience. Freelance was wonderful, but stressful. I get so much pleasure teaching, and watching my dancers grow." Does he have any plans? "I always think of plans as dreams," says Poulin. "I plan to continue forming great American dancers." Today, Poulin does just that, teaching dance nine months a year at Juilliard, teaching in Europe during June and July, and relaxing in Belgrade in August. | ||
