Australian festival to spotlight area dance instructor
Betsy Shuttleworth works on a variety of contortions with her students at her studio in Canonsburg. Here, Zoe Corbin, 9, Carrie Proudfit, 8, and Kamayra Churney, 7, form a pyramid as others students watch.
Alexa Siksa, 12, gets help from Betsy Shuttleworth with a stretch.
Betsy Shuttleworth assists Marissa Sprouse, 10.
Abby Richert stretches.
A local dance instructor has been honored with an invitation to teach at this month’s Australian Contortion Festival.
Betsy Wray Shuttleworth, owner and director of Dance Extensions Performing Arts Center in Canonsburg, will teach intermediate and advanced levels of contortion at the festival Sept. 27-30 in Penrith. The festival includes three days of workshops and private lessons with a finale of showcase performances.
Contortion is a physical art form involving dramatic bending, flexing and control of the human body. While Shuttleworth has been dancing since age 9, her interest in contortion led her to do her own research and study so she could offer classes and ensure it would be taught safely. She has taught contortion since 2001.
Once a staple of the circus, today’s contortionists have garnered more interest with Cirque du Soleil shows and acts on “America’s Got Talent.” Shuttleworth’s students have appeared on morning talk shows and been filmed for commercials. Among her students is one who was hired by Cirque Productions and the Seyranyan Family Circus. Alexis Gleason, who is studying dance at Point Park College, was featured in a 2012 Nike commercial.
Each year, Shuttleworth and her students participate in the International Contortion Convention, where her students can train with instructors for Cirque du Soleil.
At the 2011 ICC in Las Vegas, Shuttleworth met Andrew McQueen, the man responsible for inviting her to Australia.
In an email, McQueen explained he was impressed with her students’ level of performance and skill. Having wanted to have an international guest teacher or performer at the Australian festival for some time, he was pleased when Shuttleworth agreed to participate.
“This is the first time, as far as I know, that an international contortion trainer of Betsy’s calibre has visited Australia to teach at a festival,” McQueen wrote.
A dance graduate of Point Park College, Shuttleworth opened her first dance studio in Washington in 1996. She and co-director Dawn Bercini Churney now teach ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, lyrical and contemporary dance, as well as tumbling and conditioning. They also incorporate Pilates in their training.
Shuttleworth offers contortion classes on a variety of competitive and recreational levels and has between 50 to 60 students. Her youngest students start at the age of 4 or 5 with the oldest in high school.
Her classes start with 25 to 30 minutes of warm up, very important in contortion to avoid injuries. Students progress to movements called cobra, roundabouts and bridge, and work up to poses with names like teapot stretch, double mermaid, kinks and trios.
Even though they are very flexible, occasionally there is a pose that troubles students.
“All their bodies are different,” said Shuttleworth.
One benefit to contortion lessons is the confidence and self-esteem students gain, Shuttleworth said. As an example, Shuttleworth pointed to one particularly chatty and vivacious girl in her class and said when the girl first came to DEPAC she was timid and shy.
Shuttleworth said contortion allows students to to stand out.
“They posses this talent that no one else has,” she said.