Fourteen years after its creation, WHS art teacher Rich Kim is stepping down from his position as director of Dance Company following his new role as adjunct professor at Montserrat Art College.

“If I have to commit to something, I have to be able to do it fully; otherwise, the stress takes over and negatively affects other people,” Kim said. “I want to be able to focus on this new opportunity without having the Dance Company suffer because of my lack of commitment. I’m very excited for this future opportunity I have, but at the same time, I’m going to miss Dance Company tremendously.”

For Kim, dance has always played an integral role in his life: at age five, he began dancing at Dance Stop studio in New Jersey. Unlike most dancers, however, he did not start by learning jazz and tap, but rather modern dances. This type of dance helped build the foundation of what would become the unique, modern style of Dance Company.

“My teacher was very progressive and at the pulse of modern dance, so from a very young age, I was doing very weird, modern dances all about exploring what you could do with dance instead of traditional norms,” Kim said.

When Kim began teaching at WHS 15 years ago, he did not initially intend to start Dance Company; however, when his students suggested it to him, he created it a year later.

“My first year, a lot of the art projects had to do with narrative and telling your personal story, so a lot of times I would share my stories in my classroom, and obviously dance always came up because it’s a big part of my life,” Kim said. “A lot of the girls said that they danced too and suggested that we have a dance group.”

Since Dance Company’s creation, Kim continues to believe the most important thing the dancers can take away is confidence, especially in their adult years.

“It’s really easy to become an adult that feels like you get lost in the crowd because there are so many people with so many creative talents, so many people who are just naturally smart, so many people who work hard,” Kim said. “The most important thing I want to give the members is confidence so they can say, ‘I matter, I count, and I can do whatever’s put on my plate.’”

According to Kim’s dancers, his mission throughout the years has proven to be successful: current senior captain Erin Parquette believes the biggest thing she has learned from Kim is a sense of confidence.

“[Kim] has instilled so much confidence in me over the years, and no matter how much I doubt myself or think I look terrible, he reminds us to stop caring about what other people think of me, and I genuinely do,” Parquette said.

Furthermore, former captain Amber Walsh notes that Kim contributed to her decision to become a middle school teacher in Dorchester where she now runs a modern dance club. At the club, she even uses warm-ups she learned from Dance Company.

“Risk-taking and speaking your truth are lessons [Kim] taught me, which have significantly impacted and improved my life and hopefully my own impact as a teacher,” Walsh said. “The spirit of performance is still very much alive in me. I very much try to pass that spirit on to the young people I work with every day: be yourself, be flamboyant, be absurd, be free.”

Despite Dance Company having between 30-40 members, Kim still focuses on each individual dancer and dedicates the time towards forming a relationship with them, according to former captain Caroline Falvey.

“He recognized when someone was struggling and helped them to become their best. He did what he could to reward and recognize the person, making everyone, regardless of skill level, feel equally important within the company,” Falvey said. “Since leaving the WHS Dance Company and joining my college’s dance company, I have been able to appreciate [Kim’s] leadership even more.”

Former captain Molly Rockwood also was inspired to continue pursuing dance at Bard College due to her four years in Dance Company.

“In Dance Co, you are very much responsible for yourself: if you want to improve on your technique or your execution of a specific phrase, you have to put in the hours to practice. This structure of self motivated practice with the help of others really taught me about work ethic and showed me how much I really love dance,” Rockwood said. “Spending four years with this company made me realize that I want to continuing dancing in college because I could not imagine a life without dance.”

Though members like Rockwood and Falvey were experienced dancers when starting high school, some members started dancing through Dance Company. Former captain Matt Moriarty started his dance career in high school, which he has continued at Skidmore College.

“I joined Dance Company simply to learn how to dance; it was a readily available program through the school that provided opportunity without necessarily having to have experience,” Moriarty said. “Aside from instilling a basis of dance technique in me, Dance Company taught me to have confidence in my artistic decisions, as well as to be proactive, to be accountable, and how to be self-aware.”

This year, with the show entitled “Relentless,” Kim hopes that the members enjoy performing as much as he enjoys watching them.

We don’t go to competitions, we don’t have trophies, we don’t have a national ranking. There really is no reason for these dancers to commit this much and to work this hard, and they deserve to feel that payoff on the stage,” Kim said.

Like with previous years, Kim values the connection between music and visual elements in the dancers’ performances, even with songs he does not like, because he is focused on creating pieces that will resonate with anyone.

“It’s my job to make a visual to musical connection and to make the audience feel like they’re not in an auditorium anymore,” Kim said. “I’ve just been trying to find something that will appease any age group, any person, any kind of interest, so that whoever does come to the show, at least one piece will connect with them, and they can feel inspired leaving that auditorium.”

The sources of inspiration for this year’s dances range from tackling social issues to reflecting personal times of vulnerability from Kim’s life. One dance, entitled “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” deals with phone usage, where the dancers stare at their phones throughout the entire dance.

After this year’s show, Kim notes that he will miss the relationship he has with the Dance Company members.

“The members are so mature that I can go from screaming and yelling and drilling them, and then two seconds later, we’ll be dying on the floor laughing at a joke for about five minutes straight, and I think it takes a lot of maturity to know when it’s time to work and when it’s time to joke,” Kim said.

Though Kim is committed to Dance Company during the school week, his dance career does not stop there: he works with the Metropolitan Opera House who has American Ballet Theater dancers, where he occasionally works as a ballet master on the weekends. Furthermore, he works with the St. Antonio Ballet and the St. Louis Ballet, where he comes up with dances and helps them rehearse but not as often as he works with Walpole Dance Company.

“Monday to Friday I go to school, and then Friday, I’m either flying or driving and teaching Friday night, all day Saturday, all day Sunday, and then fly back Sunday night,” Kim said.

Following Kim’s departure, assistant directors and WHS alumni Laura Barajas and Alyssa Tempesta will take over as directors.

“We want to continue to uphold the legacy that [Kim] built,” Barajas said. “We want to make sure that the students not only become better dancers and put on a great show, but that they also develop a strong work ethic, allow themselves to explore and be creative, and gain confidence in themselves.”

“Relentless” takes place on March 29 and 30 at 7:30 p.m. Senior captains Parquette and Katerina Konstas look forward to the feeling they get when first stepping on the stage.

“I’m in the first dance, so honestly I can’t wait for the curtains to open and the lights to go up and have everything we’ve worked so hard for become real,” Parquette said. “It’s like as soon as the audience becomes quiet, adrenaline hits me, and it’s the most amazing, terrifying feeling.”