Dance News in January
News To the Pointe
The Embracing the Dream® is a five-day summer dance education conference that meets the needs of the nation’s top dance teachers and students. The conference is noted for offering one-of-a-kind workshops and classes taught by a world class faculty. There are workshops that include: the art of pirouette, performance, jumping and arabesque, injury prevention, singing and acting for dancers, production dance and choreography. College-age students can earn college credit. The conference dates, July 28 – August 1 are strategically planned around a time that is generally less stressful for teachers and students. For more information visit www.standingoproductions.net.
Embracing the Dream
National Dance Week has announced the dates for 2008. The annual celebration will be held from April 25th through, and including, May 4th for next year's observation. The celebrity spokesperson will be the esteemed classical prima-ballerina Cynthia Gregory and education spokesperson will be the well-known and honored ballerina Roni Mahler. The beloved literary persona, Angelina Ballerina®, will continue as the Children's spokes-character, coinciding with the 25th anniversary year of the well-known author who created Angelina, Katherine Holabird. The Angelina Ballerina® character made a surprise and highly successful personal appearance at the recent Dance Resource and Costume Preview show held in New Jersey in October by the United Dance Merchants of America.
Philadelphia Based Hip Hop Troupe Returns to Dance Place
olive Dance Theatre
Founded in May 2002 under the Artistic Direction of director Jamie Merwin and choreographer Raphael Xavier, olive Dance Theatre (oDT) presents interdisciplinary work steeped in and moving through African-American vernacular. The company has a mission to validate indigenous American Hip-hop dance forms, specifically Breakin’, through the creation of new dance theatre works and the performance of these works in the theatre domestically and abroad. Merwin states that “Our job is to push the envelope and challenge the norm; the expectations of our own disciplines and instruments, and therefore the scope of our peers and entire audience in a universal direction—movement.” Performance is Saturday, January 26 at 8PM and Sunday, January 27 at 4PM at Dance Place. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 202-269-1600 or visit www.danceplace.org.
New York Theatre Ballet recently announced that NYTB Company dancers, Julie-Anne Taylor and Mitchell Kilby are the recipients of the Byer Fellowship, a special fund created in 2006 in honor of Artistic Director – and NYTB driving force, Diana Byer, on her birthday.
“The Two Pigeons,” “Façade,” “Allegro Brilliante,” “Elite Syncopations:” a few of the eleven new ballets that the Sarasota Ballet Company will be performing for the ’07/ ’08 season. Iain Webb, the newly appointed, artistic director, is pushing ahead with his challenging repertoire of twentieth century, contemporary ballets created by a number of famous choreographers, including Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine and Sir Kenneth MacMillan. Adding to the growing excitement and interest in this new season, Mathew Bourne of the all male “Swan Lake” fame, will personally set his earlier ballet, “The Infernal Galop,” on the company; and Dominc Walsh, formerly of the Houston Ballet, is busy setting a new ballet on the dancers..
Of the thirty-four dancers, the sixteen new dancers are mostly trained in the United States; while in the past, the Company has been dominated by Russian and Cuban dancers. Ottavio Martin, a dramatic dancer with untapped potential, along with the fiery, Sergiy Mykhaylov will be dancing lead roles this season, as will the lovely, Kyoko Takeichi and Lauren Strongin, who has been the “prima ballerina” of the past seasons. While advance word is that Simon Mumme and Eileen Lopez, two of the new dancers, are attracting considerable notice.
Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida
WBC logo
Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida celebrates its 10th anniversary with eleven professional dancers in its corps. The concept of the company is to give recent talented ballet graduates the opportunity to acquire performing experience and increase their repertoire while earning a salary while getting additional training to make further improvements.
Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida’s members are led by Russian Ballet Master Vladimir Issaev. Already with an extensive repertoire in classical and neo classical pieces, the company has also performed internationally in Poland, Denmark and looking forward to performing in Germany and Luxembourg for the spring of 2008.
Company members and Director Vladimir Issaev // Photo: Joey G.
“I am in search of the 12th dancer, male, recent graduated, talented and ready to work hard” says Vladimir Issaev. “The idea is to give young dancers from South Florida the opportunity to stay in Miami, but we are open to receive company members from other areas and have them stay here and increase the interest for classical ballet in the area”.
This year's dancers are: Valerie Ackerman, and Gorky Flores both graduated from Escuela Nacional Superior de Ballet of Peru. Lara Garcia born in Madrid, Spain and graduated from the Real Conservatorio Profesional de Danza de Madrid . Alina Hernandez from Miami and graduated from Susana Prieto’s Ballet Etudes; Andrey Konkin, a graduate from the School of Ballet of Perm and Mark Kudelya graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy of Saint Petersburg in Russia; Sabrina Lord-Linde, graduated from the Bossov Ballet Theatre in Maine; Manuelita Navarro born in the Republic of Panama and graduated from the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, under the tutelage of Stanislav Issaev; Yoshie Oshima from Japan who began her training at the Michiko Matsumoto Ballet in Nagoya, Japan to later graduate at Vaganova Ballet Academy of Saint Petersburg in Russia. Also, Anna Ochoa from Ecuador and graduated from the Inge Bruckman School of Ballet, Teatro Centro de Arte de Guayaquil and Brian Ruiz born in Cali, Colombia, recently awarded Best Male Dancer at the American Ballet Competition. He is a graduate from the Colombian Institute of Classical Ballet (Incolballet).
Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida is home based at Vladimir Issaev’s School of Classical Ballet at 2646 NE 189th Terrace in Miami . For more information on the company, please, log on to www.artsballettheatre.org or call 305 935 3232.
2008 World Ballet Competition
The Minnesota Ballet gained a new artistic director in July: Robert Gardner, who had served 15 years as associate artistic director. Also serving as ballet master and school coordinator, Gardner has brought a firm continuity to training students, apprentices, and company members in class and rehearsals. Gardner received a 1998 Artist Fellowship and a 1999 Career Opportunity Grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, in addition to a 1999 Video Documentation Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. He has served on the Minnesota State Arts Board Panel for the Arts in Education Roster of Artists.
Minnesota Ballet's Elise Franczyk and Kevin Belanger in "The Lady and the Unicorn" variation from the Masked Ballet of Robert Gardner's "Sleeping Beauty" production
United States Artists (USA) continues their investment in a creative future by supporting artists nationwide. They recently announced the recipients of fifty $50,000 USA Fellowship Grants for artistic excellence. Six dancers and choreographers were honored at a celebration at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. Working in a range of styles from classical ballet to hip-hop, the USA Fellows for 2007 include:
· Joanna Haigood (San Francisco, CA) · Anna Halprin (San Francisco, CA) · Lorenzo “Rennie” Harris (Philadelphia, PA) · Bill T. Jones (New York, NY) · Benjamin Millepied (New York, NY) · Shen Wei (New York, NY)
Richmond Ballet's Kirk Henning honored as "Future Legend"
Movado, one of the world-s leading watchmakers, rolled out the red carpet for dancer Kirk Henning this October when they honored him as one of three recipients of the Movado Future Legends Award. For the second year of the future legends program, Movado invited three arts institutions to identify a future legend, described as "an individual still studying, but undoubtedly on the path to becoming a major force in his or her field."
Suzanne Farrell selected Henning on behalf of The Kennedy Center. As a future legend, Henning received a crystal award designed with two interlocking circles, symbolizing "individual artistic commitment and Movado's dedication to supporting new talent." Movado also presented him with a Movado watch and a $10,000 grant for his artistic efforts.