Arts

Dance Board Co-Head: Alexa Goulas ’18

Slowly walking in a square formation surrounded by soft red lighting blanketing the stage, Alexa Goulas ’18 kicked her leg high above her head and pirouetted on her other foot to an easy, swinging melody in the background in her first show for Andover Dance Group (ADG) in her Junior year.

“I think my favorite memory is my first ADG show. There was a jazz piece with Ms. Strong, and I didn’t really understand before how appreciated the dance program was on campus until everyone was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I saw you in the show,’ or ‘You were so good in the show.’ Here, it doesn’t matter how well you dance. It matters if you cause someone to feel something while you’re dancing, and how people react to it,” said Goulas.

Through her performances at Andover, Goulas, previously a competitive dancer, found that the dance department completely transformed her approach to dance.

“I think that I’ve grown most in my mindset. I focus more on the movement and the purpose now and focus less on technique. I feel like I’ve become more of a storyteller than a performer and also a better choreographer,” said Goulas.

Goulas hopes to ensure that everyone coming into Andover’s dance program feels as accepted and loved as she did when she came to Andover as a Junior and give them more opportunities to try new things.

“As a Dance Board Co-Head, I definitely want everybody to feel that they’re dancing to their best ability and not feeling like they’re being challenged too hard. Also, I really want to create a community where if someone has an idea, they feel comfortable coming to me and I hope to encourage the adults in the dance community to bring more guest choreographers, even if it’s small local people, for more exposure,” said Goulas.

Looking forward, she is thrilled to be working with Annie McGovern ’18, her fellow co-head, to effect change next year.

“Annie and I have been dancing together for a while and this year we’ve had a lot more collaborative pieces and I think that we’re going to be able to get along really well. I think we are going to maintain a good balance of work and bounce ideas off of one another to make sure things get done,” said Goulas.