Jill S. Rucci is the Founder and Artistic Director of Eight & One Dance Company (“8&1”) in Dallas, Texas. Eight & One equals eight gifted dancers (one of whom is also the Rehearsal Director) and Jill S. Rucci, the Founder and Artistic Director of Eight & One Dance Company. It is a modern and jazz-based dance company that strives to bring a new beat to the Dallas Arts Community. Jill and the dancers work hard to entertain and inspire. Their mission is to dance, rehearse, work, perfect and entertain. They have a passion for the art of dance and strive to perform at their very best. Eight & One’s goals are to reach out to the community through their dancing, tell stories and touch lives.
This is not your typical dance studio for many reasons. They do not have a physical location or a set schedule. They like to keep their classes fresh by changing locations and bringing in some of Dallas/Fort Worth’s most innovative teachers and guest artists to their workshops and classes. All of their classes are taught by professional dancers and teachers. They also have a very serious pre-professional apprentice program. Dancers must audition to be accepted and are trained and inspired in a professional environment. Dancers actually study alongside professional dancers while attending 8&1 classes and rehearsals.
In trying to determine the proudest moment of her coaching career, Jill stated, “When you sincerely love what you do, all of your moments are proud. I am not sure I can pick one over the other. Overall, just making a difference in the dancer’s life – to see results and improvement in a student, or to give inspiration to my dancers . . . to see my company perform and lose my breath due to such amazing artistry. These are all the moments that inspire me and make me know I can make a difference.”
Jill feels the biggest mistake she sees dancers make is worrying about what others are doing and losing their artistic freedom in the process. So many times she sees dancers holding back while judging themselves and worrying what others are doing in class and what others will think. She believes dancers are sometimes scared to make mistakes and fall down. This will do nothing but limit their possibilities as a dancer and prevent them from ever soaring and reaching new heights. They will always remain “comfortably perfect.” She believes that is one of her main focuses as a teacher – to inspire dancers to work from within, be true to themselves, explore and push and not worry about the judgment of others. According to Jill, they need to fall down and make mistakes to grow. They should never be satisfied with where they are, but always strive to get better.
Although they are starting their fourth season, she has the same goals as she had when they first started. Basically, she wants to keep creating, keep training, keep pushing, keep inspiring. She loves what she does and she works hard to keep her teaching skills and productions fresh. She expects the same from her dancers that she expects from herself – to never be satisfied and always work harder to reach new heights.
Jill has had the opportunity to work for, and train with, many amazing teachers and companies. She started her company because she feels she has a lot to offer the Dallas/Fort Worth artist community. She is passionate about choreographing and teaching so once she moved to Dallas/Fort Worth from New York, she started to work on getting the business side all set up. She then focused on her dream and passion of teaching students, rehearsing professionals and producing shows.
Jill has trained, taught, performed and presented her choreography in many cities including Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas and New York. She enjoys producing and directing shows, and continues to concentrate on her work in progress, her new endeavor the dance drama, “Exchange Street.” In addition to her duties as the Artistic Director of 8&1, Jill is a busy guest artist and choreographer throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth area. She is very excited about a second season of new opportunities for her rapidly growing dance company, 8&1.
The Eight & One Dance Company will be putting on their Winter Intensive Workshop, January 9-11, 2015 which will be open to dancers from 8 years of age to adult. The workshop will be held at Park Cities Dance at 7979 Inwood Road, #201, Dallas, Texas 75209. It will consist of three days of classes taught by 8&1 Dance Company members and friends. Some of Dallas/Fort Worth’s most innovative teachers gather for a weekend full of disciplined technique classes and inspiring choreography. Registration is available only through Eight & One Dance Company’s website.
Following the company rep/choreography class on Sunday, there will be an open audition at 4:15 pm for those who are interested. The rep/choreography class is a prep class for this audition and is only available to dancers who attend the workshop. The audition is open to both students and the public. Eight & One is currently casting for company members and their Winter apprentice program.
Please post a comment if you have had any experience with Eight & One Dance or Jill S. Rucci.
If you would like additional information about Eight and One Dance Company, check them out on their website at www.8and1dance.com. Additionally, you could call them at 646-526-6220.
