Friends of Brockport Dance

Another special summer dance performance @ SUNY Brockport: An Intimate Evening of Contemporary Dance with Bill Evans & Friends

The second special performance coming up is the Fifth annual Bill Evans & Friends: An Intimate Evening of Contemporary Dance, which will take place on Saturday, July 11th at 8:00 p.m. in the Strasser Studio, Hartwell Hall, Kenyon Street south of Monroe Avenue and west of Utica Street, The College at Brockport, State University of New York. Tickets for this performance are $10 general admission, $5 college and secondary school students. Tickets are available at the door only, after 7:00 p.m. on July 11th. The performance will be approximately two hours, with one intermission. This evening will provide a relaxed and close-up view of a wide variety of contemporary dance styles and moods, set to a wide array of musical styles. Choreographers sharing works in this concert are:

• Bill Evans and Don Halquist, both internationally-acclaimed performers and both professors at The College of Brockport, who will perform the jointly-choreographed duet, Stand By Your Man, which depicts a light-hearted version of their 25-year personal/ professional relationship to music by Patsy Cline.
• Kista Tucker, nationally-known choreographer and teacher, who will share a work performed by members of her Rochester-based Kista Tucker Dance Company.
• Missy Pfohl Smith, who began her impressive professional career in New York City-based modern dance companies. She will share a work performed by members of her Rochester-based contemporary dance company BIODANCE.
• Deborah Birrane, accomplished solo artist from Seattle, who will give her premier performance of Under the Moon, By the River by acclaimed New Mexico choreographer Debra Knapp.
• Joanna Cashman, director of Wild Grace Arts in Olympia, Washington, who will perform her yoga/modern solo Samskara.
• Denise Purvis, MFA in dance alumna from The College of Brockport Department of Dance, who now directs a performing arts high school dance program in Midlothian, Virginia, will perform a new solo work.
• Gabrielle Brigida, Hobart William Smith Colleges dance major from Syracuse, who will share the premier performance of a self-choreograhed solo.
• Andrea Vazquez, from Mexico City, and Kathleen Reagan, from Oklahoma City, both MFA candidates in the Brockport Department of Dance, who will perform a collaboratively-choreographed exploration of the Japanese Butoh style.

The first of two special dance performances at SUNY Brockport: Bill Evans Rhythm Tap/Jazz Jam

Bill Evans, Visiting Professor and Guest Artist in the Department of Dance at the College of Brockport since 2004 has announced two special summertime campus dance performances. The first will be Bill Evans’ Brockport Rhythm Tap/Jazz Jam on Thursday, July 9th only at 8:00 p.m. Rhythm Tap/Jazz Jam features Bill Evans (named one of the country's three top tap artists by Dance Magazine), jazz pianist James J. Kaufmann, rhythm tap artists Courtney World and Leah Fox and guest artist Andrea Vazquez. It will be performed in the New York Room of Cooper Hall, corner of Adams Street (New Campus Drive) and Kenyon Street, The College at Brockport, State University of New York. Tickets are $15 general admission, $10 college and secondary school students, $5 children 12 and under and will be available at the door only, after 7:00 p.m. on July 9th. The performance is 1 hour 30 minutes with no intermission. If you missed this show at it’s recent, highly-acclaimed run at Rochester’s Downstairs Cabaret Theatre (I didn't...it was great!), this is your chance to see why audiences responded so enthusiastically.

Rhythm Tap/Jazz Jam includes classic rhythm tap dances performed to live jazz music as a tribute to the great African American artists who created the art form, including Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Charles “Honi” Coles, Charles “Cholly” Atkins, James “Buster” Brown and Eddie Brown. Other works include Evans choreography to George Gershwin’s Preludes and Horace Silver’s Song for My Father, as well as his signature a cappella pieces Blues for my Father and Yes, Indeed! Mr. Evans was named one of the USA’s three favorite tap dance artists in the most recent Dance Magazine Readers Poll (along with Savion Glover and Brenda Bufalino). He is known for his dynamic range, expressiveness, musicality and sense of humor. Evans has collaborated with Courtney World, Leah Fox and James J. Kaufmann since 2004, and they have developed a refined, elegant and highly entertaining program with a remarkable range of moods and styles. Here are some notices about Bill Evans and the performances from elsewhere:

• “Chicago Tap Theatre’s loving tribute to [69]-year-old modern-rhythmic dance barrier breaker Bill Evans is an experience of intimate and symphonic proportions….His breadth of experience in ballet, modern and tap dance has molded Evans into a uniquely lyrical-percussive artist. And while fusion might be an easy buzzword to slap onto his merging of styles, he more accurately melds each discipline into the other so that only movement—with no titles attached—remains.” —Lucia Mauro, Chicago Tribune
• “What a treat to see a master choreographer such as he in the full maturity of his performing career.” —Wayne Lee, Washington Times
• “Evans knows how to entertain, and he does it in such a distinct and personal way that by evening’s end every fan should feel almost like a friend . . . . He is quite simply a master of his craft, and if anything he gets better with age. He does it all and it is this kind of versatility that allows him to go it alone for an evening with such success.”—Helen Forsberg, Salt Lake Tribune
• “Evans' style simultaneously brought smiles and tears to the audience as he danced for the joy of dance. And between pieces, the intimate performance got more cozy as he addressed the audience and gave little anecdotes of the works and his life as a dancer. His brilliant efforts were rewarded with a standing ovation at the end of the evening.”—Scott Iwasaki, Salt Lake Deseret News

Bill Evans prsents the first annual Rochester Rhythm Tap/Jazz Jam at Downstairs Cabaret Theatre

Sorry it has been so quiet around here for awhile... but I wanted to let you know that Bill Evans will be presenting the first annual Bill Evans-Rochester Rhythm Tap/Jazz Jam, Monday through Wednesday, June 8-10, at 7:00 pm each night at the Downstairs Cabaret Theatre located at 20 Windsor St (near Eastman Theatre, free parking at East End Garage). The Jam will feature Bill Evans (named one of the country's three top tap artists by Dance Magazine), jazz pianist James J. Kaufmann, Courtney World and Leah Fox.

Evans was named one of the USA’s three favorite tap dance artists in the most recent Dance Magazine Readers Poll (along with Savion Glover and Brenda Bufalino). He is known for the dynamic range of his tap and dance, his expressiveness, his musicality and his sense of humor:

Chicago Tap Theatre’s loving tribute to [69]-year-old modern-rhythmic dance barrier-breaker Bill Evans is an experience of intimate and symphonic proportions .... is breadth of experience in ballet, modern and tap dance has molded Evans into a uniquely lyrical-percussive artist. And while fusion might be an easy buzzword to slap onto his merging of styles, he more accurately melds each discipline into the other so that only movement—with no titles attached—remains.—Lucia Mauro, Chicago Tribune

The Rhythm Tap/Jazz Jam will include classic rhythm tap dances performed to live jazz music as a tribute to some of the great African American artists who created the art form, including Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Charles “Honi” Coles, Charles “Cholly” Atkins, James “Buster” Brown and Eddie Brown. Other works will include Evans choreography to George Gershwin’s Preludes and Horace Silver’s Song for My Father, as well as his signature a cappella pieces Blues for my Father and Yes, Indeed!

Tickets are $21 general admission (discounts: seniors age 60 and above, groups of 10 or more, full-time students age 22 and under, DCT members). The program is 1.5 hours with no intermission. Note: Online ticketing is not available. To make recommended reservations, please call (585) 325-4370 with a credit card. Also contact them for more information on group discounts and private performances.

Bill Evans Dance to perform May 1st in Rochester at Visual Studies Workshop

Bill Evans, visiting professor and guest artist in the Department of Dance at The College at Brockport, SUNY, is directing a performance combining movement, sound and photography in collaboration with musician James J. Kaufmann at Visual Studies Workshop’s Siskind Gallery, on Friday, May 1, 2009, at 7:30 pm. The 30-minute performance, titled Ephemera, will be performed throughout the recently renovated gallery in honor of and in response to the exhibition “Picturing the Archive” photographs by Doug Manchee, which opened April 24th, with a reception from 6–9 pm.

Members of the recently re-established Bill Evans Dance Company will also collaborate in the creation of this movement and music event. They include Kathleen Kiehl, Don Halquist, Sarah Moore, Leanne Rinelli, Roy Tracy, Andrea Vazquez and Courtney World. All of these talented modern dance artists have studied extensively in the Department of Dance at the College at Brockport with Mr. Evans and Don Halquist. The Bill Evans Dance Company was recently reorganized on a project basis for a successful performance at the Hochstein Performance Hall. The May 1 event at the Visual Studies Workshop Siskind Gallery will be the first of several 2009 performances by the Evans Company in the Greater Rochester area.

The exhibition, “Picturing the Archive” encompasses years of photographic investigation by Manchee in Visual Studies Workshop’s Research Center and Archives housing more than 25,000 volumes, over a million print, slide, and negative images, around 5,000 artists’ books, numerous audiotapes, digital files, and other items.

Dance in CT with a Brockport Connection

This one is a bit out of the way, but has a connection to the dance program at Brockport. A SUNY Brockport dance alumnus sent me an announcement of the fourth edition of "Rebound—An Independent Dance Festival," which will be presented Saturday, April 25th at 7:30pm in the ACES/Educational Center for the Arts, at Arts Hall, Audubon and Orange Streets, in New Haven, CT.

Presented by Clark Dance Theatre and ghe Neighborhood Music School,Rebound provides performing opportunities for professional and semi-professional dancers and choreographers and promotes diverse choreographic voices and collaborates with other art forms such as film.

Brockport Dance alumni include Curator of Rebound Judie Clark, as well as Anne Burnidge of Anne Burnidge Dance, who will be among the artists scheduled to perform, including:

• Clark Dance Theatre (New Haven, CT) will be presenting two new works “Tellum” by company member Katie Jackson and “Keeping Composure” by Rebound’s Curator Judie Clark
• A film by Bates College Director of Dance Carol Dilley
• Melissa Gendreau’s Perceptions Contemporary Dance Company (Boston, MA)
• Anne Burnidge and dancers (Buffalo, NY) present ‘Discesa in Bianco,’ a piece based on Dante’s Inferno (this was performed at Brockport last year)
• Colleen Cintron and Katie Jackson (Norwalk, CT)
• Krisen Day will be dancing ‘Carpe Lucem’ to the music of Tom Waits (Northampton, MA
• A film by Bates College student Barbara Byers
• James Robey Dance Company (Ridgefield, CT)
• Tiffany Rhynard, Big Action Performance Ensemble (Big APE) will be presenting ‘Trash’ a “social commentary on the excess of garbage in our culture and how we negotiate through the messes we make or avoid them completely” (Middlebury, VT)
• Laura Ward/ Octavia Cup Dance Theatre, is on faculty at the Laban/ Bartenieff Institute in New York and will be dancing with Buddy Valdez in a modern duet en pointe to original music by Fa Ventilato; Lindsey Bauer, (New Haven, CT)
• A student dance company from the New Canaan Dance Academy will be dancing ‘Palladino’ an energetic and physical piece.
• Students at Central Connecticut State University will be providing video PSA’s for Dancers Responding to Aids a non-profit organization which partial proceeds of the performance will be donated. DRA supports people living with HIV/AIDS, social services for performing professionals, and women’s health organizations www.dradance.org.

Admission is $20.00 adults $10.00 Students/ Seniors. General Admission (doors open at 7:00 pm) For more information see the website or call 203.889.7308.

Sankofa African Dance comes back to SUNY Brockport April 23-25

The Sankofa African Dance and Drum Ensemble performance, a annual audience favorite, will be in residence at the Hartwell Dance Theater on the campus of The College at Brockport, State University of New York starting Thursday, April 23, 2009, at 7:30 pm, with additional performances on Friday and Saturday, April 24 and 25, both at 7:30 pm, and on Sunday, April 26 at 2 pm. Hartwell Dance Theater is located in Hartwell Hall, Kenyon Street,in Brockport.

The stage is full of dancers and drummers, colorful lights and even more colorful costumes, Sankofa is a feast for the senses, with music and choreography rooted in the traditions of the African and Afro-Caribbean region, with a little bit of Brazilian flavor thrown in for good measure. One of those traditions is a South African “Gumboot Dance” originated by miners working deep below the earth’s surface. By attaching bottlecaps to their rubber "Wellington" boots, they were able to communicate with each other in the dark mines’ stifling heat and imposed silence. Many of the original steps and routines were parodies of the officers and guards who controlled the mines and workers’ barracks. This work is one of two pieces choreographed for the concert by guest artist Habib Iddrisu.The other guest artist in this year’s concert is the Akoma Ntoaso Dance Ensemble, founded by Brockport alumnae Michelle Whitt and Wyneshia Hicks. Akoma Ntoaso combines traditional African dance and storytelling to present a high-energy performance destined to excite audiences, as well as educate them.

Artistic director Clyde Alafiju Morgan has choreographed two new pieces for this annual Sankofa celebration. One is “Samité,” a depiction of folklore and traditions. The other is “Limón Para Siempre (Reflections)” which hearkens back to Morgan’s time, and fond memories, of performing with the José Limón Dance Company. The score for this bittersweet work will be performed by composer James J. Kaufmann. Music director Khalid Abdul N’Faly Saleem and the drummers of the ensemble will get the audience worked into an energized froth with his arrangement of “Timini,” a traditional rhythm that hails from Senegal, West Africa. Sankofa will also feature choreography by Kelly Kavanaugh, Molly Elizabeth Christie and Jason Aryeh.

Tickets for these performances are $12, $10 for Seniors and Brockport faculty and staff, and $8 for students. Tickets are available by phone at (585) 395-ARTS or at the Tower Fine Arts Center Box Office, 180 Holley Street, Brockport. Remaining tickets may be available at the Box Office in Hartwell Hall one hour prior to each performance.

Come out to see the Best of Brockport Dance next weekend!

Under the artistic direction of visiting professor/guest artist Bill Evans, the world-renowned Department of Dance at the College at Brockport, State University of New York, will be presenting the Best of Brockport Dance 2009, on April 4th at the Jewish Community Center, featuring an elegant reception and stunning dance concert including the finest recent works created for and by the department’s students. The BOBD is being held at the JCC to heighten awareness of Brockport's world-class Dance Department in the Greater Rochester area.

We're told that the pre-concert reception, starting at 6:00 pm, will be a feast for the eyes and the taste buds, including cuisine and libations, as well as informal dance performances and music by Brockport faculty and student artists. The concert itself will begin promptly at 8 pm. Ticket prices are $75 for the concert and reception, and $37.50 for the concert only. The event is a benefit for the Department of Dance’s incoming student scholarship fund.

The 90-minute concert will present choreography by several members of the faculty, two outstanding students and a distinguished guest artist. It will showcase vibrant, diverse and eloquent performances by almost 50 selected undergraduate and graduate artists and several faculty artists as well. There will be a wide variety of styles, techniques and diversity in the program. Award-winning faculty artists represented in the program include Bill Evans, James Hansen, Habib Iddrisu, Maura Keefe, Suzanne Oliver and Darwin Prioleau. Faculty and staff musical artists who will share their work in live performance include James Joseph Kaufmann, Greg Ketchum and Khalid Abdul N’Faly Saleem. The evening’s celebrated guest choreographer is Dianne McIntyre. Senior BFA candidate Sarah Moore and MFA candidate Kelly Kavanaugh complete the roster. Works will include:

• Guest artist Dianne McIntyre worked in collaboration with musicians Kaufmann, Ketchum and Saleem and a large cast of student dance artists over a period of several months to create “Club,” a strikingly athletic and contemporary investigation and celebration of community. Bill Evans’ “Colony” is a penetrating and rhythmically compelling look at the history of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Maoris, and their struggles with identity under British colonization.
• The Sankofa African Dance and Drum Ensemble, under the artistic direction of professor Clyde Alafiju Morgan, will perform a drumming piece led by Khalid Saleem and a South African “Gumboot Dance” recreated by Habib Iddrisu. Historians believe the gumboot dance likely originated among South African gold miners; many of the original steps and routines were parodies of the officers and guards who controlled the mines and workers' barracks.
• “Conflict in Light,” a modern/jazz/theater work choreographed by dance department chair, Darwin Prioleau, incorporates dance, text and song to explore the intrinsic need of the human spirit for hope. Suzanne Oliver’s solo, “Swan Song,” is a poignant exploration of loss, brokenness and the incredible tenacity of the human spirit.
• James Hansen’s “Shaken with a Twist” is a light-hearted and quirky duet that presents a couple caught in a churning yet not too serious frustration of daily life. During the summer of 2009, this dance will be produced in national dance festivals in New York, Chicago and Virginia. “Inching Toward Abandon” was choreographed by Maura Keefe, in collaboration with two undergraduate and two graduate students to music by One Ring Zero. It reveals an odd sense of community.
• Kelly Kavanaugh will present an excerpt from her MFA thesis entitled “Time to Come to Standing,” a rhythmic and kaleidoscopic exploration of community and the self within. Sarah Moore’s “Go Get” depicts a dancer becoming helpless in a situation that takes total control over her by the end of the piece.

For the SUNY Brockport community, there will be two preview performances of Best of Brockport Dance 2009 in the College’s Hartwell Dance Theater on Thursday and Friday, April 2 and 3, 2009 at 7:30 pm. Tickets for these performances are $12, $10/Seniors and Brockport faculty and staff, and $8 for students, and are available by phone at (585) 395-ARTS or at the Tower Fine Arts Center Box Office, 180 Holley Street, Brockport. Remaining tickets for the April 2 and 3 performances may also be available at the Box Office in Hartwell Hall one hour prior to each performance, and may also be available at the JCC Box Office beginning at 6 pm for the April 4 performance. A portion of the ticket price to the April 4 benefit performance is tax-deductible: For the $75 concert and reception ticket, $30 is tax-deductible. The gift portion of the $37.50 concert only ticket is $7.50.

Dance/Strasser returns with some strong works of dance

The College at Brockport’s Department of Dance, known for producing exciting works, will be presenting DANCE/Strasser for three performances on March 26th through 28th in the Rose L. Strasser Studio in Hartwell Hall. Artistic Director of the concert, faculty member Juanita Suarez states:

Modern dance has the capacity to express through movement what words cannot; it is expressive of the mysterious, unique nature of our humanity.... Our undergraduate and graduate dance students will showcase a continuum of dances that are expressive of global and collaborative ideas.

To that end, Andrea Vázquez and Kathleen Reagan will be presenting “KiSaichū,” a Japanese butoh work based on the beauty of symbiotic relationships. Different from the training for modern dance, Japanese butoh involves working with sustained movement that is intense in focus.

Crystal K. Malone and Kelly Kavanaugh have collaborated to juxtapose natural movements with a politically-nuanced score by Saul William’s to form the piece “Passing This Place,” based on the concept of human struggle, which motivates each dancer’s progression and ultimately concludes with an amoeba-like grouping.

Britney Falcon’s dance work, “A Little Better Than it Was When We Entered” layers fragmented speech with fragmented movement using stop and go timing. An impressionistic work using four dancers, the dance creates a sense of anxiety as it asks, “What does it mean to be a leftist?”

A quartet work by Nicole Angelo, titled “Automatic Assembly,” is based on floor poses reminiscent of break dancing that have been broken down. The mechanical feeling of Angelo’s work addresses the role of the individual within the group and asks, “When are three a crowd? When are four? When one feels different from others, how does one react?”

All performances begin at 7:30 pm in the Strasser Studio, Hartwell Hall, Kenyon Street, Brockport, NY. Tickets are available for $12 for general public, $10 for Seniors, SUNY Brockport Faculty and Staff, and $8 for Students. Tickets are available by phone at (585) 395-ARTS or at the Tower Fine Arts Center Box Office, 180 Holley Street, Brockport. Remaining tickets will be available at the Box Office in Hartwell Hall one hour prior to each performance.

A talkback session will follow the performances on Thursday and Saturday, March 26th and 28th. Led by some of the graduate student choreographers, it is a perfect opportunity to find out more about the creative process, and what makes a dance take form in the mind of its creator.

The Best of Brockport Dance returns to highlight SUNY Brockport's world class dance program

Please save the date for the second Best of Brockport Dance is coming to the Jewish Community Center, 1200 Edgewood Ave., Rochester, on Thursday through Saturday, April 2 and 3 at 7:30 pm, and Saturday, April 4th at 8:00 pm. On Saturday, there will be a pre-concert reception from 6:00 to 7:30 pm.

This second biennial concert has a dual purpose: it is a way to show the spectacular achievements of both students and faculty to the greater Rochester community, but it is also, and even more importantly, is one of the events held throughout the year to raise funds for incoming student scholarships. The Saturday performance will be $75 (general admission), which includes the fundraising reception, or $37.50 for the performance only. This performance is not subject to subscription or any other promotional discounts.

Watch the Democrat & Chronicle and Rochester City Newspaper for more details and this site for a response card that you can send in to let us know you're going to join us in supporting this world class dance program!

First Dance/Hartwell of 2009 highlighting graduate student choreography

The College at Brockport’s Department of Dance is presenting DANCE/Hartwell featuring MFA thesis work choreographed by Heather Acomb, Kirstin Howard, and Melinda Planey. Performance will be Thursday through Saturday, March 5th to 7th at 7:30 pm in the Hartwell Dance Theater, Kenyon Street, on SUNY Brockport campus. The pieces include:

• Heather Acomb’s thesis piece examines the movement qualities of the legendary Doris Humphrey and how they connect to current aesthetics. Acomb was elected graduate student representative for the Student Dance Organization and secretary for Brockport's National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) student chapter. She also received the Pylyshenko-Strasser Graduate Dance Award for demonstrating a high level of academic achievement and two full-tuition summer study scholarships to attend the Limón Dance Company Summer Workshops.
• Kirstin Howard’s dance uses the sculptures created by Mitch Messina, chairperson of the Department of Art at Nazareth College, to establish a relationship between dance and art.
• Melinda Planey has choreographed a piece inspired by the movement, personality traits and relationships of birds. She is the editor of the Friends of Brockport Dance Newsletter.

Other works in this concert are newly created modern dance pieces by graduate and undergraduate choreographers selected by an adjudication committee which included students and faculty coordinators James Hansen and Juanita Suarez. In choosing pieces, the committee looked for original ideas, inventive movement vocabulary and diverse approaches to modern dance.

Tickets are $12 (general admission), $10 (seniors, College at Brockport faculty and staff) and $8 (students) and are available by phone at (585) 395-ARTS or at the Tower Fine Arts Center Box Office, 180 Holley Street, Brockport. Tickets may also be available at the Box Office in Hartwell Hall one hour prior to each performance.

Keigwin + Company in residence @ Brockport February 23-28

The modern dance company Keigwin + Company will be conducting a one-week residency at The College of Brockport, State University of New York, from February 23rd through 28th. The residency will end with three public performances in Hartwell Dance Theater on Friday, February 27th at 7:30 pm and Saturday, February 28th at 5:00 and 7:30 pm.

Keigwin + Co. was established in 2003 under the artistic direction of Larry Keigwin. Combining physicality with theatricality, the company performs provocative and witty work, always with style. The New York Times writes, “Keigwin achieves astonishing feats of dancing ... a parcel of pure explosive energy mediated by impressive technical skills.” The Brockport concerts will include "Love Songs" and excerpts from "Elements," among other works. "Elements" is a four-part work—inspired by earth, fire, water and air—set to a wide range of music including Mozart, Chopin, Patsy Cline, Etta James and Perry Como. Dancing alongside the professional company will be a select group of Brockport students. “Residencies give us the opportunity to take the whole company and perform and teach," Keigwin said. "It's enriching not only for the company, but for dancers in the community and the entire community itself."

Tickets can be purchased from the Brockport Student Government Box Office, (585) 395-2487. Keigwin + Company’s residency and performances are sponsored by the Student Dance Organization, Brockport Student Government, and The College at Brockport’s Department of Dance.

Check out Anna Reguero's article "High Octane Opportunity: Performances cap modern dance troupe's residency at SUNY Brockport" from Friday, February 27th's Democrat & Chronicle.

Another heads up for Bill Evans' Hands-on Workshop for 2009: Developing a Personal Pedagogy of Dance Technique

Bill Evans and SUNY Brockport Department of Dance are hosting a Hands-on Workshop for 2009: Developing a Personal Pedagogy of Dance Technique, featuring the Bill Evans method, an approach for teaching modern dance for selected professional dance educators. This workshop will run from July 11-13 (following the Intensives held from July 6-11). Faculty include Bill Evans, Don Halquist, Debra Knapp and Suzie Lundgren.

Program of Study:

• 8:30–10:00: Laban Theory and Bartenieff Practice as they apply to the Evans Method of Teaching Dance Technique, Bill Evans.
• 10:45–12:15: Evans Method/Contemporary Dance Technique, intermediate level, Bill Evans (M, W, Sa); Don Halquist (T, Th, F).
• 1:30–3:00: Developing a Personal Pedagogy of Dance Technique Seminar Don Halquist (M, W, Sa); Debra Knapp (T, Th, F).
• 3:15–4:30: Several choices include: Hands-On Teaching Lab, Debra Knapp, M, W, F; Suzie Lundgren (T, Th, Sat.); presentations by 4th-year participants (M), Julie Anderson (T), Sara Joyce-Dyer (W), Joanna Cashman (Th), or Deborah Birrane (F); or Modern Dance Technique class by Heather Roffe (3:15 – 4:45).
• 6:00–7:30: Modern Dance Technique (M), Joanna Cashman (T), Deborah Birrane (W), Sarah Joyce-Dyer (Th), Julie Anderson (F), and Jazz Dance with Debra Knapp.
• 7:45–9:15: Feldenkrais/Bartenieff Somatics Lab, Suzie Lundgren (M–F) or Presentations by 2nd-year Participants (7:45–8:45).
• 6:00–9:00, Saturday, Graduation Ceremony for 4th-year participants and Workshop Party at Bill and Don’s house on Lake Ontario.

Certification Program: Those who successfully complete a 1-week Evans Dance Teachers Intensive and a 1-week Evans Hands-On Pedagogy of Dance Technique Workshop for 4 summers within 6 years, and successfully complete an e-mail essay examination before the final summer and a teaching examination during the final summer, will be awarded Certification in the Bill Evans Method of Teaching Modern Dance Technique.

Application Procedures: If you were selected for the Hands-On Pedagogy of Dance Technique Workshops at SUNY College at Brockport in 2007 or Fort Worden in 2008, or into the Evans Technique Certification Program in 2005, 2006 or 2007, you are automatically accepted into this session in 2009. If you have participated in an Evans Teachers’ Intensive in the last 5 years, you need only send a 1-page letter describing your reasons for wanting to join this workshop and a recent 30-minute VHS or DVD of yourself teaching a contemporary dance technique class to be considered. All others are asked to send a 1-page letter describing your reasons for wanting to join this workshop, 2 e-mailed letters of recommendation from teachers who know your work well and a recent 30-minute teaching VHS or DVD. As soon as we have all your materials, we will let you know if you are accepted. Letters may be emailed to Bill Evans at Brockport.

Tapes or DVDs should me mailed to:
Evans Dance Workshop
Department of Dance
The College at Brockport
350 New Campus Drive
Brockport, NY 14420

Once you meet the registration requirements, you should send your completed registration form (PDF) and a check made out to “Evans Dance Workshop” for your registration and housing deposits to:
Bill Evans
Department of Dance
The College at Brockport
350 New Campus Drive
Brockport, NY 14420

Fees: Tuition for this workshop will be $450, plus a $50 non-refundable deposit. For those also taking the July 6 – 11 Evans/Brockport Dance Teachers Intensive, fee for combined workshops will be $700 plus registration deposit, a savings of $110. This workshop can also be taken for 3 graduate or undergraduate credits; tuition payment to the College at Brockport for 3 credits will be required in addition to the non-refundable registration deposit of $50. Tuition fee shown above will be waived. To register, please visit www.brockport.edu. If you require a PIN number, please email Bill Evans. Housing in College of Brockport Residence Hall, single approximately $38, double approximately $20 per day.

An early heads up for the Bill Evans & Brockport Dancer Teachers' Intensive

Bill Evans and SUNY Brockport Department of Dance are hosting a Dance Teachers' Intensive for professional dance educators and graduate students in dance preparing for teaching careers. The Intensive will run from July 6 to 11, 2009, at the State University of New York College at Brockport. Faculty will include Bill Evans, Don Halquist, Suzanne Oliver, and Joanna Cashman. The Intensives will be available for graduate or undergraduate college credit or for a non-credit fee.

Bill Evans and Don Halquist have devoted much of their professional lives to developing educational methods and materials that allow dancers of all ages to become healthier, more articulate, more expressive and more well-rounded artists and human beings. The Bill Evans Dancers’ Intensive provides a learning environment that generates trust, self-esteem, peer support and physical, mental and spiritual regeneration. Overarching themes and underlying concepts unify all courses, so that students have multiple opportunities each day to experience transformative ideas in different dance and movement forms, allowing them to make quantum leaps of understanding and embodiment in a short time. Participants develop relationships with peers that provide networks of support throughout the year.

Brockport is a charming Victorian village located on the historic Erie Canal, 20 minutes from the Rochester International Airport. The park-like College campus, the world-class dance studios, and the genuine warmth of the faculty and returning participants all contribute positively to the regenerative qualities of the total experience for participants in this unique intensive workshop.

The schedule will be as follows:

• 8:30–10:00 a.m., Bartenieff-Based Somatics Lab, Bill Evans and Don Halquist
• 10:15 a.m.–12:00 p.m., The Bill Evans Method/Laban-Based Modern Dance Technique, intermediate and advanced levels, Bill Evans/Don Halquist
• 1:30–3:00, Dance-Science-Based Ballet intermediate or advanced on alternate days, Suzanne Oliver, and/or Rhythm Tap, beginning or intermediate on alternate days, Bill Evans
• 3:30–5:00, (Monday – Friday) Dance Pedagogy Seminar and Lab, becoming a more effective teacher of dance technique and other dance studies, Don Halquist
• 3:30–5:00, (Saturday, July 11) Informal Sharing of Choreography and Performance by workshop participants
• 6:45–8:15 (Monday – Friday), Alexander Technique Hands-On Lab, Suzanne Oliver, or Developmentally-Based Yoga for Dancers, Joanna Cashman
• 7:30–9:30 (Saturday, July 11), Bill Evans and Friends Professional Dance Performance,followed by workshop party

To register for the Intensive there is a non-refundable registration deposit of $50. You can attend the entire workshop for $360, with options for morning courses only for $250, morning and afternoon courses for $300, and evening course and performance for only $100. For those also taking the July 13–18 Hands-On Pedagogy of Dance Technique Workshop, the fee for combined workshops will be $700 plus registration deposit, a savings of $110. This workshop can also be taken for 3 graduate or undergraduate credits; tuition payment to the College at Brockport for 3 credits will be required in addition to the non-refundable registration deposit of $50. Other fees shown above will be waived. Moderately-priced housing will be available in a College at Brockport Residence Hall. For more information, email Bill Evans. More information is available at the website for Bill Evans Dance. Download a PDF of the registration form here.

Check out the City Newspaper preview of Bill Evans Dance at Hochstein, November 30

Thought you might like to see the preview in City Newspaper of the Bill Evans Dance Company performance at the historical Hochstein Performance Hall in downtown Rochester at 3:30 pm on Sunday, November 30th. It's going to be a great show.  There's more details on this blog here. Come out to support the re-establishing of this wonderful dance company in Rochester!

Remember to come out to DANSCORE this week!

Just a reminder that DANSCORE begins tonight, November 19th and runs through November 22nd. All performances will begin at 7:30pm and will be held in the Hartwell Dance Theater, Kenyon Street, on the SUNY Brockport campus. The performance on Saturday, November 22 is a special Scholarship Fund Benefit performance. Link here to go to our earlier post with the details.