Gina White led a smaller-than-usual group in tap warm-ups in her studio, Mandala Yoga & Arts, in Hillsdale, New York, Tuesday, Nov. 15. The group lesson started when Mary Givens asked for tap lessons and quickly grew into a regular affair.
HILLSDALE — Across Route 22 and just south from the old Roeliff-Jansen Central School campus in Hillsdale is an unassuming brown building with a sign out front bearing the name “Roe-Jan Plaza.” Two poles sticking out of the ground in the east shoulder proudly proclaim “hair salon,” and “yoga,” ushering drivers in for a shave and a sun salutation.
The yoga studio, Mandala Yoga & Arts, is run by Hillsdale resident Gina White, a dancer and actor who has worked since the late ‘90s with dance companies, touring shows, professional cheerleaders and in film and television.
At her studio in Hillsdale, she shares her professional experience with dancers of all disciplines and skill levels.
“I’ve been teaching since I was 15,” White said. “It’s something I’ve always done. I love getting people excited about things, especially dance.”
On Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m., the yoga studio transforms into a rag-time playground. A small group of “adult beginner” tap dancers gather every week to practice slaps, flaps, brushes, hops and jumps.
White’s teaching style is encouraging and energetic. When a first-timer (a reporter who lacked the proper footwear) struggled to grasp the slap-leap-slap-leap pattern at the Tuesday, Nov. 12, lesson, White looked at him in the mirror and cheered his efforts, even though she and her regular students had moved on to the next maneuver.
White grew up in Bristol, Connecticut, and knew she was going to be an actor and dancer from a young age.
“When it came time to start talking to the counselor about college plans I already knew I wasn’t going to be doing any of that,” White said. “Right after high school I went to New York City.”
In 1997, after White graduated, she moved to the city and started auditioning. After a short time, and missing the audition the first time, White and her sister, Lindsey, landed spots on “Rugrats: A Live Adventure.” The tour took the 18-year-old across the United States, to the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico and Ireland.
White took advantage of touring at such a young age to experience nightlife and culture across the country in unexpected places. “Morgantown, West Virginia — dropped in the middle of nowhere — I did not expect that there was going to be streets and streets of people lighting couches on fire because their football team won,” White said. “Morgantown is hot. It’s a lot of fun there.”
When the “Rugrats” show ended in 2000, White went back home to spend time with her family in Bristol before moving to Boston to study theater and dance at the University of Massachusetts. She danced with the Boston Blazers cheerleaders for a few years before transferring to South Connecticut State University to be closer to home while her dad battled illness.
“Boston in the 2000s was a great place to be,” White said. “I loved it.”
After graduating, White decided it was time to join Hollywood as a screen actor. She joined SAG-AFTRA and started working, securing background acting and stand-in work on shows like “The Deuce,” starring James Franco, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and “Saturday Night Live (SNL).”
“SNL is like a relationship with a bad boyfriend,” White said. “I get a call on Monday like ‘Hey, whatcha doing this weekend? I maybe wanna see you,’ and I, of course, say I’m available, and then I wait until Thursday to get a call like ‘hey I need you to come tomorrow, can you be here?’ and I’d rush to the city as fast as I could.”
In 2022 and 2023, White worked on every episode for season 48 of SNL, but the SAG-AFTRA strike killed that momentum and she’s only returned to the studios a handful of times since the strike was lifted on Nov. 19, 2023.
It was the strike that led White to open Mandala, her second yoga studio since moving upstate before the pandemic.
“It’s never been about the business for me,” White said. She operates the studio as an open space for creativity, seeking to share her love of dance and yoga with as many people as will come. “My lessons are $20 if you can afford it.”
She’s also open to sharing the space with other groups and teachers that need a good studio. White said she’s gotten lots of requests from locals to start a line-dancing class, but she needs a qualified teacher to run it.
White teaches acrobatics, tap and jazz to beginner children in addition to the adult beginner tap dance lessons. Her schedule is flexible, she said, so students in search of a teacher need only reach out to set up lessons. Teachers in need of space are also encouraged to reach out if they’d like to lead a group class at the studio.
White can be reached by email at mandalayogaandarts@gmail.com.
Hot-tub style approach with a sledge-hammer assist at the lake.
While the chill of recent weeks has driven many Northwest Corner residents inside and their energy bills up, others have taken advantage of the extended cold by practicing some of our region’s most treasured — and increasingly rare — pastimes: ice sports.
I am one of those who goes out rather than in when the mercury drops: a one-time Peewee and Bantam league hockey player turned pond hockey enthusiast turned general ice lover. In the winter, my 12 year-old hockey skates never leave my trunk, on the chance I’ll pass some gleaming stretch of black ice on a roadside pond.
Last winter, when ice was hard to come by, was a massive disappointment for me, as it was for the other ice-obsessed among us. I was delighted, then, when I arrived at Lake Wononscopomuc on a comparatively balmy (26°F) Saturday afternoon to find recreators strolling, skating, fishing and fat-biking across the frozen expanse of its surface.
Grabbing my camera and stepping out onto the ice with the intention of chatting with some of the merry-makers, I gauged the uneven — but passable — surface below my feet and decided to run to the car and switch my boots with skates.
The going was rough at times, contending with intermittent snow layers and slush crusts, but even so the skates were vastly more efficient than my boots as I made my way from group to group.
I stopped to chat with David Bain, who was just starting to set up his fishing station after getting a late start. I asked him the depth under the hole he had just drilled, and he said it was about five feet, despite being 200 yards from shore on the deepest natural lake in Connecticut.
He explained that he had situated himself over a weed bed, and was hoping to catch some brown trout lurking off its shelf. A Norfolk resident, he said he was glad the ice was back after a season or two without it. He said the last time he had fished out on Wononscopomuc’s ice – 2023, he reckoned — he had caught two sizeable brown trout (about 10 and 8 pounds) within 15 minutes of each other at a spot just yards away from this one. I wished him luck for a similar outcome, and skated off to some distant figures hunkered over their ice drills.
I found Kyle Carso of Glastonbury and Andy Sabetta of Berlin, who are long time fishing friends, huddling over their holes as they hoped for a bite. They had been moving around the lake since 7 a.m., and had only pulled up a couple of perch so far, Carso said. Echoing Bain, Carso told me that Wononscopomuc is known for big brown trout though, and the duo had proof: Sabetta had caught a 14-pounder in June.
Carso said he was grateful for the ice conditions this season, which have been difficult to come by in several recent years. He said the ice was generally solid, about eight inches in most places, but encouraged caution as they had found some variability in the holes they drilled, with some spots thinner than others.
Brothers Eamon and John McNiff, who I found with beers in hand just offshore of Eamon’s lakefront property, similarly urged caution for those looking to explore the ice. He said that the frozen lake provides a valuable wealth of recreation, made more special by its seasonal transience – “as long as you’re being smart about it.” With the right caution, though, he said time spent on the ice is “magical.”
The kids get to skate around the lake – close to shore, he specified – and for the adults? “There’s nothing better than an ice beer.”
His brother John had just fat biked — essentially a mountain bike with huge, deeply treaded tires for traction on snow and ice — across the lake from his own property on the other side. Upon arriving at Eamon’s house, he slipped out and sprawled on the ice, pulling a muscle in the process. He said he was better now, though, enjoying a “recuperation beer” provided by his brother.
My final stop of the afternoon found a different type of cold-weather health practice — hanging out hot-tub style in a sledge-hammered hole in the ice. Danny Tieger and Tyler Spofford, both local to the area, are avid cold water swimmers they explained, and try to submerge themselves a few times a week during the winter months.
Tieger said that taking regular cold dips has been transformational after starting about five years ago: “It changed my relationship with my health and brain.”
The two stayed in the water, with apparent calm, for a remarkably long time. Spofford said that once you get over the shock, the water can actually feel a bit warmer than the air, because it actually is at about 34°F compared to the air temperature in the mid 20s.
As they finally climbed out and did some post-dip exercises, I looked out over the lake, dim silhouettes of anglers and fat bikers speckling the white expanse in the soft blue light of the late afternoon. Pulling off my skates for the day with numb and fumbling fingers, I felt grateful for the ice and the unique joy it brings to an oft-maligned season.
With cold weather growing less consistent with each passing winter, days like these can feel a little melancholic and fragile, as if those of us who take to the ice are salvaging for something already almost in the past. Perhaps we are, but it comforted me to be in good company as I scanned the lake’s surface for the last few hold-outs as the clock neared five. If it freezes, we will come.
Any lake ice recreation is inherently dangerous as the ice can be inconsistent. Anyone venturing out onto the ice must consult experts before doing so and follow town guidance.
Emma Brockett, Josalyn Cipkas and Tiffany Oltjenbruns in rehearsal for “From All Angles.”
Garet Wierdsma and her northern Connecticut-based dance company, Garet&Co, will return to Norfolk for their third annual appearance with Dance Workshops on the next three Sundays, followed by two performances of “From All Angles” in Battelle Chapel on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 23, at 4 p.m.
In “From All Angles,” audience members will witness Garet&Co translate three of the works presented at their fall show, “Can’t Keep Friends,” danced in the round, where viewers can witness each piece from a new angle.
Additionally, Garet&Co will be premiering two new works, including a site-specific work made for the beautiful Battelle Chapel performance space. Notably, Garet&Co will be reprising an excerpt of their preeminent piece, “and sometimes I wish” for this show.
On Saturday, Feb. 22, audience members will enjoy a post-show reception followed by a Q & A session.
On Sunday, Feb. 23, audience members will enjoy a pre-show performance with dancers performing installation work.
Garet&Co offers several classes in the performance space at Battell Chapel during their residence, including:
Intermediate/Advanced Technique: this Sunday, Feb. 2, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Intermediate/Advanced Contemporary Phrase Work: Sunday, Feb. 16, 12:30 to 2 p.m.
Beginners’ Contemporary: Saturday, Feb. 23, 1 to 2 p.m. (please join this class prior to the Sunday show for a special discounted package of class + show tickets)
Intermediate/Advanced Contemporary: Saturday, Feb. 23, 2 to 3 p.m. (please join this class prior to the Sunday show for a special discounted package of class + show tickets)
Garet Wierdsma expressed her excitement: “This year, we are bringing more dancers and more pieces than ever before, plus we are adding special elements that will keep audiences on their toes. We can’t wait to share this show with everyone!”
Evie Sondag, Jessica Winter, and Kyleigh Olivier in rehearsal for “From All Angles.”Elias Olsen
The New Mosaic performing at the Live @AMP music series.
Known for its stunning 120-foot wide, five-story tall “Mural to the American Worker” by artist Ellen Griesedieck, the American Mural Project, also known as AMP, is located next to Whiting Mills in Winsted, Conn. AMP also offers educational programs for youth, summer camps, book talks, and has recently added musical programming.
After formally opening the main gallery to the public in the summer of 2022, the music series “Live @AMP” began in 2023 with the intention of expanding AMP’s scope and demographic through both visitation and event attendees.
Director Michelle Begley explained AMP’s goals. “We wanted to establish AMP as a high quality event space by bringing in dynamic, professional artists to create a synergy of music, performance and art.”
Asked how she finds talent, Begley said, “My colleague Mimi Madden and I work closely with our artistic and executive directors to invite established and innovative Connecticut performing artists complemented by national and internationally recognized musicians, poets and speakers. It’s fun to both support local musicians, think big, and reach out beyond Connecticut!”
AMP’s “Happy Hour Piano Series” has become a monthly anchor event that features solo pianists who play a multitude of styles. Recent performances by Jen Allen, TJ Thompson, Isabella Mendes and Warren Byrd drew great crowds of jazz lovers. Jeff Bortako and Dan Ringuette had people singing along with their pop and holiday tunes while the passion and technique of classical pianists Maria Centola and Heather Reichgott moved audiences.
“We were gifted a beautiful baby grand piano by a steadfast supporter, the Greenberg family, who also support the series,” Begley explained.
AMP has hosted a wide variety of musicians including full bands performing soul, jazz, R&B, gospel, latin jazz, funk, swing and rock. The room has hosted Connecticut bands like West End Blend, Eight to the Bar, Theresa Thomason with the KC Sisters, Nikita, Ed Fast, and One Time Weekend, and there’s more in store.
“In 2025, we’re bringing in our first Grammy nominee, Eric Bibb, for what promises to be an incredible blues performance in April; the grunge band Gryme to connect to our community college population in September, and our first A Cappella Showcase that will feature student singers from colleges across New England,” Begley said.
Audiences can experience the excitement and energy of listening to great music, surrounded by incredible art with a big dance floor and great sound.
“We’ve been incredibly fortunate to work closely with John Fiorello of The John Samuel Group to help us invest in our sound and address the challenges of working in such a vast space. John’s skill has been critical to our success as he is adept at optimizing every musician and vocalists’ performance, no matter the challenge,” Begley said.
As an active professional musician, teaching artist and voice teacher working in Connecticut for the last 30 years, Begley has worked in communities from Hartford to Torrington to the Northwest Corner.
“I’ve connected with an inspiring array of the wonderful and committed musicians who are perpetually digging deep to give of themselves to the vibrant and growing arts scene in Connecticut,” she said.
Cultivating a spirit of collaboration and community in all its events and programs, AMP is committed to creative partnerships. Local restaurants provide food and local bookstores have sponsored author based “AMPTalks.”
“The string quartet performance this past October, in partnership with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, highlighted the ‘industrial cathedral’ acoustics of the AMP space. We’ll be doing that and more in 2025 and 2026!” Begley said.
For audiences, the combination of exploring the mural’s massive art installation and inherent storytelling along with each performance makes every AMP event a remarkable experience.
Upcoming shows for 2025 include the New Haven based singer/songwriter Natalie Hamilton for the Friday, Jan. 25 Happy Hour Piano Series and the electric neo-soul vibe of The New Mosaic on Saturday, Feb. 1.
For more information, visit: www.americanmuralproject.org/all-events
