Thank you for supporting our journalism work. This article is only for our subscribers, who helped fund our work in the Baltimore Sun.

With his shoulders high back, Robert Clenandost, a former staunch supporter of the Paul Taylor Dance Company, is executing a jumbo jet into the unknown world.

Two years after finishing his professional acting career, the 48-year-old Kleinendorst began his second career as the head of the dance department at Anne Arundel Community College in August. His mission? Reinvigorate a plan that has a successful track record but was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I like dancing with Paul Taylor the most," said Kleinendorst, who left Brooklyn this summer and moved to Severna Park with his dancer wife and their two children.

"In the 21 years I have worked in the company, I have never missed a performance. I only missed two rehearsals: one rehearsal every time my child was born. (His daughter Saidi is 8 years old and his son​​ Axel is 5 years old.)

"I have never rehearsed in my life," he said, referring to a dance term that uses movements to save energy for upcoming performances during practice. "I always give it 100%. I used to worry that when the day when I had to retire came, I would fall into depression."

However, in the most recent rehearsal of the academy dance company, Kleinendorst was very engaged and optimistic when guiding eight students to complete his own new choreography. He joked with a student that she drank too much water, and jokingly patted another student on the back. Gentle corrections to leg lines or hip angles alternate with frequent and sincere compliments.

Earlier this year, Kleinendorst was selected from 60 candidates to replace Lynda Fitzgerald, the founder of the dance department. She recently retired after 34 years.

"Rob is a very good teacher and an excellent communicator," said Bronwyn Burgess, a 19-year-old first-year student with a ballet background.

"Modern dance is not my main style. But Rob made very specific corrections, so I will never get lost or confused. He makes learning fun."

Fitzgerald joined the community college in 1987. At the time, dance classes included ballet and jazz classes, which were part of the physical education department, she said. By the time Fitzgerald resigned this summer, dance had become an independent associate degree program, offering 25 credits.

In the three decades since she established her dance project, Fitzgerald has witnessed the flourishing of talented dancers, refuting the myth that community colleges are rarely the path to a professional dance career.

AACC's dance program alumni include Tacoma Park natives, Emmy nominated choreographers Christopher Scott and Jameer McGee, who won third place in the first season of the same reality show in 2011. Kurt Gorrell's career has been dancing in musicals and performing on national tours of "Contact" and "Movin' Out."

Finally, Fox spectators watching the "Great Leap Forward" this fall are enjoying dazzling creative jumps and spins on the fairways, fire escapes and basketball courts of the bowling alley (yes, you read that right). These actions were co-organized by AACC alumnus Lance Guillermo.

"I see students grow and thrive in our dance courses," Fitzgerald said, noting that community college education is a more affordable option for students who are short of funds. "Financially, this is the best deal," she said.

After Fitzgerald announced his retirement, five dozen applicants were slowly selected as four finalists, and they taught virtual courses last year.

"Rob was the only one of the four who took the trouble to learn the names of students," Fitzgerald said.

"He has a wealth of experience, good connections, and passion for teaching. He is our business card and our best-kept secret. He is a gem, right at Anne Arundel Community College."

In addition to dancing with Paul Taylor for 21 years, Kleinendorst received a master's degree in dance from George Mason University in Virginia in May 2020. The administrators hope that his appearance on campus can bring new excitement to the dance project, just like his counterparts across the country during the epidemic.

According to the blog "Higher Education Today" published by the American Education Association, due to COVID-19, college enrollment rates across the United States are declining. However, while private and public four-year universities fell by 4.5% and 2.8% respectively during the pandemic, the decline in two-year community colleges has reached a worrying 12%.

About ten years ago, at the height of the popularity of dance courses, Anne Arundel Community College graduated with about 20 dance majors.

But the closure caused by the pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to performing arts projects. Although distance learning is never an easy task, when musicians cannot establish the eye contact required for instant communication, it becomes extremely difficult to rehearse string quartets online. It is difficult for the teacher to find the right words to adjust the dancer's posture on the computer screen instead of simply raising her legs five degrees. When face-to-face learning resumes this fall, Kleinendorst's dance majors have been reduced to two.

He plans to increase this number by visiting regional high schools and holding master classes, hoping to meet children with the same untapped potential he showed when he grew up in Minnesota in the 1990s.

Kleinendorst said that he didn't put on his first leotard until he was a sophomore at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, and he didn't even walk into the dance studio. On resilient wooden floor.

As a boy, his first hobby was sports and drama. He played football, baseball, and hockey, and showed a natural talent to move his body on stage to create believable characters-choreographer Taylor later took advantage of this talent. Just when Kleinendorst was going to college and planning a career in musical performance, he decided that he had better learn how to dance. He signed up for his first sports class-after one class, his life changed.

"I'm just excited," Kleinendorst said. "I found that when I removed the intellectual elements of words and reduced communication to body, gestures and movements, it was completely connected. Our body is the most basic way of communication. Everyone laughed. Everyone cried. Before we had written or spoken words, people spoke with their bodies."

The Paul Taylor Theatre Company has strong physical fitness and eclectic repertoire, which is very suitable for Kleinendorst's style. He joined the junior company in 1998 and was promoted to the head office two years later. For more than two decades, he has been the mainstay of the company. He played 98 roles in Taylor's 77 dances and created 28 of them.

But like all athletes who use their body as their main tool, dancers reach their peak at a relatively young age. Through a strict plan of exercising in the gym, cycling and avoiding bad habits—Kleindost says he never drinks, smokes, or takes drugs—he has earned himself an extra decade of career. It was not until 46 years old that he was forced to admit that he was past his prime.

To his surprise, the next step into teaching was much easier than he expected. He found that he liked to instruct students at all levels, and when students mastered a challenging sequence of steps, he would see "the light bulb goes out in their minds" (in his words).

"I dedicated everything I have to dancing," he said. "When I look back, there is nothing I think I can and should do. Because I don't regret it, I can move on when the time is right.

"I think leaving New York and retiring from Paul Taylor will make me feel sad. But I like it here."