The Teach-Learn Connection - news briefs about people and performances - Brief Article

Dance Magazine, Oct, 2000 by K.C. Patrick

Columbus, Ohio--David Nixon has renewed his contract as artistic director with BalletMet Columbus, and that means that many community participants get to keep their teacher. As part of BalletMet's open classes, Nixon teaches "Dancing with David," an exercise and stretch class for people of all ages.

BalletMet's Academy administrator, Xandra Anderhalt, who retired at the end of spring term, was honored for her exceptional leadership throughout her twenty-five years with the company and school. Nancy Fox Chrstos is the new director of education and Academy administration. The central Ohio academy is one of the five largest professional dance training centers in the United States.

Chicago, Illinois--Columbia College Chicago's President John Duff cut the ribbon to open the new three-story facility for The Dance Center on July 26, then turned the reins over to his successor, Dr. Warrick L. Carter, as of September 1. The 33,000-square-foot renovated Art Deco building doubles the size of the former Dance Center on North Sheridan Road, allowing for a 274-seat performance space, seven dance studios, dressing rooms and lounge, two classrooms, a sound lab, faculty and staff offices, and a large common area. Dance Center Chair Bonnie Brooks proudly described the center's academic programs and those that will serve the Chicago public. The 8,800-student independent liberal arts college offers a BA degree in dance, and as of this fall also offers a BFA. With more than one hundred dance majors--Columbia College Chicago is the United States's largest arts and communication college--the program offers classes in contemporary dance, jazz, tap, ballet, African dance and other genres.

To kick off the 2000-01 performing season, David Dorfman presents The Move Project, inspired by the relocation, and continues with 1306, a free, day-long event with performances throughout the facility, including those by Stephen Petronio Company, Joe Goode Performance Group, Ronald K. Brown/ Evidence, 33 Fainting Spells, and former dance chair Shirley Mordine's company, Mordine & Company Dance Theatre.

New York, New York--Auditions will be held at Broadway Dance Center on October 25 for the fourth Richard Ellner Scholarship. The scholarship for students 16 and older awards six months of free classes in honor of the dance center's late co-founder.

Fort Worth, Texas--Dance with a mouse from October 12 to 15 at a Dance and Technology Conference sponsored jointly by the National Dance Association (NDA) and Texas Christian University (TCU). The second annual Dancing With the Mouse Conference goes Texas-style this year in the Lone Star state. TCU's ballet and modern dance building is ready, with three large dance studios that are wired for computer/ Internet use. Keynote speaker is Dr. Tom Calvert, creator of the Life Forms choreography software. In special pre-conference half-clay workshops on October 12, Anne Greene Gilbert, a popular Seattle dance educator, will present her "Dancing With the Brain," and Madeleine Nichols, curator of the New York Public Library Dance Collection, and attorney G. Harvey Dunn will present "Copyright: The Who, When and How."

On-site (late) registration is subject to space availability. Call (703)476-3436 or email NDA at nda@aahperd.org to check. Registration fees include dinner Friday, keynote reception, evening programming, and gifts from software developers and organizations. Continuing-education credits are offered through TCU.

Tallahassee, Florida--Suzanne Farrell joins the Florida State University Dance Department this fall as a Francis Eppes professor in the School of Visual Arts and Dance. The professorships are named for Eppes, the grandson of President Thomas Jefferson.

Following her twenty-eight years as a performer, Farrell became a teacher of the art form she helped make so famous--ballet. For the past eight years, she has led an annual intensive course for young dancers at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 1999, she staged, directed and toured to ten cities the Kennedy Center's Millennium Project, "Suzanne Farrell Stages the Masters of 20th Century Ballet." Out of that process came a company bearing her name that performed at the Washington, D.C., Balanchine Celebration [see September 2000 Dance Magazine, page 58].

Washington, D.C.--The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Education Department's Imagination Celebration introduces "American Indian Dance Theater--Reflecting the Traditional and the New" from November 3 to 5 in the Theater Lab. Blending traditional American Indian dance and music in a theatrical setting, AIDT represents tribes from across the United States and has performed to critical acclaim. The performance at 1 P.M. Saturday, November 4, will be sign-interpreted for audience members who are heating impaired.

New York/New Jersey and Itasca, Illinois-Last year's United Dance Merchants of America (UDMA) Costume Preview Show, "Success Seminars for Teachers" held at New Jersey's Meadowlands was so successful that a second run has been called for. On Saturday, October 21 (the day before Sunday's Costume Preview Show), at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Meadowlands, an all-day event for teachers and studio owners will include: "Running a Studio, A Talk Show" starring Rhee Gold, Dance Magazine Publisher Barbara Paige Kaplan and a panel of experienced dance educators from 9 A.M. to noon. After a lunch break, Internet expert David Wilson will discuss aspects of the changing electronic medium from 1 P.M. to 2 P.M.; Susan Wershing will give hints and tips on "Putting on a Show" from 2 P.M. to 3:30 P.M.; and Bob Rizzo will give the inside scoop on what it takes to win in "Preparing to Compete" from 4 P.M. to 5:30 P.M. The Success Seminars for Teachers are presented by Project Motivate and Dance Magazine, DanceArt.com, Dance Teacher and Dance Spirit magazines, and Dancer.