Theatre, Speech and Dance

The Year in Dance: 2002-2003

It is always an exciting year for dance and 2002-2003 was no different.
 
We had a very successful concert season, including the Parents’ Week-End Concert in collaboration with the music department;  the Fall Concert of student choreography produced by Body and Sole; the Spring Concert highlighted by works of faculty and guest choreographers; and the Commencement Dance Concert featuring alumni and graduating seniors.
 
Day Of The Arts
The dancers began the year by participating in the first annual Day of the Arts during Homecoming Week-End, produced in a collaboration between Alumni Relations and the Creative Arts Council.  Students and alumni from all of the arts shared a day of panels, exhibitions, readings, and performances.  Many returning alumni enjoyed arts activities before and after the traditional football game and found that the addition of these activities rounded out their day. Some alumni were drawn back to campus because of the arts and chose to spend the whole day engaged in arts activities.  The Dance Extension performed Jack Cole’s Happy Endings Every Time;  New Works, World Traditions presented several West African dances; and Fusion and What’s On Tap performed works from their repertories.
 
American Dance Legacy Institute’s Fourth Annual Mini-Fest
Winter Mini-Fest was a full day of dance activities, including a master class, lecture demonstrations and a performance
 
The day began with a master class taught by  France Mayotte Hunter who has moved to Providence and will bring great new energy to the Brown and Rhode Island dance communities.  France, a choreographer, dancer and educator, performed with Twyla Tharp from 1977-79 and was an ensemble dancer in the film adaptation of Hair.  As director of the dance program at Greenwich Academy, she created at K-12 comprehensive dance curriculum.
 
Two highlights of Winter Mini-Fest were the presentation of completed materials developed by the American Dance Legacy Institute (ADLI) including documentaries, Repertory Etude Instructional videos; a new website – www.adli.us ;  and curricular materials and the introduction of Dancing Legacy.
 
Dancing Legacy reaches a wide constituency with ADLI's materials and methodologies. A new dance collective, Dancing Legacy brings together a group of dancers with different expertise and common knowledge and models itself more as a jazz music ensemble than a traditional dance company. Directed by Laura Bennett ’92 , Dancing Legacy has assembled a roster of dancers who have learned repertory as well as ADLI teaching and coaching methodologies
 
Mini-Fest also included a lecture demonstration  in which high schools students from Rhode Island and  Massachusetts,  demonstrated ways in which the repertory materials of the American Dance Legacy Institute are being used in diverse settings for dancers of various ages and levels of expertise.
 
The day culminated with the Fourth Annual Winter Mini-Fest Dance Concert.  Through classic and contemporary works, independent artists and dancers from Arabella Project, Catalyst Dance Company, Dancing Legacy, the Dance Extension and WestSide Dance Project celebrated and shared the spectrum of American dance.  The Dance Extension performed Anne Alex-Packard’s Angel’s In The Attic and Carla Maxwell’s Limon Etude.
 
American College Dance Festival Association (ACDFA)
Choreographers Ben Asriel ’03 and Kyle Shepard ’04 took their dances  to ACDFA for adjudication.
 
Battleworks residency
Elisa Clark from Battleworks Dance Company was in residence teaching the Dance Extension Robert Battle’s Rush Hour.   “Robert Battle possesses a dance vocabulary that utilizes gesture and nuance in a  beautifully bizarre way. When it comes to movement Battle has no boundaries in  creating his imagery. A choreographer in high demand, Battle's works have been commissioned by Hubbard Street Repertory Ensemble, Ailey II, Dallas Black Dance Theater, The Parsons Dance Company and Paradigm to name a few.”
 
Troika Ranch Residency
Troika Ranch uses digital software tools to create the, visual and aural material for their performances. They use sensory devices to allow the movements or vocalizations of a performer to manipulate some aspect of the media's presentation in real time. Their goal is to have the media elements in their performances have the same sense of liveness as the human performers it accompanies.
 
Troika Ranch was in residence as part of a Video, Technology and Performance Symposium co-sponsored by the department of Theatre Speech and Dance and the department of Music.  The residency was made possible in part by a grant from the Lawton Wehle Fitt, ’74 Artist-In-Residence Endowment Fund, administered by the Creative Arts Council.
 
Julie A. Strandberg had a very productive year.  Through her work with The American Dance Legacy Institute (ADLI) (www.adli.us) she completed Volume One of the New Dance Group Anthology which was funded in part by two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.  The first volume of the Anthology is comprised of seven documentaries and five Repertory Etudes. The artists included are, Mary Anthony, Talley Beatty, Jean-Leon Destine, Eve Gentry, Sophie Maslow, Donald McKayle, Pearl Primus, Daniel Nagrin, and Anna Sokolow.
 
The Anthology also includes educational materials and outreach initiatives created in partnership with students, dancers, dance educators, and scholars.  Brown students Vanessa Jacobson ’99,  Lauren Hale ’02, Deb Friedes ’03 and Kyle Shepard ’04 all contributed to the development of the Anthology.  Deb and Kyle wrote biographies for Dancing Rebels.  Designed for middle and high-school students, Dancing Rebels includes a brief history of the New Dance Group and short (2-5 page) biographies of New Dance Group artists, each with an annotated bibliography
 
In anticipation of the possible 2004 induction of the entire New Dance Group into the Hall of Fame at the  National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs, NY, ADLI is spearheading an 18-month plan to saturate New York State with materials from the Anthology. Working in collaboration with the New York State Education Department, the Department of Education at SUNY Brockport, The National Museum of Dance, and Lulu Circus, ADLI is developing programs to provide access for a broad population throughout the state. This initiative will serve as a model for the rest of the country.
 
Michelle Bach-Coulibaly co-directed As Five Years Pass with John Emigh.  It was a seamless collaboration among Bach-Coulibaly; Emigh; composer, Tom Farrell; costumer, Phillip Contic;  set designer, Michael McGarty; and lighting designer, Garland McQuinn ’05.  Michelle continues to take students to Mali, to lead her African dance company, New Works, World Traditions, and is working with Phillip Contic on a performance of Flamma, Flamma for Waterfire at Commencement.
 
AWARDS
 
Deborah Friedes and Hentyle Yapp, both ’03 received Weston Awards for dance. Stacey Yen ’03,  a dancer and former member of the Dance Extension and RCJ, received a Weston Award for acting.  Tisola Logan, ’03 received a Thomas Carpenter Award and junior, Kyle Shepard received a Robinson Potter Dunn Award.
 
HONORS
 
Julie Strandberg received a Dance Alliance of Rhode Island Legacy Award in recognition of innovation, generosity, wisdom and artistry;  a Citizen Citation from the City of Providence for profound understanding of the importance of the arts and for ongoing efforts to promote standards of excellence in dance and dance education; and was named one the most influential artists in Rhode Island by the Providence Phoenix for “preserving modern dance choreography.”
 
Michelle Bach-Coulibaly was named one the most influential artists in Rhode Island by the Providence Phoenix for “going back to basics.”
 
 

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