Stephens Summer Dance 2008
Stephens Summer Dance provides an exciting
opportunity for aspiring young dancers to study with international guest
faculty in the Stephens College studios. Students will benefit from
an excellent, well-rounded experience that prepares them to meet the
challenges of today’s diverse dance world. The training students
receive will stretch their talents and broaden their understanding of
what it means to be a dancer.
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Stephens Summer Dance 2008 |
| Photo by Catherine Rhodes | |
The Program
Stephens Summer Dance prepares aspiring
young dancers to meet the challenges of today’s diverse dance
world. Students will study with international guest faculty, taking
daily technique classes in ballet, modern, jazz, world dance and musical
theatre in an intensive conservatory environment. The training students
receive will stretch their talents and broaden their understanding of
what it means to be a dancer. Each three-week session will emphasize
technical growth and artistic performance. Entrance is by audition only.
Faculty will share their professional expertise through technique classes,
individualized attention and rehearsals — providing students with
an opportunity to experience the real world of dance in an educational
setting. The culmination of the experience is the Festival Concert on
June 27 and 28 in the College’s Macklanburg Playhouse.
General Information
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| Photo by Catherine Rhodes |
Audition
Entrance into Summer Dance is by audition only. Students must audition
in person or submit an audition DVD or video (consisting of ballet barre-work,
modern or jazz center-work and a short video of a performance). If the
performance video is a group piece, clearly indicate where you appear
on the tape.
An audition will be held from 2-4 p.m. on April 13, 2008, on
the Stephens campus.
Accommodations
Classes and rehearsals are held on the Stephens College campus in Historic
Senior Hall, which houses the Harriette Ann Gray Dance Studio, and the
East Studios. Facilities include an indoor swimming pool, student lounge
and dressing rooms. Performances are held in the College’s 314-seat
Macklanburg Playhouse. While on campus, Stephens Summer Dance students
will live in Tower Hall—an air-conditioned residence hall with
laundry facilities, a weight room and recreation lounges with cable.
There is a separate wing for high school participants and second-floor
accommodations for college students.
Meals
Stephens Summer Dance students eat in the Stamper Commons dining hall,
which is located in the center of campus. Included in the program are
three meals per day (Monday–Friday) and two meals per day on weekends.
Enrollment fee: $4,500 (college students)
and $1,900 (high school students), plus a $25
non-refundable application fee. Tuition, room and
board on the Stephens College campus are included.
Faculty
Subject to change.
Summer Dance Director
Dyane Harvey is an accomplished performing artist, founding
member of Forces of Nature Dance Theatre, educator, choreographer and
certified Pilates teacher. She is a lecturer in Theater and Dance in
the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University. Harvey has appeared
as a principal soloist with some of the most recognized theatre and
dance companies across the United States and abroad. Broadway, television
and film credits include: “The Wiz,” “Timbuktu!,”
“Spell# 7” and “Free to Dance.” Her choreography
has been seen in many theatrical and dance projects including: “Loves
Fire” and “Harriet Returns” (The Acting Company),
“The African Company Presents Richard III,” “Yerma”
and “Flyin'West” (NYU Graduate Acting Program), “lavender
lizards and lilac landmines, layla’s dream”(University of
Florida at Gainesville Graduate Acting Program), “Bones of Our
Ancestors” (PBS Special) and the award-winning “Great Men
of Gospel” (New Federal Theatre).
(May 14-June 3):
Ballet
Ginger
Thatcher is a noted ballet professional in both the concert
and theatrical dance worlds. She has taught and choreographed for Complexions
Dance Company, The Norwegian National Ballet, American Ballet Theatre
and the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, as well as for the Broadway productions
of “Oklahoma,” “The Red Shoes,” “Carousel”
and “Big.” As a performer, Thatcher has appeared with the
Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, the Cleveland Ballet and in the Broadway
and national touring companies of “Oklahoma,” “The
Red Shoes,” “Peter Pan” and “West Side Story.”
East Indian
Prasanna
Kasthuri is the artistic director of the Soorya Performing
Arts Company in St. Louis. His teaching experience spans 23 years, and
he has taught and performed throughout India and Missouri, as well as
in Texas, France, Holland and California. Kasthuri most recently performed
“Call of the Flute,” the first Indian dance opera to be
performed in the United States.
(June 9-28):
Ballet
Sunny
Staton Mitchell, a former dancer with the Sacramento Ballet,
is the artistic director of the E:motion Dance Ensemble, a company dedicated
to pushing the boundaries of ballet choreography. She also has worked
as an assistant choreographer for the Sacramento Music Circus’s
productions of “Annie,” “Aida,” “Music
Man” and “West Side Story.” Her performance career
with the Sacramento Ballet includes dancing the choreography of Agnes
deMille, George Balanchine, Michel Fokine and Ron Cunningham. Mitchell
earned a B.F.A. in dance from the University of California, Irvine.
Modern
Dr.
Darwin Prioleau is the chair and professor of dance with the
State University of New York at Brockport. Prioleau has danced professionally
for more than 12 years in New York City and has worked with such dance
masters as Alvin Ailey and Jimmy Truitte ((in the Horton modern dance
tradition), Joyce Trisler and Bill Evans. She has created works for
Kent Dance Ensemble, Ashland Regional Ballet and Dallas Black Dance
Theatre. Her professional training credits include the Alvin Ailey American
Dance Center (as a merit scholar and apprentice) and the International
Centre de Danse in Cannes, France. She also has appeared as a featured
dancer in several off-Broadway musicals.
Contemporary Jazz
Lauren
Thompson is a visiting professor with the Southern Methodist
University dance department in Dallas. Her teaching and choreography
have been shaped by her training in both New York and California. Thompson
also is known for her work in dance for the camera, with her dance videos
appearing in prestigious festivals in Los Angeles; Beijing, China; and
New York. She holds an M.F.A. in dance from the University of California,
Irvine, and a B.F.A. in dance from Marymount Manhattan College in New
York.
Musical Theatre/Tap
Gail
Benedict received her B.F.A. in theatre and dance from the
California Institute of the Arts and her M.F.A. in directing/choreography
from the University of Louisville. She began her professional career
as assistant choreographer to her mentor, Donald McKayle, for the Broadway
show “Dr. Jazz.” She subsequently played principal roles
in many Broadway shows and tours, including “A Chorus Line,”
“Me and My Girl,” “Raggedy Ann,” “42nd
Street,” “Pal Joey,” “Finian’s Rainbow”
and Bob Fosse’s “Dancin’” for which she directed
many national and international companies.
