Dance has been an integral part of Palko's life ever since she was in fourth grade, when she began training under the tutelage of her mentor Charlys Ing, director and choreographer for the Hawaii Ballet Theatre and director of dance at the Punahou Dance School. And it is back to the Hawaii Ballet Theatre that Palko will be returning after graduation, where she will be performing while completing her pre-medical requirements at the University of Hawaii. Before heading to medical school, however, she hopes to spend a couple of years auditioning and dancing for companies in San Francisco.
"I had my moment of 'I'm young and I'm not going to be young forever, so I want to dance now!'" said Palko. "It was never a dream to be a dancer really; I was never pushed in that direction by anyone, not even by my dance teacher in high school. But it's something I want to try and go for."
Palko has danced at various venues in the five colleges and has also choreographed twice for Amherst Dance when she used to head the organization. This past year, she joined the UMass University Dancers with instructor Ken Lipitz, who also teaches at the College. During January, the group toured elementary and middle schools in the Pioneer Valley to perform and teach dance to the children there.
A breath of life
Perhaps the most notable dance project that she has done is "The Orpheus Project," a reenactment of the famous Greek myth with acting, singing and dancing. It was such a large-scale performance that it was often mistaken as her thesis. Palko, however, is a French major. "My main frustration with the dance performances in the five college areas is that they're all dance concerts," said Palko. "Different choreographers do many disjointed dances, but I think telling stories is so much more interesting-that was my training in Hawaii Ballet Theatre."
Part of the performance involved an original musical composition by Brad Tilden '02. "It was by sheer luck that I ended up talking to Brad Tilden. At the time, it wasn't really serious," said Palko. "It's like what Tchaikovsky did. I commissioned him, but without paying him anything, to write this piece of music for my ballet. I have a note from him that says, 'I cannot tell you how much of an honor it was to work with you and your project … Watching people dance to my music is an unfathomable sensation and I owe it all to you,' meaning that he was moved almost to tears seeing people dance to his music that he had written."
Interestingly enough, Palko has never taken a class with the theater and dance department at Amherst. "They don't cater to people who have dance experience," she said. "Your body is your instrument that you express things through and, not to say that you are necessarily more expressive if you can put your leg over your head, however, there is a physicality to [dancing] that I am passionate about."
When the music stops
Although she could have easily transferred to a different college that offered a more intensive dancing curriculum, Palko instead decided she would try to institute additional technique classes at Amherst. "I didn't transfer because I had so much hope for this place," she said. "There's money to do it, there's interest, there are motivated people, and so I feel like Amherst is the type of small school that you can make small changes; not like a huge institution where there's this bureaucracy you have to go through."
Until additional technique classes were offered, Palko has taught ballet as an extracurricular activity. "For example, this past week, the only thing that made me really happy were these silly ballet classes I teach in the athletic center," she said. "It's been rainy all week but people show up and, by the end of the hour and a half, I'm usually so much happier and that's so meaningful to me."
Although Palko found many students who shared her concerns, she found just as much opposition to her cause. "I couldn't believe the kind of discouragement I got from the theater and dance department for doing what I was doing," she said. "I wasn't trying to undermine them; I was just trying to accommodate myself and all these people. All these people in these pictures I have on my walls, they all just want to be dancing too."
Unfortunately, a lack of dance spaces for extra-curricular dancers and a lack of technique classes at Amherst have been stifling for Palko and other dancers. "On the surface, people come to our performances and think there's dance on this campus, but there isn't," she said. "I was rehearsing people in Hamilton ballroom, in the little studio in Marsh where the ceilings are too low and people jump and hit their heads so we can't do lifts in there, obviously, and teaching ballet classes in the special exercise room of the gym where the floor is terrible for ballet. Students are dancing, but it's a guerrilla activity; it's definitely not ideal."
Acknowledging that academic needs ought to take precedence for spaces such as Studio One in Webster, Palko still insists that other students should be able to use those spaces as well and especially because she believes those spaces are not being used to their full potential.
"They schedule the class for the middle of the day, which is why there's not that many people there, but when they schedule dance classes in studio one in the afternoons, those classes are always packed," she said. "It's unfortunate because there are always beginners and advanced students in every single class at Amherst, which sounds like it might be a good thing but it really isn't. It's frustrating for a teacher-I know because I teach ballet classes here. The beginners feel behind, the advanced students don't feel challenged and so it becomes a wash. Yet people still show up and take them because people want to dance here."
Technical difficulties
After petitioning the department, Palko, with the help of Professor of Theater and Dance Wendy Woodson, got an intermediate/advanced ballet class offered this past spring at Amherst and taught by Lipitz. "I want two technique classes at least every semester and it shouldn't be a problem but it was such a big deal for them to do it," she said. "I couldn't believe that they wouldn't be happy to have more of what students want on this campus. I was so saddened by that … The five college dance department exists in people's minds and it exists for people with cars. The theater and dance department would bash me for saying that but I would love to have conversation with anyone and I've had conversation with Wendy Woodson about it before."
Unfortunately, Palko herself couldn't take the class because of scheduling conflicts, but she is still happy that the class was available for others. "I drove myself crazy doing all this Amherst Dance stuff because it takes up so much time, but I went even crazier my freshman year not knowing how to help myself with the situation and having to slowly glean things from other people about how I would go about building up what I wanted on this campus," she said. "Dance is the only thing I'm passionate about. I came to school to find my academic passion but it didn't happen."
"I met Erzsi when she was a first year student at Amherst when she came to my office to introduce herself; I was immediately impressed by her dedication to and love of dance," said Woodson. "I have had the pleasure of seeing her dance in several five college dance events where her technical balletic skills and generosity as a performer are beautifully evident. Erzsi has been a passionate voice for dance at Amherst and has made important contributions to its development on campus in the past several years and certainly into the future."
More than a broken spirit
Part of Palko's intense desire to bring more technique classes to Amherst is the result of a serious and extremely painful back injury she suffered during her sophomore year. "Having dance taken away from me, I realized how much I loved it," she said. "My warm-up for rehearsals was the only 'class' I was taking, so I know that's why I got injured. It's a recipe for injury-such high intensity movement without exercising properly. That's why I've been so militant about getting technique classes on campus."
Her injury has also partly fueled her desire to become a doctor. "I was disgusted with the treatment I got through my recovery," she said. "I feel as though the medical system needs to change. I want to change the way medicine is administered. People need to start learning how to be healthy. I've received such a good education my entire life, and yet no one has ever taught me how to take care of myself, really."
After four years, Palko is now ready to leave Amherst and move on with her life, though she also expressed concern about the future of dance at Amherst. "Dance is a relatively new thing at Amherst College, period," she said. "Wendy Woodson ... had to fight so much to legitimize dance as an academic subject. Her thing is, first she needs to build dance up as an academic program, but the dancers come, and the first thing they need is a technique class."
Palko hopes that other students will take the current, small successes with a grain of salt. "It was a baby step in the right direction to have this ballet class here this semester, but I know it's going to get worse before it gets better," said Palko. "I fought so hard because there was basically nothing when I got here, but these new people, they never knew someone to say, 'It's unheard of that you'll ever perform in Kirby.' People who come in here think that performing in these spaces is a given, because it should be, but they don't know that it's not a given."
As Palko said herself, "It's been a difficult, a frustrating and, at times, rewarding experience." Despite whatever hurdles Amherst may have presented, Palko is overall pleased with her time here. "Had I tried to be a dancer straight out of high school, I probably would've been crushed because I don't have the facility that a lot of professional dancers do," she said. "Now, my attitude towards [ballet] is so much healthier than it might've been had I gone straight into dancing. I feel as though my choreography is much more reformed and I have so much more to draw on having learned all these things."