The Year in Dance: 2001-2002

FROM THE DIRECTOR'S CHAIR
By Julie Strandberg

This is your page.

I am just here to prime the pump and hope that you will drop in on this site often and make contributions to it throughout the year.

This year there is no newsletter because all of our efforts have gone into developing a booklet on the 100th anniversary of SOCK AND BUSKIN. Be sure to get your copy!!! However, we didn't want to lose a year of sharing dance news with you.

It is always an exciting year for dance and 2001-2002 was no different.

CONCERTS

The dance program sponsored five concerts this year including the ever popular PARENTS' WEEK-END CONCERT--always a collaboration with musicians.

An addition to the calendar this year was an INAUGURATION CONCERT in honor of President RUTH SIMMONS. This special concert included West African Dance on the Green and performances by THE DANCE EXTENSION and NEW WORKS, WORLD TRADITIONS in Ashamu Dance Studio. The Dancers join the rest of the campus in offering a hearty welcome to President Simmons!!!

For the first time ever the annual FALL DANCE CONCERT was devoted exclusively to student choreography, produced by a new student board, BODY AND SOLE. This is the beginning of a great new tradition that showcases the extraordinary talent of Brown choreographers.

THE DANCE ENSEMBLE IN CONCERT at Stuart Theatre, an annual feature of the Sock and Buskin subscription season, presented a revival of JULIE STRANDBERG'S "DIMENSIONS", a new work by MICHELLE BACH-COULIBALY and a West African dance by SEYDOU COULIBALY. The Concert also included a JAZZ REPERTORY ETUDE by DANNY BURACZESKI, a LIMON REPERTORY ETUDE by CARLA MAXWELL, and a reconstruction of JACK COLE'S "HAPPY ENDINGS EVERY TIME". Student choreographers, JON MARTIN, KYLE SHEPARD and RYAN SMITH presented new works to complete the program. MELODY RUFFIN-WARD was a guest artist in Bach-Coulibaly's piece.

The season culminated with the COMMENCEMENT DANCE CONCERT in Stuart Theatre featuring current students and returning alumni.

SPECIAL EVENTS

IN MEMORIAM: ARTS IN REMEMBRANCE

On November 8th , the DANCE EXTENSION presented, "an artistic tribute to victims everywhere" in response to the tragic events of September 11th. The dancers performed DANNY GROSSMAN'S, "ENDANGERED SPECIES" about the horrors of war, and COLIN CONNOR'S "REQUIEM" as a tribute to the victims of the terrorist attacks. Students in the other arts presented songs, poetry, and visual art as part of the tribute. At the end of the concert, the audience was invited to learn "BUSHASHCE" by PEARL PRIMUS after a traditional dance from Zaire (as it was called when she visited.) "BUSHASHCE" is performed by the Kuba people to call up the forces of evil, confront them and destroy them. Thanks to the support of THE CREATIVE ARTS COUNCIL, THE OFFICE OF THE CHAPLAINS AND RELIGIOUS LIFE, THE DEAN OF THE COLLEGE, and THE DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE, SPEECH AND DANCE, all proceeds from the event went to the CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY OF NEW YORK.

AFRICANIST WEEK-END

From Friday Februay 8th to Sunday February 10th Ashamu Dance Studio was transformed, as the aromas of African food, the sounds of the drums, and the voices of vendors wafted and echoed across the lower green. AFRICANIST WEEK-END celebrated the performance, ritual and healing arts of the Diaspora. Sponsored by the departments of THEATRE SPEECH AND DANCE, AFRICANA STUDIES, and MUSIC and by RITES AND REASON THEATRE, THE THIRD WORLD CENTER, THE CENTER FOR RACE AND ETHNICITY, and THE OFFICE OF THE CHAPLAINS AND RELIGIOUS LIFE, the highly successful and well attended event, produced by MICHELLE BACH-COULIBALY, featured workshops, lectures and performances by guest artists from West Africa, the Caribbean, and South and North America, as well as Brown’s own "NEW WORKS, WORLD TRADITIONS".

WINTER MINI-FEST 2002: GENERATIONS

This third annual Winter Mini-Fest, sponsored by the AMERICAN DANCE LEGACY INSTITUTE and produced by JULIE A. STRANDBERG , featured a workshop for youth, a master class with FRED BENJAMIN, director of the jazz program at the ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATRE and a seminar with Mr. Benjamin to discuss the making of a documentary on American dance master, TALLEY BEATTY. The afternoon also included a coaching session on the LIMON REPERTORY ETUDE based on JOSE LIMON's repertory and style. The day culminated with a concert featuring the DANCE EXTENSION in works from the repertory, including the VILLAGE ETUDE by junior, DEBORAH FRIEDES. Brown alumnae SUMATI KATHRYN EBERSTADT ('70) and RACHEL BALABAN ('80) performed with ARABELLA PROJECT. JODI FALK ('86) brought her students from CATALYST DANCE COMPANY the resident dance company of the PIONEER VALLEY PERFORMING ARTS CHARTER. LAURA BENNETT, ('92) contributed "BALLSTON RAG", her 1996 Trio set to the music of Bobby McFarrin. It was performed by Bennett, BECKA VARGUS ('93) and guest artist NATHAN ANDARY Winter Mini-Fest 2002 was made possible by the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS, THE CREATIVE ARTS COUNCIL, THE DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE SPEECH AND DANCE, and THE NATIONAL COLLEGE CHOREOGRAPHY INITIATIVE.</Font

STUDENT COMPANIES

FUSION sponsored concerts across campus throughout the year and presented five sold-out performances at their annual concert in March. FUSION alums are among the most loyal in the dance program and many could be spotted in the audience throughout the week-end. FUSION alums --let us know what you’re up to!

RCJ, directed by seniors JON MARTIN, RYAN SMITH and COURTNEY ROWE, created a new works for the Fall and Spring Concerts and presented a retrospective of their repertory at the Commencement Show.

WHAT'S ON TAP performed at ADOCH.

A NEW COLLECTIVE

Dancers from BROWN UNIVERSITY, RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE, ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY, and PROVIDENCE COLLEGE came together for an extended residency with DANNY BURACZESKI and his company JAZZDANCE, sponsored in part by a NATIONAL COLLEGE CHOREOGRAPHY INITIATIVE GRANT from Dance/USA, a national service organization. Dancers from each college learned the reconstruction of "HAPPY ENDINGS EVERY TIME" by dance legend, JACK COLE, the finale from the 1951 film "ON THE RIVIERA" starring DANNY KAYE. The 4-COLLEGE DANCE COMPANY performed "HAPPY ENDINGS EVERY TIME" at a mini-concert with JAZZDANCE for middle and high school students at Robert's auditorium on the Rhode Island College Campus. The dancers from all of the colleges also learned the BURACZESKI REPERTORY ETUDE, a triad of duets that explore different jazz styles. The residency also included a panel on jazz and culminated in a performance by JAZZDANCE.

The four colleges hope to do other projects together in the future.

UNDERGRADUTE TEACHING AND RESEARCH ASSISTANTSHIPS (UTRAs)

KYLE SHEPARD ('04) and DEBORAH FRIEDES ('03) 2001 UTRA fellows, are completing work on "DANCING REBELS", a book for middle and high school students on dancers from THE NEW DANCE GROUP. "DANCING REBELS" is a part of an American Dance Legacy Volume on The Group, which will include reconstructions and documentaries on seminal dances, Repertory Etudes, Lesson Plans for K-12 teachers, and an interactive web site. Deborah also created a Repertory Etude – "VILLAGE ETUDE" inspired by SOPHIE MASLOW'S, "THE VILLAGE I KNEW", Israeli folk dances, and the short stories of Yiddish humorist, "SHALOM ALEICHEM."

Deborah has received an UTRA for the summer of 2002, "Access: The Village Etude and Beyond," to produce a teaching tape of the Village Etude, to make age-appropriate modifications to the Etude, to help create a documentary on Maslow and the The Village I Knew, and to develop educational materials on the piece for the K-12 curriculum.

SARAH BURNS '04, will do an UTRA with JULIE STRANDBERG, "Talley Beatty: Portrait of an Artist: Developing a Documentary on an American Dance Legend. "

LYNNETTE FREEMAN ('05), TAMEKA GOULBOURNE ('04), NDAYA KALUBI ('04), and HENTYLE YAPP ('03) received an International Team Fellowship, "The Spiritual and Social Implications of Mande Performative Traditons" and will travel to Mali with MICHELLE BACH-COULIBALY.

MICHAEL CHEN-ILLAMOS ('05) and KRISHNA HATHAWAY ('02.5) received an International Team Fellowship to work with MYRON BEASLEY on "Yorubian Ethnography: Brazil Project."

CONGRATULATIONS

Brown Seniors, LAUREN HALE and RYAN SMITH were given Weston Awards and JON MARTIN and LETA MALLOY were awarded THOMAS CARPENTER PRIZES

THE COMING YEAR FOR THE CLASS OF 2002

LAUREN HALE will attend the AMERICAN DANCE FESTIVAL this summer and will enter the graduate program in choreography in the fall at the TISCH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS. She wrote an honors thesis in Comparative Literature. COURTNEY ROWE will also be at Tisch in the Interactive Telecommunications program (computers and art). She had an independent concentration, "The Electronic Word" and her thesis was on hypertext's past, present and future. LETA MALLOY will attend COLUMBIA TEACHERS' COLLEGE in the fall.

FYI

THE CREATIVE ARTS COUNCIL

THE CREATIVE ARTS COUNCIL (CAC) was established to celebrate the excellence and diversity of the arts at Brown. It awards mini-grants to students for arts projects, supports faculty initiatives, sponsors arts events on campus and across the country, and works to create awareness of the arts as central to the mission of the university. The Council is supported and advised by the CREATIVE ARTS ADVISORY BOARD (CAAB) made up of national leaders. This year, the CAAB sponsored a fund-raising event for the Creative Arts at Brown at LINCOLN CENTER. Guests attended a reception followed by a performance of AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE's production of "EUGENE ONEGIN". The CAAB is committed to establishing an endowed Artists-In-Residence Fund and a Flexible Fund to support a range of arts projects and initiatives both on and off campus. Members of the CAAB are also active in the extended Brown family and often mentor Brown undergraduates who are interested in the arts. GENINE MACKS FIDLER ('77) is a member of the CAAB.

ALUMNI NEWS

That's up to you!!! Share your news and news of other alums .

Don't forget to check in throughout the year for alumni news, special events, and the latest news from the department.

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