WWU's Pam Kuntz loves to involve community, students in dance pieces

With a strong sense of community and a background in dance, Pam Kuntz, a senior instructor at Western, has made it her mission to spread dance throughout the Whatcom County community.  For 10 years as a faculty member at Western, Kuntz has inspired and motivated students on the topics of basic dance skills, vocabulary and anatomy while helping them to see the world through the lens of dance.

During her first year teaching at Western, in 1999, Kuntz began her community work in Whatcom County by teaching dance in grade schools, expanding her focus in 2005 to teach older members of the community as well.

Kuntz and Western faculty member Jim Lortz, both from Montana, have been friends for years professionally and as artists. Kuntz created a show with Lortz called "Stories from Jim and Jo." In the piece, Kuntz helps Jim tell his story of living with Parkinson’s disease.

After working with Lortz and Rick Hermann, another community member living with the disease, Kuntz could visibly tell their tremors had decreased.

“When he was engaged in a movement experience it was not visible,” Kuntz said. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, we have to do a class.’”

After doing research she learned that there is work being done to understand how dance can positively impact individuals with PD. Kuntz was inspired to teach a class specifically for people living with Parkinson's; she named it "People with Parkinson’s Disease and other movement and neurological disorders." Kuntz currently has 20 people attending her Thursday morning class at the YWCA in Bellingham. The class will continue into winter and spring.

“Pam is the finest example of a collaborator I have ever worked with,” Lortz said. “She puts herself into the work and she uses the group to shape her pieces, so the group is creating together.”

Kuntz began her own company three months ago in order to expand her community work. Kuntz and Company is a professional dance company that creates original dance and theatre pieces utilizing members of the community while focusing on their interests. She hopes that her company will continue to grow to the point where it can sustain collaborating artists and continue to involve even more members of the community.

“The little town of Bellingham has a pod of highly skilled professional dancers,” Kuntz said.

Along with teaching at Western, starting her own company and extensive community work, Kuntz is also a co-founder of Bellingham Repertory Dance. Although she has a busy schedule, she finds time to dance with the company composed of twelve other local accomplished dancers.

Kuntz still continues to expand her work.

She was recently invited by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to make a piece for a Prisons and Peace Symposium in May 2011. In the piece, she will be exploring the dehumanization cause by the prison system. It tentatively will have a Bellingham performance in May. She will also create a piece for fall 2011 at the Firehouse Performing Arts Center. Possible topics include death/dying and religion.

Lortz said the work Kuntz takes on can be unpredictable.

“She doesn’t stick with one thing, she likes to expand,” Lortz said. “She challenges me with that notion.”