This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Morgan Clune (跳舞, 2018) has been surrounded by dance since a young age. 在芝加哥长大的她回忆起参加专业公司的演出——比如哈伯德街舞——并向父母表达了她对专业舞蹈的兴趣. 一直支持她的父母紧紧抓住了摩根的梦想，他们一起找到了摩根在大二时就读的学院.

毕业后, 摩根对舞蹈的热情把她带到了世界著名的纽约茱莉亚音乐学院，在那里她被选为舞蹈课程的12名学生之一. 摩根的人生之路最近又回到了原点:她在2022年夏天搬回了芝加哥，现在是哈伯德街舞团的成员(她在那里和兰迪·邓肯的全球首演重聚), 爱无限).

Read more about The Academy’s Morgan Clune and her upcoming performance below.

Tell us about your time here at The Academy.

太怀旧了. 我又回来了. 我在这里的时光很特别，在来这里之前——我是在跳舞和竞技舞蹈中长大的——你知道, 在中学的时候，你不会真正考虑你想要做什么来谋生. 我从来没有质疑过，我很感激我的父母也从来没有质疑过. 我记得是在八年级或大一的时候，我们停顿了一下，我的父母和我在想，做我想做的事情的步骤是什么? 我知道我想以跳舞为生，但我真的不知道那是什么样子. I started to see more professional dance companies, like Hubbard and ones from out of the country and state and thought to myself “Wow, 你可以以此为生?”. I didn’t know how it worked and, honestly, I am just now figuring it out. Once I knew that that was a potential, 我们找到了艺术学院，我的父母真的推动我从公立学校转到艺术高中.

大二那年，我从巴林顿高中转学，和另一个学舞蹈的学生和两个大我一岁的学音乐剧的学生一起坐火车, so they already knew the flow of things. I was a little scared at first because I love academics so much, 但 here my brain expanded so much… I don’t even know how to explain it. 我不知道在一所如此注重你的技能的学校里会是什么样子. I knew that I loved dance and I wanted to do it hours on end, 但 trying to find the balance [with academics] was important to my parents too. I couldn't have asked for anything more. 我在早上的课上学到了很多，受到了很大的启发，到了上舞蹈课的时候, 我感到受到了启发，可以开启我大脑的另一边来做不同的工作. It wasn’t brain off and dance clothes on, it was a full experience. That’s something you can’t really get in a lot of places.

Do you think The Academy prepared you well for Juilliard? What was that transition period like?

I would definitely say it prepared me. Going in I was one of the only students coming from an arts school, 但我可以看到，与其他学生相比，我的自信有所不同. 就像我16岁踏入这个环境和18岁踏入纽约的感觉一样. 我已经去过一个城市了, I had already acclimated to being around artists all the time, and I had already been challenged to think in a different lens about my work. It was still a transition and it was still overwhelming, of course. 这是一个很大的变化, 你知道, 整天跳舞, 但我确实觉得自己比其他同学强了一点，因为我觉得自己更踏实，更能应付工作量. It’s crazy the skills we got in high school – how to manage your time, 你的工作量, how to commute – things that you may not even realize you’re learning.

Tell us about how it was working with Randy again at Hubbard Street.

真的很棒. I mean, it’s just hard to explain. I could not have planned that or asked for that. 四年前的这个时候, 如果有人告诉我，我会和兰迪·邓肯一起在哈伯德街工作，我会说，不, 不可能! 他是芝加哥的舞蹈偶像，而哈伯德街以芝加哥的标志性公司而闻名, and having them together is special in and of itself. It all just came right back to me. He came in and was teaching before we started learning all the choreography, and I was out there demonstrating all the combos – it was just muscle memory. His spirit in the room is really warm; everyone just enjoyed working with him so much. 他的舞蹈也拉近了我与舞团成员的距离，并能够与其他舞者分享他的作品, because his work is really comfortable to me. 更不用说, being back at the Harris where I had performed Randy’s work in high school; it seriously was a full circle moment and a dream come true.

What are you working on right now?

Hubbard Street has a show once a year called 在/出, 这是一种由所有舞者共同操刀的舞台剧，你可以在舞台剧中互换角色，扮演任何角色. If you’re interested in choreographing it, you can choreograph. If you’re interested in marketing, you can be a part of the marketing team. What I’m doing is the budgeting side of it and dealing with the money. I decided to challenge myself. 我做了一些类似的工作，你必须在茱莉亚音乐学院制作一个展览，所以我学到了一些, 但 这是现实生活!

We know you have an interest in choreographing in general. Tell us about the difference between being a dancer and being a choreographer.

I’ve always been a dancer first. 我在茱莉亚音乐学院的时间给了我很多专注于作曲和创作的机会, 老实说, 这让我很吃惊. 我真的爱上了它，因为在别人身上看到你自己真的很酷——在你的举止中，或者你感兴趣的探索中，或者通过一群人的动作来表达，这非常有趣. 我一直在想“我现在跳舞，当我的身体不能再跳舞的时候再编舞”，但我真的是被我的导师逼着去做每件事. 比如为什么要等? It teaches me a lot and I love to direct and to teach and to lead a room. It’s so interesting to see my influences growing up in how I teach and how I lead. 我也想有一天拥有自己的东西，可以创造一些东西，把人们聚集在一起.

你在学院最享受的是什么?你认为你永远不会忘记的是什么?

The community and the sense of family that there is here. It’s hard to explain 但 it’s unlike anywhere else; you feel supported, 然而,挑战, and really seen for who you are and your potential. 这里的每个人都想让你成功，给你他们所能提供的，看看你能做到什么程度. There’s so many things that I’ve learned that I take with me, 但 the people here are definitely the best part. It really makes your time worth it. 这个地方给我带来了很多奇妙的影响，我仍然和它们保持着联系，我仍然能感受到它们的影响, and I know that I’ll have that for the rest of my life.

我听过一些鄙视高中的人的恐怖故事，我总是笑，因为我开始想:“我今天就在去高中的路上，我真的等不及了!” I get really lucky to feel like that and I know it’s not like that everywhere, so I really try not to take that for granted. It helped that I was in public school growing up, 但 it’s just so different here. 你感觉很舒服, and it is really important to be comfortable in this time in your life, 尤其是当你真的在磨练一门手艺，发现你想做什么的时候. 这些年太重要了, so having a place to support you like The Academy is just beyond special.

What is one piece of advice you’d give to a 跳舞 student?

重要的是要记住，那些教你和领导你的人现在真的知道他们在说什么，他们曾经在那里. We get in our own bubbles sometimes, 但 everything is here for a reason, 所以尊重你得到的所有指导，真正地观察和倾听学院里的人. Once you graduate, there are not many places like it. 享受你所处的环境，吸收你能从老师那里得到的一切, 来自学生, 来自工作人员. Everyone has something to offer here, 如果我再来一次, I would just be even more observant. Time moves so fast, and it’s hard to remember to zoom out and see who is around you. Trust who is leading you and that they know what they’re saying; really observe and soak in all of those around you.

Anything else you want to add?

这个地方太棒了. 我很感激.

Morgan’s upcoming piece with Hubbard Street 跳舞, 在/出, takes place on Thursday, December 1 at 6:00 p.m. and Friday, December 2 at 7:00 p.m.

Tickets will be available soon. For more information, visit our friends’ at www.hubbardstreetdance.com.