The Haverford Dance Club and the Bryn Mawr Dance Program are once again sponsoring the Friday Afternoon Ballet Open Class for intermediate and above dancers…with Meredith Reffner-Callender former dancer with the Washington Ballet and Fort Worth Dallas companies and with the Pennsylvania ballet where she performed for nearly a decade in soloist and principal roles.

Fridays 1-2:25 PM in Pem Studio.

They are your instructors and choreographers but they are professional artists who make work and perform in a world that stretches far beyond the campus. Come see what they do!

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 8PM in the Hepburn Teaching Theatre, Goodhart
Free admission     call 610-526-5602 for information

Trained in classical ballet, Colby has also added modern dance, Chinese martial arts, and yoga to his repertory of movement. He danced for several years with the Sacramento Ballet and then for another six with the exciting contemporary ballet company, BalletX, here in Philadelphia and continues to do great work with kids through their Dance eXchange program. An emerging choreographer, his works have been set on both university and professional dancers. This year, Colby is choreographing for our Ballet Ensemble.

Katherine is a Philadelphia-based dance artist, teacher, and the artistic director of The Naked Stark.  As a dancer, she has performed with multiple Philadelphia artists. As a choreographer her work has been presented in theatres stretching along the Eastern seaboard and produced by a variety of presenters in Philadelphia including FringeArts, Mascher Space Cooperative, and First Person Arts. This year, Katherine is teaching our beginning modern dancers.

Lauren is a sought after dancer who has performed with Washington Reflections, Urban Bush Women II, Parsons Dance Company and most recently, Philadanco. She has won awards to support her choreographic work, which has been set on both professional, regional, and university level companies. This year, Lauren is choreographing for our Jazz Ensemble.

Molly has received two National Performance Network awards as well as several awards and grants in her hometown of Chicago to support her choreographic projects. Her creative and performance work with her company, MadShak, has been seen throughout the US and Canada. This year, Molly, is teaching our intermediate modern class.

Sarah Cunningham, a McBride scholar at BMC and an independent major in Performance will present her movement, music, media project on Sunday February 7 in Pem Studio at 5:30 PM.  SEATING IS LIMITED and RESERVATIONS are necessary (reservations@brynmawr.edu).

In addition to our terrific faculty instructors and guest choreographers who are returning in the Spring, here are dance artists either new to our Program or returning after being away (you can check all of our faculty  bios at http://www.brynmawr.edu/dance/people/):

KC Chun Manning received her MFA in Dance in 2004 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, while simultaneously completing her certification at The Alexander Technique Center Urbana. Her professional performing credits include Susan Rethorst, Guillermo Ortega Tanus, Carolyn Merritt (Philly); kim olson/sweet edge, Maedée Duprès (Denver); Sara Hook, Jennifer Schmermund (New York) and Cynthia Oliver (Chicago), and she is currently working locally with Jessica Warchal-King. She is the Artistic Director of the collaboratively-driven, Fresh Blood, which has presented choreography in Colorado, NYC, and locally including, more recently, collaborations with Pasión y Arte Flamenco and Olive Prince Dance. She has served on the dance faculty at Temple and Drexel Universities and Bryn Mawr College, and as an Alexander Teacher for the Pig Iron School for Advanced Performance Training. Beyond Philly, she has been a guest artist at West Chester University, Trinity College, Denver University, Bucknell University, and for breast-feeding moms at the North Suburban Hospital in Thornton, Colorado.

Melanie Cotton returns to Bryn Mawr to do the Hip-hop ensemble but in addition to her formal training in ballet, jazz and African, Melanie has extensive experience in Hip-hop. From picking up dance on the streets to working in studios, Melanie has been able to study with pioneering Hip-Hop legends like: Buddha Stretch, Tweetie, and “BK” Terry (all of the Hip-Hop group Elite Force). Gravitating more towards the Funk styles of Hip-Hop (like Locking); she studied with Moncell Durden of MopTop dance crew and had the honor to work with the creator of locking Don “Campbell Lock” Campbell. She also studied and performed internationally with hip-hop great, Rennie Harris Puremovement. Melanie has also appeared on regional stages as an actress and singer in comedies, experimental theatre and musical theatre, including the Walnut Street Theatre’s production of In the Heights. In addition to this, she directs a feminist Hip-hop performance group. Check out this video to see Melanie, Dinita (who will do Hip-hop here next year) and Crystal who has taught for us in years past) https://www.facebook.com/rennieharrispuremovement/videos/1275569221284/

Denise Somrack D’Angelo, after her youth training in Cleveland, Ohio, came to Philadelphia on full scholarship to study with Lupe Serrano at the School of Pennsylvania Ballet. Ms. D’Angelo served as an apprentice for one year, then went on to dance professionally with Pennsylvania Ballet from 1980-88, rising to the rank of soloist. Her favorite roles were from the classic ballets such as Swan Lake and Giselle, and also the Balanchine ballets, including Jewels, Western Symphony, and Serenade. She has been teaching and choreographing locally since 1997 at the Metropolitan Ballet Academy founded by one of the Dance Program’s earlier instructors, Lisa Collins Vidnovic.

Bethany Formica graduated with a BFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in 1994 and since then has worked with several New York City based companies including Sean Curran and Company, Pearson/Widrig DanceTheatre, and JoAnna Mendl Shaw and with Philadelphia based choreographers and companies such as Megan Mazarick,  Nichole Canuso Dance Company, Leah Stein Dance Co., Brian Sanders/JUNK, Melanie Stewart Dance Theatre, Myra Bazell, Kate Watson-Wallace, Group Motion, and Rennie Harris Puremovement. She has also danced with Dada von Bzdülöw Theatre and Koncentrat in Poland and Melina Martin in Argentina among others.  Bethany has received grants and fellowships  for her own work as well including support from prestigious institutions such as the Independence Foundation and The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through Dance Advance. Her work has been presented in Philadelphia, NYC and other US locales as well as in Italy, Poland, Bulgaria and England. Bethany has instructed or directed master classes and residencies in New York City and at MassMoca, University of the Arts, Temple University, Rowan University, Franklin and Marshall College, and Bates College to name a few and internationally in the Dominican Republic, Czech Republic, Sweden, Italy, Ireland, Poland, and England.  She has also taught elementary and high school residencies and taught movement classes for schizophrenic patients at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital. She is currently a performer with Cardell Dance Theatre and the owner of Sawdust Siren creating beautiful wood-centric craft/arts.

Lauren Putty White received her BFA from University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 2005, winning both the UArts Choreography Prize and Outstanding Performance in Modern Dance award. She has performed with companies such as Washington Reflections, Rebecca Davis Dance Company, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Parsons Dance Company in NYC and is currently performing with the award winning Philadanco. She has also performed recently with Waheed Works and Stone Depot Dance Lab in the Philly Fringe Festival, as a guest artist with Carbon Dance Theater, and with the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra. She has set work on Washington Reflections Dance Company, BalletX, and has created solo and group work for Putty Dance Project, a company that she directs with her husband and jazz musician/composer Brent White. Proficient in ballet, modern and jazz, she has taught master classes at various colleges and universities and is currently teaching as well at Stockton.

FRIDAY  DECEMBER 4  8PM   at the PRINCE THEATRE

Join the Dance Program on a field trip into Philly to see Dorrance Dance. Student tickets are $20 and the Program provides a free bus trip into the performance and back to campus. For information: mcantor@brynmawr.edu

The Boston Globe

Student produced concert of student works–independent choreographers and bi-co clubs
Marshall Auditorium, HC, Saturday 11/21  at 8 PM  FREE admission, refreshments follow

This year-long celebration of the work of iconic choreographer, Trisha Brown, generated by Performing Arts Series coordinator, Lisa Kraus, and supported by the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, extends into the Spring with more classes and workshops and a performance of Brown’s work by the Pennsylvania Ballet.

PERFORMANCES this Fall include:
Early Works
Performances by Trisha Brown Dance CompanyBarnes Foundation, Annenberg Court
2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19130.
October 18, 2015 || 11am & 2pm
FREE ||

Proscenium Works, 1979–2011
Performances by Trisha Brown Dance Company
Bryn Mawr College, McPherson Auditorium, Goodhart Hall
Friday October 23, 2015 || 8pm
Saturday October 24, 2015 || 8pm*
FREE to tri-college community

Floor of the Forest

Performances by Trisha Brown Dance Company
Bryn Mawr College
Goodhart Hall, Glass Lobby
Saturday October 24 || 5:30pm*
Sunday October 25 || 1pm & 2:30pm**
FREE
Floor of the Forest is one of Trisha Brown’s most playful equipment pieces. Suspended in air, dancers slip in and out of clothing on a loom-like installation of clothesline.

CLASSES (FREE) INCLUDE:
Repertory class: Early Works
October 3 || 1:30–3:30pm
Led by Wendy Perron, former dancer with the Trisha Brown Dance Company. Participants learn and experiment with structures from iconic Trisha Brown dances.
The University of the Arts
1401 Walnut, 2nd floor, Philadelphia, PA 19102.

October 22, 2015 || 4pm–5:30pm
Master Class by members of Trisha Brown Dance Company, open to area dancers; embodying the physicality of Brown’s work.
Bryn Mawr College, Pembroke Studio

LECTURES (FREE) INCLUDE:
The Paradoxes of Trisha Brown
The Temple University Dance Studies Colloquium Speaker Series
September 29 || 5:30 pm
Lecture by Wendy Perron, author of Through the Eyes of a Dancer and former dancer with the Trisha Brown Dance Company.
Temple University, CHAT Lounge 10th Floor, Gladfelter Hall,

 On the history of Trisha’s work
October 3 || 11am–12:30pm
Lecture by Wendy Perron, author of Through the Eyes of a Dancer and former dancer with the Trisha Brown Dance Company.
The University of the Arts
Caplan Recital Hall, Terra Hall, 211 South Broad Street,

 Judson Dance Theater: The Transformation from Modern to Contemporary
October 13, 2015 || 7pm
Presented by Drexel University
Wendy Perron, former member of Trisha Brown Dance Company, author of Through the Eyes of a Dancer, and former editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine, presents a slide lecture on this pivotal moment in dance history

At the Crossroads of Dance and Visual Art: the pioneering choreography of Trisha Brown
October 17, 2015 || 2pm
Setting the stage for the performances of Trisha Brown’s Early Works at the Barnes Foundation, Dr. Susan Rosenberg, scholar-in-residence at the Trisha Brown Dance Company, offers an overview of Brown’s career at the crossroads of dance and visual art. In the second hour, artist and curator Marissa Perel leads a panel discussion on the legacy of Brown’s work on the next generation of artists and choreographers.
Barnes Foundation, Comcast Auditorium
2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway

EXHIBITION AND GALLERY TALK (FREE):
Trisha Brown: (Re)framing collaboration curator Brian Wallace and artist and independent curator Marissa Perel
October 24, 2015 || 6:15pm
A curatorial overview of Trisha Brown’s work as it connects to the performances at the Barnes Foundation and at Bryn Mawr College to the work on view in Trisha Brown: (Re)framing collaboration, an exhibition of the art of Trisha Brown and her collaborators.Bryn Mawr College, Canaday Library Class of 1912 Gallery

THIS FALL brings two exciting dance series (events, classes, lectures, performances!!)
BMC is sponsoring TRISHA BROWN: IN THE NEW BODY,  and the blog will post that info at the end of September..

In the meantime….
A three week series at Swat, FREE to tri-co students. . .STARTS Weekend of SEPT 12
A GREAT opportunity to study with and see 3 international dance artists…
Center, Gravity, Rhythm: Global Forces in Dancemaking
International dance artists David Zambrano, nora chipaumire, and Ziya Azazi will visit Swarthmore College as part of a three-week program, from September 12 – October 4, 2015, which will include a presentation of David Zambrano’s dance performance work, SOUL PROJECT (see below), a series of technique and repertory classes in various dance vocabularies and improvisation methodologies, an informal presentation of performance ideas from the three featured artists, and informal discussions with the campus community around new notions of contemporary performance.  All events happening at Swarthmore College are FREE and open to the public.  Workshops, classes, and informal presentation will take place in the Troy and Boyer dance studios of Lang Performing Arts Center.

For the SCHEDULE OF Classes and Performances and information on the ARTISTS click here

*Swarthmore College’s Cooper Foundation has supported the workshop series and the presentation of Soul Project. Additionally, Swarthmore College has partnered with Philadelphia’s FringeArts and Mascher Space Co-Op in the production of this 3-week program. Additional classes hosted by Mascher Space Co-Op are listed at the bottom of the website page.

In addition to our usual slate of great instructors (check out “people” at  http://www.brynmawr.edu/dance/people/), we have two special artists working with our Ensembles for the Fall.  Auditions are Thursday, September 3 at 7 PM for the Ballet Ensemble and Saturday, September 12 at 11 AM for the Modern Ensemble (Mady Cantor will pick HC students up the first blue bus stop at 10:30. Please email her at mcantor@brynmawr.edu so that we know how many to expect.  She’ll make two runs if necessary)

Ballet Ensemble with R. Colby Damon:
Colby began formal classical ballet training at age 7 with the Richmond Ballet followed by pre-professional study at the Virginia School of the Arts and summers training at the Boston Ballet. Upon graduation, Colby joined the Sacramento Ballet, performing soloist and principal roles in numerous classical and contemporary pieces, including works by George Balanchine, Glen Tetley, Trey McIntyre, Dwight Rhoden, and Helen Pickett among others. In 2007, Colby relocated to New York for a year and worked as a guest artist with such companies as Mark Morris Dance Group, Northwest Dance Project, Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, and Thang Dao Dance Company. He also appeared with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet as a principal in Alexei Ratmanski’s Aida, as well as in Mark Morris’ Orfeo e Euridice, In 2008, Colby joined BalletX in Philadelphia, PA where he was featured in over 20 world premiers, including original creations by Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa, Jodi Gates, James Gregg, Mauro Astolfi and Matthew Neenan, among others. He has continued to dance as well as an independent artist with several NYC choreographers and collectives. As a choreographer, Colby’s style blends fluidity with a sense of classical line and virtuosity. He began his choreographic explorations by setting works on his fellow Sacramento Ballet company members, has set work on dancers from the Pennsylvania Ballet,and was commissioned to create new work for the Charlottesville Ballet. He has also presented work in several NYC venues. Colby is also certified to teach both Chen style Tai Ji Quan and Yoga. He has an active interest as well in environmental issues. Colby is looking forward to rehearsing with our student dancers to make a ballet work and we are very happy to welcome him to Bryn Mawr.

Modern Ensemble with Vicky Shick:
Vicky Shick has been involved with the New York City dance community for the past three decades. During her time dancing with renowned choreographer, Trisha Brown, she received a “Bessie” for performance. “Bessies” are awarded to dance artists for outstanding and groundbreaking creative work shown in NYC and are among the most prized awards given in the US. Shick has performed and collaborated with many New York-based colleagues, including Risa Jaroslow, Jodi Melnick, Stephen Petronio, Susan Rethorst, Wendy Perron and Sara Rudner as well as developing a two year choreographic project with Trisha Brown alums, Eva Karczag and Lisa Kraus. She has shown her own work for the last twenty years and in 2003, received another “Bessie” for choreographic achievement in her collaborations with visual artist Barbara Kilpatrick and their most recent piece, “Everything You See,” presented at Danspace Project in April 2013, was a “Bessie” nominee for Outstanding Production. Shick was also a 2006 grant recipient from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow in 2008-2009. In NYC, Shick teaches at Hunter College and for the Trisha Brown Dance Company(TBDC), at Movement Research, and regularly teaches abroad, including in Amsterdam and her hometown of Budapest. She has led TBDC re-staging projects at Dickinson College, Hunter College, Sarah Lawrence College, Princeton University, and here at Bryn Mawr College.   We are delighted that Vicky will be working with our student
dancers this Fall on a piece to be presented in the Spring Dance Concert.

Anatomy for the Dancer is taught here at BMC every other year. A small group of students (2-5 students) work both in seminar and studio locations for a ‘hands on’ learning experience with our terrific and knowledgeable instructor, Becky Malcolm-Naib.  It is a great course for those who want to more fully understand how our bodies move and dance; for those interested in life drawing; for those interested in anatomy and physiology.  Register for ARTD B403, section 2.

Becky in motion!
         

Nearly thirty Bryn Mawr and Haverford students dance in the works of professional choreographers Kyle and Dinita Clark, Nia Eubanks-Dixon, Shannon Murphy, Olive Prince, and Meredith Rainey.  Students have also been learning a work with Idan Porges, an artist-in-residence this semester both   here and at Swarthmore.  

Two students will present work as well: a group piece by
Sofia Ranalli that takes on the problem of violence to women, and a restaging by student
Joie Waxler of an excerpt of Isadora Duncan’s early work, The Furies. The concert
includes dances in genres ranging from ballet to the
experimental, from Jazz to African.

Free Admission.  Reception Follows

Choreographers: Dinita and Kyle Clark are former dancers and rehearsal directors with Rennie Harris Puremovement, co-founders of Funky Sole Fundamentals and recent winners in two global street dance competitions– Juste Debout USA and Montreal’s Bust A Move festival; Rev. Nia Eubanks-Dixon is a former dancer with two high-powered companies, Urban Bush Women and the Chuck Davis African American Dance Ensemble; Shannon Murphy is co-director of IdiosynCrazy Productions and is a sought-after independent dance artist and a choreographer in her own right who has worked with a wide range of dance artists and has presented work in the US and Canada; Olive Prince is a featured dancer and artist-in-residence with several companies, Artistic Director of Olive Prince Dance, and a choreographer whose dance and video works have earned accolades and awards; Meredith Rainey performed with the Pennsylvania Ballet as a soloist with Ballet X and has won numerous awards and grants for his work which has been performed in both North and South American as well as European venues; and Idan Porges is a former dancer in the Batsheva Ensemble and performer in the international cast of the Riksteatern’s presentation of Ohad Naharin’s Kamuyo. Also a choreographer and a preeminent teacher of Gaga movement language, Porges is a guest artist in a shared residency with Swarthmore College.