Theatre, Speech and Dance

The Year in Dance: 1999-2000

We hope you have had a chance to read the annual newsletter. It has lots of news from the classes and -- for you dancers -- a photo quiz on page 17. There are 7 pictures from dance performances over the years. Can you identify individuals? Do you remember the names of the dances? The pictures will be reprinted in next year's newsletter with your responses, along with a new set of photos.

This has been an exciting year for the dance companies. "Fusion" continues its tradition of vital and exciting performances across campus and presented a highly successful season at Ashamu Dance Theatre in March.

The Tap Ensemble contributed new works to The Parents' Weekend Dance Concert, and the Fall and Spring Dance Concerts.

RJC Dance Collective is the newest student run ensemble. Conceived and directed by Ryan Smith, Jon Martin and Courtney Rowe, these sophomores have already created 5 works for Dance Ensemble Concerts!!!!! They seem to be following in the footsteps of Sham Khalsa '91 and Chris Elam '98 as resident innovative choreographers and artistic directors.

"New Works/World Traditions," directed by dance faculty, Michelle Bach-Coulibaly which uses a research to performance methodology to develop new dance theatre pieces that are rooted in Mande dance, music and culture, has performed on campus and on tour with great success.

We began the academic year with our annual Parents' Week-end Concert which is always presented with live music.

Jessica Gaynor '00 presented "Whisper" to an original score by undergrad, Nate Stimpff. By the way, Jessica will attend Cal Arts next year to pursue graduate work in choreography. She will present a retrospective of her work during Commencement Week-end.

The Tap Ensemble presented a new work to live drumming. Jessica Gaynor and Jamal Jackson, both '00, choreographed "An Ka Taa" which was performed by 8 dancers to live African drumming.

The Dance Extension, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, performed Donna Jewell's "Madame Sand" to Chopin waltzes and etudes played live by Ayumi Nagai '03.
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Donna was in residence in September. "Madame Sand," inspired by the life of George Sand, has been very well received and is a marvelous addition to the repertory.

Donna has choreographed, performed, and taught at venues throughout the United States and Europe, including the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance, The Carl Orff Institute, the Mozartium College of Fine Arts, Hubbard Street Company Studios and Brown University. She has a BA in History from DePauw University and an MA in Dance and Choreography from New York University.

Donna was one of two choreographers in residence this year working with the Extension.

Carolyn Dorfman was in residence in February setting "Portrait." (The Company also has Carolyn's "Lifeline" in its repertory.) "Portrait" was performed in the Spring concert and will be repeated in the Parents' Week-end Concert in October at which time the composer, Jennifer Giering, will perform live.

Carolyn is artistic director of the Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company. Her work has been presented throughout the United States by her own Company and be repertory companies and solo artists. Carolyn Dorfman is also a highly respected and gifted teacher. She has been named a Distinguished Artist by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards. She holds a BFA in dance from the University of Michigan and an MFA in dance from New York University's Tisch School for the Arts.

The dancers also learned a short work by David Parsons, The Parsons Etude. Designed to be performed as a solo, a duet, or as a jam session, The Parsons Etude was performed by most of the cast in the Fall Dance Concert -- and some volunteers from the audience!!!

The American Dance Legacy Institute is making great progress on its multi-media volume, The New Dance Group Anthology, thanks to a generous grant from the National Endowment for The Arts.

The New Dance Group was the first truly integrated arts organization in New York City. It provided a creative home for dancers, musicians, and visual artists of all colors, religions, and nationalities. The individuals and the dance works to be represented in the Anthology reflect this rich diversity. It included such artists as Pearl Primus, Sophie Maslow, Jane Dudley, William Bales, Daniel Nagrin, Eve Gentry, Mary Anthony, Hadassah, Talley Beatty, Jean Erdman, Joyce Trisler, Donald McKayle and Anna Sokolow.

In February, The Institute presented Winter Mini-Fest 2000. The three day event included seminars for teachers, Repertory Etudes workshops, master classes, films, a tri-state teleconference, a concert, and a seminar on the New Dance Group. Jodi Falk '86 brought a group of students from Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter High School. Jodi directs the dance program and is co-founder and co-artistic director of the student dance company, "Catalyst." "Catalyst" performed in the Mini-Fest concert along with Brown dancers and two other guest companies.

The dance faculty has been active in the Undergraduate Teaching and Research Fellowship Assistantship Program (UTRA).

Lauren Hale '02, has spent the last year working with the American Dance Legacy Institute on the New Dance Group Anthology. She has conducted interviews with founding members -- many of whom are octogenarians -- and is writing a chapter on the Group entitled "In Their Own Words." She will complete the project this summer.

Jon Martin '02, will work with the Institute on identifying, designing and developing computer technology to make information and resources on dance effective, intuitive, flexible and useful to dancers, educators, students, and researchers.

Ryan Smith '02 will work with Julie Strandberg researching jazz dance including, major figures, signature repertory, codified techniques and teaching methodology, and incorporating the results of that research into existing courses in dance technique and dance performance and repertory.

Sara Nolan '01 will work with Michelle Bach-Coulibaly researching studies done on Mande culture over the past ten years by English scholars and also contacting traditional artists living in the United States to find out what they are doing now. They are also going to be researching how best to bring these things into a classroom context.

The Department of Theatre Speech and Dance awarded prizes to three senior dancers. Miriam Freidel received a Minnie Helen Hicks Award and Jessica Gaynor and Jamal Jackson received Weston Awards.

We will keep this page updated throughout the year so you can keep up with what is happening in dance and hopefully schedule a return to campus to coincide with a dance event.

Please send in updates and news and we will include them in next year's newsletter, along with answers to the photo quiz and new photos from the archives!!!!!

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