A Kiwanis scholarship to study the violin at Interlochen's National Music Camp in the 1960s is what set Peter Sparling on the path to becoming an internationally recognized dancer, choreographer and video artist.
He originally came to Interlochen to study music, but he stumbled into dance almost by accident.
"When I arrived at the Interlochen Arts Academy in the fall of 1966," he said, "I was told I could take 'Introduction to Dance' class to get out of phys ed."
That class was transformative for him, and it started him on the path to studying dance professionally.
"The idea of creating architecture with moving bodies - without having to tuck a violin under my chin - was so liberating," he said.
He would go on to study dance at Juilliard, dance with the José Limón and Martha Graham Dance companies and direct his own dance company. He's now Professor Emeritus of Dance at the University of Michigan.
Early in the pandemic, Sparling presented "A Month of Goldbergs" online.
Each day, he danced to one movement from Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations, specifically the 1955 recording by Canadian pianist Glenn Gould.
In an upcoming collaboration with the Crooked Tree Arts Center School of Ballet, Sparling chose seven of the original 32 movements for the school's young dancers to learn. This collection is called "The Goldberg Suite" and will be presented November 14.
Because he only improvises and doesn't notate or otherwise record his choreography, the CTAC students had only his videos as a point of reference to learn the choreography.
"It was so fascinating to watch the dancers show me their interpretations of what I had improvised," he says. "It's always a terrifying moment, but full of joy and curiosity."
Crooked Tree Arts Center's School of Ballet will present "The Goldberg Suite" in their performance at 6 p.m. on Sunday, November 14 at the Harbor Springs Performing Arts Center. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.
