Theatre, Speech and Dance

Visiting Company: Dancing Legacy featuring Laura Bennett '92, Jude Sandy '05, Kyle Shepard '04 in Danny Grossman's Ecce Repertory Etude™

The Year In Dance - 2004-2005

 

GUEST ARTISTS

The dance program was thrilled to welcome pioneers in dance and digital media, Dawn Stoppielo and Mark Coniglio, co-directors Troika Ranch( www.troikaranch.org). While on campus they set a new piece on the Dance Extension which was performed in the annual May concert and presented workshops at Brown and at the Rhode Island School of Design. Lacina Coulibaly, of Burkino Faso, was in residence teaching dance and working with New Works/World Traditions.

STUDENT COMPANIES

The new TF Green studios have provided much needed space for the student dance companies, including Fusion, Attitudes, What's On Tap, and Mezcla, but they can still be found rehearsing and performing in diverse venues all over campus. Joining the faculty directed companies, Dance Extension and New Works/World Traditions and other student groups, the dance explosion at Brown truly has something for everyone!!!!

Body and Sole has done a brilliant job of coordinating student dance activities across campus and produced the Fall Dance Concert featuring student choreography.

Dance Alumni News

Six Alumni Spanning 20 years of Dance at Brown return to Campus

Carol Abizaid ’84, Jodi Falk ’86, Laura Strandberg ’92,(professional name Bennett) Wendy Jehlen ‘94, Chris Elam ’98, and Lauren Hale ’02 were all in residence in the dance program this year.

Carol and Chris were visiting faculty for the Spring semester and created new works on Brown students for performance in the annual dance ensemble concert in May at Stuart Theatre. Works by Laura and Lauren were also featured in the concert.

Jodi, who directs the dance program at Pioneer Valley High School of the Performing and Visual Arts, brought her students to campus to perform in the American Dance Legacy Institute's 6th annual Winter Mini-Fest, which also included performances by Laura and Chris. Wendy performed with her company at the Annual Commencement Dance concert.

Laura is managing director of the American Dance Legacy Institute (www.adli.us), directs Dancing Legacy (a performing and teaching ensemble coordinated by the Institute and Lulu Circus - www.lulucircus.org), and maintains a small consulting practice.

Lauren and Jessica Gaynor '00 presented original works in a joint concert in New York City this Spring.

Ryan Smith '02 and Wendy Rein '99 are co-directors of RAWdance www.rawdance.org. Their web site was designed by Courtney Rowe '02. Kyle Shepard '04 is teaching English in Japan.

Spotted at the Paul Taylor 50th Anniversary Celebration -- former Taylor dancers Ruby Shang '71 all the way from Singapore and Joe Bowie '86, who is currently dancing with the Mark Morris Dance Group. Also spotted was Becca Vargus '94, a former understudy for Taylor II, who is dancing in New York and recently became engaged to be married.

AWARDS

Seniors Niki Applebaum, Lynette Friedman, and Jude Sandy are this year’s Weston Award recipients.

Claudine Lott received a Thomas Carpenter Prize and Tisola Logan Minnie Helen Hicks Prize received

SPECIAL EVENTS

March 5th - American Dance Legacy Institute’s Sixth Annual Mini-Fest: Pioneers included a master class, lecture demonstrations, seminars and a performance

The day began with a master class taught by Carol Abizaid (Brown '84) . A choreographer and performer, Carol has worked in the styles of dance pioneers Talley Beatty, Lester Horton, and Katherine Dunham and with contemporary dance masters Fred Benjamin and Milton Myers. Abizaid was the founder and CEO of World Arts, a performing arts studio in Soho, and has served on the faculties of the Tisch School of the Performing Arts, Steps on Broadway, Dance Space Inc., and Pineapple Studios, all in New York City. She has performed and choreographed internationally.

The master class was followed by a Partnering Workshop taught by Chris Elam (Brown '98) who is artistic director of Misnomer Dance Company. Founded in 1998, the Company celebrates nuances of human communication through an innovative movement language drawn from improvisation, studio work, and international research and exchange. According to Deborah Jowitt in the Village Voice, "Chris Elam has fashioned a distinctive, engagingly bizarre choreographic style. His skill and clarity of vision delight the soul."

The final interactive session was a Make-A-Dance Workshop led by local artists, dancer Catherine Bodner, Visual Artist Meris Barretto, and musician Peter Bodner. In this dynamic, intergenerational, interdisciplinary workshop, participants collaborated to develop their own original dance theatre pieces.

The day culminated with the Sixth Annual Mini-Fest Dance Concert, which included Chris Elam described in the New York Times by Jennifer Dunning as "a true original...one of the most individualistic of modern dance voices today," and two works by Laura Bennett: Reverie, which has been compared to Balanchine in its musicality and use of space; and Part Two, described as "unabashedly beautiful" by Viola Farber, founding member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Also featured on the program are new works by Caedra Scott-Flaherty, Annamaura Silverblatt, Julie Strandberg, and Tina Vasquez. Returning companies to the Mini-Fest's intergenerational roster are: the fierce and energetic CATALYST DANCE COMPANY; the exhilarating and commanding DANCE EXTENSION; and the innovative and luminous DANCING LEGACY Dance Company

 

 

 

 

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