Just past the coffee cart by Skyline’s main theatre, there’s a dimly lit office inhabited by hundreds of beautiful costumes and an array of floating inspirational energy. The room is where dancer Diana Cushway spends her time planning out the annual dance concert, encouraging student after student to go for what they want, and having fun doing it.
Today, Cushway is a bit tired, but running around nonetheless. The last dance concert she’ll ever play a hand in has passed, allowing her nearly a month before early retirement settles. And the consensus of her colleagues, students, and even close friends is one in the same; she will be sincerely missed.
Cushway, who has been with Skyline College for 17 years (or 144 dog years, as she puts it) has decided to partake in an early retirement to focus on her creativity as an artist. With a number of other art organizations contacting her after hearing about her free time, Cushway is unsure of her upcoming months.
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do,” Cushway says, “There are a lot of different directions. I want to just take some time, really, to rest and recoup before I make any decisions.”
Physical Education Dean, Andreas Wolf has worked alongside Cushway for 15 years. When she first began as a part timer, he says, dance was hardly an established class here at Skyline. Not long after, the school was provided with a variety of creative, modern, and multi -cultural dance classes, thanks to Ms. Cushway. He explains how, in her opening the doors to a new experience, Cushway also put a whole new light on the culture as a school.
“I think she’s brought a certain cultural component, or an awareness of the diversity and the culture that we embrace here at the college,” Wolf says, “It’s pretty much what the college embraces and what the college is all about.”
Upon arrival, the physical education division really did consist mainly of sports and jocks. As a modern dancer herself, Cushway wanted to install a bigger range of dance classes. After being shot down and pushed aside numerous times in attempts of reaching administration with ideas of an actual dance program, or at least different types of dance, she decided it was time to turn some heads.
Cushway trained her small handful of dancers to dance their souls out across hallways, desks, and countertops, recreating what could be a scene from a musical. The attention of administration, as well as passersby, was caught. Cushway got what she wanted, and a whole lot more. Over a decade later, she leaves with a legacy, and some tough steps to follow.
“I decided to get everyone’s attention,” Cushway says, “I performed a piece with my creative dance class in admissions and records at 8 O’clock in the morning called Ode to the Office Workers. We performed it on top of the counters and down the hallways.”
Badminton and volleyball coach Jan Fosberg had the pleasure of sharing an office with Cushway for roughly ten years. Fosberg and Cushway developed a good friendship over those years, and remain in the status to date.
“I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that Diana will be missed,” Fosberg says, “Hopefully whoever takes over the dance program can continue in her footsteps. She has built a very successful program and students have benefited from her knowledge and energy.”
It wasn’t until college that Cushway began to dance for pleasure. With two professional ballroom dancers for parents, she quickly learned how to dance, assisting them in teaching classes. The desire to dance was not present, simply because modern dance hadn’t been introduced to her yet. Once she tried her hand (or body for that matter) at modern dance, she learned that her creative side was starving, and it yearned to be fed.
Since finding her passion, she has studied and danced with companies in San Francisco. Her most influential teachers to date are Carla Maxwell of the Jose Limon Dance Company, and June Finch of the Viola Farber Dance Company. She has traveled to New York and Chicago to grow in practice, and teach creative movement and modern dance classes here and there.
Now, once again a self proclaimed starved artist, a planted legacy is just not enough for her soul. It is for that reason Cushway has decided to partially retire early. Next semester, she will return to teach aerobics in the mornings, but in her spare time, she plans on painting.
“I’m going to study the color red,” Cushway says, “I want to do a whole series of paintings in red.”
Cushway’s warmth and inspiration has touched the lives of many. Colleague, student, or even personal friend, Cushway has been there to support, and encourage in anything and in every way. In one case, a student even quit a dance company she was with, in order to follow her passion and dreams. When it comes to teaching dance, Cushway tackles a much different approach, explaining the importance of teaching with love.
“I’ve got a lot of broken dancers that come in here,” Cushway says, “There is a lot of poor teaching. Dance was not taught with love, it was taught with a whip… I will never treat a student like that.”
Erwin Javellana has assisted Cushway as artistic director for the dance concerts, as well as classes, for the past eight years, and now it’s time to part ways. Javellana expresses gratitude for everything Cushway has done.
“Without a doubt, she has been the backbone of the program,” Javellana says, “She’s been the heart and soul. No matter what any of us pulled off in the production crew. If she weren’t there, it would not have happened.”
It is now time for Cushway to get back to grading end of the year papers. But before she goes, she emphasizes on a word of advice.
“Don’t let anyone stop you,” Cushway says. “Go as far as you can. Take that chance. Jump off that cliff.”
by Shannon Elliott:
The air was filled with excitement and beautiful movements as dancers ran up and down the hallway preparing for the 20th Annual Skyline Dance Concert. The show featured many styles of dance, including ballet, interpretive, swing, tango and many more.
Some of the highlights were Vivaldi in 2:40, a complicated ballet piece choreographed by Diana Cushway. The performance of this dance was breathtaking and beautiful, as the performers leaped and bounded across the stage. Another truly stunning performance was Forest Dream, choreographed by Anamaria Dean. Taking place in a forest setting with brightly colored costumes, it gave the audience members a magical feeling.
Not only did Cushway’s students perform in the show, but they also choreographed some of the dances that were performed. For the Fun of It was a sweet piece performed by a group of young school-aged girls and choreographed by student Samantha Luster.
The Spring Dance Concert is a chance for students to strut their stuff and show off what they have learned over the course of the semester.
“This is my first performance,” said Guillermo Elias, who performed in the tango piece, choreographed by Gustavo Naviera and restaged by Ken Delmar. “I have never felt the butterflies before, so that was quite exciting for me.”
Naviera, who has been dancing for a year and spent months practicing for the tango piece, said that in his career as a dancer, he had never seen this kind of professionalism.
It’s a very difficult dance that helps develop your style as well as technique. The tango class had been working on the dance piece for the last six months and since then has made everyone better dancers, said Delmar when asked about why he chose the piece he did for the performance.
The dance concert is not only a chance for the dancers to practice their craft, but Skyline’s cosmetology department also gets to practice their skills as well. Skyline’s cosmetology department helps by doing the hair and make-up of the dancers.
“They get the opportunity to see their work on stage,”
said Skyline Cosmetology Instructor David Galang, when asked how the concert helps his students prepare for careers outside of Skyline. “When they are in school or in the salon they’re doing the work, but they don’t get to see it out in the real world. So being able to do the work then actually sit and see it on stage gives them a different perspective.”
Dance student Rolando Conde was one of the choreographers for the dance performance this year. His piece, Break Free, had a deep meaning for him about how he has grown as a person over the past year. Taking the stage with a black and white uni-tard silver box in hand, he began to perform a piece that told the story of how he has grown and escaped from his “box.”
“This year was inspired by me feeling trapped by society, feeling oppressed by the way people view me,” said Conde. “I feel like sometimes I am in a box and I want to get out of my box. But either my insecurities or other people’s insecurities keep me there. Somehow this semester I feel I have conquered a lot of my insecurities and that’s why I did the box piece.”
Overall, this year’s dance concert was moving and powerful because of the beautiful, exciting and meaningful dances, and all that lay in between. However, this year’s concert also brings about a time of change, as it was Diana Cushway’s last year putting on the show.
“The moment that stood out was when I was in the wings and I was watching the dancers one on one, like they where performing just for me,” said Cushway.
This year’s dance concert was one to be remembered. Cushway’s final thoughts on the show were, “I think it was a beautiful performance, good choreography, good variety and a good audience. It doesn’t get any better.”
Check out the dance concert’s slideshow on ONLINE EXCLUSIVES
