A great opportunity to see PHILADANCO–a nationally renowned dance company, noted for its virtuosity and powerful performances–for FREE!
and Dana Nichols, a dance alum and HC class of 2014 will be performing in one of the works presented!!

FRIDAY September 23  8:00 PM in GOODHART… get your tickets early from the Arts Office or ticket giveaways in Campus Center that week.

Master class for intermediate and advanced dancers Thursday, September 22  4:10-5:30 in PEM

Dana is second from the right below in Franciso Gella’s work, Between the Lines. The choreographer is center.

For Field trip, new programs supporting student performance ticket purchase, and for PAS info…check out the blog entries following this.
Contact Linda if you have any questions or problems…lcarusoh@brynmawr.edu

Full Fall schedule is at http://www.brynmawr.edu/dance/courses/schedule.html  and Faculty bios at http://www.brynmawr.edu/dance/people/
Many favorites have returned.

and more. . . .

NOTE we’re trying a new time for Intermediate Technique: Modern…TTH 5:40-7:00 PM with Michelle Stortz in Denbigh. . .

and, in conjunction with the Haverford Ballet Club, we will be offering a Friday Afternoon Open Ballet Class with Meredith Reffner-Callender, former soloist with the Pennsylvania Ballet, for intermediate or advanced students (Time TBA soon).  Please note that first year BMC students who have to attend the Monday evening ‘Thrive’ lecture CAN take the Friday class in place of the Monday class if you are taking Adv. Ballet for PE credit.  Upperclass students may use the Friday class for up to two makeup classes whether you are taking it for PE or Academic credit.

BALLET Placement class for first year students interested in ADVANCED or INTERMEDIATE BALLET is Thursday, August 25 at 4:10 in PEM.  Upperclass students who have never taken the ballet placement class but want to enter ballet classes at that level must contact Linda Caruso Haviland (lcarusoh@brynmawr.edu) and expect the first week of classes to be used for placement consideration.
All other classes except ensembles (see below) are self-placed [Beginning level classes are good for those with little to no experience and those who have not danced since childhood and those returning from injury; Intermediate levels require at least 1.5 to 2 years of work in that technique; Advanced levels and most Dance Ensembles presuppose a minimum of 3-5 years of prior dance training; and open level classes, like African and Hip-hop can accommodate beginners as well as with experience in the form].

ENSEMBLES
This Fall, we are offering three ensembles: Modern with Madeline Cantor and Jazz with Shannon Murphy, both of which will be performed in the Spring concert, April 21 and 22. These ensembles are appropriate for intermediate and advanced level dancers. We are also offering Dance Outreach, under the direction of Madeline Cantor, which tours a lecture-dem and a performance piece to Philadelphia public schools. This ensemble selects from dancers with at least two years of training in any technique and a love of performing. In the Spring we will offer ensembles in Modern, Jazz, African and Hip-hop. All are by audition class and all are performed in the concert, Friday and Saturday, April 21 and 22
Modern Ensemble Audition class Wednesday, August 31  4:10 Pem
Jazz Ensemble Audition class Thursday, September 1   5:40  Pem
Dance Outreach informational meeting, Friday September 2  3:40 Pem

Dance Outreach performance

Shannon’s piece from the Spring 2015 concert

Academic lecture/seminar courses..
This semester, Linda is offering Performing the Political Body: Dance and Power.  This is a 200 level course and appropriate for 2nd year students and up. In the spring, Linda will offer Approaches to Dance: Themes and perspectives, which is a 100 level course open to anyone but which is a requirement for anyone considering a minor or major in dance. Mady will be offering a .5 half semester course, Dance/Close Reading  in which students will engage in a close reading of dance, using live dance performances as primary texts and setting these performances in critical and historical contexts through readings in dance criticism and theory, activities, discussion and media. Not sure yet whether Anatomy and Physiology for the Dance will be offered.

The Dance Program has developed two new and related programs to make Dance performances more accessible to our students and to take advantage of the active and exciting dance scene in Philadelphia.  These are open to all bi-co students and are supported in part by donor, Virginia Clark. For more info contact Mady Cantor (mcantor@brynmawr.edu) or Linda Caruso Haviland (lcarusoh@brynmawr.edu) in the Dance Program. This is our first semester for these programs and we’ll evaluate them at the end of the semester…student feedback is welcome.

DANCE FLIP (Faculty in Live Performance) offers ticket purchase support to see current or recent faculty members in performance. For example, Lauren Putty White–who some of you know from working with her in the Jazz Ensemble last spring and some of you know from seeing her powerful  and incredibly danced choreography for the Dance Faculty Concert–will be presenting the full version of her iStand: Stories of an American Civil Struggle or October 9 at the painted Bride Art Center in Old City Philadelphia.  Students can get reimbursed $10. per faculty related performance by bringing in the ticket stub.

Putty Dance Projects

DANCE TRIP (Dance Reimbursement in Philadelphia) also provides students some ticket support for any dance performances, in any genre, in the Philadelphia area.  Just bring in your ticket and you will be reimbursed for $10 of the ticket cost.  For area performances check fingearts.com for three packed weeks of regional, national, and international performances starting next week or check http://www.philadelphiadance.org/calendar/ or https://www.phillyfunguide.com/ for performances throughout the year.

Boris Chamantz at the Fringe

Friday  September 23  8PM  Goodhart

A great opportunity to see PHILADANCO–a nationally renowned dance company, noted for its virtuosity and powerful performances–for FREE!  The program will include work by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Christopher Huggins.
Free to the Tri-co community, but get your tickets early from the Arts Office in Goodhart or in an announced ticket giveaway that week in the Campus Center.
Master class for advanced and upper level intermediate dancers on Thursday, 4PM in Pem Studio.

Photo: Lois Greenfield

Pa Ballet

Join the Dance Program on Saturday, November 12 to see the PENNSYLVANIA BALLET in a mixed program of classical and daring contemporary ballet works.  Tickets are available at the group rate of $20. and we provide free van transport to and from the Merriam Theater in the heart of downtown Philly.  Contact Mady Cantor at mcantor@brynmawr.edu if you are interested.

Bryn Mawr and Haverford student dancers will take to the stage for the Bryn Mawr College Dance Program Annual Spring Dance Concert this Saturday, April 23 at 6:30PM and Sunday, April 24 at 7:30PM in Goodhart Theatre. Students will perform works by student choreographer Joie Waxler and by Linda Caruso Haviland, founder and director of the Dance Program and in a range of dance works by critically noted guest and faculty choreographers. They include: Hip-hop virtuoso, actress and singer Melanie Cotton; Colby Damon, former dancer with the Sacramento Ballet and BalletX; Rev. Nia Eubanks-Dixon, former dancer with Urban Bush Women and the Chuck Davis African American Dance Ensemble; Lauren Putty White, former dancer with Parsons Dance and Philadanco;  Linda Karash Mintzer, formerly with the Pennsylvania Ballet, who will restage a classic variation; and Vicky Shick, an internationally regarded NY-based dancer and choreographer, formerly with the Trisha Brown Dance Company. More detailed information on the choreographers is below. The concert runs under an hour and a half including intermission and seating begins 30 minutes prior to performance. The concerts are free and open to the public, and a reception follows in the Benham Lobby. For general concert information, please call (610) 526-5210

** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Linda Caruso Haviland, founder and director of the Dance Program, earned her doctorate in Dance and Philosophy from Temple University, has performed her own work as well as that of independent choreographers in New York and in Philadelphia and danced principally with ZeroMoving Company under the direction of Hellmut Gottschild. Our critically noted guest choreographers include the following: Melanie Cotton studied with pioneering Hip-Hop legends Elite Force, Moncell Durden and Don “Campbell Lock” Campbell among others, and both studied and performed internationally with hip-hop great Rennie Harris. She directs a feminist Hip-Hop performance group, Women’s Revolutionary Vagime and has also appeared on regional stages as an actress and singer in comedies, experimental theatre and musical theater. Colby Damon is a former member of Sacramento Ballet and Ballet X and has performed with Mark Morris Dance Group, the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, and independent choreographers. He has created choreography for Charlottesville Ballet and Pennsylvania Ballet II and continues to perform his own work as well. Rev. Nia Eubanks-Dixon is a former dancer with two high-powered companies, Urban Bush Women and the Chuck Davis African American Dance Ensemble, and has been choreographing for DANSE4NIA Repertory Ensemble. Vicky Shick is an internationally regarded NY-based dancer and choreographer. She has been nominated three times for NYC “Bessie” awards and won one for her performances with renowned choreographer, Trisha Brown, and another for choreographic achievement. Lauren Putty White has performed with Parsons Dance in NYC and, most recently, with Philadanco. She has made works for several companies including BalletX and co-directs Putty Dance Project with her husband and jazz musician/composer Brent White.

On Friday, April 8 join in to see a performance of the Seán Curran Company, a NY-based modern dance company.  Sean Curran is at home choreographically in the opera, theater, and dance worlds. His background in folkloric Irish dance and “downtown” contemporary movement styles (he was a lead dancer for Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane) affords him a vast palette of movement vocabulary that is innovative and engaging. According to the LA Times, “There’s no fresher, more invigorating new American dance now than the choreography of Sean Curran.” Tickets are just $10 for the group rate. The theater is very close to Suburban Station so the plan is gather together and take the 6:22 train to Philadelphia.  Bryn Mawr students can get free Septa tickets for the train at Guild; Haverford students have a similar arrangement on their campus.
If interested, respond to Mady Cantor (mcantor) by next Monday, March 21.

 photo:Steven Schreiber

MASTER CLASS
with SHOW NO SHOW artists
Thursday, March 17 at 11:40-1:00pm in PEM STUDIO

We are delighted to sponsor a master class in conjunction with the dance performance, SHOW NO SHOW, a grant supported project that has developed across several months and two continents with in-progress performances in Russia and at American Dance Festival/Culture Mill in the US. It will culminate in a performance at the FRINGE in Philly, next weekend. SHOW NO SHOW is a collaboration between the project director, Gabrielle Revlock, an award-winning performer/dance maker based in NYC who has danced with Lucinda Childs, Susan Rethorst and Jane Comfort. (but formerly from Philly–she choreographed an ensemble work on our students in 2005) and Alexsandr Frolov. a contemporary dancer, choreographer and teacher based in Yekaterinburg, Russia (see bio below).

The class is geared towards intermediate dancers and will include both technique and improv. The dancers will join us for lunch in Haffner afterwards for anyone interested in Russian language or in what’s happening with contemporary dance in contemporary Russia!  Questions? Contact the Dance Program at lcarusoh@brynmawr.edu

Aleksandr Frolov is a contemporary dancer, choreographer and teacher based in Yekaterinburg, Russia. He graduated with a degree from the Liberal Arts University of Yekaterinburg and started the duet company Zonk’a with Anna Shchekleina. His work has been presented throughout Russia and he is frequently commissioned to create dances for other companies including the Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theatre. His work has received numerous prizes including Winner of IX All-Russia Festival of Modern Dance. Currently, his work is nominated for a Golden Mask, the most prestigious award for performance in Russia. He was a dancer with Provincial Dances Theatre (Russia) and S’poart (France).

Additional performances and events in Philly for SHOW NO SHOW:
—Saturday, March 19, 1-3pm class at FringeArts $15
Class will start on the floor, sinking into our bodies. As we begin to move, expanding our kinesphere, we will generate warmth through sinuous phrases that extend, contract, roll, and slide. We will cultivate a power which motivates us to hungrily carve through space. From this juicy, sweaty place we will explore dance as a social art form, one that connects us to others. Through games and playful activities we will create partner dances that keep us in the present moment and tap into sensation and imagery. Expect to move vigorously and have fun! Space is limited, RSVP recommended.
—Saturday, March 19, 7pm performance of My Life at Shebang $10
My Life is an autobiographical work where themes of love, transformation, and time are filtered through the personal impressions of one man, based in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Local artist Kristel Baldoz will also perform action is primary: a mode of making in the moment that looks at moving form as thinking form, feeling form as doing form.
—March 24-26, 8pm performance of Show No Show, with Gabrielle Revlock, at FringeArts  March 24, 25,26 8PM, $15
Funny and unpredictable, this duet moves in the spaces between understanding and misunderstanding, play and power, tenderness and conflict.Promo video

Photos taken of students and regional dancers in Ron K. Brown’s masterclass.  The following evening, his superb company performed Torch, Lessons: March (excerpt), The Subtle One, and Grace.

The Bryn Mawr College Performing Arts Series presents Ronald K. Brown / Evidence in Dance and the Spirit on Friday, February 26, 8:00pm in Goodhart. Brown founded the Brooklyn-based Evidence in 1985.  His critically-acclaimed choreography incorporates modern dance, West African movement vocabularies, Afro-Caribbean dance and contemporary urban dance. FREE to tri-co students, faculty, staff but get get your tickets early from the Arts Office (off Goodhart glass lobby) or in the BMC Campus Center ticket giveaway on Wednesday, 2/24 between 11AM and 2PM.

A free MASTER CLASS taught by Ronald K. Brown will take place on Thursday, February 25 from 4 – 5:30pm in Pembroke Studio at Bryn Mawr College. If you are not already enrolled in the advanced modern class on that day, please RSVP with artsadmin@brynmawr.edu.

An informal BRUNCH/ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION with Ronald K. Brown will take place on Saturday, February 27 from 11am – 12:30pm in in the Dorothy Vernon Room, The Enid Cook ’31 Center / New Dorm.  Those without meal plans or passes are invited to purchase brunch.  Coffee/tea will be provided. Admission is free.