DANCE
THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS, THEATRE & DANCE
2010
In This Issue 3
From the Chairs
4
Dance as Diplomacy
7 Academy Dances 8 Year in Photos 10 MANCC Update 13
Technology for Performance Collaboration
15 American College Dance Festival 16
Dance Repertory Theatre Turns 25
18
Faculty and Staff Updates
20 Alumni Updates 22
Friends of Dance
23 Scholarship Recipients
Cover: At the Round - Days of Dance Choreographer: Shelley Bourgeois Dancers: Scott Curley, Philip Ancheta, Nathaniel Buchsbaum Photo: Jon Nalon Right: Paces - Days of Dance Dancer: Cristina Suarez Photo: Jon Nalon
The purpose of this document is to inform alumni and friends of the activities of the School of Dance and to promote development of the College of Visual Arts, Theatre & Dance and The Florida State University. This document is available in alternative formats by contacting the School of Dance or the University ADA Director at 850.645.1458. For people who are hearing or speech impaired, contact the phone number through the Florida Relay Service at 1-800-222-3448 (voice) or 1-888-447-5620 (TDD). The Florida State University encourages applications for admission and employment from qualified persons regardless of gender, culture, race, religion, ethnic background, national origin, age or disability.
Dance Magazine Sally McRorie, Dean College of Visual Arts, Theatre & Dance Patty Phillips, Co-Chair J. Russell Sandifer, Co-Chair School of Dance Contributors Libby Fairhurst Emily Keeler Debra Lachter J. Russell Sandifer Jeffery Seay Designer Emily Keeler Photography Crush Boone Najla Kubrusly Jon Nalon Gwen Petry Jammy Straub Bridget Williams Stefan Zubal School of Dance PO Box 3062120 Tallahassee, FL 32306-2120 850.644.1024 Visit our web site at dance.fsu.edu
From the Chairs W
e hope that you will enjoy reading about our latest endeavors in this 2010 edition of our School of Dance magazine and invite you to join our mailing list for our e-newsletters. We ask that you visit us throughout the year on Facebook at FSU Dance to help us stay connected and to share information. We also hope that some of the information about our plans for next year will entice you to visit us, either on campus, or at one of the events that we are planning off campus. In this past year, as well as our usual full production schedule of 19 performances in the Nancy Smith Fichter Dance Theatre, we had the opportunity to go beyond the FSU campus to perform in two very prestigious venues. In October, we were invited to present three performances at the Ringling International Arts Festival in Sarasota, FL, an event co-sponsored by the FSU College of Visual Arts, Theatre & Dance and the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York. We are looking forward to returning on October 16 of this year. In May, we also presented three evenings of performances as part of Danspace Project’s Academy Dances series in New York. This included two evenings of performances by our students featuring faculty, guest artist and student works. This was a wonderful opportunity to meet up with our alumni, friends and former guest artists of both the School of Dance and the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography. In the following pages, you will also read articles that tell of other significant ways that our faculty have made it possible for our reach to extend far beyond the campus in Tallahassee. Jawole Zollar, Professor and Artist in Residence, and her company Urban Bush Women, were invited to represent the nation through a State Department-sponsored tour of South America. Associate Professor and dance technologist Tim Glenn directed FSU’s involvement in the Intermedia Festival of Telematic Arts in April. Additionally, our FSU in NYC program, under the direction of Sally Sommer, marked its sixth year, and the Summer Abroad program in Valencia, Spain, under the direction of Tricia Young, is in its second year.
MANCC artist, who set a new work on our dancers for Evening of Dance and the New York performances. We welcomed our new Music Specialist, Dan Smith, who serves as composer, accompanist and Audio Lab Coordinator. Dan received a Bachelor of Music Education Degree from Florida State University in 2005. He began composing music as an undergraduate, and since then has created scores for many ensembles throughout the southeastern United States. As we look forward to the year coming up, we are particularly excited to be hosting the Southeast Regional American College Dance Festival Conference, that will bring some 450 dancing visitors to our campus. This year we will also be celebrating the 25th year anniversary of Dance Repertory Theatre, with Lynda Davis as Artistic Director, and honoring Professor Emeritus Nancy Smith Fichter on the occasion of her 80th birthday. We close this letter with the sincere hope that many of you will be joining us here in Tallahassee or wherever we may roam to help us celebrate our tradition of excellence and join us on our quest for innovation. Sincerely,
Patty Phillips J. Russell Sandifer Co-Chair Co-Chair
Meanwhile, back in Tallahassee, guest artists this year included Alan Danielson, FSU Alum, who set work on Dance Repertory Theatre; Clay Taliaferro, former FSU guest artist, who set José Limón’s There is a Time; and Monica Bill Barnes, former
School of Dance 2010
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Dance as Diplomacy By Libby Fairhurst
Even before she and the Urban
by the U.S. State Department’s Bush Women served as diplomats Bureau of Educational and Cultural of dance this spring on a U.S. State Affairs to showcase contemporary Department-sponsored cultural- American dance abroad. exchange tour of South America, renowned choreographer Jawole “What a terrific privilege to represent Willa Jo Zollar wore many hats. Make the United States, especially in countries where the election of that dancing shoes. Obama has created such good will,” Zollar is the founder and artistic Zollar said. director of Urban Bush Women, a Brooklyn-based African-American The State Department appointed performance ensemble with a the celebrated Brooklyn Academy contemporary focus on history, of Music (BAM) as its DanceMotion culture and community. She is a USA tour organizer and producer. tenured professor at The Florida State BAM chose as performers its University, where she’s the Nancy Brooklyn neighbor Urban Bush Smith Fichter Professor of Dance. Women and two other distinguished She has created choreography for the dance troupes. Each company was Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, sent to one of three continents — Philadanco and numerous other Africa, Asia or South America — illustrious dance companies. She won where the dancers spent about a week a New York Dance and Performance in each of three countries performing Award — a “Bessie” — in 2006, for and interacting with audiences, a U.S. Artists Wynn Fellowship in which were varied in age and ranged 2008, and a Guggenheim Fellowship from sophisticated theatergoers to villagers to school children. in 2009.
Jawole Zollar Photo by Crush Boone to beautiful theaters and auditoriums to spontaneous eruptions of dance in public places. We offered formal concerts, lecture demonstrations and workshops. We were received everywhere we went with incredible generosity and openness.
“Seeing global poverty is always disconcerting,” Zollar said. “All three countries described their culture Then, last month, Zollar stepped into “The Urban Bush Women and I and heritage as a mix of indigenous, her new “arts ambassador” shoes. were in Caracas, Venezuela, in Cali European and African cultures. I She and Urban Bush Women traveled and Cartagena, Colombia, and realize although that is also true of and performed throughout Brazil, in Sao Paolo and Brasilia, Brazil, the United States, we don’t own our Colombia and Venezuela in March in that order,” Zollar said. “We history or think of ourselves in that on a month-long dance odyssey — performed in every kind of setting way. “DanceMotion USA” — sponsored imaginable — from public squares 4
The Florida State University College of Visual Arts, Theatre & Dance
“In all of the countries we were purposefully put in contact with the African descendants,” she said. “Learning about Afro-Colombian and Afro-Venezuelan culture was fantastic. As with the United States we share the history of chattel slavery. I loved seeing the adaptations of African culture in each country and city. I was surprised to learn in Cali that all school children learn Salsa in the public schools.” Most moving and inspirational, said Zollar, was watching Alvaro Restrepo at work. The Colombia-born dancer and choreographer was trained in New York City and acclaimed in Europe but, in 1993, chose to devote his career to the introduction of modern dance to poor children in his native country, where the discipline was virtually unknown. “In Colombia, we visited two performing-arts schools, including an amazing one in a rural area that trains young people in academics and in ballet, singing and music,” Zollar said. “These youth come from backgrounds of poverty and are trained from age 8 and up in ballet,” she said. “They attend academic classes part of the day and performing-arts classes the other
part. The graduating dancers are hired by major ballet companies all over the world. The big challenge for the dancers is that they often can’t afford pointe shoes and ballet shoes.
locks, curly, wavy and happily kinky.” While for 60 years the State Department had been sponsoring cultural-exchange programs highlighting the arts in America, DanceMotion USA was its first dance project in more than two decades, according to a March 21 New York Times article about the tour.
“The other school was on the island of Baru, outside of Cartagena,” Zollar said. “This island has the richest people and the absolute poorest. The school is for the poor. Alvaro Restrepo founded it, and Zollar called the State Department’s the work we saw there was brilliant. reincarnated dance initiative an The students were curious about the absolute must. Urban Bush Women hairstyles —
Community class in Brazil Photo by Najla Kubrusly
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“Dance is a daily discipline that renews its practice through repetition,” she said. “Seeing how other cultures experience the discipline and its renewal forges new connections. The traditions of community blended with professional practices offer profound insights that words alone can’t express. “The trip truly affirmed the power of dance,” Zollar said. “And, it’s worth mentioning that men in South America seem to embrace dance in ways that most American men haven’t,” she said. Zollar, who splits her time between Tallahassee and New York City, was back at Florida State to teach over
the summer. In the fall, she looks forward to dance improvisation labs. “My collaborator, Nora Chipaumire, and I are looking for new models of work, and we are both researching and reading a lot about jazz music,” Zollar said. “I’m reading about John Coltrane and Miles Davis, and continue to be inspired by their work.”
learn more about The Florida State University School of Dance — part of the College of Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance and home to the cutting-edge Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC) — go to dance.fsu.edu.
Urban Bush Women, founded by Zollar in 1984, “weaves contemporary dance with music and text to illuminate the history, culture, and spiritual traditions of African Americans and the African Diaspora,” according to the dance company’s Web site: www.urbanbushwomen.org. To
Urban Bush Women Photo by Najla Kubrusly
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The Florida State University College of Visual Arts, Theatre & Dance
In May of 2010, as part of Danspace Project’s
Academy Dances series, Florida State University Dance presented two programs in the historic St. Mark’s Church in the East Village of Manhattan. The first program, which ran on Thursday, May 6 and Friday, May 7 featured works by current faculty, students and guests including choreography by Lynda Davis, Gerri Houlihan, Dan Wagoner, Jawole Zollar, guest artist Monica Bill Barnes and Shelley Bourgeois (MFA 2010). Performers in this program included Philip Ancheta, Shelley Bourgeois, Nathaniel Buchsbaum, Ashley Brown, Kanisha Brown, Scott Curley, Loren Davidson, Rachel Hunter, Rebecca Lee, Liz Ross, Liz Saluke, and Stefan Zubal. On Saturday, May 8th we featured work by alumni choreographers A’Keitha Carey (MFA ‘08), Daniel Clifton (BFA ’98), Adele Myers (MFA ’00) Tom Pearson (MFA ’98), Jennine Willett (MFA 1996) and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (MFA ’79). Tori Sparks (BFA ’99) also screened her video “Yellow”. Additional alumni performers included Kanisha Brown (MFA ’10), Diana Deaver (BFA ’01), Stephanie Mas (BFA ’08), Kit McDaniel (BFA ’09), and Stefan Zubal (MFA ’10). Each evening began with a preshow video by Shoko Letton (MA ADS ’10) highlighting podcasts and research videos from our Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography. The New Yorker Magazine said in its Goings On About Town section ACADEMY DANCES It’s college-reunion time at Danspace Project, as faculty and students from the esteemed Florida State University School of Dance gather to present work by faculty members. No slouches, those faculty members include Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Dan Wagoner, and Monica Bill Barnes…
Academy Dances By J. Russell Sandifer
We were happy to have so many alumni and old friends in attendance. A post concert reception, sponsored by the Florida State Alumni Association was held at Pangaea Restaurant after the Saturday alumni performance. Although there are no current plans for an official dance alumni event in New York in 2011, we hope that it won’t be too many years before we can return. Please stay in touch with us on Facebook at FSU Dance. Photo: Stefan Zubal
School ofof Dance 2010 School Dance 2010 7 7
2009-10 Year in Photos Cotillion Choreographer: Gerri Houlihan Dancers: Sydney Keister, Shelley Bourgeois, Caitlin Hafer
There is a Time Choreographer: José Limón Dancer: Katie Lupke
A Step Into Choreographer: Rebecca Lee Dancer: Devon Kelly
Lair Choreographer:Shelley Bourgeois Dancers: Sarah Harkness, Megan Thornburg,, Jackie O’Toole
Catharsis Choreographer: Tim Glenn Dancers: Jackie O’Toole and Denae Hannah
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The Florida State University College of Visual Arts, Theatre & Dance
Transform Choreographer: Alan Danielson Dancers: Megan Thornburg, Sarah Harkness, Ashley Brown, Nathaniel Buchsbaum, Rebecca Lee
Running with Scissors Choreographer: Rebecca Lee Dancers: Hope Gaines, Philip Ancheta
Under Taking Over Choreographer: Diane Cahill Dancer: Gabrielle Yarshen
Body Talk Choreographer: Jawole Willa Jo Zollar Dancer: Kanisha Brown Photo: Bridget Williams
Ridgeline Choreographer: Kaley Pruitt Dancers: Ryann Guilfoyle, Hanaah Frechette, Megan Thornburg Photos pages 8-9: Jon Nalon
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Tere O’Connor dancers
T h e M a g g i e A l l e s e e N a t i o n a l C e nt e r
Yasuko Yokoshi
Deganit Shemy
Eiko and Koma
Alex Ketley
Nicole Canuso
2009-10 Year in Review
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Tere O’Connor (IL/NY) July 30 - August 16, 2009 O’Connor’s second MANCC residency was spent developing Wrought Iron Fog with performers Hilary Clark, Daniel Clifton (FSU alumnus), Erin Gerken, Heather Olson and Matthew Rogers. O’Connor states of the opportunity, “it is so important to allow the mind to search on the way to a dance; I introduced new ideological process tools which was absolutely possible due to the concept of trolling for an idea in this research lab as opposed to making a dance that reifies an existing knowledge base.” Nichole Canuso (PA) Philadelphia Live Arts & Philly Fringe Partnership / August 4 - 16, 2009 Canuso and her collaborators primarily focused on constructing and activating the multi-media set for TAKES, which she had only previously been able to envision, and testing the best perspective for the audience’s involvement with the performance gallery. Alex Ketley (CA) Choreographic Fellow / August 9 - 25, 2009 In preparation for Please Love Me, a work conceived in response to the Bay Area’s scarce and expensive rehearsal and performance space, Ketley along with The Foundry CoFounder Christian Burns, Digital-Media Artist Les Stuck and performers Andrea Basile and Kara Davis gauged onlookers’ interest and reception of impromptu performances in unsuspecting public places throughout Tallahassee. Eiko and Koma (NY) Living Legacy / August 12 – 29, 2009 Eiko & Koma’s third residency at MANCC enabled them to continue working with our Film Fellow, Shoko Letton (FSU alumna), on Dancing in Water: the Making of River. The film is incorporated as one of many performative and non-performative facets of the Retrospective Project, a three year project that illustrates the artistry and trajectory of their near forty-year legacy. Deganit Shemy (NY) Baryshnikov Arts Center Partnership / September 20 - October 4, 2009 Knowing she could further evolve Arena post-premiere, Shemy took on the challenge of re-approaching the composition of the work, crystallizing the relationship between the mechanical movements and emotion, and honing the journey of the dancers’ performative and thematic intentions before it’s premiere at the Ringling International Arts Festival. Yasuko Yokoshi (NY) Dance Theater Workshop Partnership / October 4 - 19, 2009 Yokoshi used her second residency at MANCC to bring together the traditional Japanese Kabuki performers and the post modern American performers for the first time in preparation for her new work Tyler Tyler. Yokoshi and collaborating artists spent concentrated time interlacing the two cultures within the choreographic framework of the work.
The Florida State University College of Visual Arts, Theatre & Dance
Ralph Lemon (NY) Living Legacy / March 28 - April 18, 2010 Lemon and his distinguished group of performers mined materials for Wall/Hole, a section of his newest work How Can You Stay In The House All Day And Not Go Anywhere?. Performed by the dancers from Lemon’s 2004 work Come home Charlie Patton – Darrell Jones (FSU alumnus), David Thomson, Djédjé Djédjé Gervais, Gesel Mason and Okwui Okpokwasili as well as dancer Omagbitse Omagbmi -- the work extended their choreographic explorations together through extreme physicality, exhaustion, vulnerability and release. Shinichi Iova-Koga (CA) San Francisco International Arts Festival Partnership / April 18 - May 16, 2010 Iova-Koga and his collaborators met with members of the Tallahassee Buddhist Community to dialogue about modern versus traditional Buddhist teachings and practices as part of the research for the development of The Crazy Cloud Collection, a collaboration with famed Butoh choreographer Ko Murobushi. These dueling perspectives gave him a better sense of what Ikkyu Sojun, the Buddhist monk who is the inspiration for this work, may have battled during his mischievous life.
Reggie Wilson Ralph Lemon
Reggie Wilson (NY) November 30 - December 13, 2009 Wilson and Congolese co-choreographer Andréya Ouamba returned to MANCC to refine The Good Dance: Dakar/Brooklyn in preparation for the NY premiere at the BAM Opera House. They spent the time coaching the six dancers of both companies by probing them to ask more questions about the overall sense of the work enabling a deeper investment in the work prior to the full tour.
Shinichi Iova-Koga
Dance Theater Workshop Partnership / October 25 - November 7, 2009 For the first time since conceiving Blocks of Continuality/Body, Image and Algorithm, Koosil-ja and project collaborators mounted and tested all of the technological components as a cohesive unit. Koosil-ja made daily shifts in the dancers and avatars’ choreography due to her ongoing observation of the work and as a result of the feedback from community members after multiple, consecutive viewings.
Koosil-ja
r f oKoosil-ja r C h(NY) o r e o g r a p h y
MANCC 2009 FORUM Choreographic Research and Development / Advancing the National Dialogue Last August, eighty dance presenters, dance department chairs, residency and retreat center coordinators, funders, representatives from national service organizations and MANCC artist alum from across the country met at MANCC to advance the national dialogue about how we make research and development a more vital cornerstone of what we value and achieve as a field. We came with the same premise -- the understanding that artists need time, space and resources to develop work. We met at FSU in the studios, theater and halls of Montgomery, which were filled with artists in residence developing new work. Our intention through the event and follow up activities was to take stock of what resources we have access to and explore, through individual and collective efforts, how we might help one another build a stronger, more impactful dance ecology. Conversations are ongoing and a multitude of pilot initiatives are now under way by our colleagues including the Alliance for Artist Communities, National Dance Project/New England Foundation for the Arts, National Performance Network, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Through this initiative, we are pleased to announce we have received major funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to deepen our relationship with artists by making two-year commitments to a select number of past MANCC artists for the development of new work. We will also be hiring Administrative and Media Fellows through this opportunity to help advance our work. For more information including videos, photographs and audio podcasts from artist residencies and the MANCC FORUM, please visit
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MANCC 2010-2011 Artists Choreographic Fellows Rosie Herrera (FL) September 6-27, 2010 Otto Ramstad (MN) October 5-19, 2010 Katie Faulkner (CA) December 6-17, 2010 Kristin Van Loon & Arwen Wilder (MN) January 14-February 1, 2011 Pavel Zustiak (NY) March 14-27, 2011 Faye Driscoll (NY) March 27-April 11, 2011 Check the website for more details on additional residencies including: Dean Moss (NY) November 10-20, 2010 John Jasperse (NY) April 17-May 7, 2011 Dance Theater Workshop Partnership Projects with Juliette Mapp (NY) and David Neumann (NY) Returning MANCC Fellows Emily Johnson (MN) and Miguel Gutierrez (NY) Above: Emily Johnson by Cameron Wittig, Faye Driscoll by Lily Baldwin, Hijack by Sean Smuda, John Jasperse by Isabelle Waternaux, Juliette Mapp by Kenneth Jarecke, David Neumann Below: Rosie Herrera, Katie Faulkner by Adam Shemper, Pavel Zustiak by Jeremy Lehmann, Dean Moss, Otto Ramstad by Olive Bieringa, Miguel Gutierrez by Alex Escalante
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A Fond Farewell
H
ats off to the artists, students, faculty and administration who keep MANCC aligned with the principles of authenticity, dialogic communication, courage, artistic experimentation, and validating support for artistic process. Returning to this activated environment has been an unanticipated gift and personal investment from which I will forever benefit. How dreamy, yet now realistic, that FSU students can supplement their education through exposure to nationally recognized artists’ research and development process. There’s always something to dig into -- from learning about the research topics that the artists question … to the type of collaborators they bring and how they utilize them … to the infinite possibilities of how process and product can be constructed … to the opportunity to discourse about current work. Interacting with these artists gives us all a chance to inwardly reflect and question what we are innately drawn to, and I’ve had the opportunity to do just that over the past four and a half years at MANCC. As a result I’ve grown closer to my core sensibilities and illuminated those that consistently surface, consequently honing my career path just like students are encouraged to mature their distinctive voices in relationship to the wide range of work they see here. Through this process of listening and researching, combined with inspiration from colleagues and artists’ commitment to inquiry, risk and fervor, I have decided to seque into the field of Dance/ Movement Therapy, a growing passion of mine. As I transition to Philadelphia to pursue my graduate degree at Drexel University, I keep in mind this quotation by Janet Adler, as a reflection of both MANCC and the field of DMT: “authenticity is not a goal to be achieved, but rather a constant process of becoming.” Please keep in touch! LMeeks@gmail.com.
The Florida State University College of Visual Arts, Theatre & Dance
School of Dance Uses Technology for Performance Collaboration by Jeffery
Seay
In this dance, the technological choreography is just as important as the dynamic movements of the dancers.
During the Intermedia Festival of Telematic Arts, April 23-25, dancers from the Florida State University School of Dance in Tallahassee and the Butler University Department of Dance in Indianapolis will perform together in real time over the Internet for an audience at the IndianapolisMarion County Public Library. The collaboration is one way that dance technologists such as Tim Glenn conduct research into new ways to design dance events and gain access to performance venues at distant locations. “We experiment with networking technologies, as well as camera and projection geometry,” said Glenn, an associate professor of dance at Florida State and a charter member of the Association for Dance and Performance Telematics. “The intent is to stretch the boundaries of performance research.”
The Intermedia Festival of Telematic Arts uses Internet2, the foremost U.S. advanced networking consortium, as a forum for artists, musicians, videographers, dancers, actors and writers from around the world to perform and discuss their works. The festival will showcase three of Glenn’s choreographic works: multimedia projects Silk by Night and Catharsis, and dance project Life, Shapes & the Future of History Condensed. Under Glenn’s direction, Florida State technology specialist Chris Cameron and a team of graduate students will produce a multicamera broadcast that will be projected on large video screens in Indianapolis. “The two main dances that will be broadcast from FSU to a primary screen in Indianapolis will be shot as a three-camera live mix by our dance-technology graduate students,” Glenn said. “Additional, pre-edited movie files will be played on secondary screens in the Indianapolis-Marion County Public
Library to synchronize with the Internet broadcast. The audience in Indianapolis will experience the dances as an edited choreography for the camera.” In addition to the Butler University Department of Dance, Florida State’s other partners in this performance research are the Donald Tavel Arts Technology Research Center at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, which is hosting the festival, and Dance Kaleidoscope, Indiana’s premier professional contemporary dance company. This article reprinted from the FSU publication State by Jeffery Seay. Tim Glenn
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Over the past few months, a great deal of time was spent planning and rehearsing the camera angles and edits that will be performed, according to Glenn. “I’ve traveled to Indianapolis twice and spent countless hours videoconferencing, swapping e-mails and having phone conversations with the project choreographers, directors and technical staff of our research partners,” Glenn said. “I spent an entire day with (festival director) Scott Deal and the other two choreographers, Cynthia Pratt (of Butler University) and David Hochoy (of Dance Kaleidoscope), in a brainstorming retreat to map out the dance event for the festival.” As an example of the way dance and technology can be combined, the performance of Silk by Night will feature live-feed videography of dancer Ella Rosewood, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a pre-edited atmosphere of moonlight and clouds as seen through a forest in Tallahassee. Glenn, operating the live camera, will coordinate his camera movement and framing with the dance as it is performed. “This combination of live and projected imagery will create a multidimensional design of kinetic motion,” he said. The festival will be the fifth such telematic event that Florida State’s dance technology team has participated in over the past seven years. “These activities make it possible for our dancers at FSU to perform for an audience outside of our region and experience a new model for performance design,” Glenn said.
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Above: Dancers at Florida State being broadcast to multiple sites via videoconferencing. Photo: Jammy Straub Below:Dancers at Florida State move as one. Photo: video still by Gwen Petry
The Florida State University College of Visual Arts, Theatre & Dance
American College Dance Festival The 2010 Southeastern regional conference for the American College Dance Festival was held once again at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Thanks to the support of Friends of Dance, eleven students were able to make the trip. Two MFA works from Days of Dance, Lauren Slone’s unsäglich and Shelley Bourgeois’ At the Round, were selected to participate in the adjudication concerts and undergraduate Scott Curley’s Headed to Hell was a part of an evening of informal concerts. As always, we were well represented and At the Round was a part of the gala concert. Next March, while everyone else is on spring break, FSU Dance students will be hard at work hosting the 2011 regional conference. We expect to welcome over 450 participants from over twenty-five different college programs. The conference will run from Saturday, March 5 through Tuesday, March 8.
unsäglich Choreographer: Lauren Slone Dancer: Katharine Kolp Photo: Jon Nalon
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25
Dance Repertory Theatre Turns
Dance Repertory Theatre (DRT), the performance ensemble housed in the School of Dance, will celebrate 25 years
of bringing dance to the Tallahassee community during the 2010-11 academic year.
The group has been under the direction of Lynda Davis since its inception in 1985, although traces of what would come can be traced back to Dance Touring Theatre. Since that time the group has not only held its annual concert each spring term, but brings dance to the surrounding community through outreach programs. These activities serve to enhance the school mission as a regional repertory center by introducing the works of well-known choreographers in its program offerings. This group has become a much-loved gem in the school, both by dancers and the community. This year alone, the ensemble performed at the FAMU School of Architecture, The Mary Brogan Museum of Arts and Sciences, the grand opening of Florida State’s new Turnball Conference Center, the Orange Avenue Community Center in collaboration with an M.A. Capstone project, The FSU Freshman Honors Colloquium lecture, The Suzanne Farrell Young Dancer’s Workshop, Tallahassee Museum of Natural Science and History, collaborated with the FSU Marching Chiefs for a Michael Jackson tribute, and the International Symposium for Social Justice, just to name a few. Congratulations are in order for the many dancers and collaborators who have been a part of this group, broadening the dance community and delighting audiences everywhere.
L
ynda Davis, artistic director of Dance Repertory Theatre, is a professor of contemporary dance in the Florida State School of Dance. She has had extensive performing, directing and teaching experience that encompass both the professional and educational dance worlds. She is a former member of the Gloria Newman Dance Theatre and a featured dancer with the Bella Lewitzky Dance Company. She has served as Artistic Director and Dean of the Dance School at the California Institute of the Arts. Along with Clay Taliaferro and Carol Warner, she codirected, performed and toured extensively the Theatre Dance Trio. Lynda has toured widely with her solo concerts and has choreographed and taught at many festivals and dance residency events. Ms. Davis has choreographed and directed a series of dance films related to technical training, improvisational skills and choreographic source materials. She has served as Artistic Director and principal choreographer for the Centre Dance Ensemble and Transition Dance Company sponsored by the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance in London, and has conducted choreographic and teaching residencies throughout the United States and Europe, as well as parts of South Africa, Mozambique, China, India, Korea and Russia. From 1988-1995, Ms. Davis, along with Martha Meyers, directed the American Dance Festival Professional Artist / Educator Update program. Present creative work is focused on “Arts In Other Places/Pushing the Art Form.” These projects involve performances, choreography and teaching collaborations. She is co-designer of “Excavating the Arts: A Cetamura Collaboration.” Drawing on the archeological authenticity of the site, its artifacts and the processes of field study as source material, “Sites and Insights” projects coming from these moveable centers for the arts are presented in concerts and dance dialogue performances. She is the Nellie-Bond Dickinson named professor.
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The Florida State University College of Visual Arts, Theatre & Dance
Visiting Guest Artist, Choreographers and Resident Artists / Choreographers from 1985-2010
“My
DRT Sarasota for our community outreach tour. We got to interact with and fondest memory of
was our trip to
perform for children of all ages at local schools.
Our
schedule was so jam-packed but it was so rewarding.
It
was great to spend quality bonding time with the other
DRT
Lynda
members who
participated. It is a trip never forget.”
and
I will
- Kristen Tucker Paladino (MFA 2008)
Mary Anthony Anjali Austin (a Louis Johnson restaging) Rob Besserer (a Lar Lubovitch restaging) Lyndon Branaugh (a Martha Graham restaging) Chris Burnside Ann Carlson Jane Carrington (a Doris Humphrey restaging) Jack Clark (a Ted Shawn restaging) Mary Cory (a Doris Humphrey restaging) Terry Creach Ron Cunningham Sean Curran Alan Danielson Lynda Davis Ford Evans Nancy Smith Fichter Donlin Foreman Claudia Gitleman (a Hanya Holm restaging) Stuart Hodes Gerri Houlihan Sheila Humphreys (a Petipa restaging) Stephen Koester Rachel Lampert Rick McCullough Anthony Morgan
Douglas Nielsen Alwin Nikolais Dionne Sparkman Noble Patricia Howell Phillips Ric Rose Brent Schneider Marcus Schulkind Daniel Shapiro and Joanie Smith Richard Sias Jeff Slayton Peter Sparling Clay Taliaferro Jan Van Dyke Renee Wadleigh Dan Wagoner Lance Westergard (a Lotte Goslar restaging) Chester Wolenski (a José Limón restaging) Bruce Wood Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
Top: Transform Choreographer: Alan Danielson Photo: Jon Nalon Left: Postcard from 1986 spring season
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Faculty and Staff Updates Jennifer S.B. Calienes served as the Chair of the United States Artist dance panel in Los Angeles this year, and served on the MAP Fund Panel in New York, a program of the Creative Capital Foundation. She also served on the New England Foundation for the Arts Production Residency Focus Group in Boston and presented in New Orleans at the Alliance of Artist Communities Conference. Suzanne Farrell was invited to a “Celebration of The Arts” this past fall at the home of Vice President Joe Biden. This spring she taught a master ballet class for the “Backstage Pass to the Best of Florida State” sponsored by the FSU Foundation for the newly formed Women for Florida State University. Joyce Fausone was awarded a Professional Development Leave for the 2010 spring semester. During this time she attended the APAP Conference in NYC where she was able to see 40 different dance companies in various showcases and attended seminars on marketing and technology. In Paris she had the opportunity to visit the Paris Opera Ballet School and Académie Américaine de Danse de Paris where she was also invited to teach a class in classical ballet. Other visits included the Conser vatoire N a t i o n a l Superior in Music and Dance in Pantin , the Universite Paris VIII, and the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine in Angers. Hopefully, these connections will lead to future collaborations for both FSU dance majors and faculty through partnerships, residencies, or international cultural exchange through Global Pathways and/or the FSU International program.
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Nancy Smith Fitcher, continues to direct the Lillian Smith Center along with her husband, Robert Fichter. This summer the center, a retreat for artists/writers, had a full house of 20 by the end of the summer season. The Center is also part of the Tri State Southern Literary Trail and produced an inaugural weekend in March. In the spring of 2009, Nancy was part of an eight member Roundtable discussion for YoungARTS, in NYC. She was also keynote speaker for a conference, “Artists Teaching Artists”, at University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, this past June. Tim Glenn presented Embodiments of Silence - A Dance Transposed for the Screen, at the OSUdance Alumni Dance for Camera in October in Columbus, OH. The film is soon to be aired on an international cable TV station exclusively committed to the visual arts in France (freebox 129) and Germany (Unitymedia/Kabel BW). Glenn will continue working with the Paul Taylor Dance Company for their Repertory Preservation Project which will include documentation of 4 Taylor masterworks: Also Playing, Brief Encounters, Public Domain, Runes. He will also participate in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Dance Program’s 100th anniversary of historic Lathrop Hall, the home of the nation’s first degree program in dance. Glenn is an alumnus of UW, where he received two B.S. degrees in Dance Performance & Choreography and Interarts & Technology. While in Wisconsin, Glenn will offer a master class in video, screen his Embodiments of Silence film, and present other research as part of the Interarts & Technology exhibit. Gerri Houlihan was recently awarded full Professorship at FSU. She was also commissioned to set 4X4 on dancers at University of Florida in Gainesville. She taught two master classes for the Southeastern ACDFA Festival and was an adjudicator for the South Central ACDFA Festival in Louisiana in early April. In May she taught a technique class for Moving Current, a contemporary dance company based in Tampa, FL. She celebrated her 25th summer teaching at the American
The Florida State University College of Visual Arts, Theatre & Dance
Dance Festival at Duke University. In July she traveled to Seoul, Korea as a faculty member for the Korean Dance Festival. Currie Leggoe was given the opportunity to tour with the Suzanne Farrell Ballet Company back in October and take a break from Tallahassee. She took care of their costume needs through New Jersey, Michigan, and California. Rick McCullough was awarded Associate Professorship here at FSU. He was also recently selected to adjudicate the North Central ACDFA. Anthony Morgan served as Rehearsal Director/Lecturer for Dancers Dancing’s Lecture Demonstration tour in Vancouver Lower Mainland and was selected as an editor/ writer for their newsletter. He also reset Idyll, choreographed in 2007, for Voices in Motion and Bodies that Sing in Nanaimo, British Columbia in May. Patty Phillips, Co-Chair and member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD) recently moderated a panel at the 2009 NASD Conference in St Petersburg Beach, FL. The subject of the panel was International Programs: The Emerging Issues for Institutions and Students. Russell Sandifer. In addition to his busy schedule in Tallahassee, Russell completed his tenth year as Lighting Designer for the Suzanne Farrell Ballet with a US tour in the fall and a two program spring season at the Kennedy Center. Dan Wagoner was recently awarded The University Teaching Award. This award recognizes faculty for excellence in undergraduate and graduate teaching. Recipients must be outstanding in the many aspects of teaching which contribute to successful learning. This is a student-oriented award with nominations submitted by students and alumni. Each recipient also receives a $2000 award.
Tom Welsh published his book, Conditioning for Dancers, through The University Press of Florida, featuring photography by FSU dance faculty member, Rick McCullough, of exercises performed by recent and current FSU dancers. The book can be ordered online at amazon.com. In September, Tom also copresented with Muhlenberg College colleagues Gayanne Grossman, PT and Karen Dearborn, MFA a symposium entitled: Access to Injury Management Services for College Dancers at the annual meeting of the National Association of Schools of Dance. In October, Tom was sworn in as the new president of the International Assocation for Dance Medicine and Science. Dr. Tricia Young was a featured speaker at the Dance Heritage Coalition’s National Dance Heritage Leadership Forum in Washington, DC in January, where she delivered a white paper on Teaching Dance History with Access to Primary Materials. Dr. Young also received an Arts and Humanities Program Enhancement (AHPEG) grant, along with colleagues Dr. Jennifer Atkins and Dr. Sally Sommer, for development of their book project “Dance and American Identity.” This summer she taught in the FSU Valencia, Spain study abroad program, where she and Dr. Sommer have initiated a summer Flamenco intensive. Jawole Zollar was awarded the Florida Dance Association’s Nancy Smith Award at its annual Festival in Tampa, FL for outstanding leadership and excellence in dance in Florida.
Transform Choreographer: Alan Danielson Photo:Jon Nalon
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Blythe Barton (MFA 2008) is dancing with San Diego Dance Theater and Malashock Dance. She was also recently commissioned to choreograph for students at Chapman University. Jessica Barzell (MA 2009) will join the faculty of the University of Virginia this fall. Heather Benson (BFA 2009) danced with Dallas Black Dance Theater II in Dallas, Texas in 2009/2010, and has recently become a company member with Philadanco in Philadelphia, PA. Kit Blanchard (BFA 1993) will be touring as stage manager with the band Phish again this year as well as the main stage at Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits Music Festival and Outside Lands Music Festivals. He is also the technical consultant for Zoetic Dance Ensemble in Atlanta, GA.
A lumni Andy Howard (MA/ADS 2009) is now the Coordinator of Alumni Affairs and Marketing for the College of Fine Arts at the University of Florida. Previously, he served three seasons as the Director of Public/Community Relations and Education for the late Orlando Opera Company. Millicent Marie Johnnie (MFA 2008) is now on the dance faculty at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and was an artist in residence in March for the University of Illinois Department of Dance.
Shelley Bourgeois (MFA 2010) is joining the Tampa dance collective, Moving Currents this fall. Kanisha Brown (MFA 2010) has signed a contract with Urban Bush Women Diane Cahill (MFA 2010) recently accepted a position San Jacinta College in Texas. A’Keitha Carey (MFA 2008) performed at Dance Space Project in NYC with Cynthia Oliver/COCo Dance Theatre in Rigidigidim De Bamba De: Ruptured Calypso. Terry Duncan (MFA 2006) has just accepted the position of Coordinator of the Dance Department at the County College of Morris in Randolph, NJ. Michelle Fletcher (MFA 2008) was recently selected to participate in ODC PILOT 56, an artist residency program for emerging San Francisco based choreographers. Jessica Ray Herzogenrath (MA 2009) has been awarded a Glasscock Humanities Center Graduate Student Fellowship for 2010-2011 and continues her studies at Texas A&M University. Kimberly Holt (MFA 2009) & Jaclyn Speights (MA 2009) traveled to the annual meeting of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science in the Netherlands in October. They presented their research coauthored with Tom Welsh entitled, The effects of remote cueing on dancer alignment. Kim Holt is also now dance faculty at Valdosta State University.
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The Florida State University College of Visual Arts, Theatre & Dance
U pdates Kirstin A. Kapustik (MFA 2009) presented choreography at Philipstown Depot Theater as part of the curated performance “Depot Dances” in Garrison, NY. Taz Loft (BFA 2009) will be performing with Third Rail Projects (with alumni Tom Pearson) in NYC. Brittany Logan (BFA 2008) is dancing with Dianne Eno/ Fusion Dance Works in NYC. She is also performing with FSU alumni, Alana Marie Urda’s (BFA 2004) company Amalgamate and with Alex Jennings (BFA 2009).
Jason Macdonald ((BFA 2009) joined Parsons Dance Company in NYC. Andy Noble (MFA 2008) started NobleMotion Dance with his wife Dionne Noble, former FSU dance adjunct professor. The company recently performed at the Ailey Theatre in NYC, Dance Houston, the Big Range Dance Festival, and Texas A&M University. Kristen Tucker Paladino (MFA 2008) became the ballet coordinator for In Motion School of Dance in Hamilton, Bermuda. She will teach in Pennsylvania during the summers. Tom Pearson (BFA 1998 )and Jennine Willett (MFA 1996) of Third Rail Projects continue their success presenting work in New York and Hong Kong. Summer Renner (BFA 2009) will be performing as a Rockette in Radio City Christmas Spectacular in Nashville, TN. Allison Shir (BFA 2008) recently performed in Sarasota, FL with Batsheva Dance Company, an Israeli based company as part of their world tour. Aline Wachsmuth (BFA 2008) recently made and presented a short dance film at the San Fransisco Westwave Dance Festival. She is dancing with FSU alumna Michelle Fletcher’s Here Now Dance Collective and will be touring the US, France, and Germany with LEVYdance. Ruka White (BFA 2005) is dancing his second season with the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company in Ohio. Just recently, he has co-founded and directs VibDance Company, a non-profit organization that is comprised of various students from the Ohio area. Lindsay Wood (BFA 2006) is enjoying being on the road with the Broadway tour of Wicked. Sheree Woods (BFA 2010) is performing at Walt Disney World. Do you have alumni news? Send it to jmk03g@fsu.edu with “Alumni Notes” in the subject line.
Composed Choreography: Joanna Brooks Photo: Will Day
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Friends of Dance By Debra Lachter, President
FSU Friends of Dance (FOD) is a unique organization comprised of people who have a common passion- dance. The bi-monthly board meetings are always lively and productive, and guided by a common driving force, to help FSU School of Dance. The FOD board members are an active and passionate group of volunteers dedicated to providing support in a variety of ways.
FSU Friends of Dance was established in 1987 to provide direct scholarships for deserving Florida State University dance majors and this remains the primary goal over 20 years later. Other aims are to encourage participation in and attendance at the department’s various dance events; and to offer support for the policies, projects, and activities of the School of Dance. FOD’s goals are accomplished through memberships, direct donations and fund-raisers. The annual Suzanne Farrell Young Dancer’s Workshop (YDW) fund-raiser reached record numbers this year in both participation and proceeds. It attracted students from all over the southeast region who had a spectacular experience in our state of the art facility. In addition, Suzanne Farrell personally signed pointe shoes were offered for sale to the delight of the young dancers. All proceeds from this annual event benefit the FOD Scholarship Fund. FOD does much more than raise money for scholarships. Dedicated volunteers cheerfully host receptions after Days of Dance, Dance Repertory Theatre and Evening of Dance performances. During the YDW they feed both faculty and students. They also help send dancers to the American College Dance Festival by underwriting a portion of the registration fees and travel expenses. This year FOD members manned a booth at the LeMoyne Chain of Parks Art Festival to promote FSU School of Dance. It was a very successful endeavor. We have lofty goals for the upcoming year. Two big fundraisers are in the planning stages as well as a workshop/retreat for dance teachers and studio owners. We hope to see Friends of Dance increase in membership in the coming year 2010-2011, allowing an even greater opportunity to grow our scholarship abilities. We would like to provide more support to male students in the programs, and be prepared to provide help to students who experience unforeseen needs. We want to reach a greater portion of the community at large through our fundraisers and special events.
Lair Choreographer:Shelley Bourgeois Dancer: Sarah Harkness Photo: Jon Nalon
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The Florida State University College of Visual Arts, Theatre & Dance
There is a Time Choreographer: José Límón Dancers: Megan Thornburg, Joshua Reaver Photo: Jon Nalon
2010-11 Scholarship Recipients Friends of Dance Scholarships Brittany Grimm Sarah Harkness Shiloh Hodges Maxey Koch Jessica Mayhew Tiffany Mellard Jocelyn Ordialis Crimson Roe Michelle Russell Lauren Slone Mary Ward Bridget Williams Summer FOD Scholarships Christina Corbett Loren Davidson Patsy Gay Jaime Kight Maxey Koch Katie Noletto Jocelyn Ordiales Nicole Roerick Mary Ward Men’s Scholarships Nathaniel Buchsbaum Joshua Reaver
Robert Davis Scholarship Caitlin Hafer Ben Grace Scholarship Liz Saluke Graham Scholarship Michelle Russell Howell L. Ferguson & Sharon Maxwell-Ferguson Scholarship Lauren Slone O’Brien Scholarship Rachel Hunter Nancy Smith Fichter Scholarship Liz Saluke NYC Alumni Scholarship Nathaniel Buchsbaum Megan Thornburg NYC Dickenson/Settle Scholarship Kaley Pruitt Brittany Anastasio Devon Kelly Hanaah Frechette Aimee Plauche
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THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS, THEATRE & DANCE
School of Dance PO Box 3062120 Tallahassee, FL 32306-2120
Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Tallahassee, FL Permit No. 55
dance.fsu.edu
Upcoming Performances October 22, 23 - 8:00 pm: MFA Dance Concert November 16 through 20: Days of Dance Program A: November 16, 18, 20 – 8:00 pm Program B: November 17, 19 – 8:00 pm, November 20 – 2:00 pm January 28, 29 – 8:00 pm: Dance Repertory Theatre in Concert January 29 - 2:00 pm – Dance Repertory Theatre Alumni Sharing February 18, 19 – 8:00 pm: MFA Dance Concert March 25, 26 – 8:00 pm: MFA Dance Concert April 14, 15, 16 – 8:00 pm: Evening of Dance
School of Dance
at The Florida State University