Paula Hunter teaches a new way to dance

Paula Hunter is the artistic director and founder of Jump! Visit jumpdancecompany.org for performance details on this youth dance company. At Jump!, young local artists create and perform original choreography. photo by Agapao Productions photo by Agapao Productions.

Growing up in the 60's, Paula Hunter enjoyed physical activity, but at that time there were few opportunities for girls to be involved in sports. Dance was a natural outlet for her. She was physical with a creative orientation.

She received a MSA in dance from the University of Michigan. Hunter has performed in New York and Rhode Island as a solo artist.

Her style is dancing memoirist. "In my own work I tell stories of my life. I dance them as I am talking them. I blend autobiography with a very idiosyncratic movement style," Hunter says.

She reflects on the mother of modern dance, Isadora Duncan. "I feel like I model myself totally like her. She is amazing . . . The difference, she was free form. She was really pioneering a break with ballet. I am very ballet based. I think we both think of dance as a way of expressing emotion," Hunter says.

As a college dance teacher, her students came with a limited vision of dance. Hunter wanted them to think of their medium the way an artist sees a drawing, more expressive. Realizing to break the mold of a teacher creating the choreography and her students performing the work at a recital, she needed to start with younger students.

Jump! was born out of that. Currently there are 20 students ranging in age from 8 to 18. Hunter expects dedication, discipline and commitment from them.

She says, "I feel like I am training them to be very strong clean dancers with a creative bent. I just love that . . . I think I am at the forefront of making young people and audiences think of dance in a much deeper way."

- Lisa Piscatelli, She Shines staff