CORPS de Ballet



17th Annual Teacher Conference

June 23-27, 2015

Towson, Maryland

Building Bridges:

Community, Diversity, and Culture

Hosted by

Towson University Center of Fine Arts and Communications

Towson University Marriott Conference Hotel

The Washington Ballet and School

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PRESIDENTS WELCOME LETTER 3

BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND CONTACT INFORMATION 4

IMPORTANT CONFERENCE LOCATION INFORMATION 5

STANDING COMMITTEE’S 6-7

SPECIAL THANKS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 7-9

CONFERENCE GUEST ARTISTS AND PRESENTERS 10

2015 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENT 11

2015 BASIL THOMPSON SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT 12

GUEST ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES 13-21

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP DAY SCHEDULE 22-23

DETAILED CONFERENCE SCHEDULE 24-28

PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE 29-55

SCREENING OF BALCK BALLERINA 56

VIDEO CHOREOGRAPHIC SHARING PROGRAM 57-58

NEARBY RESTAURANTS AND SHOPPING 59-60

Council of Organized Researchers for Pedagogical Studies of Ballet

corps-de-

FOUNDED JUNE 1998

Richard Sias - Founder

Florida State University – Prof. Emeritus

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Catherine Horta-Hayden – President

Towson University

Department of Dance

8000 York Road

Towson, Maryland 21252

410-704-3309 (o)

chortahayden@towson.edu

Shani Robison – President Elect

Brigham Young University

Provo, UT

Nola Nolen – Past President

Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania

Slippery Rock, PA

Sharon Oberst - Secretary

Western Oregon University

Monmouth, OR

Courtney Harris – Treasurer

Virginia Commonwealth University

Department of Dance and Choreography

1315 Floyd Avenue

P.O. Box 843007

Richmond, VA 23284-3007

804-828-1711 (o)

cbharris@vcu.edu

Anjali Austin

Florida State University

Tallahassee, FL

Sandra Perez

Towson University

Towson, MD

Laura Katz Rizzo

Temple University

Philadelphia, PA

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

Rochelle Zide-Booth 2014

Richard Sias 2013

Alonzo King 2012

Judith Chazin-Bennahum 2011

Gretchen Ward Warren 2010

Sandra Noll Hammond 2009

Anna Paskevska (posth) 2008

Gemze de Lappe 2007

Bené Arnold 2006

Grant Strate 2005

Miguel Terekhov 2004

Françoise Martinet 2003

George Zoritch 2002

Violette Verdy 2001

Willam F. Christensen 2000

CORPS de Ballet International, Inc.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEMBERS AND CONTACT INFORMATION

2014-2015

Founder, Ex-Officio, Board Member

Richard Sias Florida State University, Emeritus, FL

President

Catherine Horta-Hayden Towson University, MD 443-794-0047

Past President

Nola Nolen, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, PA 724-290-8946

President Elect

Shani Robison, Brigham Young University, UT 801-809-7365

Treasurer

Courtney Harris, Virginia Commonwealth University, VA 206-683-0968

Secretary

Sharon Oberst, Western Oregon University, OR 503-917-1175

Members at Large

Anjali Austin, Florida State University, FL 850-566-6875

Sandra Perez, Towson University, MD 301-518-3251

Laura Katz Rizzo,Temple University, PA 610-585-7028

IMPORTANT CONFERENCE LOCATION INFORMATION

Towson University

8000 York Road

Towson, MD 21252

Center for the Arts Building is located at the corner of Cross Campus Dr. and Osler Dr.

Towson University Marriott Conference Hotel

10 Burke Avenue

Towson, MD 21204

Ph: 410-324-8100

La Tasca (Banquet Location)

Harborplace and The Gallery

201 E Pratt Street

Baltimore, MD 21012

Ph: 410-209-2562

Parking: Gallery Mall across Pratt Street

Directions from Marriott:

Turn Left on York Rd., Right onto Northern Pkwy, Right onto I-83 S, Take Exit 4 Md. 2 S/St. Paul St.(turns into Light St), Turn Left onto E. Pratt St. (Destination is on the right)

The Washington Ballet School

3515 Wisconsin Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20016

Ph: 202-362-3606

Directions from Towson:

Take I-695 West, Exit to I-95 South, Take Exit 27 to merge onto I-495 West Silver Spring, Take Exit 33 MD-185 Connecticut Ave., Turn Left onto Connecticut Ave., At Roundabout take 4th exit Connecticut Ave NW, Turn Right onto Nebraska Ave. NW, Merge onto Tenley Circle NW, Turn Left onto Wisconsin Ave., Destination on Left

The John F. Kennedy Center

2700 F Street, NW

Washington, DC 20566

Ph: 800-444-1324

Directions from The Washington Ballet School:

Take Wisconsin Ave NW Southeast, Turn Left onto K St., Continue onto 27th St. NW, Turn Left onto Virginia Ave. NW, At Round about take 1st exit onto New Hampshire Ave. NW, Turn Right onto F St. NW, Destination on Left

CORPS de Ballet International, Inc.

STANDING COMMITTEES

Presidents’ Planning Council

Chair: Catherine Horta-Hayden President

Members: Nola Nolen Past President, Shani Robinson President Elect

Awards Committee

Chair: Nola Nolen

Members: Catherine Horta-Hayden, Shani Robinson, Rose Flachs

Scholarship Committee

Chair: Nola Nolen

Members: Catherine Horta-Hayden, Shani Robinson

Strategic and Long Range Planning

Chair: Christine Knoblauch-O’Neal

Members: Nola Nolen, Paula Weber, Elizabeth Gillaspy, David Curwen, Sharon Garber, Judith Chazin-Bennahaum

Bylaws and Constitution

Chair: Elizabeth Gillaspy

Members: Molly Lynch, Cydney Spohn

Nominations and Elections

Chair: Anjali Austin

Members: Lisa Fusillo, Cydney Spohn

Membership (and Recruitment)

Co-Chairs: Sandra Perez, Lisa Gibbs

Members: Lara Little, Jennifer Jackson, Delia Neil

Support and Mentoring

Chair: Karen Dearborn

Members: Lisa Fusilo, Tauna Hunter

External Relations and Outreach

Co-Chairs: Teresa Cooper, Yvonne Racz-Key

Members: Elizabeth Ahearn, Shayla Bott, Patricia Cohen, Rob Wood

Website and Technology

Co-Chairs: David Curwen, Charles Flachs (Webmaster)

Members: Cydney Spohn, Julia Gleich, Jennifer Medina

Conference Proceedings

Chair: Molly Faulkner

Member: Jessica Zeller

Public Relations and Marketing

Chair: Laura Katz- Rizzo

Member: Joan Buttram

SPECIAL THANKS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Presidents’ Council:

Catherine Horta-Hayden, Nola Nolen, Shani Robinson

Board of Directors:

Catherine Horta-Hayden, Nola Nolen, Shani Robison, Courtney Harris, Sharon Oberst, Anjali Austin, Sandra Perez, Laura Katz Rizzo

Committee Chairs and Co-Chairs:

Catherine Horta-Hayden, Nola Nolen, Anjali Austin, Sandra Perez, Laura Katz Rizzo, Molly Faulkner, David Curwen, Charles Flachs, Teresa Cooper, Yvonne Racz-Key, Karen Dearborn, Lisa Gibbs, Elizabeth Gillaspy, Christine Knoblauch-O’Neal

The Pre-Conference Day Break Out Forum Session:

Racheal LaBonte (Towson University), Elizabeth Ahearn (Goucher College), Misako Aoki-Oda (Misako Ballet Studio and Company), Renee Brozic (Howard Community College), Judi Fey (Anne Arundel County Public Schools Dance Coordinator), Laura Garza (Anne Arundel Community College), Barclay Gibbs (Harford Dance Conservatory and Ballet Company), Dana Martin (The Moving Co., RAD), Melissa Stafford (Peabody Conservatory)

The Training Male Ballet Dancers Panel:

Charles Flacchs(Moderator), Septime Webre, Kee Juan Han, Runqiao Du, James Clouser, Ariel Serrano

The Washington Ballet, The Washington Ballet School, and THEARC:

Septime Webre, Kee Juan Han, Kristina Windom, Katrina Toews, Elizabeth Sizer, Students at The Washington Ballet School

The Kennedy Center:

Meg Booth

Dance Theatre of Harlem:

Virginia Johnson

Choreographic Workshop:

Dana Tai Soon Burgess

BLACK BALLERINA Documentary Producer/Director:

Frances McElroy

Towson University:

Dr. Tim Chandler (Interim President), Dr. Maggie Reitz (Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs), Susan Picinich (Dean for the College of Fine Arts and Communications), Dr. Susan Kirchner (Department of Dance Chair), Sedonia Martin (Senior Communications Manager), Louise Miller (Director of Integrated Marketing Services), Kanji Takeno, Heather Sorenson, Sidney Pink, Racheal LaBonte, Division of Innovation and Applied Research

Conference Student Volunteers:

Towson Dance Majors: Aliyah Caldwell and Jessica Pinkett

River Run Press:

Ed Ramage

CORPS de Ballet International, Inc.

Conference Guests Artists

Septime Webre

Kee Juan Han

Ariel Serrano

James Clouser

Runqiao Du

Virginia Johnson

Dana Tai Soon Burgess

Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient

James Clouser, University of Arizona

Basil Thompson Memorial Scholarship Recipient

Cameron Miller, University of Missouri Kansas City

Additional Guest

Charles Flachs – Moderator for Training Male Ballet Dancers Panel

Larissa Rotnitskaya - Accompanist – Towson University

Meg Booth – The Kennedy Center

Katrina Toews – THEARC

Frances McElroy – Producer and Director

Academic Presentations by Members of CORPS de Ballet

Andrew Carroll, The University of South Florida

Molly Faulkner, Palomar College

Lisa Fusillo, University of Georgia

Andrea Lasner, The Johns Hopkins Hospital/Towson University

Nancy Romita Wanich, Towson University

Joellen A. Meglin, Temple University and Dance Chronicle

Melonie Buchanan Murray, University of Utah

Sharon Stokes Oberst, Western Oregon University

Laura Katz Rizzo, Temple University

Cydney Spohn, The University of Akron

CORPS de Ballet International, Inc 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient and Guest Artist:

James Clouser

James Clouser MA, MFA Visiting Professor in the School of Dance at the University of Arizona,

James Clouser was studying Composition, Theory, and French Horn Performance at the Eastman School of Music when he discovered his affinity for dance. He began his performing career in summer stock and subsequently joined Ballet Theatre (now ABT) and was for nine years principal dancer with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. After five years as Ballet Master, Resident Choreographer and Acting Director of the Houston Ballet he founded Space/Dance/Theater and later served as Artistic Director of the Dayton Ballet. He has choreographed for numerous companies in the United States, Canada and Europe. His most noted works include Com Spirito .Carmina Burana, Rasputin, the Holy Devil (which starred Erik Bruhn), Ear To Stone (presented in 1999 at the Avignon Festival in France), and Caliban (this country's first full-length rock ballet).

Mr. Clouser’s pedagogical studies have taken him to the Royal Ballet Schools in London and Copenhagen and to the Bolshoi and Kirov Schools in Russia. Mr. Clouser’s experience with ballet in higher education has included appointments to the faculties of the Juilliard School, Connecticut College, the American Dance Festival, Loretto Heights College in Denver, Texas Christian University and the University of North Texas. Upon “retirement” he took an “interim” position at the University of Arizona where, for the last fifteen years, his course offerings continue to include Ballet Technique, Men’s Ballet, Dance History, Dance and Culture, and Looking at Dance which innovatively engages general education students. He remains active as a choreographer creating new works for the University of Arizona’s unique Dance Ensemble as well as staging classic works and re-mounting some of his earlier repertoire. In 2014 he was the recipient of the University of Arizona’s College of Fine Arts Award for Sustained Excellence in Teaching.

Corps de Ballet International, Inc 2015 Basil Thompson Memorial Scholarship Recipient

Cameron Miller Age: 19 Sophomore at University of Missouri: Kansas City Graduation date: 2018 Cameron began dancing in 2005, at the age of nine. He auditioned for, and was accepted into the Kansas City Ballet School in 2008. Cameron danced with the KCBS for 6 years. He was a member of the Kansas City Youth Ballet Company, the performing ensemble of the KCBS, for 5 years. As a member of the company, Cameron performed in many roles, such as the Swan Lake pas de trois, the poet in Les Sylphides, Don Quixote in Don Quixote, Prince Desire and Bluebird in Sleeping Beauty, excerpts from Bournonvile’s Napoli, and Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, which has been his favorite role to date. Cameron graduated from high school and the KCBS in May 2014, then began his freshman year at UMKC Conservatory of Dance in the fall of 2014. After earning his BFA from UMKC, Cameron plans to earn his master’s degree, then hopes to be a member of a professional ballet company. After retirement, Cameron will pursue his dream of teaching ballet at a university level. The day I started dancing, I knew it was going to have a major impact on the rest of my life. I began dancing in 2005, at the age of nine, as I had become jealous of all the attention my sister, who was a dancer, was receiving. It wasn’t until I transferred from my local studio to the Kansas City Ballet School in 2008 that I began to take my training more seriously. Every day, I would arrive at the studio forty-five minutes prior to class and stay after my peers left, so that I could have extra time to practice and stretch. Everything I have accomplished, I owe to my instructor Hyuk­Ku Kwon. He once told me after class, “Many students come to the studio everyday and lazily do 100 tendus and wonder why they don’t improve. If you come in and just execute ten, or even just a single perfect tendu, you will improve.” Now as a college student, there is not a day that passes that I can’t mentally hear him say this to me. My biggest fear is failure. The day I walk into the studio and lazily do 100 tendus is the day that I have failed not only my instructors, but also myself. Master Kwon’s instruction and always telling me to push myself harder than the day before, to try again when you don’t succeed, and to be the best you can be, has been the greatest gift a dancer could receive. After graduating from UMKC, I plan to seek out my master's degree in ballet, then hopefully be accepted into a professional company. After retirement, I will pursue my dream of teaching ballet at a University level.

CONFERENCE GUEST ARTISTS

Dana Tai Soon Burgess “Burgess is an expert at directing the eye” Sarah Kaufman, The Washington Post.

Dana Tai Soon Burgess on Wikipedia

Burgess is the founding artistic director of Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company (DTSBDC). He is regarded nationally and internationally for his thoughtful and culturally-inspired choreography and has been hailed as “poet laureate of Washington dance” and “not only a Washington prize, but a national dance treasure” by Pulitzer Prize winning Washington Post dance critic Sarah Kaufman.

Burgess has served as an American Cultural Ambassador for the U.S. State Department for 20 years. Burgess’s research and artistic approach is inclusive of different cultures and peoples. He has said that he seeks to embrace a “vision of humanity’s shared emotional journey” in his dance works. He has performed and taught all over the world, in such diverse places as Egypt, Israel, China, India, Mongolia, Suriname, Venezuela, Jordan, Cambodia, Germany, Latvia, Ecuador, Panama, Mexico, and Peru, among others.

Burgess established DTSBDC in 1992, as well as the DTSBDC Asian American Youth Program, which engages D.C. high school students to explore identity, artistic self-expression, and their Asian American heritage. In 1994 he received the award for Outstanding Emerging Artist at the 12th Annual Mayor Arts Award Ceremony and his dance company was awarded the Mayor’s Arts Award for Excellence in 2005. He has received two Senior Fulbrights in 2006 and 2008 as well as six Artist Fellowships from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. He received the Pola Nirenska Award in 2003.

Recently, Burgess was the first Smithsonian choreographer-in-residence at the National Portrait Gallery from 2013-2014. He was invited by President and First Lady Obama to present his work and speak about his creative process at the White House in 2013. His work has toured to more than 200 American cities and he has performed at historic venues including the Kennedy Center, La Mama, the United Nations, The Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, the Asia Society and the Lincoln Center Out of Doors. His choreography has been commissioned by the Kennedy Center, the Ballet Memphis and the National Ballet of Peru, among others.

Since 2008 Burgess has served as chair of the department of Theatre and Dance at The George Washington University, where he created a new, international dance MFA program in 2011. He is known for his expertise as a lecturer and teacher of both new and advanced students. He has taught at the School of the Hamburg Ballet, the National Ballet of Peru, the San Marcos University, Sejong University in Korea, the University Panama, and universities in Beijing and Nanjing, China, as well as the Washington Ballet, George Mason University, Georgetown University and the University of Maryland.

Burgess is a Mayoral appointed commissioner who serves on the D.C. Asian Pacific Islander Affairs Commission.

Runqiao Du was born in Shanghai, China. At the age of 11, he was selected and awarded a scholarship to study at the famed Shanghai School of Dance. Upon graduating with honors in 1989, Mr. Du moved to the United States to begin his performing career with The Washington Ballet. During his nearly 20 year tenure with TWB, he performed various leading roles in classical and neoclassical ballets including Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Albrecht in Giselle, Prince Charming in Cinderella, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the Cavalier in The Nutcracker. He has also had the opportunity to dance leading roles choreographed by some of today’s most influential choreographers including works by Christopher Wheelden, Nacho Duato, Mark Morris, Edwaard Liang, Septime Webre and Twayla Tharp. In 2000, while maintaining his position with The Washington Ballet, he accepted an invitation from the legendary ballerina, Suzanne Farrell, to join her brand new company The Suzanne Farrell Ballet as a principle dancer. Under her coaching, Mr. Du danced some of the most important works created by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins and Maurice Bejart.

After his illustrious performing career, Mr. Du accepted a position in 2008 as full time Lecturer from the Dance Department of the Towson University where he teaches Ballet Technique to the top level BFA Majors. He also teaches Ballet Repertory, Men’s Ballet Technique, Partnering, and is the Artistic Director of the Towson Dance Company for the fall semester. In the Dance Department, Mr. Du plays a major role in creating a curriculum structure of male dancers. He has written a brand new course DANC 343 Ballet for Men to train the male ballet students in college. Mr. Du joined the American Dance Institute faculty in 2009 and became the Artistic Director of the ADI School in 2010. He also formed Ballet ADI, the resident company of American Dance Institute in the same year. The company produces two highly acclaimed productions each year since its creation. In 2010, he completed an entire production of The Nutcracker for the ADI School students. The School performs The Nutcracker annually in ADI Theater as well as benefit performances in Children’s Inn at NIH and Walter Reed Amy and Naval Hospital in Bethesda MD. Mr. Du has been a guest artist and guest teacher nationally and internationally. His choreographic work has also been presented in various companies, festivals, and competitions, including the Millennium Stage at The John F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts Center.

Kee Juan Han (Director, The Washington School of Ballet) directed the Arizona Ballet School from 1993 to 2003. Mr. Han began his dance training in his native Singapore at age ten under the direction of Florrie Sinclair and Goh Soo Khim. Upon graduation from the Australian Ballet School he was invited to dance with the Sydney Dance Company, then the Goh Ballet in Canada, where he was also trained by Lin Yee Goh to teach the Vaganova method. Mr. Han was a principal dancer with the Indianapolis Ballet Theatre and a soloist with the Boston Ballet. He was named best teacher and coach at the Youth America Grand Prix (Long Beach) in 2000.

Mr. Han was a full-time faculty member at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award at NCSA. He is the co-founder of the American Ballet Competition and is featured in the Singapore Encyclopedia. Mr. Han was awarded the 2008 Dance Teacher of the Year Award by Dance magazine. Under his directorship The Washington School of Ballet was awarded the best youth dance performance by MetroDC Dance and the Best School Award at the Youth America Grand Prix (Torrington) for three consecutive years. Mr. Han has trained many prominent dancers, including David Hallberg, principal of Bolshoi Ballet and American Ballet Theater, and Ginger Smith of Ballet Arizona. He has coached many prize winners in numerous international ballet competitions and implemented the teaching syllabus for The Washington School of Ballet. Mr. Han is a master guest teacher and is frequently invited to judge ballet competitions around the world.

Virginia Johnson returns to Dance Theatre of Harlem as artistic director having been a founding member and principal dancer. Born in Washington, DC, Johnson graduated from the Academy of the Washington School of Ballet. She briefly attended the School of the Arts at New York University as a University Scholar before joining DTH in 1969. During her 28 years with the company she performed most of the repertoire, with principal roles in Concerto Barocco, Allegro Brillante, Agon, A Streetcar Named Desire, Fall River Legend, Swan Lake, Giselle, Voluntaries, Les Biches among others.

Three DTH productions in which she danced leading roles were recorded for broadcast: A Streetcar Named Desire for Dance in America on PBS, Creole Giselle, which was the first full-length ballet broadcast on NBC, and Fall River Legend, which won a cable ACE award from the Bravo Network. In addition, she was included in two acclaimed television dance series, Margot Fonteyn’s “The Magic of Dance” and Natalia Makarova’s “Ballerina.”

Her choreographic credits include the television film, Ancient Voices of Children in which she danced and an early, self-produced solo concert for Rae Metzger’s Concert Socials. Later choreographic works include ballets created for Goucher College, Dancers Respond to AIDS, the Second Annual Harlem Festival of the Arts, Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center and Marymount Manhattan College, where she was also an adjunct professor. The latter two projects were an outgrowth of Dancers Making Dances, a collaborative choreographic project with former DTH colleagues, Judy Tyrus and Melanie Person.

While still performing, her interest in journalism led her to Fordham University where she continues to pursue a degree in communications. After retiring from performing, she founded POINTE magazine and was editor-in-chief from 2000-2009. The popular publication helps dancers prepare for the professional ballet world developing educational seminars and lectures on health and wellness for dancers, auditions and professional preparation.

Her honors include a Young Achiever Award from the National Council of Women, Outstanding Young Woman of America and the Dance Magazine Award, a Pen and Brush Achievement Award and the Washington Performing Arts Society’s 2008-2009 Pola Nirenska Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2009 Martha Hill Fund Mid-Career Award. Highlights of her guest appearances include a tour of Australia with Stars of World Ballet, several appearances at various International Festivals of Dance in Havana Cuba, and with the Royal Ballet at The Royal Opera House in London. Her commitment to community service is maintained through volunteer assignments with New York Cares.

A lean man with dark piercing eyes, Ariel Serrano was born in Oriente, Cuba. He began his training at the National School of Arts and graduated in 1990, in Italy. He embarked upon his professional career with this debut in Apollo at the Festival de Vignales. Serrano returned to Cuba in 1991 and brought his evident talent to interpret principal roles from the classical repertoire: Paquita, La Fille Mal Gardee, Swan Lake, The Flower Festival, Guillermo Tell, Giselle, Coppelia, and Don Quixote pas de Deux – under the direction of Fernando Alonso. In 1992, joined the Youth Ballet of the National Ballet of Cuba under Laura Alonso, and under the artistic direction of Alicia Alonso he delighted audiences with his renditions of the pas de Deux in works such as Diana and Acteon, Le Corsaire, Sleeping Beauty, and Majismo as well as many contemporary works by Cuban choreographers.

1993 brought Serrano and his wife Wilmian Hernandez to Monterrey, Mexico, to perform with Ann Marie D‘Angelo and her dance company. There he dazzled audiences in principal roles – in the full version of Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and Nuestros Valses of Vicente Nebrada, as well as contemporary choreography of Ann Marie D’Angelo. In 1995, Artistic Director Robert de Warren recognized Serrano‘s amazing energy and talent by inviting him to perform as principal with the Sarasota Ballet of Florida. His vibrant adaptations of principal roles in full performances of ballets such as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Carmen and a Midsummer Night’s Dream, have brought him great acclaim from Florida audiences. Serrano has been recognized and been given the opportunity to work with many great names of the dance world such as Melissa Hayden, Cynthia Gregory, Fernando Bujones, and Laura Alonso. He has toured Europe, America and Asia and one of the highest honors in Serrano’s young career has been the chance to participate in the ballet contest in Helsinki, Finland, where he finished with top honors.

Septime Webre (Artistic Director) was appointed artistic director of The Washington Ballet in June 1999 after six years as artistic director of American Repertory Ballet in New Jersey. In his 15 year tenure as Artistic Director, Webre has committed himself to artistic venture, community engagement and growth of the organization. Under Webre’s creative leadership, The Washington Ballet has developed a three-pronged mission: growing the artistry and international reputation of The Washington Ballet; training the next generation of dancers through The Washington School of Ballet; and deepening and expanding the organization’s commitment to community engagement through the visionary programs of DanceDC, EXCEL! and TWB@THEARC.

As a choreographer, Mr. Webre’s works appear in the repertoires of many companies in North America, including Pacific Northwest Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Kansas City Ballet, Louisville Ballet, Ballet Austin, Cincinnati Ballet, Ballet West, Colorado Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Atlanta Ballet, Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico and Aspen/Santa Fe Ballet, among others. As a dancer, Mr. Webre was featured in works by Balanchine, Taylor, Tudor, Ailey, and Cunningham, as well as principal and solo roles from the classical repertoire. Mr. Webre has sat on the boards of Dance/USA, the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington and Dance Metro DC’s Advisory Committee. Among his many awards, Webre received the DC Mayor’s Arts Award for Visionary Leadership, Excellence in Artistic Discipline and numerous metro DC dance awards. He has been a recipient of a number of fellowships for his choreography. He graduated from the University of Texas with a B.A. in history and pre-law.

Additional Guests

Charles Flachs is a professor of ballet at Mount Holyoke College where he teaches all levels of ballet technique, pointe, pas de deux, repertory and dance history. Charles is the recipient of a choreographic fellowship from the Ohio Arts Council, and has choreographed for the Cincinnati Ballet Company, the Five-College Dance Department, Columbia College, University of Georgia Athens, Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet and for the bronze medal winner of the 1992 Varna lnternational Ballet Competition. He has guest taught for the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet, the Southeast Regional Ballet Association, the American College Dance Festival and Zurich Ballet, Switzerland. As a principal dancer he performed with Nashville Ballet, Louisville Ballet, Ballet West and Cincinnati Ballet. His repertoire included principal roles in Swan Lake, Giselle, Cinderella and Coppelia as well as ballets by Peter Anastos, John Butler, James Canfield, Val Caniparoli and Michael Smuin. Charles and his wife and colleague Rose Marie Wurzer, are founding members of the CORPS de Ballet International Inc., an organization devoted to the development of ballet in higher education. Together, they are directors of the Massachusetts Academy of Ballet, a private ballet school in Holyoke, MA.  Their school just celebrated their 10th Year Anniversary in June of 2015.

Frances Elaine McElroy, producer/director, is a 2009 Pew Fellow in the Arts. She is founder of Shirley Road Productions, a non-profit organization. For 25 years, she has produced documentaries for PBS and videos for non-profit cultural, educational, community and advocacy organizations. Her focus is to give voice to the overlooked, raise questions about injustice and demonstrate the transformative power of art andplace. Her awards include the Emmy, Gabriel, CINE Golden Eagle, Latin American Studies Association Award of Merit in Film, IMAGEN, Society of Professional Journalists and the New York Festivals.

Frances’ current documentary, BLACK BALLERINA, is in production with partial support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Other major works have appeared on PBS. MIRROR DANCE is a story about Cuban twin sisters Margarita and Ramona de Saá. Both former dancers with the National Ballet of Cuba, their once inseparable relationship was ruptured by Cold War politics. It premiered on the PBS series “Independent Lens” and later played on the PBS World series “Global Voices.” MAKING WAVES looks at the complexities of change and inclusion through the historic elite sport of rowing. BALLYCASTLE features Jewish American painter Stuart Shils and his transformative encounter with a remote Irish village. AN ANGEL IN THE VILLAGE tells the story of Chinese-born artist Lily Yeh and her use of art for community development and empowerment in North Philadelphia and Nairobi, Kenya.

Prior to becoming independent in 1991, Frances was Director of Program Development and an Emmy award-winning producer at WHYY (PBS Philadelphia). She directed the 1988 international public television INPUT conference, has served on the INPUT American program selection committee, as a judge for the "Set in Philadelphia" Screen Writing Competition, and a proposal reviewer for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Independent Television Service. Frances has been an instructor at the Scribe Video Center and was a founding board member of the Philadelphia Independent Film/Video Association (PIFVA).

Other awards include a 2010 Leeway Foundation Transformation Award, two Arts and Change Awards also from Leeway, a Robert Flaherty Seminar artist’s residency, and various professional development grants from the PA Council on the Arts. She earlier served on the staff of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MASS). Frances is Board VP of the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet Society.

Larissa Rotnitskaya: A native of Moscow, Russia, Ms. Rotnitskaya is a graduate of the Moscow State Pedagogical University and the College of Moscow Conservatory. She was employed at the Moscow Music School and Moscow Ballet School where her duties included music and piano lessons, as well as, accompanying: ballet, choir, wind and string instruments. In public schools Ms. Rotnitskaya taught: music theory and history, piano and voice, and conducted student choirs. She has performed as a piano-soloist, and as a member of the Voice Quartet. Ms. Rotnitskaya’s competition experience ranges from solo piano and choir conductor to accompanist. She has given numerous master classes, and has organized theatre, music and dance performances. Her generosity and dedication to the Arts was recognized by her nomination and award as “Best Teacher”. Since 1998, Ms. Rotnitskaya has lived and worked in the USA as an accompanist for: the University of Maryland Baltimore County Camerata and Concert Choir, the American Dance Institute, Towson University, Goucher College, and the Baltimore School for the Arts. Also she has worked as an accompanist for Pennsylvania Regional Ballet, Upper Falls Dance Academy (Royal Academy of Dance program), and Harrisburg Festival of Dance. In 2005 Ms. Rotnitskaya made a recording of music by Debussy for a Hollywood movie “Step Up”. Since 2006 she has been working as an accompanist at Hazamir Choir (JCC), as a Music Director and organist/pianist at Deer Park United Methodist Church, and as a private teacher and coach for piano and voice lessons.

CORPS de Ballet International, Inc.

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015

NEW Pre-Conference Workshop Day

“Building Bridges: Community, Diversity, and Culture”

Towson University

Center for Fine Arts and Communications (CA)

Towson, Maryland

Building bridges between diverse communities of ballet educators in higher education, K-12, community programs, professional studios, and pre-collegiate schools. Join us for this NEW Pre-Conference Workshop Day which will include a panel discussion on training male ballet dancers (boys to men), a master class and presentation by Septime Webre, renowned Artistic Director of the Washington Ballet Company, and an opportunity to partake in a rich dialogue with international ballet educators to discuss ways in which diversity and culture impact and enrich our ballet communities.

8:00 – 8:30 am Welcome and Registration, Towson University (CA 1000, 1st Floor, Lobby)

8:30-9:00 am Welcome and Introduction to CORPS Board & Conference Agenda (CA 3066, 3rd Floor, Recital Hall)

9:00-10:30 am Panel Part 1, Towson University (CA 3066, 3rd Floor, Recital Hall) - Training male dancers, From Boys to Men: Best Practices, Challenges, and Lessons learned: Septime Webre, Artistic Director of The Washington Ballet; James Clouser, University of Arizona; Runqiao Du , Artistic Director of the American Dance Institute; Ariel Serrano, Director of the Sarasota Cuban Ballet School

10:45-10:55 pm Break out Session Introduction, Towson University (CA 3066, 3rd Floor, Recital Hall) – “Building Bridges: Community, Diversity, and Culture” – Building bridges between diverse communities of ballet educators while sharing best practices in our field and creating a richer network of support.

11:00-12:00 pm Break-out Session and Discussions

Group Break Down by Last Name of Participant:

Last Name Meeting Room

|A – F |Room CA Recital Hall |

|G – M |Room CA 3039 |

|N – Z |Room CA 3054 |

12:00-12:50 pm Break out Session Wrap up and highlights with all participants, Towson University (CA 3066, 3rd Floor, Recital Hall)

1:00-1:45 pm Lunch –Provided (CA 2nd Floor, Atrium)

2:00-3:30 pm Guest Artist Ballet Class: Septime Webre, Artistic Director of The Washington Ballet, Towson University, Accompanist: Larissa Rotniskaya (CA 1st Floor 1008)

3:30-4:00 pm Guest Artist Presentation: Septime Webre, Towson University (CA 1st Floor 1008)

5:45 pm Bus takes participants to La Tasca Restaurant at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore (Leaving from the Towson University Marriott Conference Hotel)

6:30-10:00 pm CORPS de Ballet International Lifetime Achievement Award (LAA) Dinner at La Tasca Restaurant at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore

LAA Honoree: James Clouser

• 6:30-7:30 Cocktail Hour

• 7:30-8:30 Dinner

• 8:30-10:00 Awards Presentations

10:15 pm Bus returns participants to the Towson University Marriott Conference Hotel

CORPS de Ballet International, Inc.

2015 CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

JUNE 24-27, 2015

Building Bridges: Community, Diversity, and Culture

WEDNESDAY JUNE 24TH

8:30-9:00 am Welcome and Registration, Towson University (CA 1000, 1st Floor, Lobby)

9:00-10:45 am Panel Part 2 Lecture and Demonstration, Towson University (CA 1st Floor 1008) - Training male ballet dancers, From Boys to Men: Best Practices, Challenges, and Lessons Learned: Kee Juan Han, Director of The Washington School of Ballet; James Clouser, University of Arizona; Runqiao Du, Artistic Director of the American Dance Institute; Ariel Serrano, Director of the Sarasota Cuban Ballet School

11:00-12:45 pm Guest Artist Ballet Class: Kee Juan Han, Director of The Washington School of Ballet, Towson University, Accompanist: Larissa Rotniskaya (CA 1st Floor 1008)

12:45-1:45 pm Lunch - on your own

2:00-3:15 pm Membership Meeting I, Towson University (CA 2nd Floor Art Lecture Hall 2032) – Open to all Conference Participants

3:15-5:15 pm Member Presentations, Towson University (CA 2nd Floor Art Lecture Hall 2032)

3:15-4:00 pm - Member Presentation, Laura Rizzo, Temple University, “Gold-dust” Ricki Starr the ballet-dancing wrestler: Performative Parody and the Subversive Queer Body”

4:15-5:00 pm – Member Presentation, Sharon Oberst, Western Oregon University, “Building Bridges Between Ballet and Broadway: The Early Years”

5:15-7:00 pm Dinner - on your own

7:00-8:05 pm BLACK BALLERINA “in progress” Documentary screening at the Towson University Marriott Conference Hotel (Stoneleigh 301) with Frances McElroy, Producer/Director Shirley Road Productions (50 minute viewing and 15 minute Q/A)

8:10-10:00 pm Video Choreographic Sharing, Towson University Conference Hotel (Stoneleigh 301)

THURSDAY JUNE 25TH

8:45-9:45 am Committee Meeting I, Towson University (CA 2nd Floor Art Lecture Hall 2032) – Open to all Conference Participants

9:45-10:45 am Member Presentation, Molly Faulkner, Palomar College, “Ballet and Administration: Building Bridges to Educational Leadership”, Towson University (CA 2nd Floor Art Lecture Hall 2032)   

11:00-12:45 pm Guest Artist Ballet Class: Virginia Johnson, Artistic Director of Dance Theater of Harlem, Towson University (CA 1st Floor 1008)

12:45-2:00 pm Special Lunch- Provided, Towson University (CA 3000, 3rd Floor, Grand Hall)

2:15-3:15 pm Plenary Address “Making Change” Virginia Johnson, Artistic Director of Dance Theater of Harlem, Towson University (CA 3rd Floor Recital Hall)

3:30-5:30 pm Member Presentations, Towson University (CA 2nd Floor Art Lecture Hall 2032)

3:30-4:30pm – Member Presentation, Joellen Meglin, Temple University, “The Russian Mask: World Dance and Cosmopolitan Ballet Communities in the 1910s and 1920s”

4:45-5:30pm – Member Presentation, Andrew Carroll, The University of South Florida, “Dance as Language in the Architecture of Medical and Social Education, Awareness and Advocacy”

5:30-7:30 pm Dinner on your own

7:30-9:30 pm “Building Bridges” Social: Informal Gathering and Networking with music and dancing, Towson University Marriott Conference Hotel (Greenridge Hampton 106/107)

FRIDAY JUNE 26th

7:45-8:00 am Check-in and Load on Bus - Washington School of Ballet and Kennedy Center Trip from Towson University Marriott Conference Hotel

8:00-9:45 am Travel to Washington D.C

10:00-12:15 pm Tour of Washington School of Ballet/Observation of classes

10:00-11:15 Observe Technique Classes – Level 8 (England Studio) Level 9 (Phillips Studio)

11:20-11:50 Observe Pointe and Men’s Technique Classes (Studios 1,2,3, England and Phillips)

12:15–1:00 pm Lunch - Provided at the Washington School of Ballet

1:00-1:30 pm Presentation by Katrina Toews, Director of The Washington Ballet School at The Town Hall Education Arts and Recreation Center (THEARC)

1:30–2:00 pm Rehearsal of Level 9 Technique Students (Phillips Studio)

2:15-3:00 pm Travel to The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

3:15-5:15 pm Kennedy Center Tour and Presentation, Meg Booth, Director of Dance Programming at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

5:30-9:30 pm Dinner and Sightseeing in Washington, DC – On your own

Option #1 Sightseeing - Please reference The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts Guest Artist Handbook online, which contains wonderful information, contacts, directions and maps of D.C.

Option #2 Purchase tickets in advance to see The Chamber Dance Project Performance at the Lansburgh, Shakespeare Theatre Company at 8pm. Address is 450 7th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004

Returning to Towson

9:30 pm Pick up Location 1

Meet in the Kennedy Center Hall of Nations Lobby for those sightseeing during the day

9:45 pm Pick up Location 2

Meet outside the Lansburgh Shakespeare Theatre for those attending the Chamber Dance Project performance

SATURDAY JUNE 27TH

8:45-10:00 am Membership Meeting II, includes voting, Towson University (CFA 1st Floor 1003) – Open to all Conference Participants

10:00-10:45 am Committee Meeting II, Towson University (CFA 1st Floor 1003) – Open to all Conference Participants

11:00-12:45 pm Choreographic Workshop: Dana Tai Soon Burgess, Founder and Artistic Director of Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company - Thoughts on Community, Diversity and Culture in the Creative Process of Ballet Choreography, Towson University (CFA 1st Floor 1008)

12:45-2:00 pm Lunch - on your own

2:00-4:00 pm Member Presentations, Towson University, (CFA 2nd Floor 2032, Art Lecture Hall)

2:00-3:00pm - Member Presentation, Andrea Lasner, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Nancy Wanich-Romita, Towson University, “Innovating collegiate ballet training: collaboration between a university ballet faculty, a somatic expert, and an academic medical institution”

3:15-4:00pm - Member Presentation, Melonie Murray, University of Utah, “The Performance of Gender in Ballet Training”

4:00-4:15 pm Break

4:15-6:00 pm Member Presentations, Towson University (CFA 2nd Floor 2032, Art Lecture Hall)

4:15-5:00pm - Member Presentation, Cydney Spohn, The University of Akron, “The First Person Experience: Hindrances to Correcting Alignment in Ballet Technique”

5:15-6:00pm - Member Presentation, Lisa Fusillo, University of Georgia, “Raucous, Riotous, Transnational, and Cultural Assimilations of The Rite

6:00 pm Conclusion of Conference

CORPS de Ballet International, Inc.

MEMBERS’ PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS

WEDNESDAY JUNE 24, 2015

3:15-4:00pm

Laura Katz Rizzo, Temple University

LL“Gold-dust”

Ricki Starr the ballet-dancing wrestler:

Performative Parody and the Subversive Queer Body

Abstract

Ricki Starr began his professional wrestling career in 1953 when he began to combine the mat sport with a career as a ballet dancer; touring Europe with the Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo and later dancing on Broadway in Paint Your Wagon and Annie Get Your Gun.  He wore only skin-tight briefs and golden ballet slippers in the ring and incorporated ballet steps into his matches. His extension of ballet into the popular context of the wrestling ring transgressed normative representations of masculinity within the sport.  For example, in a 1959 match in Ontario, when his burly 250 pound opponent enters the ring, Ricki launches his body directly toward him in a gorgeous sequence of high flying jumps, finishing with a large grande jete, arms opening wide to invite Frank into an intimate pas de deux.   Despite this subversion of gender norms, Ricki Starr quickly became “a baby face” (fan favorite). His hybrid performances used camp, humor, technical virtuosity, and dominant values around male combat and aggression, to mark his body as queer, thereby demonstrating the compelling power of the dancing body to reveal how, social relations are both enacted and produced through the body.  As the announcer of the Fozo match stated, “you can laugh if you want, but nobody we’ve seen around here has shaken up the crowd the way this fella has…combined with his ballet moves, this is a rough, tough little guy with a new approach to the game.”  Using popular dance studies and cultural studies; focusing on the production, circulation and reception of performance as a discursive practice, this essay addresses how Bernard Herman (aka Ricki Starr) enacted and embodied queerness in his elaborate performances of a ballet-dancing wrestler.  Drawing upon literature exploring transgression, subversion and gender, wrestling and/or dance as performances of cultural meaning, and primary materials including video and photography, I will illuminate how Ricki Starr’s performances in the ring were a vehicle of radical transgression.

In light of this year’s focus on diversity in ballet training, Ricki Starr’s life and career stand as a testament to not only the work of men and homosexuals within the world of ballet, but also the diverse ways in which ballet is used in careers by people no longer considered part of the ballet community. By looking back to an earlier time in dance history, I argue that the walls separating ballet from other forms of popular American entertainment were and continue to be far more permeable and unstable than they are often understood in today’s context.

Rizzo

Selected Bibliography

Bollen, J. (2001) Queer Kinesthesia: Performativity on the Dance Floor in Desmond, J. (ed) Dancing Desires: Choreographing Sexualities On and Off Stage Wisconsin: Wisconsin University Press

Desmond, J . (1997) Embodying Difference: Issues in Dance and Cultural Studies in Desmond, J. (ed) Meaning in Motion Durham & London: Duke University Press

Dodds, S. (2011) Dancing on the Canon: Embodiments of Value in Popular Dance Basingstoke & New York: Palgrave

Frith, S.  (1991) ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Indifferent: Defending Popular Culture from the Populists’ Diacritics 21: 4, 101-115

Maguire, B. (2000) Defining Deviancy Down: A Research Note Regarding Professional Wrestling, Deviant Behavior, 21:6,551-565

Maguire, B. (2005) AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING:EVOLUTION, CONTENT, AND POPULAR APPEAL, Sociological Spectrum, 25:2, 155-176

Morris, G. (2009) ‘Dance Studies/Cultural Studies. Dance Research Journal 41/1, pp. 82-100

Sally, Lynn. (2009) ‘“It is the Ugly that is so Beautiful”: Performing the Monster/Beauty Continuum in American Neo-Burlesque. Journal of American Drama and Theatre, 21/3, pp5-23

Surkis, J. (Summer, 1996 ) “No Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye: Transgression and Masculinity in Bataille and Foucault, ” Diacritics, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 18-30

Vaughn May.  (April 1999) Cultural Politics and Professional Wrestling, Studies in Popular Culture, Vol. 21, No. 3 

Williams, R. (1973) Base and Superstructure in Marxist Cultural Theory. New Left Review 1 (82), pp. 13-16

Web based materials

 (The Masked Man, August 13, 2014, Grantland, “Grantland Dictionary: Pro Wrestling Edition, Babyface, kayfabe, schmozzes, and all the rasslin' jargon in between.)

 (Former ballet dancer, Ricki Star, takes on rough, tough Frank Fozo sometime in the late 50s - early 60s. The ever graceful twinkletoes Starr continually confounds the burly Fozo in a match for the ages as the crowd continually screams with laughter.)

 (Ricky Starr Vs Karl Von Hess Pt 1)

 (Mr. Ed “The Bashful Clipper)

Rizzo Biography

Laura Katz Rizzo, is the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Program Director and an Assistant Professor in Temple University’s Department of Dance, located within the University’s Center for the Arts.  Certified in the Vaganova syllabus and the American Ballet Theater’s National Training Curriculum, she also studied at the schools of The Maryland Youth Ballet, The Chicago City Ballet, The San Francisco Ballet, The Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet and The Houston Ballet. By twelve, she had danced with The Joffrey Ballet and New York City Ballet and went on to perform with several classical ballet and contemporary dance companies, including: Ballet South, the Russian Ballet Theatre of Delaware, the Santa Fe Opera Company, The Ballet Theatre of New Mexico, Dance Theatre X, Opus I Contemporary and Sprezzatura Dance Ensemble. 

Dr. Katz has a BA in History and English from the University of New Mexico, an Ed. M. in Dance, and a Ph. D. in Dance and Women’s Studies from Temple University.  She has written for dance publications such as Dance Chronicle, Playbill Magazine, and Critical Correspondence: Movement Research Journal.  She has also collaborated with The Brooklyn Academy of Music, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, WRTI Radio, History Making Productions, and Dance Teacher Magazine; and presented papers, lectures, choreographic work and master classes at significant conferences, and renowned universities and dance companies around the world.

Katz has held permanent positions at universities, ballet school and companies across the country.  She is a member of the International Dance Council, or CID, and a member of the board of directors of CORPS de Ballet, International.  She was the 2012 recipient of the Esther Boyer College of Music and Dance’s “Teacher of the Year” Award, as well as one of four winners of the Choreoplan 2013 international choreographic commission.  In Fall 2013, she was invited to choreograph an evening length ballet danced to Bach’s secular cantata, Phoebus and Pan, in collaboration with a full concert choir and Baroque orchestra. She is currently working with Jazz composer and saxophonist Dick Oatts, developing an improvisational framework for a series of seven short mood pieces accompanied by dance.  She has designed many courses and assessment standards for her department, as well as taught master classes in many areas, including: ballet technique, pointe, partnering, repertory, dance history, cultural and gender theory as applied to dance, and dance pedagogy.  

Katz has also presented her research at many institutions and organizations including:  The Joint Conference of the Society of Dance History Scholars and Ethnomusicologists at The University of Pennsylvania, The Globalizing Race Conference at The University of Chicago, The Annual Women’s History Conference at Sarah Lawrence College, The Council of Organized Researchers and Pedagogues of Ballet Conferences at Jacob’s Pillow, The Pittsburg Ballet Theatre, and The Centre Nationale de Danse in Paris, the National Dance Education Organization’s Dance 2050 conference, and the joint Society of Dance History Scholars and Congress on Research in Dance Conferences at The University of the Arts, The University of New Mexico and the University of California at Riverside.  She has also been invited for scholarly and creative residencies at The University of Utah’s Department of Ballet, Franklin and Marshall College’s Department of Dance, The American College Dance Association’s Northeastern Regional Festival, The American College Dance Association’s National Festival at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Yale University’s Ballet Company in Residence, Mount Holyoke College, and The Central Pennsylvania Ballet. 

Her first book, “Dancing the Fairy Tale: Producing and Performing “The Sleeping Beauty,” will be published in Spring 2015, and she is also working on a chapter that will be included in the edited collection, “Wrestling and Performance.”  Dr. Katz is currently working on collecting and archiving the personal records of the last surviving member of George Balanchine’s original class at the School of American Ballet.  She is also curating a large interdisciplinary event bringing photographers, filmmakers, architects, dancers, visual artists and musicians together to explore and experience the many dimensions of neo-classical dance photography through the work of Paul Kolnik, the sole choreographer for the New York City Ballet for over forty years.  In keeping with her work exploring the transmigration of culture that allowed for the emergence of American ballet at mid century, Dr. Katz is now focused on the appearance of ballet in popular contexts in the United States during the 1940s and 50s.  Movie theatres, vaudeville, wrestling and burlesque shows are fertile sites of performance that can be mined in order to “unpack” or deconstruct the evolution of ballet in the United States. 

WEDNESDAY JUNE 24, 2015

4:15-5:15pm

SHARON OBERST, Western Oregon University

Building Bridges Between Ballet and Broadway: The Early Years

Central Argument or Question

If musical theatre scholars discuss dance on Broadway, these discussions typically examine tap dance and the incorporation of social dances of the time. If they mention ballet, it is typically about the contributions of luminaries such as George Balanchine (On Your Toes, Babes in Arms), Agnes de Mille (Oklahoma, Carousel), and Jerome Robbins (West Side Story, The King and I). While these choreographers were undeniably instrumental in bridging the divide between the “high brow” world of ballet and the more common forms of entertainment of stage and film, they were not the first.

Ballet has been an integral part of musical comedy history since the start. The remarkable success of what is considered to be “the first American musical,” The Black Crook (1866) hinged on the spectacular ballets choreographed by Maître de Ballet, David Costa, and the outstanding performances of ballerinas from Paris, Milan and Berlin and a corps de ballet of over 50 dancers (Odom). On opening night the New York Tribune critic stated, “The scenery is magnificent; the ballet is beautiful; the drama is rubbish.”

As early as 1912, the Kosloff brothers, Theodore and Alexis, were contributing ballets to silent film and stage productions. The brothers trained at Moscow’s Imperial Theatre and performed throughout Russia and Europe before emigrating to the U.S. in 1909. Theodore, who dance with the Diaghilev Ballet Russe, met Cecil B. DeMille and began choreographing and performing in films (Why Change Your Wife?, The Affairs of Anatol) as well as musical revues on Broadway (See America First). While Theodore spent most of his career in LA, his younger brother Alexis worked primarily in New York performing and choreographing musicals on Broadway (Gay Paree, Sunny).

The Austrian ballerina, Albertina Rasch, may have had the greatest impact on the early development of ballet on stage and film. She incorporated ballet into her precision dances and helped raise the technical standards by requiring that her dancers have a strong ballet background. Before George, Agnes and Jerry, there were ballet choreographers crossing the bridge between the concert stages of ballet to the stages of Broadway and the sound stages of Hollywood.

Relevance to CORPS Mission Objectives

One of the objectives of CORPS de Ballet is to promote recognition of the contributions that dance, ballet in particular, and the other arts in general, apply to human society. This paper promotes recognition of the contributions of early ballet choreographers who are too often overlooked by ballet, stage and film historians alike.

Research Methodology

I will be using three of the major methods of systematic collection of data for a qualitative comparative historical study including 1) archival data such as programs, posters, films, contemporary reviews and writings; 2) secondary sources including the works and analysis of noted dance historians and scholars; and 3) recollections of dancers and choreographers including autobiographies, memoirs and diaries.

Oberst

Building Bridges Between Ballet and Broadway: The Early Years

(Sample Bibliography)

Albertina Rasch Dancers (1932). N.p., 2014. Film.

Barker, Barbara. “Maria Bonfanti and ‘The Black Crook,’ New Orleans, 1872.” Theatre Journal 31.1 (1979): 88–97. JSTOR. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.

Casey, Carrie Gaiser. “The Ballet Corporealities of Anna Pavlova and Albertina Rasch.” Dance Chronicle 35.1 (2012): 8–29. Print.

Garafola, Lynn. “Dance, Film, and the Ballets Russes.” Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research 16.1 (1998): 3–25. JSTOR. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.

Glorifying the American Girl (1929). N.p., 2012. Film.

Hardy, Camille. “Bringing Bourrées to Broadway: George Balanchine’s Career in the Commercial Theater.” World Literature Today 80.2 (2006): 16–18. JSTOR. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.

Odom, Leigh George. “‘The Black Crook’ at Niblo’s Garden.” The Drama Review: TDR 26.1 (1982): 21–40. JSTOR. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.

Prevots, Naima. “Ernest Belcher and American Dance.” Dance Chronicle 10.2 (1987): 170–222. Print.

Ries, Frank W. D. “Albertina Rasch: The Broadway Career.” Dance Chronicle 6.2 (1983): 95–137. Print.

---. “Albertina Rasch: The Hollywood Career.” Dance Chronicle 6.4 (1983): 281–362. Print.

Oberst Biography

Sharon Stokes Oberst is a Professor of Dance at Western Oregon University where she teaches ballet technique, pedagogy, dance history, dance production, dance and gender and dance in musical theatre courses. She attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston and studied at the Houston Ballet Academy. She has performed with the Houston Ballet, Eugene Ballet, Beaumont Ballet Theatre and Theatre Under the Stars. Oberst earned her bachelor’s degree in dance and theatre from Lamar University and master’s degree in dance from the University of Oregon. Her research has focused on dance administration, pedagogy, the history of dance in musical theatre and film and historical dance forms for the theatre. In addition to choreographing for numerous dance concerts, Oberst regularly choreographs theatrical productions such as BobRauschenbergAmerica, The Inspector General, Romeo and Juliet and Pride and Prejudice. Oberst has directed and choreographed numerous musical productions including Kiss Me, Kate, Victor/Victoria, West Side Story, Thoroughly Modern Millie and 42nd Street. She has served on the Board of Directors, as Treasurer and is the current Secretary for CORPS de Ballet. She was honored with the organization’s Award for Outstanding Service in 2007. Professor Oberst is the 2006 recipient of the Western Oregon University Mario and Alma Pastega Excellence in Teaching Award.

THURSDAY JUNE 25, 2015

9:45-10:45am

Molly Faulkner, Palomar College

Ballet Dancers and Administration: Building Bridges to Educational Leadership

More and more, full-time, university and college level ballet faculty are stepping into leadership roles within their institutions as department chairs, deans, vice provosts, faculty senate presidents and more. These faculty members, many with no formal educational leadership preparation, but all with professional level ballet training and/or experience dancing in a professional ballet companies, are successfully negotiating the challenges of academic administration as highly effective leaders.

This paper considers the question, what constitutes effective leadership? And examines how professional level ballet training and professional ballet company experiences influence educational leadership practices. One example is decision making. Gary Klein in his seminal text “Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions” breaks down decision making into five categories: Time pressure, cue learning, larger context, dynamic conditions, and team involvement (1998). While this source looks at the high stakes professions of firefighting and nursing, these same categories can be extrapolated to include live performance conditions.

Part of Klein’s research design was to study fire department commanders in exceptional circumstances. This is where his research dovetails with performance experience. Ballet dancers are well trained and rehearsed but performances rarely go completely according to plan. Lighting fast decision making during extraordinary circumstances is a skill that dancers develop through years of live stage experience. Those moments on stage where disasters are averted by quick thinking incorporate all five of Klein’s categories creating what he calls “experienced decision makers.”

Decision making is at the heart of educational administration, and the ability to take in the context of a whole situation in an instant and respond accordingly is what dancers train for and enter into every time they go on stage. This is just one area where ballet dancers cultivate effective leadership skills through their ballet training.

Research Methodology

I will be using traditional research methods to conduct a literature review of current educational and leadership theory, and interviews to gather personal narratives of ballet faculty who have taken on educational leadership roles. I will also be using phenomenological tools as my own experiences in professional ballet and educational administration will be considered.

CORPS de Ballet

This research speaks to the mission and conference theme of CORPS de Ballet International by exploring educational leadership through the lens of professional level ballet training and company experience, and shedding light on how our own universities and colleges can take advantage of the inherent leadership potential of our ballet faculty.

Faulkner Biography

Molly Faulkner is a Professor of Dance at Palomar College. She has her Ph.D. from Texas Woman’s University, her M.F.A. from the University of Iowa, and her B.F.A. from the University of Arizona. She has danced professionally with Ballet Arizona, Arizona Dance Theatre, Tokyo Disneyland, and was the Muppet Grover on an International Tour of Sesame St. Live. She has taught and choreographed across the US, and Sweden and is master teacher and choreographer for Burklyn Ballet Theatre in Vermont. Her research interests include educational leadership, feminist pedagogy in ballet, and comedy in dance.

THURSDAY JUNE 25, 2015

3:30-4:30pm

Joellen Meglin, Temple University and Dance Chronicle

The Russian Mask: “World Dance” and Cosmopolitan

Ballet Communities in the 1910s and 1920s

It was an accident of history that, as a result of the Russian Revolution, many Russian ballet dancers scattered around the globe in the early, “takeoff” phase of globalization. They settled in new countries (e.g., France, Britain, and the United States), and, perhaps as a result of their immigrant, “outsider” status became passionate advocates of what we call “world dance” today. I discuss three of these advocates—Anna Pavlova, Adolph Bolm, and Vera Mirova—and how their views shaped an impressionable, young American dancer who apprenticed with each of them—Ruth Page. I argue that the cosmopolitan climate of the “Russian ballet” as it went abroad in the 1910s and 1920s bred an unusual receptivity to world dance, along with a conceptualization of Russian dancers’ identities as malleable and porous, and uniquely able to represent world dance forms. This was the “Russian mask,” by means of which ballet companies positioned themselves as repositories of world dance and imagined ballet as a lingua franca.[1]

In 1918–19, Page toured Latin and South America with Pavlova’s Company for over a year. This experience exposed the nineteen-year-old to international dance forms, for one third of the company’s divertissements had their roots in folk dances from Russia, Poland, Hungary, Holland, Spain, etc. Page preserved a set of 41 programs from the tour, valuable sources that reveal the exact repertory. Meanwhile, Marian Heinly Page, who chaperoned her daughter on tour, recorded in her journal the diversity in the company: besides Pavlova and Wlasta Maslova (both Russian), there were “8 English [women] with Russian names, four Americans, including my daughter, and two Poles,” and sixteen men, “all Polish and Russians excepting four Americans.”[2]

Adolph Bolm, one of Serge Diaghilev’s star dancers who excelled in character dance, founded the intercultural Ballet Intime (with Michio Ito) and later the Allied Arts of Chicago (1924–26). Here, Bolm showcased international guest artists such as Maria Montero (flamenco) and Vera Mirova. With the outbreak of the Revolution, Mirova had toured the Far East for five years, studying dance forms wherever she went. In the short film Adolph Bolm: The International Dancer, Mirova dances a “Javanese Court Dance,” revealing her distinct (non-ballet) aesthetic.

As Bolm’s première danseuse, Page observed his ethos of internationalism close up. A few years later, she styled her own 1928 tour of Asia on Mirova’s travels and, what is more, filmed various dance practices throughout Indonesia (and in Spain). Page’s book, Class: Notes on Dance Classes around the World, 1915–1980, further documents the dance forms she encountered. My presentation culminates in a viewing of Page’s Iberian Monotone (1930, aka Bolero, to Maurice Ravel’s exhilarating score), featuring Harald Kreutzberg and herself.[3] Using historical methodology to analyze primary sources in print and in film, I show how a growing consciousness of world dance shaped the dance practices of global itinerants. An ethos of intercultural exchange and appropriation—admittedly, without the benefit of critical, post-colonial perspectives—held sway in cosmopolitan communities of ballet in the early 20th century.

Meglin

Selected Bibliography

Primary Sources

Chicago Allied Arts, Inc., [6 programs, 1924–1926], “Page, Ruth—Programs” file, “Page, Ruth” box, Ann Barzel Dance Research Collection, Newberry Library, Chicago.

Ruth Page, compiler, [41 programs: Pavlova South American tour, 1918–1919], New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (NYPL–PA).

Marian Heinly Page, “A Tour of South America with the Pavlova Company,” M1, NYPL–PA.

*Vera Mirova, Javanese court dance [circa 1926], on Adolph Bolm: The International Dancer, Chicago Film Archives.

*Ruth Page, Bolero (aka Iberian Monotone), [Ravinia Opera, Highland Park, IL (1930)], Chicago Film Archives.

*Ruth Page, filmmaker, Indonesia 1928: Bali Legong Dance, Chicago Film Archives.

Ruth Page, Class: Notes on Dance Classes around the World, 1915–1980, ed. Andrew M. Wentink (Princeton: Princeton Book Company, 1984).

Ruth Page, Page by Page, ed. Andrew Mark Wentink (Brooklyn: Dance Horizons, 1978).

Reviews of Chicago Allied Arts in Chicago Daily Tribune, 1924–26, ProQuest Historical Newspapers database.

Secondary Sources

Theodore Bale, “Dancing out of the Whole Earth: Modalities of Globalization in The Rite of Spring,” Dance Chronicle, Ballet in a Global World, vol. 31, no. 3 (2008): 324–69.

Ann Barzel, “Chicago’s ‘Two Russians’: Andreas Pavley and Serge Oukrainsky,” Dance Magazine, June 1979: 63-70, 87–94.

Suzanne Carbonneau, “Adolph Bolm in America,” in The Ballets Russes and Its World, ed. Lynn Garafola and Nancy Van Norman Baer (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999): 219–244.

Lynn Garafola, Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989).

Boris Kochno, Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, trans. Adrienne Foulke (New York: Harper & Row, 1970).

Keith Money, Anna Pavlova: Her Life and Art (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982).

Elinor H. Rogosin, “Vera Mirova: Portrait of a Forgotten Artist,” Arabesque, vol. 9, no. 1 (May–June 1983): 10–12.

Meglin Biography

Joellen A. Meglin is coeditor of Dance Chronicle and an emeritus faculty member at Temple University, where she served as coordinator of doctoral studies and brought 13 doctoral students to dissertation completion. Her research on ballet history has been published in Dance Research (UK), Dance Research Journal, Dance Chronicle, and two Studies in Dance History monographs. Her chapter “Doppelgänger with a Difference: Ruth Page’s Debt (and Dedication) to African American Jazz” is forthcoming in the anthology Dance in American Culture (University Press of Florida), and her book on Page is under contract with Oxford University Press.

Joellen recently coedited the volume Preserving Dance across Time and Space (Routledge, 2013), as well as numerous special issues of Dance Chronicle, including Dance Critics and Criticism (2014), Music and Dance: Conversations and Codes (2013), “Ballet Is Woman”: But Where Are All the Women Choreographers? (2012), and Ballet in a Global World (2008). She has presented her historical research and dance reconstructions in Europe, Asia, and throughout North America, most recently at the Noguchi Museum in New York. Her research on Ruth Page has been funded by fellowships from the New York Public Library, the Newberry Library in Chicago, and Temple University. Happily retired from the workaday world, she lives in a “tree house” in Nature with her wonderful husband, composer Richard Brodhead, in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

THURSDAY JUNE 25, 2015

4:45-5:30pm

Andrew Carroll, The University of South Florida

Dance as a Language in the Architecture of Medical and Social Education, Awareness and Advocacy

Dance and Clostridium difficile, a bacterium responsible for infections within the hospital setting, seem an unlikely pair in any collaborative fashion. Dance, well, is dance, an art form that uses the human body as a medium to express communication. Clostridium difficile, or C-Diff, is a medical issue, one targeted towards those who may come in contact with it and those who are responsible for its elimination. When one looks at the commonalities between the two, few come to mind. Yet, the Florida Department of Health saw an innovative possibility of how one could help the other via the medium of a dance video that might illustrate proper procedures necessary for cleaning in reference to C-Diff. Specifically, the Department of Health hoped for a new educational tool for new cleaning staffs that could communicate initiatives necessary for effective C-Diff elimination through the communication of dance.

This project was offered and accepted by a ballet professor, who was eager to see where this intersection of dance and medicine could lead. The methodology included actual training in a hospital setting and then the experimentation with a team of assembled university dance majors to choreograph movements based on the learned directives that when strung together, would produce a cohesive video illustrating information required by The Department of Health. The project was hailed as pioneering in that by using dance as the language, the information could essentially be understood by all who viewed it. Due to the diversity within the pool of employees who comprised the cleaning staffs, this was highly desirable. Its success led to two additional subsequent commissions from The Department of Health which utilized this novel vehicle for educational purposes.

The investigation of this creative research track continued by building bridges within the social justice arena, specifically by using this tool of dance as a language to illustrate concepts beneficial for the education, awareness and advocacy towards the social issues of Bullying and Dating Violence. The Bullying Project and Dating Violence Project each achieved world-wide success in the sheer volume of national and international organizations who adopted the videos for use in their respective bullying and dating violence programs. All have hailed the videos for their fresh approach to communicating researched strategies to assist in the education of these social blights. These undertakings embrace the mission of Corps to use dance as a contributing entity applied to human society.

This proposed paper for the 2015 Corps conference will discuss the research processes involved with each project including methodologies, challenges and outcomes, as well as discussing a new funded video project geared towards suicide awareness. This new video project supports the idea of building bridges by linking dance in an interdisciplinary means with Social Justice. In addition, the new project will pair the team of university dancers with dancers from Hubbard Street Dance Company, creating a space for the junction of students and professionals in the field.

Carroll

Sample Bibliography

1. Nora Ambrosio, “Learning About Dance, Dubuque, Iowa, Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company 1999.

2. Inge Baxmann, “RESOURCES AND RICHES AT THE BOUNDARIES OF THE ARCHIVE: MOVEMENT, RHYTHM, AND MUSCLE MEMORY A REPORT ON THE TANZARCHIV LEIPZIG,” Dance Chronicle 32 (2009): 127-135

3. Dr. Sunday Doutimiariye Abraye, Rudolph Kansese, “DANCE AS A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION: THE OWIGIRI DANCE EXPERIENCE,” The Dawn Journal Vol. 2, No. 1 (January – June 2013)

4. Inge Baxmann, “RESOURCES AND RICHES AT THE BOUNDARIES OF THE ARCHIVE: MOVEMENT, RHYTHM, AND MUSCLE MEMORY A REPORT ON THE TANZARCHIV LEIPZIG,” Dance Chronicle 32 (2009): 127-135

5. “Definition,” Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER) Accessed June 10, 2013. Last modified November 3, 2010,

6. Robin B. McFee, “Clostridium difficile: Emerging Public Health Threat and Other Nosocomial or Hospital Acquired Infections,” Disease-a-Month Volume 55, Issue 7 (2009) 439-470

7. Lucy Irving, “The British Psychological Society” Accessed November 22, 2013.

8, 9. Anne Carol Burke, Healthcare-associated Infection Prevention Program Manager

Florida Department of Health, Bureau of Epidemiology, interview 2012

10. Hunt, Caroline, Peters, Lorna, Rapee, Ronald M., “ Development of a measure of the experience of being bullied in youth,” Psychological Assessment Vol. 24, Issue 1 (2012) Page 1

11. Sabina Low, Dorothy Espelage, “Differentiating Cyber Bullying From Non-Physical Bullying: Commonalities Across Race, Individual and Family Predictors,” Psychology of Violence, 21520828 Vol. 3, Issue 1 (2013) Page 1

12. QPR Gatekeeper Training for Suicide Prevention:

Carroll Biography

Andrew Carroll holds a BFA in Dance, and an MA in Arts Administration. Mr. Carroll has an extensive background in the performing arts, which includes performing nationally and internationally for nine years as a soloist with the Pennsylvania Ballet Company in Philadelphia, and a principal with the Ohio Ballet prior to that. His repertoire included: Prince Siegfried in SwanLake, The Cavalier in The Nutcracker, principal roles in the Balanchine ballets of Square Dance, Serenade, Allegro Brilliant, TheFour Temperaments, Agon, Western Symphony and Symphony in C among others, as well as principal roles in the works of Marius Petipa, William Forsythe, David Parsons, Paul Taylor, Anthony Tudor, Christopher d’Amboise, Alvin Ailey, Robert Joffrey, Gerald Arpino , Lynn Taylor-Corbett and Doug Varone. His career spanned performing throughout the United States, including The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and The Joyce Theatre in Manhattan, The Spoleto Festival in Spoleto Italy and Charleston South Carolina, as well as appearing throughout South America, China and Europe. In 1994, he was named one of six cultural ambassadors to the City of Philadelphia. 

 

In 1996, Mr. Carroll joined the College of Creative and Professional Arts at The University of Akron, in The School of Dance, Theatre and Arts Administration, teaching advanced levels of Ballet, History and Choreography. He was the Director of The University of Akron Dance Company for 13 years, and helped to organize and plan numerous campus residencies and outreach programs, including The David Parsons Dance Company, Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet, Doug Varone and dancers, Taylor II and Jennifer Muller/The Works. He has been a master teacher, choreographer and guest artist at Towson University, Grande Valley University, Verbs Ballets, The Rock School, The Ohio Ballet and The Canton Ballet. 

In 2010, Mr. Carroll joined USF, where he now teaches all levels of ballet, history and partnering. In 2010, he was commissioned by The Florida Department of Health to produce a pop culture dance video to illustrate necessary directives and procedures for new cleaning staffs in reference to high touch surfaces and proper protocol of cleaning illustrated through dance and music. This video, completed in 2011, is now used nationally and internationally, and led to a second commission, completed in January 2012 for Nursing Homes.  A third commission came shortly after, completed July 2012 for In Line Nursing initiatives.  Mr. Carroll completed a similar research project in April 2012 for which he produced a dance music video illustrating the social issue of bullying.  The bullying video has reached a national and international audience via its use as a lead in for bullying programs throughout US teen advocacy agencies such as TAG in Atlanta and Foundations in Denver, as well as several bullying organizations including Pacer's in Minnesota, Stand for the Silent national website and the greater Los Angeles public school system.  The video has also been adopted in similar institutions internationally, including Bullying. No Way! throughout greater Australia, The Northern Ireland Anti-Bullying Forum in Northern Ireland, KiVa Bullying Organization in Finland, Respectme in Scotland, and Escola Americana do Rio de Janiero, Brazil.  In 2013, Mr. Carroll was awarded funding to produce a similar video, geared towards the social issue of dating/domestic violence. This video has been adopted by domestic violence organizations in Germany, Greece, Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Belgium, and Belarus amongst others.  In addition, it has been requested by the CDC in Atlanta for their programs on domestic violence.  Future plans in this video medium

SATURDAY JUNE 27, 2015

2:00-3:00pm

Andrea Lasner and Nancy Romita-Wanich, Towson University and The Johns Hopkins Hospital

Innovating collegiate ballet training: collaboration between a university ballet faculty, a somatic expert, and an academic medical institution 

Author names and affiliations removed for blinded review.

The purpose of this collaboration is to weave the medical team’s information and expertise into the essential fabric of the departmental course work and support the department’s defined mission ‘dancing for a lifetime.’  The faculty and medical team work together to develop diverse strategies to prevent injury, expedite the appropriate level of medical care and rehabilitation, and use of the DanceFit screen to develop innovative instructional tools in technique class and validate their effectiveness. The academic participants consisted of a university department’s dance faculty and all year collegiate dance majors. The medical team consisted of physical therapists from a hospital’s Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department and an Orthopedics sports medicine physician. Through the use of the developed DanceFit screening tool, developed by the medical team, it is proposed that students will improve the physical dysfunction(s) identified in the screening, students will learn skills and strategies for injury prevention, and the overall injury rates for the university dance majors over the course of their four year study will be reduced. The use of the DanceFIT screening tool has led to developing instructional strategies that are projected to improve functional turnout, greater single leg stability, and expressivity using the integration of rotator discs into the advanced level collegiate ballet classwork, utilizing quantifiable measurements from the medical team and faculty expertise.

This collaboration has key stakeholders for improving the whole health for the dancer: the medical team, dance department faculty, and collegiate dance majors. The DanceFit screening tool assesses students upon their first collegiate year and is followed with testing each year. The dance department integrated the quantifiable measures of assessment to create supplemental dance warm-ups and practice phrases to address the reflected data. The students receive their individual scores identifying weaknesses/strengths of each individual assessment to then design an individualized strength and conditioning training plan and reflect on their results through journaling. Surveys were distributed to the dancers to track perception of injury prevention and feedback of the screening process to ensure continuous quality improvement. With implementation using rotator discs in an advanced ballet class, the students using rotator discs had an increase in functional turnout compared to the non-rotator disc group. Questionnaires revealed that students had a change in artistic expression due to greater confidence and core support in lateral rotation and experiential improvement in single leg stability on releve and in adagio and pirouette combinations.

In addition to the DanceFit screening program, the medical team assists students with the management and treatment of injuries throughout the semester by providing dance-specific rehabilitation/Pilates, additional educational lectures on injury prevention, and coordination of sports medicine physician visits.

This innovative collaboration has positively impacted all three stakeholders. Preliminary evidence demonstrates this integrative management model for collegiate settings may facilitate the effective management of whole health and injury prevention for emerging collegiate dance professionals with innovative teaching strategies, integrating biomechanical and somatic work across ballet curriculum in order to improve technical training.

Lasner and Romita-Wanich

Innovating collegiate ballet training: collaboration between a university ballet faculty, a somatic expert, and an academic medical institution

Bibliography

Gilbert CB, Gross MT, Klug KB. Relationship Between Hip External Rotation and Turnout Angle for the Five Classical Ballet Positions. Journal of Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy. 27 (5): 339-347, 1998.

Grossman, G, et al. Reliability and Validity of Goniometric Turnout Measurements Compared with MRI and Retro-Reflective Markers. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science. 12 (4): 142-152, 2008.

Grossman, G. Measuring Dancer’s Active and Passive Turnout. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science. 7(2): 49-55, 2003.

Steinberg, et al. Extrinsic and Intrinsic Risk Factors Associated with Injuries in Young Dancers aged 8-16 years. Journal of Sport Sciences. 30 (5): 485-495. 2012.

Welsh, TM, et al. Assessing Turnout in University Dancers. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science. 12 (4): 136-141, 2008.

Lasner, MSPT, Biography

Education:

B.S. in Health Science, University of Hartford, 2007

Master of Science in Physical Therapy, University of Hartford, 2009

Certified Polestar® Pilates Instructor and Practitioner, 2012

Andrea located to Baltimore, MD in 2009 after graduating from the University of Hartford with her Masters in Physical Therapy. Prior to receiving her graduate degree she trained and danced with Boston Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and New Jersey Ballet.

She grew up predominantly in southern California, starting her dance training at age 3. While there, she was able to work with notable teachers such as Anne Marie D’Angelo and Talara Ruth at Saddleback Dance Center. Upon moving to New Jersey in 2000, Andrea started attending New Jersey School of Ballet. At age 16, she became part of the Junior Company and was mentored by Eleanor D’Antuono and Carolyn Tener Brown. Ms. Lasner became an Apprentice with New Jersey Ballet Company, under direction of Carolyn Clark and Paul McRae, in September 2003. While with the company, she performed Corps de Ballet roles and Demi-soloist roles in works such as: La Bayedere, Nutcracker, Giselle, Tom Sawyer, Hansel & Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, Paquita, Cinderella, La Esmeralda, and included in an original work Gospel staged by Valentina Kozlova. Presently she continues to dance as a guest artist with Peabody Preparatory.

Andrea currently is a full-time Physical Therapist and director of the Performing Arts Physical Therapy Program at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. She treats a broad cross-section of general Orthopedic diagnoses with a special interest in performing arts medicine with a Pilates-based approach. She has completed extensive education and training leading her to being a certified instructor through Polestar® Pilates with comprehensive emphasis in rehabilitation. Andrea is a clinical instructor for Physical Therapy students and has presented dance medicine research on a national and international level at the American Physical Therapy Association and International Association for Dance Medicine & Science annual conferences, which she is an active member.

Ms. Lasner has recently joined the dance department as Adjunct Faculty, teaching coursework in Pilates for Everyone. She coordinates preventive dance screens yearly for all dance majors with the innovative DanceFIT screening tool.

From her experiences and education, she brings knowledge into her dance medicine practice and enjoys helping dancers improve overall health, and gain strength and balance to help them dance for a lifetime as an artist and an athlete.

Romita-Wanich Biography

Nancy Wanich Romita is a senior Lecturer at Towson University. She has been dancing, training, coaching and choreographing for over 35 years. Ms. Romita has received an Individual Artists Award for Excellence in Choreography from The Maryland State Arts, and grants from the Mayor's Committee of Art and Culture from 1994-2002. Her choreographic work has also been performed at the Dance Place in Washington D.C., Dance Theater Workshop’s Fresh Tracks (currently New York Live Arts), the 92nd St Y in NYC, Connecticut College, State University of New York at Purchase, Theater Project in Baltimore and throughout the Mid Atlantic region.

She is the Director of the Alexander Technique Mid-Atlantic Teacher Training Course (ATMTC) in Baltimore and creator of Functional Awareness® Anatomy in Action. For 16 years Ms. Romita has been teaching a yearlong course in experiential anatomy and kinesiology for dancers at Towson University where she is also the director of the Somatic Lab. She leads the partnership with the TU Dance Dept. and Johns Hopkins Medicine. She is a member of the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS). Her research, in collaboration with Towson University Dance faculty and Johns Hopkins Medicine, was presented at the 2013 and 2014 IADMS Conference. In addition she has presented at NDEO and the AmSAT.

Ms. Romita was certified by the American Center for the Alexander Technique in NYC in 1984. Ms. Romita holds a BA in Dance and Child Development from Connecticut College, and a Masters in Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Theater from Towson University. She is certified in Dance Injury Rehabilitation Modules 1 through 4, from the Westside Dance Physical Therapy in NYC (on staff PTs to the NYC Ballet).

towson.edu/dance/fac-wanich-romita.asp





SATURDAY JUNE 27, 2015

3:15-4:00pm

Melonie Murray, University of Utah

ABSTRACT: THE PERFORMANCE OF GENDER IN BALLET TRAINING

In light of recent discourses concerning the gender imbalance within leadership roles in the field of ballet, understanding how ballet students are influenced and informed about their gender within ballet training during the formative years of childhood might help educators and artists move beyond the current patriarchal and authoritative models of delivering a ballet education. Since its inception, the art form of ballet has continually evolved—adapting technique, choreography, and pedagogy—in an effort to remain relevant to society. Given that our contemporary society views gender quite differently than the societies of the socio-historical context in which classical ballet was first born and developed, issues raised within this presentation might contribute to discourses surrounding the future evolution of ballet. Although other scholars have examined the manner in which gender roles are represented and performed in ballet choreography, the intention of this presentation is to focus specifically on gendered behaviors instilled during the formative childhood years of ballet training. Gender studies theorist, Judith Butler, argues that the performance of gender is not simply a reflection of an innate or natural state, rather the performative acts we are taught and expected to exhibit actually create gender. Using Butler’s theory as a lens through which to analyze methods of current ballet training reveals that gendered performance is taught, reinforced, and perpetuated throughout much of ballet education. Acknowledging the auto-ethnographic tendency in addressing a topic that relates to my personal life experience as a ballet student, teacher, and scholar, I will investigate the manner in which the performance of gender is evidenced in ballet training while incorporating ideas from feminist and critical pedagogy to examine standard traditional practices. Discussions concerning the performance of gender in ballet training raise questions about how we, as ballet professionals, negotiate and question/challenge tradition while simultaneously honoring the art form, highlighting the inherent tension between honoring the past while simultaneously moving into the future.

Murray

SAMPLE BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alterowitz, Gretchen. 2014. “Toward a Feminist Ballet Pedagogy: Teaching Strategies for Ballet Technique Classes in the Twenty-First Century.” Journal of Dance Education 14:1, 8-17.

Althusser, Louis. 2001. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes Towards an

Investigation).” Lenin and Philosophy. New York: Monthly Review Press. 85-126.

Butler, Judith. 2004. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: an essay in phenomenology and feminist theory.” In The Performance Studies Reader, 2nd edition, edited by Henry Bial 187-199. New York: Routledge.

Foucault, Michel. 1995. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage Books.

Friere, Paulo. 1993. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum.

Hanna, Judith Lynne. 1988. Dance, Sex and Gender: Signs of Identity, Dominance, Defiance, and Desire. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

hooks, bell. 1994. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge.

Jordan, Stephanie and Helen Thomas. 2010. “Dance and Gender: Formalism and semiotics Reconsidered.” In The Routledge Dance Studies Reader, 2nd edition, edited by Alexandra Carter and Janet O’Shea,149-157. New York: Routledge.

Lakes, Robin. 2005. “The Messages behind the Methods: The Authoritarian Pedagogical Legacy in Western Concert Dance Technique Training and Rehearsals.” Arts Education Policy Review, 106:5, 3-20.

Shapiro, Sherry B. 1999. Pedagogy and the Politics of the Body. New York: Routledge.

Shapiro, Sherry B. 1998. “Toward Transformative Teachers: Critical and Feminist Perspectivesin Dance Education.” In Dance, Power, and Difference, edited by Sherry B. Shapiro. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Stinson, Susan W. 1998. “Seeking a Feminine Pedagogy for Children’s Dance.” In Dance, Power, and Difference, edited by Sherry B. Shapiro. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Stinson, Susan W. 2005. “The Hidden Curriculum of Gender in Dance Education.” Journal of Dance Education, 5:2, 51-57.

Murray Biography

Melonie is a dancer, choreographer, teacher, and scholar. Currently an Associate Professor within the Department of Ballet at the University of Utah, Melonie is simultaneously pursuing a PhD in Dance through Texas Woman’s University. Her research interests lie in exploring the continual evolution of ballet training methods and performances, and while honoring the past, investigating ballet through a critical theory lens. Topics of recent research have included analyzing the commoditization of dancers in the advertising campaigns of American ballet companies, and examining how gender is performed in early ballet training. Melonie finds the juxtaposition of classical ballet heritage with contemporary training and performing practices combined with critical theory compelling and fertile ground for scholarly consideration. Holding a BFA in Ballet from Friends University and an MFA in Dance from the University of California, Irvine, Melonie believes that there is a place for all dance forms within the academy, and her commitment to dance as a scholarly endeavor is paramount. As a choreographer, Melonie is particularly interested in pushing the boundaries of ballet and exploring ways in which to communicate complex concepts and social critique through movement.

Her performance experience includes dancing as a Radio City Rockette, as a principle dancer with Wichita Ballet Theatre, and as a featured dancer with Musical Theatre of Wichita. In addition, Melonie sailed the seas with Norwegian Cruise Lines as dance captain for Broadway-style productions, and has performed with several musical theatre companies in Southern California. Melonie performed as a featured dancer with Francisco Martinez Dance Theatre, a Los Angeles based award-winning modern dance company, and has most recently been seen performing with Colorado-based Beyond Boundaries Dance. Melonie has experience teaching multiple genres of dance and academic dance courses at institutions such as Friends University, Santa Ana College, Irvine Valley College, and Colorado Mesa University. In addition, Melonie is a certified instructor in American Ballet Theatre’s national training curriculum.

SATURDAY JUNE 27, 2015

4:15-5:00pm

Cydney Spohn, The University of Akron

Paper Title: Identifying Barriers to Change in the Ballet Classroom

Dance educators, particularly those in higher education, are adapt at identifying students’ deficiencies and designing classes to help students overcome their weaknesses. We constantly ask ourselves, What does the student need to work on? How can we help them improve? And, Is the student making progress? Gratification comes when our students develop and mature technically, physically, and artistically. However, we sometimes find ourselves at a loss with well-intentioned dancers who are not effective at applying corrections and generating change even though we see the potential for improvement. Our desires, efforts and dedication to help these students fall short of producing wanted results.

Identifying reasons why students do not advance – either in general or with specific aspects of their training – warrants investigation, as it allows ballet instructors to discern what hindrances stand in the way of a dancer’s progress. My research and presentation focuses on the central question: What are factors that inhibit a well-intentioned dancer’s ability to produce change in the studio? The methodology includes a review of the literature, examining ballet and somatic teaching practices, as well as drawing from my seventeen years of observation and instructional experience in higher education. Barriers to change run the gamut from the apparent (injury and structural issues) to the less obvious (“untrustworthiness of feeling” as described by F.M. Alexander and influences of past experiences) along with physical and mental deterrences (such as false notions about turnout, intellectual engagement overpowering physical action, behavioral habits outside of the studio, and misconceptions about hard work). Solutions for dismantling these barriers will be discussed as well. It is my hope that this presentation will generate dialogue and further needed research on a uniquely focused subject matter.

Relevance to CORPS mission, objectives and conference theme

The ballet classroom is made up of a community of diverse individuals with various educational and dance training backgrounds. However, the term diversity not only encompasses gender, race, cultural heritage, or sexual preference, but includes differences in learning styles, behaviors, and physical features. Embracing diversity in the studio must also include acceptance that not all students are predisposed to generating change, and that each student will have his or her own unique barrier(s) to overcome. Gaining an awareness of these barriers will better equip dance educators of pedagogical practices to take a proactive approach for getting those obstacles out of the way of a student’s path of learning. It will also support reform of “old school” attitudes whereby judgment is passed on those students who do not grasp physical concepts and apply corrections so quickly (Lakes, 2014). Fostering excellence in ballet teaching is an objective of CORPS de Ballet, International. My research presentation is aligned with this objective, in addition to the conference theme, as it is aimed to build constructs for better understanding dance students’ training experiences and to help those of us who are challenged with teaching ballet to a diverse body of well-intentioned learners.

Spohn

Sample Bibliography

Alexander, F. M. 1985. The use of the self: Its conscious direction in relation to diagnosis functioning and the control of reaction. Orion Books Ltd.: London.

Bauman, A., B.E. Ainsworth, J.F. Sallis, M. Hagströmer, C.L Craig, F.C. Bull, M. Pratt, K.

Venugopal, J. Chau, and M. Sjöström. 2011. The descriptive epidemiology of sitting. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 41 (2): 228-235.

DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2011.05.003.

Clippinger, K. S. 2006. Dance anatomy and kinesiology. Human Kinetics: Champaign, IL.

Fitt, S. S. 1996. Dance Kinesiology. 2nd Edition. Schirmer/Thomson Learning.

Grossman, G., D. Krasnow, and T. Welsh. 2005. Effective use of turnout: Biomechanical, neuromuscular, and behavioral considerations. Journal of Dance Education 5(1):15–27.

Howse, J., and S. Hancock. 1992. Dance technique and injury prevention. Revised

Ed. Theatre Arts Books/Routledge: New York, NY.

Lakes, R. 2014. The authoritarian roots in ballet pedagogy: European ballet masters at court and in town. In E. McPherson (Ed.) Ballet, why and how? One the role of classical ballet in dance education (25-31). ArtEZ Press.

Matthews, C.E., K. Y. Chen KY, and P.S. Freedson. 2008. Amount of time spent in sedentary behaviors in the U.S. American Journal of Epidemiology 167 (7):875– 81.

Nettl-Fiol, R. 2008. First it was dancing. In The body Eclectic: evolving practices in dance training. M. Bales and R. Nettl-Fiol, eds., 101-125. University of Illinois press: Urbana and Chicago.

Todd, M. 1937. The thinking body. The Gestalt Journal Press: Gouldsboro, Maine.

White, J. 1996. Teaching Classical Ballet. University Press of Florida: Gainesville, FL.

Spohn Biography

Cydney Spohn, Associate Professor of Dance at The University of Akron, is a former dancer with North Carolina Dance Theatre and soloist with The Pennsylvania Ballet. Ms. Spohn is the recipient of an Emerging Choreographer Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and two Princess Grace Foundation-USA awards. A graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, she acquired both a B.S. in Economics (graduating summa cum laude) and a M.A. in Education from The University of Akron. Ms. Spohn has served on the board of directors of CORPS de Ballet International and is currently seated on the board of advisors of the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts.

SATURDAY JUNE 27, 2015

5:15-6:00pm

Lisa Fusillo, University of Georgia

Raucous, Riotous, Transnational, and Cultural Assimilations of The Rite

A century after its creation, The Rite of Spring continues to influence and engage artists in dance, music, and interactive/multi-media performances. As the impetus for new creative works, The Rite spawned re-interpretations that are, in fact, bridges between dance, diversity, and culture. Embracing the conference theme, this paper will focus on the cultural diversity and range of genres in several re-interpretations, transformations, and adaptations of this iconic work.

The Rite of Spring, after a ‘riotous’ premiere, forged new paths for dance, music and art. It provided impetus for creative ingenuity and defined a new generation of modernism. Igor Stravinsky challenged musical conventions with the intensely rhythmic score of complex, irregular rhythms and pulsating dissonant chords. Vaslav Nijinsky violated the formalism of ballet with his jarring, angular, violent steps in his “unnatural” choreography. Nicolai Roerich defeminized the ballerina by putting the dancers in shapeless smocks painted in bold, brilliant colors. The Parisian audiences, who were accustomed to the grace, elegance, charm, and demure conventions of classical ballet, were set back on their heels, as much by the artistic elements as by the primitive scenario in which a young woman, chosen by her tribe as a sacrifice, dances herself to death.

Exemplifying how The Rite of Spring has been a catalyst for culturally diverse creative inventions over the past 100 years, this paper will provide a very brief historical context as a point of reference and will present a collection of excerpts re-interpreting this ever-challenging, ever-changing work. In a thirteen-minute video spanning 100 years of invention, viewers will see 20 versions of The Rite by choreographers/creators from 15 countries/cultures, with as many different dance/art genres. Salsa, equestrian, and electronic digital media versions, as well as educational interpretations are included.

The diversity of the choreographers and cultures represented in the video, as well as the global appeal of Stravinsky’s score, address the conference theme. With regard to the CORPS mission, this research promotes the advancement of ballet in higher education through contemporizing important historical ballet innovations, which also make dance history a relevant “living history” for the current social media-driven generation of students. Further, this project fosters excellence in research in ballet history, and relates to human society both in application of the original scenario/theme of The Rite, which was retained in many re-interpretations, and in acknowledging social and cultural adaptations of The Rite of Spring.

The research methodology entailed analyzing the literature and archival materials, including examining the comprehensive database created by Stephanie Jordan and Larraine Nichols, Stravinsky the Global Dancer: A Chronology of Choreography to the Music of Igor Stravinsky, at the Center for Dance Research at Roehampton University London. Additionally, performances of many versions were studied through videos at the New York Pubic Library-Lincoln Center, live performances, Youtube, and DVDs/Vimeo links provided by some choreographers. Stravinsky the Global Dancer by Jordan and Nichols lists 185 interpretations of The Rite of Spring dating from 1913 to 2008. So far, this research has added 87 more versions to that list.

Fusillo

Selected Bibliography and Videography

Berg, Shelley C. Le Sacre du printemps: Seven Productions from Nijinsky to Martha Graham. Michigan: UMI Press. 1988

Bland, Alexander. “Creating a New Rite.” The Observer, 1 March 1981, p. 34

Buckle, Richard. Diaghilev. New York: Atheneum. 1979

Calvocoressi, Michel-Dimitri. Music and Ballet. London: Faber & Faber. 1934

Franks, A. H. “The Rite of Spring.” The Dancing Times, 52 (may 1962): 483

Garafola, Lynn. Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989; reprint edition, New York: Da Capo Press. 1998

Grigoriev, Serge L. The Diaghilev Ballet, 1909-1929. London: Constable, 1953; reprint edition, London: Penguin, 1960

Hodson, Millicent. Nijinsky's Crime Against Grace: Reconstruction Score of the Original

Choreography for Le Sacre Du Printemps. London: Pendragon Press. 1996

Jordan, Stephanie and Nichols, Larraine. Stravinsky the Global Dancer: A Chronology of Choreography to the Music of Igor Stravinsky. Database at the Center for Dance

Research, Roehampton University, London. ws1.roehampton.ac.uk/stravinsky/

Levitz, Tamara. Laughing at the Rite. Lecture at University of Georgia. January 16, 2014

Stravinsky, Igor; Craft, Robert. Conversations with Igor Stravinsky. New York: Doubleday. 1959

Taruskin, Richard. Stravinsky and the Russian Tradition (Vol. I). Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1996

Van den Toorn, Pieter C. Stravinsky and the Rite of Spring: The Beginnings of a Musical Language. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1987

Selected Videography – Rite of Spring

1. BBC docudrama - Riot at the Rite. .

accessed 12 July 2013

2. Ballets Russes – Le Sacre du Printemps. .

accessed 12 July 2013

3. The Golden Age of Art – Celebrating 100 years of the Ballet Russes.

. accessed 12 July 2013

4. Michael Tilson Thomas. Keeping Score.

. accessed 12 July 2013

5. Joffrey Ballet – Rite of Spring 1987. .

accessed 12 July 2013

6. Pina Bausch, Sagração da Primavera. .

accessed 12 July 2013

7. Shen Wei Dance Arts. watch?v=cXoYFUcfnsw. accessed 12 July 2013

8. Emanuel Gat Dance / The Rite of Spring.

. accessed 12 July 2013

9. Ballet - Stravinsky Le Sacre du Printemps - P Boulez.

. accessed 12 July 2013

10. Balletto Maurice Béjart SACRE DU PRINTEMPS.

. accessed 12 July 2013

11. Slovene National Theatre. . accessed 12 July 2013

12. Les Danseurs Napolitains, Le Sacre du Printemps.

. accessed 12 July 2013

Fusillo Biography

Lisa A. Fusillo began her professional ballet training at the Washington School of Ballet in Washington, D.C. and later trained in New York, London, Russia and Denmark. She holds the Professional Teaching Diploma from the Royal Ballet School in London and certifications from American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum and New York City Ballet Education Department. Her choreography has been presented in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Amsterdam, Paris, Thailand, at the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, MS, and in Taiwan where she worked as ballet mistress for Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. She has published articles on Leonide Massine, American musical theatre dance, and Charles Weidman, and was awarded four NEA grants for reconstruction of masterworks in American dance. Currently, she serves as head of the Department of Dance at the University of Georgia.

CORPS de Ballet International, Inc.

2015 DOCUMENTARY SCREENING OF BLACK BALLERINA

Building Bridges: Community, Diversity and Culture

Wednesday, June 24, 7:30 p.m.

Marriott Hotel

Question and answer session will follow the screening and will last 15 minutes.

Black Ballerina

Documentary Director: Frances McElroy

Black Ballerina uses the overwhelmingly white world of ballet to raise consciousness and dialogue about issues of race, equality and inclusion. It takes a fresh look at diversity and the definition of beauty through the emotional stories of several black women from different generations, united in their passion for ballet. Six decades ago, while pursuing careers in classical dance, three black women now in their 80s confronted racism and exclusion. Today, three young black women also pursue careers as ballerinas. The film explore why there is still so little diversity in classical ballet, what’s being done about it and why it matters.

2015 VIDEO CHOREOGRAPHIC SHOWING

CORPS de Ballet International’s Conference 2015:

Building Bridges: Community, Diversity, and Culture

Wednesday, June 24th 2014, 8:10-10 pm

17th Annual Teacher Conference

June 23-27, 2015

Towson, Maryland

Marriott Hotel

PROGRAM

Poema de tres versos

Presenter: Elizabeth Gillaspy, Associate Professor of Ballet, Texas Christian University

Music/Composer: Barrios

Dyads

Presenter: Elizabeth Lowe Ahearn, Associate Professor of Dance, Goucher College

Music/Composer: Zoë Keating

Stark Seasons

Presenter: Teresa Cooper, Senior Lecturer of Dance, University of North Texas

Music/Composer: Stark Season/Clark Erickson

Instruments of Motion

Presenter: Barclay Gibbs, Artistic Director, Harford Ballet Company

Music/Composer: Jonathan Leshnoff (performed live by Megan Beichler)

The Glass House

Presenter: David Curwen, Associate Professor of Dance, Western Michigan University

Music/Composer: John Cage, Roger Zahab

Arena

Presenter: Tom Vacanti, Assistant Professor of Dance, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Music/Composer: Tim Hecker

Interior Borders

Presenter: Joan Buttram, Associate Professor of Dance, University of Georgia

Music/Composer: Louis Romanos

Removed

Presenter: Shani Robison, Associate Professor of Dance, Brigham Young University

Music/Composer: Ludivico Eunaudi

NEARBY RESTAURANTS

|Bill Bateman’s Bistro |The Orient |

|7800 York Road |319 York Road |

|Towson MD 21204 |Towson MD 21204 |

|410-296-2737 |410-296-9000 |

| | |

|Burger Bros |Pasta Mista |

|14 Allegheny Ave |822 Dulaney Valley Road |

|Towson MD 21204 |Towson MD 21204 |

|410-321-1880 |410-321-8855 |

| | |

|Burger King |PF Chang’s China Bistro |

|925 York Rd |Towson Town Center |

|Towson, MD 21204 |825 Dulaney Valley Road |

|410-337-0587 |Towson MD 21204 |

| |410-372-5250 |

|The Cheesecake Factory | |

|Towson Town Center |Strapazza of Towson, Inc. |

|825 Dulaney Valley Road |12 Allegheny Ave |

|Towson MD 21204 |Towson MD 21204 |

|410-337-7411 |410-296-5577 |

| | |

|Five Guys |Sushi Hana |

|936 York Road |6 E Pennsylvania Ave |

|Towson, MD 21204 |Towson MD 21204 |

|410-321-4963 |410-823-0372 |

| | |

|The Food Court at |TGI Friday’s |

|Towson Town Center |Towson Town Center |

|825 Dulaney Valley Road |825 Dulaney Valley Road |

|Towson MD 21204 |Towson MD 21204 |

|Kabob Hut |410-828-4556 |

|13 Allegheny Ave | |

|Towson MD 21204 |Thai One On |

|410-821-8005 |10 W Pennsylvania Ave |

| |Towson MD 21204 |

|McDonald’s |410-825-0907 |

|934 York Road | |

|Baltimore MD |Towson Diner |

|410-823-6760 |718 York Road |

| |Baltimore MD |

| |410-321-0407 |

| | |

On Campus Dining:

Cash, Visa, and Mastercard accepted

PAWS - University Union (UU) 1st Floor

M-TH 7:30am-6pm F 7:30am-2pm

7720 Cafe – Admin Building

M-F 7:30am-2pm

The University Club – Towson University Marriott Conference Hotel

Open for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Nearby Stores:

Towson Place Shopping Center - Putty Hill Ave and Goucher Blvd

Target, Wal-Mart, Superfresh, Bed Bath and Beyond, Sports Authority, Michaels, Marshalls and More….

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[1] In her history of the Ballet Russes, Lynn Garafola proposes that for the company’s “Russian Seasons” in Paris, Diaghilev conceived of “Russianness” as “historically and ethnically non-Western.” That is, works such as the Polvetisan Dances from Prince Igor, Le Coq d’Or, and Le Sacre du printemps celebrated Russian culture in an alternative paradigm to ballet steeped in Western European heritage. Neo-nationalism in Russian music (e.g., Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin) and the Pan-Slavic ideology that undergirded Russian imperialism formed the backdrop for this alternative Russian identity. Moreover, the actual presence of Hungarian and Polish dancers in imperial Russian ballet companies led to culturally informed “character dances” from these nations, and, I would add, a more encompassing aesthetic (Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes [New York: Oxford University Press, 1989], 16, 11–16).

[2] Marian Heinly Page, “A Tour of South America with the Pavlova Company [1918–19],” M1. In the early 1920s, Uday Shankar would choreograph for and perform with Pavlova’s company. (See Ruth K. Abrahams, “Uday Shankar: The Early Years, 1900–1938,” Dance Chronicle, vol. 30, no. 3 [2007], 374–82.)

[3] Evidence suggests that Iberian Monotone was Page’s answer to The Three-Cornered Hat (1919), choreographed by Léonide Massine while he was studying Spanish dance with a master, and Cuadro Flamenco (1921), a suite of dances performed by flamenco artists from Spain, both produced by Diaghilev (Boris Kochno, Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes [New York: Harper & Row, 1970], 132–37, 162–67).

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June 23rd, 2015

Dear CORPS de Ballet International Members, Guests, and Friends,

Welcome to Towson, Maryland! I am delighted to have the opportunity to welcome you to the 2015 CORPS de Ballet International Conference “Building Bridges: Community, Diversity, and Culture”. The guests, events, and presentations at this conference seek to educate, inform, reveal, and celebrate diversity, community and cultural identities within the art form of ballet. I hope you find that this conference will provide an opportunity for ballet educators in higher education, K-12, community programs, professional studios, pre-collegiate schools and beyond to build bridges and exchange ideas in order to deepen the education of our students and celebrate our shared passion for ballet.

This year, we will also be holding a NEW Pre-Conference Workshop Day on Tuesday, June 23rd, which will include a stimulating panel discussion on training male ballet dancers, a master class and presentation by Septime Webre, renowned Artistic Director of the Washington Ballet, and a breakout session which will give participants the opportunity to partake in a rich dialogue and exchange with international ballet educators. Your experiences, perspective, and expertise are extremely valuable to this breakout session. We will discuss best practices, challenges, initiatives, and questions concerning the role diversity, community, and cultural identities hold within ballet communities.

Tuesday evening’s Lifetime Achievement Award Dinner promises to be a wonderful event with very delicious dining! The awards dinner will be held at La Tasca Restaurant in Baltimore’s rich inner harbor where we will be celebrating the accomplishments of James Clouser and his years as a dancer, artistic director, choreographer, university educator, and scholar.

Over the course of the conference we will also have two additional master ballet classes taught by Kee Juan Han, Director of The Washington School of Ballet and Virginia Johnson, Artistic Director of Dance Theater of Harlem. The conference will also feature a choreographic workshop by Dana Tai Soon Burgess, Director of Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company, a visit to Washington D.C, nine member presentations plus a video choreographic showing and more!

Thank you, CORPS de Ballet International members and board, for your continued support of this organization and for your countless contributions to our field. CORPS de Ballet International is YOUR organization! You are its voice and its future. It has been an honor serving as president of this extraordinary organization. I look forward to spending time with you this week and I truly hope you enjoy your stay and time at the conference.

Sincerely,

Catherine Horta-Hayden, President, 2014-2016

Dear Ballet Colleague,

We are writing to invite you to join the membership of CORPS de Ballet International. A professional organization dedicated to the development, exploration, and advancement of ballet in higher education. Our objectives are as follows:

▪ To serve and support the community of university and college teachers of ballet

▪ To foster excellence in ballet teaching, creation, performance, and research.

▪ To promote recognition of the contributions that dance, ballet in particular, and the other arts, in general, apply to human society.

▪ To sponsor and initiate activities and research related to these goals.

Our membership has grown to over 95 national and international members, with over 55 institutions of Higher Education represented in addition to dance studios and professional training programs and companies. Each year at our conference our own creativity is renewed through remarkable networking as well as the most current research papers and presentations selected through a blind review. CORPS offers opportunities to experience dance around the world, such as seeing the Paris Opera Ballet in La Sylphide at the Palais Garnier, and immersing in master classes with luminaries such as Alonzo King, Amanda McKerrow, and Anna-Marie Holmes! We are eagerly awaiting our upcoming 2015 conference, Building Bridges: Community Diversity and Culture hosted by Towson University in Towson, Maryland with events at The Washington School of Ballet and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. CORPS de Ballet International was founded by dance faculty in higher education; its membership has expanded to include a diverse community of ballet educators committed to professional growth and an international exchange of ideas. CORPS de Ballet International needs your voice. We encourage you to consider becoming a member of this extraordinary organization.

There are several types of memberships:

o Professional Membership – 1 year $75.00

Open to all dance professionals who have worked in higher education as

tenured, tenure track, full time, adjunct or part-time ballet faculty both past and present. Professional Members are eligible and encouraged to participate in all aspects of the corporation and have ONE vote in the decision making and election processes.

o Associate Membership – 1 year $50.00

Open to all professionals who work with higher education programs on a guest artist basis or who work in secondary education (including performing arts high schools and pre-professional and professional training schools). Associate Members are eligible and encouraged to participate in all aspects of the corporation with the exception of the voting privileges.

o Graduate Student Membership – 1 year $25.00

Reduced rate for graduate students who want to network, share research and become active in CORPS de Ballet. Graduate students are eligible and encouraged to participate in all aspects of the corporation with the exception of voting privileges.

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