Artist of the Week: AbigailJoan Dunn

Warwick Valley High School senior AbigailJoan Dunn is a National Honor Society member, a singer in the high school’s Bel Canto and Jazz Choirs, and an active member of the Warwick Valley performing arts community – a dedicated dancer whose passion for the artform was sparked at an early age.

“I started dance when I was three, so I’ve always had a love for it,” said AbigailJoan, who has trained in ballet, jazz, contemporary, jazz funk, point, and tap. Her passion for performance and theater is inherited. “My mom was an actress, my dad also did acting, so I’ve always just been drawn to it because I grew up in that atmosphere. I just fell in love with it instantly!”

Both of her parents remain involved in theater – her dad as a lighting designer and her mom as a designer and dresser – and that continues to provide inspiration and motivation for AbigailJoan. She has maintained an impressive performance schedule since the third grade, when she performed in her first school musical as part of the Sanfordville Drama Club.

“That was Peter Pan; I played Tinker Bell,” she said. “And I’ve done every single show that’s been offered in the school district since then, including the fall plays.”

It won’t surprise you to learn that AbigailJoan serves as the President of the WVHS Drama Club. She’s excited that preparations have already begun for the fall play, entitled Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic. It’s a Harry Potter parody by NYC-based playwright Matt Cox.

“We just had auditions for it yesterday, and it went really nicely,” said AbigailJoan with a smile. “We actually have callbacks today!”

Over the years, AbigailJoan has also performed in many dance shows outside of school, mainly with the Warwick Performing Arts Center. Her credits include musicals, full-length ballets, as well as non-ballet, story-driven dance shows. Just this past summer, she performed in three different productions.

“I did Into the Woods, where I played the parts of Wolf, Granny, and Mysterious Man,” she said. “I also did HAIR (In Concert), which was a fundraiser with the Core Theatre Group. Then I did a site-specific dance piece at the Fuller Moon Arts Festival called Meliora, which was about how human beings can impact the Earth.”

AbigailJoan also does her own choreography, so she really enjoyed the specific challenge that Meliora, billed as a mythological ballet, presented. Each dancer had to create their own solos based on a personal attribute such as wealth or health; hers was competence.

AbigailJoan is also a member of the high school’s Skills USA program, which empowers students to “become skilled professionals, career-ready leaders and responsible community members.” It is part of the high school’s outstanding Career & technical Education offerings, and AbigailJoan is involved with Cosmetology. It’s a part of her carefully laid plan to prepare for her post-graduation aspirations.

“I actually don’t want to attend college, so my plan for after high school is to start auditioning for shows. I’ve always known what I want to do, so why not just go and do it,” she said. “I wanted a way to get into special effects makeup, so I did cosmetology to help me learn special effects makeup, and wigs as well, so I can maybe do that kind of stuff for shows, as my backup plan.”

AbigailJoan loves the entire process of developing characters.

“That’s my favorite part of theater,” she said. “Breaking [a character] down and recreating them, how to portray them in my physical body, and getting into their mental state. I feel like cosmetology, with the wigs and makeup, it’s such a big part of creating a character, what they look like and not just how they walk and carry themselves.”

AbigailJoan is also a proud Girl Scout and has earned both the organization’s Bronze and Silver Awards. She is currently working on her Gold Award, which you won’t be surprised to learn has to do with helping other dancers. She is setting up and maintaining a give/take clothing rack at the dance studio she attends, meant to help student dancers get the necessary clothes they need, but perhaps cannot afford, to keep on dancing.

“The whole thing will run on donations. So, for example, you can leave a leotard if it does not fit you and take a new one, then return [that] when you are done using it,” she explained. Her goal is that the concept will spread to other dance schools. “And it will also help limit the number of clothes being sent to landfills.” 

So, what words of advice does this accomplished and driven performer and artist have for those who are coming up behind her?

“I guess it would be,” she said with a confident nod, “If you want to do it… do it!”