Ms. Laurel Lynch coaches students through an exercise in ballet class.
Choate’s dance faculty welcomed a new dance teacher for the 2023-2024 academic year: Ms. Laurel Lynch, who will be teaching classes in Upper-Level Ballet and pointe.
Ms. Lynch grew up in Califonia, where she started dancing at three and performed in numerous ballet productions, including The Nutcracker and Don Quixote. Her studies in ballet and modern dance styles brought her to The Juilliard School in New York City, where, while completing her studies, she also completed a work-study job with the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG). Upon graduation, she traveled around the world with the group for 15 years, performing various forms of modern dance. Ms. Lynch also led modern master classes at universities around the country and taught company ballet classes at MMDG.
After leaving the MMDG, she moved to Connecticut and became a dance teacher to maintain her connection to the art form. “Teaching was the automatic next step,” Ms. Lynch said. “When you spend your whole life learning every day, you end up with a lot of information, so it’s nice to be able to share it.”
Ms. Lynch credited most of her knowledge and expertise to her mentor, Ms. Marjorie Mussman, who passed away in 2009. Her main focus this year is to teach her students how to move freely. She wants to help her dancers develop a strong foundation in ballet so they can “run wild and free with choreography,” she said. She hopes her class will keep their bodies healthy and allow them to continue their craft sustainably in the long run.
Ms. Lynch is very excited to work with Choate students this year, a group she has described as “professional, accountable, and enthusiastic about learning.” She added, “Choate is a warm and welcoming place, and it’s cool to see how many different styles of dancing there are here.”
