By ANGYE MORRISON
amorrison@discoveringbulloch.com
The ONE series is the brainchild of local theater legend Mical Whitaker, and so far it has featured some fantastic singers.
But that is all about to change.
Mathyn Miller, owner of Technique Dance Company, will be the show’s lead dancer and choreographer.
“I worked with Mical Whitaker for many years as a choreographer for some of his musicals that he directed,” Miller said. “So when I got the email from him that he was choosing me for this season, I was very humble and excited to be chosen. He’s a wonderful person and a talented director.
Miller says she won’t be dancing the night of the show herself, but she works hard in the studio with her dancers. Focusing on his students isn’t new to Miller, but certainly new to the ONE series.
“I am showing my talent as a teacher and a choreographer, and my students will perform my choreography,” she said. She hopes to communicate to the public, through their performance, who she is as a dancer and choreographer, and demonstrate her own unique style.
“I would also like to show my love and my passion for dancing,” she added.
Miller, who is 29, is from the Boro and says she has never lived anywhere else.
“I love the small town vibe of Statesboro,” she said. She graduated from Statesboro High in 2010.
Miller studied at various dance schools in Statesboro and Millen, then continued his training at Kelly Creek Studios in Savannah. She started dancing at 3 years old.
Miller’s love for dance is in his genes.
“I have two incredibly supportive parents, Kaye and Herb Miller, and I’m an only child,” she said. “Dancing personally has always kept me close to my parents because they have always been very involved, especially my mother. She was my dance teacher for so long, and my dad always helped build props or play music and lights for his recitals.
Miller has a great-uncle, Bart Caroll, who she says was a great inspiration to her as well.
“He was a professional dancer in TV and movies in the 50s and 60s and was even in the movie“ Mame ”with Lucille Ball, and danced with many big names in the industry such as Mitzi Gaynor, Cyd Charisse and Liza Minelli to name a few, ”she said.
Growing up in the dance industry, Miller says she always knew she wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her mother owned dance schools in Millen and Waynesboro.
“I always knew that one day I wanted to own my own dance school. It was just a matter of timing. I had been teaching at Statesboro Youth Ballet for four years when I decided it was time to go ahead and take the plunge and start my own dance company, ”she said. She has owned Technique for almost five years and says she can’t imagine herself in any other career.
“I don’t think I would know what to do without dancing in my life. I teach dance because it’s my passion and I want to be able to instill that same passion and love for dance in my students, ”she said.
Miller says dancing has always been an outlet for her.
“It has always given me so much joy and happiness. It has always given me the opportunity to express myself through art. Every time I took the stage I would forget everything else, I would was always just that moment to play and feel free. I feel like every performance I grew as a dancer. As a dancer you learn and grow with every opportunity to perform and find ways to improve yourself, ”she said.
She tries to transmit this passion for dance to her students. She often tells her students to work hard and pursue their passions and dreams.
“If dancing is something you still want to do for a living, don’t give up. When they take the stage, I always tell my students to give their all, have fun and show their love and passion through dance, ”she says.
Teaching helped Miller grow, both in his profession and personally.
“I can develop these close bonds with my dancers and watch them grow and succeed in life inside and outside the studio,” she said. “It’s such a wonderful feeling.”
Miller says her strengths as a dancer have always been in tricks, like pirouettes and whip tricks, and in choreography. She finds it easy to pick up and quickly memorize the choreography.
Now that she spends most of her time in the dance studio teaching, she says she finds it hard to tend to overthink the choreography.
“As a choreographer, I don’t pre-choreograph anything. I always invent everything on the spot with the music playing so that it flows naturally. So sometimes I sometimes have a hard time staying stuck and I have to remember to just feel it and not think about it too much. Even when I choreographed “Chicago” the musical in Georgia Southern with Lisa Abott, I choreographed about 15 routines on location with no prior planning, ”she said.
Miller says that when she’s not in the studio, she’s “a little bit nerdy.”
“I love to play video games, read, go to Disney World when I can and of course play with my husky, Nova,” she said.
As for being invited to be part of the ONE series, Miller calls it surreal.
“I’ve worked really hard throughout my career to get to where I am today, and seeing that hard work pay off with a show like this is extremely exciting and humbling, all at the same time.” , she said.
Mathyn Miller and her dancers will take the stage at the Emma Kelly Theater on April 15 at 7:30 pm Tickets are $ 20, with military and first responder tickets set at $ 18. Students enter for $ 12. Call 912-212-5787 to purchase tickets.
