Meet Your Geeks: Patty!
It’s time for the second installment of Meet Your Geeks; this time, we’re sitting down with Patty Petronello.
GD: How did you get into dancing?
PP: I didn’t start dancing till I was about 13 years of age. It was 7th grade and the middle school I was attending had just opened a new PE class that was all about dancing and learning the different styles. Having never been a fan of regular PE I opted for the Dance PE class and fell in love. Halfway through the year I started to take a Jazz class outside of school and here I am ten years later still dancing and loving it.
GD: What appeals to you the most about dance and dancing?
PP: I enjoy a lot of things about dancing, most are the cheesy “I love the emotions” and “how it makes me feel” which are fantastic reasons. However there is also something about how driven dancers are. It’s a tough profession and I love the amount of hard work it takes, there is such a feeling of accomplishment after a good show or a good rehearsal. I crave that feeling everyday.
GD: What dance piece or choreographer do you love, and why?
PP: Doug Varone and Trey Mcintyre are probably two of my favorite choreographers. They have very athletic choreography and both have an interesting way of choreographing for a large group. Doug Varone choreographs to beautiful music and works really hard to incorporate the songs musicality into the choreography. Trey Mcintyre can be quirky with his choreography; it’s always fun to watch.
GD: What do you do in “real life”?
Well I work as a barista for a small town coffee place on Mt Washington (where I currently live) and I recently got a job with hallmark cards. I also do other random work such as babysitting and pretty much whatever else I can find. I enjoy having all different kinds of jobs, it keeps me on my toes and I’m always learning something new.
GD: Other than dancing, what do you do for fun?
PP: I love to drive around and explore Pittsburgh. I moved here about 5 months ago so I’m still learning the city. I love finding local favorite eating spots, places off the beaten track and basically random places to take pictures. I love to read any book I can get my hands on. I’m always in Barnes and Noble as well as any local second hand bookstore I can find. I’m also a huge movie person, my roommate and I will sit and watch movie after movie no matter if we’ve seen it multiple times. Listening to music is also something I love (go figure).
GD: What excites you most about working with Geeksdanz?
PP: What excites me the most are the different types of venues and people we will be performing for! There are so many different ways dance can be used and I really feel like Geeksdanz is going to open the eyes of a lot of people. I feel like many don’t understand dance and this company will be a nice liaison between who is considered the “Dancer” and who is considered the “Audience.”
Stay tuned for interviews with the rest of our geeks!
