Youth Dance Festival Announces Awards
Youth Dance Festival of NJ Announces Dance Awards
The Youth Dance Festival of New Jersey announces the winners from the third annual festival, held October 6-7, 2007, in Hackensack, NJ. 17 schools and over 150 dancers participated in the festival, which included solo and ensemble competition performances, six dance workshops and a gala performance, attended by nearly 400 dance enthusiasts. Each participant received written feedback, from a panel of esteemed judges, and an achievement award. Following the competition, 20 performances were selected by the judges for the final evening performance. Dance award winners received medals, trophies and/or scholarships.
Gold Medal: New Jersey School of Ballet
The panel of judges for the event included Christine Dakin of The Martha Graham Dance Company, Hector Zaraspe, 34-year Julliard faculty member, and Carolyn Clark, artistic director of The New Jersey Ballet. Ravah Daley and Leigh Webster, both former Broadway dancers, completed the panel.
Six dance workshops were a highlight event for festival participants, giving students from many dance schools the opportunity to share the stage at the same time. Ballet workshops were artfully led by Hector Zaraspe. Christine Dakin taught a lively modern dance workshop and Luigi, the jazz legend, shared his passion, style and class with festival participants.
The culmination of the dance festival was the performance on Sunday night. In addition to performances of the festival winners, three professional dance companies entertained the audience with several dramatic and lively dance selections. These included inspired performances by The New Jersey Ballet Company in “Let’s Go South”, Buglisi Dance Theatre’s “Red Hills”, and Battleworks’ “Ella”. Whitney Jensen, last year’s gold medalist, also performed a variation from “Le Corsaire”.
Inspiration for the festival came from Leonid and Adriana Kozlov, of Kozlov Dance International, which also organized and hosted the Youth Dance Festival of New Jersey. In 1979, Leonid Kozlov, principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet of Moscow, made his leap to artistic freedom and has dedicated the last 28 years to the performing arts. Since his arrival in the U.S., he was principal dancer with New York City Ballet under the direction of George Balanchine; choreographed productions for the National Ballet of Chile, The Australian Ballet and The New Jersey Ballet; and starred as the lead in the Broadway revival and national tour of Roger’s & Hart’s “On Your Toes.” Since 1991, Leonid Kozlov has directed Kozlov Dance International in Ridgewood, NJ. The Kozlov’s were assisted in the festival organization by a large number of volunteers from Kozlov Dance International.
The Youth Dance Festival of New Jersey is an annual event and will be held again on October 4-5, 2008. Additional information on the festival is available at www.ydfofnj.org.