Friends of Brockport Dance

2008 Bill Evans-Brockport Dancers' Intensive

Bill Evans and SUNY Brockport Department of Dance are hosting a Dancers Intensive for gigh-intermediate and advanced contemporary dancers from July 7 to 11, 2008, at the State University of New York College at Brockport. Faculty will include Bill Evans, Don Halquist and Suzanne Oliver.

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 daily schedule will include:

• 8:30 – 10:00, Bartenieff Fundamentals as Preparation for Dance Technique, Bill Evans
• 10:15 – noon, The Bill Evans Method/Laban-Based Modern Dance Technique, Bill Evans/Don Halquist
• 1:30 – 2:30, Laban-Based Dance Improvisation, Bill Evans
• 2:45 – 4:45, Evans Modern Dance Repertory, Don Halquist
• 6:45 – 8:15 (Monday – Thursday), Alexander Technique Lab, Suzanne Oliver
• 7:30 – 9:30 (Friday, July 11), an informal performance by faculty and invited artists, followed by a workshop party

To register for the Intensive there is a non-refundable registration deposit of $50. You can attend the entire workshop for $300, with options for morning courses only for $200, morning and afternoon courses for $275, and evening course and performance for only $75.  This workshop can also be taken for three graduate or undergraduate credits. In enrolling, tuition payment for three credits would be required in addition to the non-refundable registration deposit of $50. Other fees shown above would be waived. Moderately-priced housing will be available in a College at Brockport Residence Hall. For more information, email Bill Evans.

Dance/Hartwell returns April 3-5 to showcase new Brockport choreography

It's time again for DANCE/Hartwell, presented by the Department of Dance on April 3rd-5th, featuring three exciting new choreographic works by Molly Christie, Cynthia Hermann, and Mark Schmidt—who are each candidates for a Master of Fine Arts degree in dance. The "students have crafted an impressive display of new choreography, brought to life by the most skilled and expressive young artists, from one of the country’s leading departments of dance,” notes Artistic Director and Assistant Professor of Dance at Brockport, Suzanne Oliver. Maura Keefe, assistant professor of dance and graduate program coordinator is Artistic Director responsibilities with Oliver for Dance/Hartwell.

The featured MFA works will include two dances by Mark Schmidt exploring a physical vocabulary inspired by the cultural practices and movement qualities found in the New York underground House dance scene. Originating in Chicago and New York, House is a musical genre and dance style with roots in African-American vernacular jazz-tap. “Socially,” Schmidt observed, “this dance form is an affirmation and celebration of cultural marginality through communal dancing.” The diverse cast celebrates, explores, recreates, and reinvents the rituals and social practices of house dance culture on the concert stage.

Molly Christie’s piece will explore the embodiment and transformation of encoded ritual movement and rhythmic languages from two sacred dance and music traditions. The traditional works are transformed for the concert dance stage. An original musical score by Clement Joseph, weaving both modern and traditional musical languages and instrumentation, has been commissioned to accompany the piece.

Cynthia Hermann will be working with two movements from Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, the Allegretto and the Allegro Con Brio. “Within my choreography,” said Hermann, “I hope to bring to life the energy and emotion that I feel when I listen to these two pieces of music. Beethoven's music is sophisticated and complex so my goal for the work is to choreograph two pieces that dance with the music rather than to it.”

The remaining dances in the concert will include choreography selected in an adjudicated process open to all graduate and undergraduate dance students. We hope you come out for a wonderful evening of dance!

Performances are being Thursday–Saturday, April 3–5, at 7:30 pm, Hartwell Dance Theater, Kenyon Street. Tickets for DANCE/Hartwell are $12 general/$10 seniors/$8 students and are available at the Tower Fine Arts Box Office on Holley Street. For more information, call (585)395-ARTS.

FOBD Newsletter: Bill Evans's Creative Activities

We continue (and actually finish) the republication of the Friends of Brockport Dance newsletter, which was published in January with these notes by Visiting Professor and Guest Artist Bill Evans on his creative activities during his recent leave:

During the 10 weeks during which I was off-campus on my 2/3 semester unpaid leave, I was able to accomplish the following:

• Full-length solo performances at: Skidmore College (Reminiscences of a Dancing Man), Cornish College of the Arts (rhythm tap improvisations accompanied by Joe LaBarbera), and Allegheny College (rhythm tap choreography and improvisation, accompanied by Allegheny College jazz musicians); full-length duet performance with Adrienne Wilson at Nazareth College, (Dancin’ through the History of Jazz, produced by David Perlman, narrated by Michael Lasser, accompanied by seven Rochester area jazz musicians); four duet performances of my work Yes, Indeed! with Mark Santillano, at Mercyhurst College; performance of my solo Three Preludes for the Texas Association of Dance, Galveston
• Half-day seminars/lecture-demonstrations at: On the Boards Center for Contemporary Performing Arts in Seattle (The Legacy of Bill Evans) and at the Firehouse Performing Arts Center in Bellingham, WA (The Bill Evans Effect)
• Two-day workshop in Evans Modern Dance Technique, Bartenieff Fundamentals and Laban Movement Analysis for the Arizona Dance Education Organization in Phoenix
• Teaching residencies at: Skidmore College (three days), Cornish College (three weeks), Anne Green Gilbert’s Creative Dance Center (two classes), Allegheny College (two classes), Mercyhurst College (two weeks), San Jacinto College (three days), Texas Association of Dance (two classes), Calvert High School, southern Maryland (one class)
• Restaging of choreographic works at Cornish College of the Arts (30-minute Mixin’ It Up, with support of National Endowment for the Arts); Mercyhurst College, Erie, PA (Passionsong and Yes, Indeed!)
• Choreography of new works for: Dance Gallery, Bellingham, WA (Perhaps for the Last Time); Anne Green Gilbert’s Kaleidoscope Dancers, Seattle, WA (Jamaican Me Happy); Southern Maryland Dance Collective, Calvert County (Home); Ohio Northern University, Ada (Puttin’ Down the Fog)
• Keynote address for Texas Association of Dance, Galveston

I really missed teaching our wonderful Brockport dance majors during the fall semester, but I was able to mentor a group of students for their performances of my choreography in our DANSCORE concerts, and I was also able to act as artistic director of DANSCORE, serve as mentor to our ACDFA Conference coordinators, and continue to act as departmental liaison to FOBD. In November, a new book edited by Renata Celichowska, Seven Statements of Survival: Conversations with Dance Professionals, was published by Dance and Movement Press in New York City. It includes an extensive interview with, and several photographs of, me. Others subjects are Carolyn Carlson, Garth Fagan, Deborah Jowitt, Madeleine Nichols, Andrea Synder and Joanne Keal’inohomoku.

FOBD Newsletter: Professor Suarez Takes A Sabbatical

We continue the ongoing republication of the FOBD Newsletter originally published in January. The following are some notes by Associate Professor and MA Graduate Dance Program Advisor Juanita Suarez about her upcoming sabbatical:

Juanita Suarez will be serving her sabbatical spring semester 2008 and plans to teach at a private school in China, Guang Ya School, the first private school to ever open in China. She will create a dance drama based on the survival story of the Giant Panda and set the work on students of the Guang Ya School as well as on a talented young actor by the name of Xiong Liang Chao. The work will be presented for the director and administrative personnel of the Wolong Natural Reserve for the Giant Panda in Wolong China. VIPs engaged with the 2008 Olympics in Beijing will also be attending this performance.

Bill Evans Meet Bill Evans...In Seattle

In the mid-1970s, Seattle had a limited modern dance scene. That's when current visiting professor and guest artist Bill Evans was invited there from Utah. A number of dancers flocked to Seattle to perform with the Bill Evans Dance Company. This video is from program on a Seattle cable channel about that history, focusing on the restaging of Mixin' It Up by the students at Cornish College of the Arts. Bill Evans oversaw the project as a visiting artist. Originally performed in 1979 as "A Double Bill" to the music of jazz pianist Bill Evans and his Trio in this 2007 version Evans is accompanied by students from the Cornish Jazz Ensemble.

Brockport hosts the American College Dance Festival Association Northeast Conference

The College at Brockport is presenting the Gala Concert of the American College Dance Festival Association's Northeast Conference in two performances on March 16th. This year's conference is being hosted by the Department of Dance, which will enter one faculty-choreographed piece and one student-choreographed piece in the adjudication process. In the past three years, five of the six Brockport pieces that have been adjudicated at ACDFA conferences have been selected for culminating gala performances. Many other area schools, including Hobart and William Smith Colleges, SUNY College at Geneseo and the University at Buffalo, will enter pieces in the year’s conference adjudication process and may be represented in the Gala Concert.

The conference will begin on Wednesday afternoon, March 12, with a master class by the great rhythm tap artist Dianne Walker, who will be completing a guest artist residency in the Department of Dance. A Welcoming Concert on that evening will feature the three adjudicators. Over the following three and one-half days, the conference will feature more than 130 master classes in many dance forms, a number of panel discussions, five adjudicated concerts, two informal concerts and two faculty concerts. Local dancers are invited to participate in conference master classes for a fee of $15 per session. To register, please send an e-mail.

The gala concert will include eight to ten works that represent the highest artistic and technical standards of performance and choreography in the more than 30 college dance programs that will participate in the five-day conference. During five different adjudication concerts, performed on March 13–15, a panel of national experts will select the works to receive the honor of being performed in this culminating concert. All performers must be matriculating students in a participating college or university dance program or department. At least half the choreographers submitting works for the adjudication process must also be students.

Other choreographers will include faculty members at participating schools and professional choreographers/guest artists. The adjudication panel for this year’s Northeast Regional Conference is comprised of Gesel Mason, Richard Move and Claire Porter.

• Gesel Mason has performed nationally and internationally with Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, Repertory Dance Theatre of Utah, Jacek Luminski of Silesian Dance Theatre, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and Ralph Lemon. She was selected as Emerging Choreographer by the Bates Dance Festival in 2000, received two Metro DC Dance Awards, and a 2007 Millennium Stage Local Dance Commissioning Project from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
• Richard Move choreographs for and performs with his own New York City-based dance company, MoveOpolis. His works have been performed at Dance Theatre Workshop in New York City and at the Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival in western Massachusetts. He has appeared as a guest artist with the Centre Choréographique National de Tours in France, for which he created a choreographic work that premiered at Théatre de la Ville in Paris. He has choreographed for the Martha Graham Dance Company and has created an acclaimed theatrical dance work for Mikhail Baryshnikov and the White Oak Dance Project.
• Claire Porter’s work has been produced by Dance Theater Workshop, PS-122, Joyce Soho, The Bottom Line, NY Horticulture Society, The Knitting Factory, Danspace at St. Marks, Jacob’s Pillow, Southern Theater in Minneapolis, MN; Duncan Theater in Palm Beach, FL; Liberty Science Center NJ; Kitchen Theater in Ithaca, NY; Wooley Mammoth Theater in DC; Off Center Theater in Tampa, FL; Center Stage in Raleigh, NC; American Dance Festival, Lucille Ball Festival of Comedy, Holland Festival in the Netherlands, Tour of Comedy in Germany and the Korea International Festival in Seoul. She performed at the opening of the Peter Eisenman Building at the University of Cincinnati, was the hostess-comedienne-scene changer for the Minnesota Composers Forum’s New Music Concert and has appeared on staircases, boats, backyards, gyms, classrooms, airports, humor festivals, museums and soapboxes.

There will be two public Gala Performances on the mainstage of the Tower Fine Arts Center, on Sunday, March 16, at 12:30 pm and again at 3:30 pm. Tickets are available at the Tower Fine Arts Center box office, (585) 395-ARTS, $12 General/$10 Seniors/$8 Students. The conference is being coordinated by Department of Dance Adjunct Instructors Kelly Ferris and Heather Roffe, with a planning committee consisting of Assistant Professor, Anne Burnidge, Visiting Professor Bill Evans, Associate Professor James Hansen and Assistant Professor Maura Keefe.

FOBD Newsletter: We continue with three vignettes by Professor Maura Keefe . . .

We continue the ongoing republication of the FOBD Newsletter originally published in January (OK, I realize I'm REALLY spreading this out, but the content is good and not everyone that reads the blog received the newsletter, which by the way is also available as a PDF for download in the left panel. I meant to post this on 2/25, but it never posted (oops)).

The following notes on several events in dance at Brockport during 2007 were prepared by Maura Keefe, Assistant Professor and MFA Graduate Dance Program Advisor:

DANCE/Strasser

This year’s DANCE/Strasser performance included new works by eight graduate and undergraduate choreographers. The modern dance works explored a variety of movement styles. Following the show, the choreographers participated in a post-performance discussion about their works and answered audience questions. Each choreographer worked with a faculty mentor and an evening of feedback from a panel of faculty members provided helpful insight into the creative process. The dances were auditioned for the concert and selected by an adjudication committee of faculty and students.

Travis Gatling Residency

Travis Gatling, associate professor of dance at Ohio University, was one of the guest artists in residence in the SUNY Brockport Department of Dance for two weeks this fall. Gatling is a highly sought after guest teacher and choreographer, with recent residencies at venues that include the Black College Dance Exchange, Georgia State University's Movement Force Dance Company, Emory University Dance Company, the Urban Dance Academy at Norfolk State University, Coker College, University of Akron, and the University of Michigan, Flint. While at Brockport, Gatling taught master classes in modern dance and jazz dance. He also started a new work to the music of Brazilian composer Tom Ze with the students from the combined Repertory and Literature classes. The students asked Gatling’s permission to show the work-in-progress at the end of the semester Dime-A-Dance performances. Gatling also worked with two general education classes called Introduction to Dance. He first lectured about the African American sacred tradition of the Ring Shout and taught them the dance. He then had students build on the dance’s structure to incorporate their own movement concepts. Finally, Gatling gave performance notes and feedback to the student performers at dress rehearsal for DANCE/Strasser, drawing on his own extensive experience as a freelance dance artist. His presence was a welcome addition to the department and we hope to bring him in again.

Dialogues in Dance

This fall, assistant professor of dance Maura Keefe moderated two panels discussions hosted by Marymount Manhattan College called “Dialogues in Dance.” The first was Creating a Living Archive with panelists Michelle Potter, Curator at the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; Ginger Montel, Associate Director of Twyla Tharp Productions; Lynn Weber, Acting Executive Director of the Dance Notation Bureau New York City; and, Carol Teitelbaum, Faculty Chair, Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

The second panel addressed issues of technology in performance called Multi-Media Dances. The panelists included video designer and installation artist Maya Ciarrochi, dance and media artist Jonah Bokaer, and Christopher Williams, a dancer, choreographer, and puppeteer.

RocLoop video profile of Brockport's Kathy Diehl

The new Democrat & Chronicle social networking site for Rochester area college students, RocLoop.com recently did a video profile of graduate teaching assistant Kathy Diehl as "Someone to Know" (click on the link to go to the site to see the video). The video shows Ms. Diehl teaching a contemporary ballet class during the recent Brockport Dance Awareness Days and talking about how she came to be teaching dance.
Diehl is a classical ballet instructor and dancer from Rochester. She has been a faculty member at the Timothy M. Draper Center for Dance Education since 1996, and also teaches at Nazareth Academy.

Excerpts of a review of DANSCORE 2007: Moving to Make Things Whole by Donna Davenport (Part II)

Note: Artistic Director Bill Evans engaged Donna Davenport, Ed.D., Professor of Dance/Associate Dean of Faculty, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY, to write an extensive review of the production. She has given her permission to reproduce these following excerpts from her much-longer and more complete description of the concert. This is the second post that continues with Professor Davenport's review.

“Woman: Claiming Courage, Breathing Spirit,” by Darwin Prioleau

[This work] started with a visually provocative set design that provided choreographic cues. Yet the way I imagined the dance to unfold did not happen, and surprises are good. Because the piece had distinct sections with a soloist and an ensemble, I couldn’t help but think after I re-read the title (after the concert) that the first dancer was the woman claiming courage and the ensemble was breathing spirit. ***

*** I appreciated the upstage landscape of colorful androgynous faces painted on large white panels, the two drummers stage left, and the soulful percussion that followed. The mammoth paintings were caricatures of pensive expressions (to my eye). The beautiful soloist in a magenta dress and a patterned shawl moved with fluid poise among these faces after dancing an expressive and sustained introductory solo to drums that told a story (to my ear) about struggle, personal power, and persistence. After she gave up her shawl to arms that drifted into the upstage left wing, and after the drummers left, she danced in a downstage special, only slightly empowering the original thematic movement ideas. ***

*** Suddenly, I was in a land of celebration. The young women moved to the contemporary, groovy African jazz and Soni’s vocals. They danced well in an Ailey-esque style that may have felt foreign to their bodies at first but didn’t look that way on Saturday. They appeared joyful in their presentation of the movement vocabulary, which is a tribute to the teaching and to their personal connection with the themes of the dance. ***

“Hidden Message, by Juanita Suarez

*** On purely visual and aural levels, there were stunning moments in this dance that existed as individual elements in the expansive space … above the floor, into the wings, and out to the orchestra pit. Suarez’s glorious voice in her long black wig, Saleem’s expert drumming, a soulful composition of sound, waves of water moving on the cyclorama, and beautifully harsh green lighting that penetrated the dancing. ***

In Part II, I entered a different mode of watching dance and experiencing choreographed actions on the stage. I normally think of dance as existing for my body and my eyes, essentially from left to right, the way we read in North America, across a horizontal temporal continuum. A dance begins at a certain point on the left of my visual and kinesthetic consciousness and ends on the right; it goes from “here to there.” But not this dance. It did not progress horizontally like a movement narrative with the past, present, and future connected to one another. ***.

*** After the “Water is me…life…memory,” the piano’s sound became furiously disjointed and dramatic, and suddenly the dancers were affected by something tangible. They shook and wiggled and solo’d in the space. The diagonal became important in this final section, at one strong moment with the singer and the dancers at opposite ends. The last lunging ensemble phrase was the dancers’ final gesture, free from the entrapment underneath them? They made a definitive circle with their fingers on the floor downstage, inscribing the message perhaps and ending the journey? ***

“Hidden Message” has stumped me and intrigued me. Maybe that’s what’s supposed to happen. I’d like to see it again.

“Los Gringos,” by Bill Evans and Eddie Murphy

“Los Gringos” was a delightful interlude, a playful conversation with rhythms, dancing characters, pretended competitions, and dance languages. Two mature, professional dancers playfully mocked their own movement styles, expert technique, and maybe even their Whiteness, tried on each other’s arms and legs without doing them real justice, and expertly toyed with musicality. The title reminded me of Bill’s time in Albuquerque; I imagine he felt like a “gringo” there, and of course with this music… songs of Spain, these two White men are like fish out of water in their Flamenco colors. The bull fight allusions through spatial jockeying and hyper-masculine Latino body attitudes were humorous, as were the repeated cross-footed motifs, accentuated by a stop and a look, which made me chuckle each time it happened. This dance made me happy. These were two men, being not terribly precious about choreography or taking themselves too seriously for a few fun moments. The dance had irony, whimsy, and dancer humor—quite a pleasure.

“Discesa in Bianco,” by Anne Burnidge

This title (Italian for “descent in white”?) didn’t lead me anywhere semantically, but the opening action did. Right away, the clear and expressive articulation of gesture caught my attention. The first soloist held something precious, and the others celebrated it above their heads. The urgency of the motion, the clarity and deliberateness of the repetition, and the light, quick jumps were stunning. The beautiful use of quick time and gesture was captivating. These dancers had been coached expertly. They understood the rich Effort Life they were dancing. They knew what each gesture meant to them (which made them seem important to the viewer), and their relational moments among them were equally expressive and meaningful in the instant they occurred. Many of the partnering phrases appeared to necessitate a slower pace, and thus, the quickness was exciting and unpredictable. For the receptive audience member, this kind of dancing is felt in the body; it’s a visceral experience to follow the action on the stage and to empathize with the motion and its qualitative extremes.***

*** The lusciousness was mesmerizing—in the live strings, the lighting, the silky light costumes, the use of space, and the dancing. It was pleasure for the eye, the ear, and the soul. Yet the choreographic development paused towards the end, and I started to wander as a viewer. The meaning-making lost its momentum, but I’m not sure why. Maybe it was too much of the same good thing, and I needed a contrast to stay with it. Certainly, this did not detract from my overall enjoyment, however. This piece is sheer beauty on many levels. ***

“Craps (1979),” by Bill Evans

*** Right away, I also noticed a different movement aesthetic-Bill Evans in the late 70’s! It was refreshing. The bouncing and sliding, the extensions, and “classical” modern dance movements—spins, drops, back attitude turns, pike jumps, and arm swings—were pleasing to my contemporary eye. ***

*** I couldn’t help but notice the different approach these college dancers had to employ to perform this movement vocabulary. So much of advanced modern dance technique these days involves smooth transitions between contrasting movements, loose and articulate gestures, balletic precision of the feet, and the ability to ooze from one athletic moment to the next. Back in the 70’s and 80’s, we were still standing on one leg quite a bit, extending our limbs to communicate a sense of personal agency, and moving deliberately from one clear moment in the space to another distinct position. ***

*** The fast sliding into a strong second position and the splats on the floor are visually and kinesthetically exciting, and they were performed spectacularly by these dancers and placed within a choreographic context that made them perfect each time. The flung arms into the back space looked quite contemporary, but it could also be a result of the training that SUNY Brockport dancers have: they know how to use their core to stabilize their bodies while they curve forward and fling their arms back behind them with strong weight and indirect space. And speaking of backspace, the falling was beautiful. Again, as a teacher I was thinking about the challenge inherent in reconstructing the falls backwards into another dancer’s arms, the jumps into arms, the accumulation of this motif, and generating the risky feeling of ongoingness. A lovely ending. ***

*** This work was a successful collaboration among top-notch artists—the rehearsal directors, the lighting designer, and the composers/musicians. The educational value of this process is unquestionable. This is the kind of experience that generates student pride, which drives the passion to take the risk of entering dance as a career.

Conclusion

*** I believe that “moving to make things whole” is the process of composing dance. And on more of an Existential level, as dancers and choreographers, we move to make our lives and ourselves whole. ***

*** To put together a full concert of dance is an impressive undertaking, especially when it is generated with live music, performances of both students and faculty, and with standards of excellence that are sought across-the-board.

Excerpts of a review of DANSCORE 2007: Moving to Make Things Whole by Donna Davenport (Part I)

Note: Artistic Director Bill Evans engaged Donna Davenport, Ed.D., Professor of Dance/Associate Dean of Faculty, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY,  to write an extensive review of the production. She has given her permission to reproduce these following excerpts from her much-longer and more complete description of the concert. A second post tomorrow will complete the excerpts from Professor Davenport's review.

I congratulate the SUNY Brockport Department of Dance, the dance faculty, and students on their fine concert. I’ve seen several DANSCORE concerts over the years and always consider them well worth the drive from Geneva, NY. I have vivid memories of works by Wally Wolfgruber, Susanna Newman, Bill Evans, and others swirling in my mind still. These lasting images are not only a tribute to the choreographers but to the accomplished dance performances of the students and faculty in the concerts.

“Peeling Away,” by Suzanne Oliver

*** I appreciate all the places that “Peeling Away” took me, as well as the fine dancing (technical and expressive) of its cast. The last ensemble moment was equally as poignant as the poetry." ***

*** The lighting design supported the poetic mood beautifully: I was never conscious of it, only conscious of sculpted moments on the bodies and in the stage space and special moments illuminated for the dancers. ***

I appreciated many aspects of this work. The music pieces were rich in sound and texture, evocative, and satisfying to my ear. When a voice went away and instrumentation took over, or when a new theme began, the transition was welcomed and seamless. The dancers and the choreography connected well to the music. The movement sequences were danced passionately by the young performers, both soloists and unison ensembles. They articulated the nuanced phrasing clearly, thereby generating a kinesthetic vitality that may be this work’s most successful attribute. The indirect and free swinging of the arms during regular locomotor phrases suggested some careful coaching of the performance of different Effort/Shape qualities in different parts of the body. Well done. ***

Growing Up In An African Village, by Habib Iddrisu

***While the piece was clearly about art (music, dance, song, costume, and storytelling), it was performed as a sophisticated piece of entertainment—music, dance, and storytelling--to dazzle the audience and to teach naive North Americans something about the West African village and the way children are raised. The scenery and ceremonial undressing, layer by layer, established a narrative rhythm and a sense of showmanship that enhances audience expectations to be taken on a cultural journey to an unknown land. As Iddrisu explained, the song titled “Stupid” was sung by the character’s mother (we don’t know if it’s actually Iddrisu’s mother). The moral to the mother’s story taught African children not to crave too much praise but instead to strive for greatness and to develop humility at an early age. This is especially poignant and necessarily didactic for North American audiences today. ***

*** This performer/choreographer had impeccable timing with his verbal, percussive, and kinesthetic phrasing. Everything ended on a dime and started at just the right instant. The warm rapport established with the audience endeared us to him just as we began to become awestruck by the virtuosity before us. ***

*** When he ends his piece simultaneously executing the performance of the talking drum, the percussionist, and the polyrhythmic dancer, the audience is yet even more in awe of his abilities and humbled by the fact that we in this capitalistic culture can barely even fathom that degree of artistic virtuosity and this kind of wealth and power. ***

“frozen,” by James Hansen

Space was crafted exquisitely in this work, both the invisible and overlapping spaces between and among the dancers and within the stage space. Hansen is a master of the diagonal and the luscious three-dimensionality it generates. I felt as if I were observing a form of choreographic intelligence, something I recognized in the Hansen piece I saw last year. The seamless method of phrase manipulation and the transition into lifts and floor work were frequently reminiscent of a brilliant choreographic style, rather than movement that told this story about these people in these moments in space and time.

The music blended with the lighting design, which blended with the costumes, which blended with the choreography. I perceived “frozen” as a whole composition rather than a collection of complementary parts.

 

For me, this work speaks volumes about modern dance as art and the way that space, energy, and the body are used just the way paint is used on a canvas—to evoke a sensory idea that is only tangible through the human spirit and the consciousness that perceives it.

“Evening Song,” by Jacqueline Davis

[This work] conveyed a sense of autobiography right away. The name of the choreographer/performer and her sister were uttered by a male voice on the recording. This was a theatrical solo with a rocking chair, a very long piece of fabric, and a scratchy album (old LP) sound of a father’s voice at bedtime. I imagined the action of this dance to have been conceived cognitively. It followed a chronological logic and a linear sense of time passing and personal history unfolding for the audience. For me, the strong diagonal (downstage left to upstage right) symbolized historical time. The repetitive structure of the piece symbolized recurring memories, both joyful and somber. The fabric was a symbol for remembering and re-living childhood. The father’s voice was a symbol for loss of a parent. And the rocking chair and its use symbolized mourning and needed comfort. This interpretation of the work was intellectualized of course and could be entirely off-base. ***

*** The protagonist of this tale appeared to be dressed like a child in whitish pajamas, and yet the smart costume choice had a chameleon quality: it changed with the action. The movement choices and use of the props reflected each stage of the journey, and the costume absorbed each change. The simplicity of the idea and the clarity of the performance were satisfying. The pace of the piece left room for audience members to ponder memories of their own fathers at bedtime. There was a warm generosity expressed by the dancer and enhanced by the expert lighting design, which invited me into the work and into her journey, very much like a sweet evening song that is passed on, over generations. ***

FOBD Newsletter: Curtain speech by Bill Evans at DANSCORE 2007

The following is the curtain speech given by Visiting Professor Bill Evans on November 17, 2007, at DANSCORE 2007:

    Good evening and welcome to DANSCORE 2007: Moving to Make Things Whole. Life is movement, and - for many of us - the moving we do in dance performance allows us to experience a quality of being - a oneness of body/mind and spirit - more complete than at any other time.
    When I perform, I experience a vibrancy on the cellular level, which is so nourishing I can't stop seeking performance opportunities, even though I am in my 68th year of life and 60th year on the stage. So, you'll see me and another member of our senior faculty, one member of our mid-career faculty, one of our adjunct lecturers and our fall semester Sankofa guest artist on the stage tonight, dancing in a variety of styles. You'll also see (and hear) all four of our faculty and professional staff musicians, and several guest musicians.
    Mostly, you will see students - 36 of them - who have been selected through an audition process for the honor of representing all our dance majors in this annual faculty-choreographed production. We are incredibly proud of the accomplishments of these students, as artists and as people. Teaching them and choreographing for them certainly helps make our lives whole and satisfying.

This excerpt appeared in the first edition of the Friends of Brockport Dance Newsletter

Friends of Brockport Dance Newsletter, Vol. 1, No. 1 (January 2008)

FOBD Newsletter: Notes on the New Dancers Showcase

The following notes on November's New Dancers Showcase were prepared by Assistant Professor Dr. Suzanne Oliver:

The New Dancers Showcase was presented Thursday through Saturday, November 1-3, 2007 at 7:30 pm in the Rose L. Strasser Studio.  This undergraduate debut performance provided graduate dance students the opportunity to experiment choreographically while giving the first year students a taste of rehearsal and performance at the college level.

New Dancers Showcase was directed by graduate student, Kelly Kavanaugh and advised by me, Suzanne Oliver. Choreography by graduate students ranged from work influenced by Jamaican dance hall style to a contemporary piece that explored the concepts of "change, self-doubt, overcoming fear, and the value of challenging oneself." A technique demonstration based on movement developed in my new dancers' modern dance technique class was also featured.

Graduate students and faculty involved in the production were impressed with the technical and expressive range demonstrated by these young dancers. Though they come from a variety of backgrounds and influences, the basic love of dance is clear, as is their openness to new ways of analyzing, understanding, and exploring their personal relationship to movement.

In response to the increasing popularity of this show, the performance was presented on three nights. Admission to the performance was free, but contributions to a new scholarship fund for undergraduate dance majors were accepted at the door.

Friends of Brockport Dance Newsletter, Vol. 1, No. 1 (January 2008)

FOBD Newsletter: Notes on Dance/Hartwell

The following were notes for the FOBD Newsletter from Assistant Professor Anne Burnidge:

Again we had a very successful DANCE/Hartwell concert this fall. Each semester the students have the opportunity to have their work adjudicated by faculty members and student representatives to be selected for the student choreographed concerts in Hartwell Hall and Strasser Studio. This fall we showcased Jenny Showalter’s MFA Thesis work, “Gridlocked Velocity” as part of the Hartwell concert. Jenny’s research involved studying the effects of physical training on a dancer’s ability to execute athletic dance movement. She gave her dancers different conditioning tasks such as running and lifting weights and tracked their success. Her choreography wove together dynamic athletic movement with shapes and forms that one might observe at different athletic events.

Filling out the concert were works by undergraduate and graduate choreographers. These pieces range from the upbeat and energetic “Perseverance” by Brittany Falcon, to the intimate “We Don’t Live Here” by Sarah Moore, to the meditative and enigmatic “Sepia Enduring” by Melinda Planey, to the physically challenging “Breakthrew” by Marcia Vanderlee. These pieces were a strong reminder of the range of styles that exist in modern dance and of the breadth of talent of SUNY Brockport’s student choreographers and dancers.

Friends of Brockport Dance Newsletter, Vol. 1, No. 1 (January 2008)

FOBD Newsletter: Notes from Bill Evans, dance faculty liaison to Friends of Brockport Dance

During the summer of 2007, the founding officers and directors of Friends of Brockport Dance were elected. Officers are:

• Cynthia Cable, president;
• Dr. William Hauser, vice president;
• Gregory Bell [your humble webmaster], secretary; and
• Dr. Jerry Fisher, treasurer.

Directors are:

• Joyce DeHaan,
• Dianna Leach,
• Mary Markusen,
• Thomas Markusen,
• Manuel Rivera-Ortiz,
• William Rock (also special advisor to the executive committee),
• Peter Scribner and
• Dr. Frances Maroney Whited (also special advisor to the executive committee).

The fall semester of 2007 was perhaps the busiest ever in the Department of Dance:

• There were a total of 27 faculty, professional staff and teaching assistants serving our students. Dr. Suzanne Oliver, former chair of dance at San Jacinto College in Houston, Texas, joined the faculty as a new assistant professor, and Don Halquist, visiting assistant professor in the Department of Education and Human Development, began teaching a course in intermediate/advanced modern dance technique in the Department of Dance. Habib Iddrisu served as a visiting lecturer, filling in for associate professor Clyde Morgan, who was on a very exciting sabbatical leave. (He promises to write about his sabbatical activities in our next newsletter.) Kelly Ferris, Heather Roffe and Courtney World (who completed their MFA studies in our Department just last spring) joined the adjunct faculty.
• I was on a 2/3 leave for the fall semester, to complete a major choreographic project funded by
  National Endowment for the Arts at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. To partially cover my absence as a teacher, Francis Short, Dean of the School of Arts and Performance, made it possible for us to engage four renowned guest artists: B. J. Sullivan, from the faculty of the Department of Dance at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, creator of a revolutionary modern dance technique, called Safety Release; Clay Taliaferro, former principal dancer with the José Limón Dance Company, recently retired from a faculty position in dance at Duke University; Travis Gatling, about whom Maura Keefe has written some remarks below; and Julia Sasso, one of Canada's most sought-after teachers and choreographers, who teaches at both York University and the Professional Program of the School of the Toronto Dance Theatre. Each of these four remarkable teachers brought unique and exciting pedagogical and artistic ideas and practices to our lucky students, who were stimulated by and deeply appreciative of these opportunities.
• Our department offers more performance opportunities for our majors than any other that I know of. The fall 2007 performance season included:
• September 16-- Season Preview Symposium, Strasser Studio, featuring assistant professors Anne
  Burnidge and Suzanne Oliver, organized by Bill Evans
• September 18-20-- David Dorfman Dance, professional dance company Hartwell Dance Theater,
  sponsored by the Brockport Student Dance Organization
• October 25-27-- DANCE/Hartwell*, Hartwell Dance Theater, Anne Burnidge, artistic advisor
• November 1-3-- New Dancer Showcase*, Strasser Studio, Kelly Kavanaugh, director, Suzanne
  Oliver, advisor
• November 14-17-- DANSCORE: Moving to Make Things Whole*, Hartwell Dance Theater, Bill Evans,
  artistic director, Suzanne Oliver, assistant director
• November 29-December 1-- DANCE/Strasser, Strasser Studio, Maura Keefe, artistic advisor
• December 6-7 -- Dime-A-Dance, Strasser Studio

Dr. Darwin Prioleau served as producer of all productions. Graduate student Kristi Faulkner served as concert coordinator for all productions. Christian Tucker served as director of dance production and as lighting designer for the Hartwell Dance Theater performances. Sandra Cain served as costume designer and/or advisor for all productions.

• Since last summer, Kelly Ferris and Heather Roffe, co-coordinators, and Anne Burnidge, Bill Evans, Jim Hansen and Maura Keefe, faculty advisors, have been planning the Northeast Region American College Dance Festival Association Conference, which will take place on our campus from March 12-16, 2008.
• Friends of Brockport Dance are invited to attend one of the ACDFA Gala performances, Sunday, March 16, Tower Theatre, 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. Please tell your friends about this exciting concert. Anyone joining FOBD by March 16 will be given a free ticket to the ACDFA Gala of their choice, and their membership will last through the entire 2008-2009 season.
• Current members of FOBD will be guests of the Department at the Friday, April 4, for a performance of DANCE/Hartwell, which will feature choreography by master of fine arts candidates Molly Christie, Cynthia Hermann and Mark Schmidt. The 7:30 p.m. concert will be followed by a reception. Please plan to attend. Call (595)395-ARTS to reserve your seats and obtain your free FOBD tickets.
• As part of my service in helping the Department of Dance and SUNY College at Brockport develop a "friends" organization, I have compiled and edited this, the first issue of the Friends of Brockport Dance Newsletter. We are in the process now of selecting a Brockport dance graduate student to become lead writer and editor of this publication beginning with the next issue.

Friends of Brockport Dance Newsletter, Vol. 1, No. 1 (January 2008)

FOBD Newsletter: Notes from Department of Dance Chair, Dr. Darwin Prioleau

As the fall semester comes to an end, I enjoy taking a moment or two to reflect on the challenges and successes that have taken place during the last 16 weeks. This fall has been busier than usual. The dance department hosted five wonderful quest artist residencies. The semester began with the nationally acclaimed David Dorfman Dance residency in September. The 10-day residency was sponsored by the Student Dance Organization and the Department of Dance. It addition to master classes, approximately 10 of our students were selected to perform the work Underground with Dorfman's company on September 18-20 in Hartwell Dance Theater. It was, indeed, a proud moment for the dance faculty to see our students dancing alongside professional dancers. The high level of performance and professionalism demonstrated by our students was an affirmation of the quality of training students receive at Brockport. I am fortunate to work with a cadre of talented faculty and staff who are also committed to high quality teaching. We have made student success our priority. This was evidenced by the well-received DANSCORE 2007 concert in November. Attendance was strong and audience response was overwhelmingly positive. The concert was packed with exciting faculty choreography that beautifully showcased both students and faculty. It was gratifying to see our students successfully move from one choreographic style to another with apparent ease. Thanks to the Friends of Brockport Dance members, the Saturday November 17th scholarship performance brought in many first time attendees. The proceeds from that night's performance, $1,067.50, will go towards the FOBD scholarship fund. With the help of the new Friends of Brockport Dance, we are continuing to move forward toward our vision of establishing an endowed, talent based, scholarship for incoming young dance students. It is our goal to recruit and retain the best and brightest students. Through your continued generosity and support, we will be able to insure that any exceptionally talented young dancer who wants to attend Brockport can do so, regardless of her or his financial circumstances. Thank you for your belief in the SUNY Brockport department of dance. I would also like to thank Bill Evans for his contributions as the faculty liaisons to the Friends of Brockport Dance. Also, a special thanks to all those who have contributed notes to this premiere FOBD Newsletter. I know you will find the following glimpses of the world of Brockport Dance informative and enlightening.

Friends of Brockport Dance Newsletter, Vol. 1, No. 1 (January 2008)

DANSCORE showcases the diversity and talent of the Department of Dance Faculty

Once again, on November 14th through 17th, the SUNY Brockport Department of Dance showcased its talent in DANSCORE, the annual faculty choreographed dance concert.  Though the choreographers displayed their immense diversity from various forms of modern dance to African and tap, as a former student of this unmatched Department, I will focus on the caliber of technique and performance.

Watching the dancers as a new professional in the field was a completely different viewpoint for me. I have danced with many of these performers for a couple of years and I was surprised when I had a hard time recognizing each dancer! This being the first and only time seeing the pieces, when I would usually see them many times, I found myself overwhelmed with pride for this group of performers. Knowing the dancers packed schedules, and living it for three years, makes me appreciate the DANSCORE dance concerts even more. Auditions for DANSCORE occur in late August and rehearsals begin immediately, averaging three to six hours a week. Brockport dancers work on up to three pieces on top of rehearsals for other concerts, choreography and, of course, school work in and outside the Department of Dance.

Brockport dancers stand out among other college dancers because of their well-rounded dance technique, natural performance qualities, and the high level of professionalism. Though many of the dancers entered the Department with these innate qualities, the faculty highlights and heightens each dancer’s talents. After being on the inside of this process for a few years, I know that each rehearsal is treated as a professional company’s rehearsal. Each faculty member expects the dancers to come in warmed-up, prepared to work, and possibly give movement. The energy has to be up at all times, and the atmosphere must allow for creativity and exploration. A Brockport dancer is trained for a professional career in dance, whether it be performing, choreographing, teaching, or administration of a dance company.

This post is by Kylee Pike, who received her MFA in Dance at Brockport this year, and was introduced here.

Baroque organ + improvised dance makes for an exciting event at the MAG in Rochester on November 18th!

On Sunday, November 18th, organist Stephen Kennedy will be joined by SUNY Brockport Department of Dance Associate Professor James Hansen to perform an exciting program of organ and improvised dance in the Fountain Court of the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, assisted by nine Brockport dancers. Hansen's busy summer was recently profiled in this blog.

Kennedy is the Director of Music and Organist at Christ Church Rochester. He is also an Instructor of Sacred Music at the Eastman School of Music, Director of Chapel Music and Instructor in Liturgical Music at Bexley Hall Episcopal Seminary, Instructor of Organ for Eastman's Community Education Division and Instructor of Piano at Nazareth College, and as director of the Christ Church Schola Cantorum, a vocal ensemble he founded in 1997 for the purpose of singing the weekly Office of Compline at Christ Church.

Tickets for the performance are $12 (students $8) and will be available at the door. [Added 11/14:  A friend has pointed out that there is something missing from this post--the time. The performance will take place from 5:30-7:30.  Sorry!]

So, what did you do over the summer Professor Hansen? James Hansen's busy summer in dance ...

James Hansen, Associate Professor in the Department of Dance, had a busy summer.  Professor Hansen was Invited for the 4th consecutive from year among dancers from all over the world to present his choreography in New York City at the International Dance Festival in July. Other choreographers traveled from South America, Mexico, and Iceland to present their work in this 3 week festival. Hansen's work was singled out Hansen's by Erika Kinetz in the New York Times as as "a thoughtful meditation on group dynamics."

Professor Hansen presented choreography again in New York City in September at sold out performance at the American Dance Guild Performance Festival 2007, presenting with such dance luminaries as Mary Anthony and the Merce Cunningham repertory group.

Currently, Hansen has been invited by the Eastman School of Music and Rochester's Memorial Art Gallery to create a new work for the Italian Baroque Organ Showcase, which will premiere on November 18th. This will be the first ever collaboration between music and dance in this venue.