News


Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Announces Election of Board Officers
July 18, 2008
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation (MAAF) elected officers for its fiscal year 2009 at a board meeting in Baltimore on June 6, 2008.  Lisa Frigand was elected to her third term as Chair, Dorothy McSweeny was elected to her third term as Vice Chair, James McDonald was elected to his first term as Secretary, and Laura Scanlan was elected to her second term as Treasurer.
Click here to read more.
Washington Ballet Gets New Executive Director
July 11, 2008
The Washington Post
By Sarah Kaufman
Tuesday, July 8, 2008; Page C03

The Washington Ballet announced yesterday that it has hired Orlando Ballet Executive Director Russell P. Allen as its new chief administrator. Allen will begin the job of executive director Sept. 2, taking over from former Washington Ballet board president Kay Kendall, who stepped into the post on a temporary basis after Jason Palmquist resigned in February 2007.Click here to read the full article.
Well known Arlington Ballet school 'leaps' to its new home
July 11, 2008
The Center Dance Company, Inc. and its school Arlington Center for Dance (now in its 27th year of operation) proudly open the doors of its new home –one of the largest dance education facilities in the Metro D.C. area.
Located at 3443 Carlin Springs Road, Falls Church, Va., in the convenient Bailey's Crossroads area, this state-of-the-art facility will serve students from Northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC. In addition to the extensive class schedule and training program, the Center will provide the local dance community with exceptional rehearsal, class and studio performance space by offering rental opportunities to local and national dance, arts and wellness organizations. Click here to read more.
Helen E. Moore
May 12, 2008
The Washington Post
by Matt Schudel

Helen E. Moore, 85, the founding director of the National Ballet School and Company in Crofton, died April 21 of liver cancer at her home in Tracys Landing. Mrs. Moore founded the ballet school in District Heights in 1948. Now located in Crofton, the school had its 60th anniversary gala two days before Mrs. Moore's death.
Click here to read full article.

Dorothy 'Dottie' G. Fried
May 02, 2008
Loudoun Times-Mirror

Dorothy “Dottie” Gwen Fried, 65, of Leesburg, a dancer and dance instructor, died April 24 at Inova Loudoun Hospital. She had breast cancer.
After studying dance at Julliard College and University of Michigan, Ms. Fried earned her master's degree in dance from American University. Her career in dance spanned decades and the country...
Click here to read the full article.
Michael Bjerknes, 51; Ballet Master Was Vital Artistic Force in D.C. Area
April 23, 2008
By Joe Holley
The Washington Post
Monday, April 21, 2008; Page B06
Michael Bjerknes, a former Washington Ballet dancer and ballet master and co-founder of the American Dance Institute in Rockville, died April 14 of colon cancer at the Washington Home and Community Hospice. He was 51...
Click here to read the full article.
Two Local Dancers Named in Dance Magazine's "Top 25 to Watch" for 2008
January 25, 2008
Congratulations to Diana Albrecht and Sharna Fabiano!!  Both were listed in Dance Magazine's Top 25 to Watch. 
Click here to read the full article.
Echo Park Contemporary Ballet Reviewed Online in Ballet-Dance Magazine
January 02, 2008
Echo Park Contemporary Ballet: 'On the Outside, Looking In'
by Carmel Morgan
Ballet-Dance Magazine

Echo Park Contemporary Ballet made its debut at a Georgetown yoga studio on Saturday, November 17, 2007.  Given the unusual venue, the premiere performance was intimate to say the least: the cheerful yellow-walled room was filled to capacity making the dancers only an arm’s length away, or what some think of as being within “sweating distance.”  Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, this informal environment proved less than ideal...
Click here to read the full article.
CityDance's Jungle Books Reviewed in the Post
December 19, 2007
Jungle Books' With Kick: CityDance's Lush Rendition Of a Kids' Classic
by Sarah Halzack
The Washington Post
Monday, December 17, 2007; Page C05

With an easy-to-follow narrative, imaginative costumes and bits of comic relief, CityDance Ensemble's Saturday performance of "Jungle Books" at the Lansburgh Theatre was fine kid-friendly fare...
Click here to read the full article.
Gesel Mason Reviewed in the New York Times
December 05, 2007
Examining the Many Hues That Create Black and White
by Jennifer Dunning
The New York Times
November 19th, 2007

What is "black dance"? The question, usually asked by white dance writers, tends to be greeted by groans from black choreographers, company directors and performers. But Gesel Mason, herself a black dancer and choreographer, plunged headlong into the subject on Friday night at Joyce SoHo in "No Boundaries: Dancing the Visions of Contemporary Black Choreographers" and came up with some provocative responses...
Click here to read the full article.
"The Essence of Dance" Reviewed in The Washington Post
December 05, 2007
Three Local Lights, Dancing on Their Own
by Barbara Allen
The Washington Post
Wednesday, November 14, 2007, Page C05

"Three Dancers -- The Essence of Dance," Monday night at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, was a beautiful gem of a program. It featured a trio of the area's finest dancers -- Gesel Mason, Tehreema Mitha and Nejla Yatkin -- performing self-choreographed solo pieces and then a group improvisational finale...
Click here to read the full article.
Carla & Company and Gesel Mason Performance Projects Review
December 05, 2007
Performing Arts
by Barbara Allen
The Washington Post
Monday, November 19, 2007, Page C08

Carla & Company, together with guest choreographer Gesel Mason, presented a lively program Saturday night at Dance Place. Carla Perlo, one of Washington's notable community dance educators and founder of Dance Place, demonstrated her conviction that "dance is for everyone" with an easily accessible program danced by a multi-generational, diverse troupe.
The packed house laughed through Mason's "How to Watch a Modern Dance," performed by Rita Jean Kelly and narrated by Richard Pilkinton. As Kelly performs wildly exaggerated imitations of Alvin Ailey, Isadora Duncan, and Martha Graham, Pilkinton skeptically asks, "What the hell are they doing onstage?"
Click here to read the full article.
Septime Webre on the Kojo Nnamdi Show
November 28, 2007
Next month, sugar plum fairies, soldiers and mice return to the Washington Ballet once again for this year's rendition of Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker." Kojo chats with Artistic Director Septime Webre about reinventing a classic, and the challenges of filling seats beyond the holiday season.
Click here to hear the interview.
Ministry of Culture Honors Laurel Victoria Gray in Uzbekistan
October 26, 2007
Tashkent, Uzbekistan - At a formal ceremony on August 29, 2007, at the Uzbekistan State Institute of Arts, American choreographer Laurel Victoria Gray was awarded the title of ''Honorary Professor''.
Click here to read the full press release.
CuDC Offers Artist Housing Opportunities
October 22, 2007
The Jair Lynch Companies is currently developing Solea, located at the northwest corner of 14th Street and Florida Avenue, NW in Washington, DC. The project will be comprised of 59 “Live-Work” condos, both affordable and market rate housing, in addition to 4,728 SF of ground floor retail. The condo units are designed to provide owners the flexibility to run a business from their home, though not specifically for the artist population. For more information about purchasing opportunities please contact Bill Highsmith or by phone at 202.462.1092. Please tell them CuDC sent you.
Artisan Condos. Three condos available for purchase by artists only. The condos are located at 915 E St NW and are listed at $289,900 with the developer prepared to offer $15,000 in down payment assistance or other incentives. These  574 sq ft apartments include large open kitchens with gas cooking stainless steal appliances, maple cabinets and granite countertops. There is bamboo flooring over the whole studio space, large closet and roomy full bath. Space also includes washer and dryer in each unit, 24/7 concierge, fitness room, and rooftop deck. Condo fee of $280/month includes gas, water, trash removal, snow removal, and building management and maintenance. Floorplans are available at www.artisancondo.com – Floorplan A1. Form more information, or to schedule a visit, please contact Kathy Olmstead at 202.253.2502 or kolmstead@mcwilliamsballard.com. Please tell them CuDC sent you.
Looking for Warehouse-style arts space in DC? Cultural Development Corporation (CuDC) is working with a developer to lease an 8,300 square foot, second floor warehouse space in NW. The space is great for a variety of artist uses and includes 12’ ceilings, windows on three walls and a freight elevator. Owner will provide some improvements but build out is required. Located only 5 blocks north of the Georgia Avenue/Petworth Metro Station, this space would be ideal for but is not limited to artist studio space, gallery space, costume/prop shop, rehearsal and administrative space.  Asking price: $10/sf NNN (tenant pays all utilities, maintenance and taxes). For more information and to schedule a meeting with the developer, please contact Ilana Branda at ilana@culturaldc.org.
Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company Reviewed in danceviewtimes
September 27, 2007
Dakshina / Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company Woodrow Wilson Plaza, Federal Triangle Washington, DC - September 20, 2007
by George Jackson 

copyright 2007 by George Jackson

A title by Edwin Denby — “Dancers, Buildings and People in the Streets” — calls up the components of the outdoor event I attended on a comfortable day in early autumn. Daniel Singh’s group was performing. The dancers were an American urban assortment of Asian, African and European heritage. Their training showed classical influences (from India’s traditions and ballet) but also contemporary practices (modern dance and post-modern). The surrounding buildings, Washington's governmental granite and concrete commercial structures, weren’t tall but looked ever so solid. Within that architectural mass, both the dancers and their audience seemed fragile and mortal. Some of the people in the plaza had come not only to look but also to lunch (tables and chairs were provided), some simply looked for a while and still others glanced at the performers in passing. Office workers probably predominated but there were also shoppers, tourists and a scattering of street people.
Singh’s programming was wise. All the dances were brief, but the variety was wide. Dakshina’s distinctive character is its India connection, and heirloom examples of Bharata Natyam or evolved ones dominated. There was, too, a stark Anna Sokolow modern solo on a Hebraic mourning theme and a neo-romantic contemporary duo to grand opera music. That the duo was for women and that one of the new Indian dances bonded two men was taken very much in stride by the audience. What set off a couple of the street people were the compelling Indian rhythms. They started doing hip-hop versions of the ragas, unobtrusively at first. The movement of these reactive audience members was anatomically loose compared to the controlled torsos and limbs on stage. Spatially, though, the street people moved in restricted ways. One man danced rooted to the spot at the side of the stage where at first he had stood and watched. The other man moved in a straight and narrow path in front of the stage, progressing from left to right and then returning to dead center. At that point, a police woman approached him and gently led him to the periphery. None of this fazed the dancers on stage. In fact, they seemed flattered that their performance had stimulated participation. Viewers had an option to learn from the unexpected dancing.
My favorites in the audience, though, were a woman jogger and a camera man. The woman was passing through the plaza from Pennsylvania Avenue to the Mall and as she came into the stage’s range her running pace shifted, not consciously it seemed, to that of the raga being played. The camera man stood dancer-straight near his tripod, occasionally bending over it. He was, in fact, a dancer — Ludovic Jolivet (who also mimes, choreographs and diligently video-documents the DC dance scene).
What was the upshot of this free outdoor event? Not so much that Singh was able to peddle his group’s regular performances and perhaps win a few customers or even convert ordinary citizens into becoming dance fans but that this, of and by itself, was a humane and civilized way to spend lunchtime.
For the record, the dancers were Swati Kappagantula, Aniruddhan Vasudevan, Rob Chappetta and Singh himself for the India-based works; Melissa Greco in the Sokolow solo; and Nicole McClam and Stephanie Todd Wong in the women’s duo “Lullaby”. The choreographers were Srimathi and Sri Dhanajayan, and Chitra Viswesharan for the dances from India in traditional style; Singh made the men’s and women’s duos; Lorry May had staged the Sokolow.
Dream in Color Mentioned in Washington Parent and on CNN
September 06, 2007
Annandale, VA - Fueled by the studio's growing notoriety, Dream in Color Foundation (DICF) continues to draw attention in the eyes of the media. This week, DICF appears as the “community focus” in both television and print. First, DICF is featured in the “Good Stuff” section of this month’s issue of "Washington Parent" magazine, on shelves now. Second, on Wednesday, August 29th, Kimberly James, President and Director, was interviewed by Kathryn Falk of Cox Communications for this month’s “Community Focus” to appear on CNN Headline News. The feature will air at various times throughout the month of September, beginning on Monday, September 10th. A follow-up interview has already been scheduled for early October.
The Dream in Color Foundation is a non-profit organization that strives to diversify both the participation in and appreciation of the performing arts. The program is designed to make arts activities more accessible to culturally and socio-economically disadvantaged youth. For more information visit www.dreamincolorstudios.org or call 703-642-1711.
Late Summer and Fall Theatre Space available - Source and Flashpoint
August 14, 2007
Flashpoint - Mead Theatre Lab
The fall schedule for this intimate, flexible 75-seat theatre has opened up and there is availability for rentals and productions from October through November, 2007. For availability please email rentals@culturaldc.org or call Kat Mernin at 202.315.1327.
Source Theatre
CuDC is applying for funding from the DC Department of Housing and Community Development that requires them to postpone Source renovation at least until the grant awards are announced in the fall. Therefore Source is available to rent for productions, events and rehearsals through October. If you are interested in using Source between August 1 and October 21, please send an email to kat@culturaldc.org or call Kat Mernin at 202.315.1327.
Dance/MetroDC in the Washington Post
August 10, 2007
Metro DC Dances, a free concert associated with the Metro DC Dance Awards, was highlighted in The Washington Post, giving coverage to not only Dance/MetroDC but to the five wonderful companies performing at the August 11th show as well. To read the article, click here.
Tony Powell's "Impulse" on the Cover of Dance Magazine
August 03, 2007
Local choreographer Tony Powell's "Impulse,"choroegraphed for Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, graces this month's cover of Dance Magazine!  To view the cover, please click here.
2007 Metro DC Dance Awards Finalists Announced!
June 22, 2007
Tuesday evening at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, Dance/MetroDC along with members of the dance community announced the finalists for the 2007 MDCDA.  To view the finalists, click here.  To view the announcement event, click here.
Dance Heritage Coalition Launches Project to Save Analog Videos
June 12, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 1, 2007
Contact: Libby Smigel, Project Director
202/223-8392
LSmigel@danceheritage.org
Washington, DC – The Dance Heritage Coalition (DHC) announces the pilot phase of a new videotape reformatting project, called Dance Heritage Preservation Hubs. Thirteen dance companies and dance archives are participating in this inaugural phase of the project, with a total of 53 analog videotapes representing the choreography of thirty artists to be migrated to a state-of-the-art archival-quality digital format.
"With analog videotape formats becoming obsolete and suffering deterioration, time is of the essence in creating digital masters in a preservation-safe format,” Executive Director Barbara Drazin said. Choreography recorded on U-matic cassettes popular in the 1970s and 1980s becomes trapped when a dance company has no working equipment to play them. Improper handling as well as time itself can cause the tapes to deteriorate.
The challenge has been to identify a “lossless” digital format – one that is compressed to save archival storage space but that preserves all the visual and audio information in the original tape. Media Matters, a pioneering media research firm that works with archival collections, is heading the cleaning of the analog tapes and migrating them to the new digital format called MJPEG2000 at a prototype digitization center, or “hub,” in its research facility in New York City. In test comparisons, the MJPEG2000 codec was identified by Media Matters as the best format for both lossless compression and its “scaleability,” the ability to use it to create digital files for distribution.
The dance materials preserved through this initial effort represent choreography in ballet, modern dance, baroque dance, and tap, interviews with important dance leaders, dance-dramas and performance art, and dance reconstructions. Participants for this pilot phase were chosen for their significant contribution to America’s dance legacy and dance culture. Each company or archive had registered its videotape holdings with the Dance Heritage Coalition’s National Dance Videotape Registry. U-matic and Betacam-SP video formats were chosen for this preliminary phase of tape migrations.
Organizations participating in this pilot phase include:
Dance Archives and Collections:
Academy of Dance on Film, Brea, CA
American Dance Festival, Durham, NC
Dance Notation Bureau, New York, NY
Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Becket, MA
Lawrence & Lee Theatre Research Institute, Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH
San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum, CA
Dance Companies:
Alonzo King LINES Ballet, San Francisco, CA
Growth in Motion, Cincinnati, OH
Janis Brenner & Dancers, New York, NY
Jazz Tap Ensemble, Los Angeles, CA
The Joffrey Ballet, Chicago, IL
New York Baroque Dance Company, New York, NY
San Francisco Ballet, CA
In addition to a datatape containing their MJPEG2000 digital files, participants will also receive digital access copies on DVD, a “lossy” compressed format that, although unacceptable for archival preservation, is a convenient format for promotion or easy viewing access. Some of the choreographers haven’t been able to see certain choreographies for decades. Growth in Motion, a dance company based in Cincinnati, plans to reconstruct one of the company’s seminal works from the access DVD copy. For the Joffrey Ballet, an early work of company founder Robert Joffrey, whose work was rarely videotaped, will be safeguarded and once again accessible to the company. “By creating both archival-quality digital materials as well as easy-to-use DVDs, the products of this project benefit the company’s access to its repertory as well as the field of American dance history,” project director Libby Smigel said.
Support for the administration and execution of the pilot phase of the Dance Heritage Preservation Hubs project comes from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Founded in 1992, the Dance Heritage Coalition is a national non-profit alliance of institutions holding significant collections of materials documenting the history of dance. The DHC’s mission is to make accessible, enhance, augment, and preserve the materials that document the artistic accomplishments in dance of the past, present, and future. The DHC also serves as a think tank and a convener for the dance heritage field.
Member organizations of the Dance Heritage Coalition are: American Dance Festival, Dance Notation Bureau, Harvard Theatre Collection of Houghton Library at Harvard University, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Library of Congress, the Dance Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute at Ohio State University, and San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum
For more information about the DHC, visit www.danceheritage.org or contact Libby Smigel at LSmigel@danceheritage.org
For more information on selecting the MJPEG2000 digital format for this project, read “Digital Video Reformatting Project,” available here.
Fabian Barnes and Yvonne Edwards Receive 2007 Pola Nirenska Awards from WPAS
May 03, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 3, 2007
CONTACT: Rachel Heavers
(202) 533-1886
rheavers@wpas.org

Fabian Barnes and Yvonne Edwards Receive 2007 Pola Nirenska Awards from WPAS

Washington, D.C. – Washington Performing Arts Society, in association with the Pola Nirenska Award Committee, announces the 2007 Pola Nirenska Award recipients, Fabian Barnes for Contemporary Achievement in Dance and Yvonne Edwards for Lifetime Achievement. The Pola Nirenska Awards are given annually to two individuals who have demonstrated outstanding contributions, artistic excellence or potential, or devoted service to dance. Dr. Jan Karski established the awards in 1993 in memory of his wife, Pola Nirenska, a modern dancer, choreographer, and teacher. The award is presented by Washington Performing Arts Society, which hosts the annual selection committee of dance professionals. Both recipients are scheduled to receive their awards at the Seventh Annual Metro DC Dance Awards Ceremony on Monday, September 10 at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.
When Oprah Winfrey gave Fabian Barnes and the Dance Institute of Washington a $100,000 Use Your Life Award in 2000, she said of his work, “You have helped hundreds of boys and girls discover their strengths, their grace, their spirit, and you have given them wings to fly.” Barnes’ work and life embody a commitment to dance and to helping others through the art form. As the founder and artistic director of the Dance Institute of Washington (DIW), the largest African American nonprofit arts organization in the Washington metropolitan area, Barnes shares the life-changing potential of dance with thousands of underserved children each year in D.C. As a soloist with Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) for 15 years, he honed his craft and left with a renewed commitment to return to his roots to share his knowledge and passion.
DIW offers three core programs: the education outreach program, the pre-professional school of dance, and a professional dance company, Washington Reflections. Many of the schools’ students are on scholarship – receiving free classes as well as dance attire and footwear – and others are able to attend thanks to a sliding payment scale. In November of 2006, the Dance Institute of Washington celebrated the grand opening of its new state-of-the-art dance facility located at 3400 14th Street NW in the redeveloping neighborhood of Columbia Heights. The new building stands as a symbol of cultural revitalization and renewed hope to a community once devastated by riots following the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Born the tenth child to a financially struggling single mother in Seattle, Washington, Barnes discovered dance at age 11 when he followed one of his older brothers to a dance class. He was made an apprentice to the Pacific Northwest Ballet Company at the age of 16. In 1979, he joined DTH as an apprentice and quickly rose to the rank of soloist. While performing with DTH, Barnes was featured in much of the company’s repertoire and toured extensively throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa. During his summer break from DTH in 1987, Fabian founded the Dance Institute of Washington as a summer intensive dance training program. He wanted to give DC children the same opportunity to dance and develop talents that he had. In 1996, Barnes retired from professional dance to devote himself full time to his mission of improving the lives of underserved children through the arts. In 2002, he founded Washington Reflections Dance Company, a professional ensemble of dancers and choreographers that has impressed audiences and critics alike with dynamic contemporary ballet and modern dance performances.
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Barnes has served as Artist-in-Residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Education Department and the Seattle Public School System. He has taught master classes across the country and served as a panelist in the Events for Students Ballet Master Class Series from 1997 to 2003. He was an adjunct professor in the University of the District of Columbia department of dance and served as an instructor at many other institutions. For his work at DIW and in the community, Mr. Barnes has received numerous awards and recognition, including the prestigious Linowes Leadership Award from the Community Foundation of the National Capital Region (2000), “American Heroes” recognition from the CNN Network (2001), and the Founder’s Award from the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington (2004).
Yvonne Edwards, the recipient of the Pola Nirenska Lifetime Achievement award, is a native Washingtonian and co-founder of one of the nation’s preeminent learning facilities for tap dance, Knock On Wood studio. Since opening in 1994, Knock On Wood Tap Studio has redefined conventional tap dance, serving a diverse student body and offering classes for all levels and age groups in Silver Spring, Maryland. Affectionately known as D.C.’s celebrated “Tap Lady,” Edwards has been dancing, teaching, and choreographing for more than 50 years. A beloved teacher and choreographer, one of her students has gone on to form their own company, and many have gone on to perform on Broadway, television, and movies.
In 2001, Edwards was the resident artist for the Atlanta Black Dance Conference and in 2000, she was the resident artist for the Morgan State University Dance Company. She has taught master classes at the International Conference of Black Dance in Atlanta, the Chicago Human Rhythm Project, and at the New York City Tap Festival, as well as throughout the mid-Atlantic region. Knock On Wood Tap Studio has hosted master classes by La Vaughn Robinson, Baakari Wilder, Josh Hilberman, Brenda Bufalino, Anne Kilkelly, Barbara Duffy, and Lane Alexander, among others.
Edwards is the Assistant Director of Tappers With Attitude Youth Ensemble, the resident company of Knock On Wood Tap Studio, which brings tap dance to audiences across the D.C. metro area and beyond and cultivates innovative choreography that redefines conventional tap dance. The diverse ethnic, economic, and geographic backgrounds of company members reminds audiences of the rich history of percussive dance in cultures around the world. The company also serves as repertory ensemble for established and emerging local and national tap choreographers and includes Edwards’s choreography in the repertoire of Tappers With Attitude.
A longtime participant in Washington Performing Arts Society’s Concerts in Schools Program, since the late 1980’s. In 1993 she was the recipient of the “Contribution to Dance in the District” award presented by the DC Ensemble, DC Arts and Humanities, and DC Art Works. She has been honored by the International Association of Blacks in Dance, and was named “Tap Teacher of the Year” by the American Tap Dance Foundation. In 2006, she received the Metro DC Dance Award for “Outstanding Achievement in Dance Education” and the “Excellence in the Arts and Humanities Award for Education” at the Executive’s Ball of Montgomery County, MD.

WPAS is committed to making every event accessible for persons with disabilities. Please call the WPAS Ticket Services Office for more information on accessibility to the various theaters in which our performances are held. Services offered vary from venue to venue and may require advance notice.

Washington Performing Arts Society has created profound opportunities for connecting the community to artists, in both education and performance. Through live events in venues that criss-cross the landscape of the D.C. metropolitan area, the careers of emerging artists are guided, and established artists who have bonded with the local audience are invited to return. In this way, the space between artists and audiences is eliminated, so that all may share life-long opportunities to deepen their cultural knowledge, enrich their lives, and expand their understanding and compassion of the world through the universal language of the arts.

American Airlines® is the official airline of Washington Performing Arts Society’s 2006/2007 Season.
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Dance/USA Celebrates 25 Years of Service to the National Dance Field
April 24, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE         
April 24, 2007

Press Contact:
Ann Norris
Phone: 202/833-1717
Email: anorris@danceusa.org

Washington, D.C. – Advocacy, networking, research, professional development and information distribution. For 25 years, Dance/USA, the national service organization for professional dance, has been dedicated to supporting and advancing the art form of professional dance across the country. Through research projects like community censuses and The Nutcracker Survey; national gatherings across the country such as the Roundtables and Council Meetings; leadership initiatives and professional training; and informative publications like the Dance/USA Journal, Dance/USA has played a pivotal role in advancing dance in America.

Anne Dunning, chair of the Dance/USA Board of Trustees, looks forward to celebrating this milestone with the national community. “The trustees of Dance/USA celebrate this landmark anniversary and the numerous achievements of the organization over the past 25 years in supporting leadership, advocating with a unified voice and generating a body of dance data. We recognize the vision of the founders, who saw a need and created this organization to meet it, and we pass the torch to a future generation of leadership who will carry this important vision forward.“

Dance/USA’s 25th Anniversary celebration will begin at the 2007 Spring Council Meeting in Chicago, June 14-16 and will conclude in June 2008 at the National Performing Arts Convention to be held in Denver, Colorado. During our 25th year, we will inaugurate a "Patron's Tour" for members of the National Leadership Council (Dance/USA's new Individual Donor group) to see dance performances in selected cities across the country, and will publish two special issues of the Dance/USA Journal that explore the evolution of Dance/USA and imagines the next 25 years for the organization and the field of dance.

Dance/USA members will join in the celebration by including the 25th Anniversary Logo in programs and publications, dedicating seasons and performances to their national service organization, and including information about Dance/USA in newsletters and brochures throughout the year.

The kick off to the 25th Anniversary at the 2007 Spring Council will include a proclamation of June 14, 2007 as “Dance/USA Day” by Mayor Daley of Chicago at a reception that will include recognition of Dance/USA’s founders, supporters and current and former members of the Board of Trustees. Over 100 members of the national dance community will converge on Chicago to join in the celebration and attend Council Meeting activities that include workshops and seminars as well as performances by the local Chicago community.

“We’re excited to begin our 25th Anniversary celebration in Chicago,” said Dance/USA Executive Director Andrea Snyder. “We have so much planned for this year and couldn’t ask for a richer or more supportive dance community in which to begin the celebration of Dance/USA’s history. We have had the privilege of working with many incredible communities over the years and look forward to serving the national dance field for the next 25 years and beyond.”

Dance/USA would like to send a special thanks to Altria Group, Inc. for corporate support of the 25th Anniversary.

For more information, visit: www.danceusa.org
Get inspired through dance with nine days of FREE classes, performances, lectures and film with Dance Is The Answer!
March 28, 2007

April 20-29, 2007, enjoy free classes in Pop’n & Lock’n at The Sitar Arts Center, an International Dance Workshop at Dream in Color Dance Studio, African Belly Dance at Joe’s Movement Emporium, or watch the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange perform at The Atlas Performing Arts Center, and much more!
Dance Is The Answer (DITA), the first collaborative marketing project of Dance/MetroDC, will introduce, energize and excite the public about the many benefits of dance. In celebration of the growing dance industry of the Metro area, 20 nonprofit dance studio and venues will provide 70 free classes, 20 free performances, and several free lectures and films for children and adults during National Dance Week, April 20-29, 2007. Complete details are available at www.dancemetrodc.org, by clicking the “Dance Is The Answer” link.

DITA strives to give a complete dance experience by offering a wide variety of ways for the public to access dance. Douglas Yeuell, Executive/Artistic Director of Joy of Motion Dance Center, states “I believe dance is a consuming passion for many people, the more dance they bring into their life, the greater their quality of life becomes. DITA is an ideal way for people to employ their body, mind, spirit, plus give them the benefit of exercise, artistic expression and personal growth and enrichment.” DITA operates under the following principles:

• Dance Is The Answer to achieving and maintaining good health
• Dance Is The Answer to reach weight management goals
• Dance Is The Answer to finding an inspiring creative outlet
• Dance Is The Answer to enriching one’s social life
• Dance Is The Answer to deepening one’s connection to community

This initial project will serve as DITA’s inaugural year with plans to expand to day-long festivals and continued outreach and participation. DITA was conceived by a group of area dance leaders from Dance Place, Joe’s Movement Emporium, Joy of Motion Dance Center and the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. Dance/MetroDC, as the local dance service organization, executes the collaborative project with the volunteer committee and coordinates the work of the participating organizations.

Neale Perl, President of the Washington Performing Arts Society, speaks to the positive camaraderie this collaboration has provided the community. “Dance is the Answer brings our community together in a positive and exciting way,” says Perl. “We are excited to be able to work with the many gifted local artists participating in this program to support the burgeoning dance scene in DC.” And Erin Bowers, Director of Social Enterprises for the Sitar Arts Center states, “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to participate in the Dance is the Answer program with so many other terrific organizations, helping to build a strong community around dance and the arts in Washington, D.C. “

Participating organizations include:
American Dance Institute, Rockville, MD
Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, Washington, D.C.
Center for the Arts at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
CityDance Ensemble, Washington, D.C and N. Bethesda, MD
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at Maryland, College Park, MD
Dance Institute of Washington, Washington, D.C.
Dance Place, Washington, D.C.
Dream in Color Dance Studio, Alexandria, VA
Flashpoint, Washington, D.C. featuring Dhoonya Dance School, Maru Monteru Dance Company, Sahara Dance, Step Afrika!
Joe’s Movement Emporium, Mt. Rainier, MD
Joy of Motion Dance Center, Washington, D.C. and Bethesda, MD
Knock on Wood Tap Studio, Silver Spring, MD
Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Takoma Park, MD
Maryland Youth Ballet, Silver Spring, MD
Olney Theatre Center, Olney, MD
Sitar Arts Center, Washington, D.C.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.
The Musical Theater Center, Rockville, MD
The Washington Performing Arts Society, Washington, D.C.

WHO: 20 Non-Profit Dance Studios, Presenters and Venues in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area

WHAT: Dance Is The Answer Collaborative Marketing Project Offering Nine Days of FREE Dance Classes, Performances, Lectures and Films

WHEN: April 20-29, 2007

WHERE: Throughout the DC Metropolitan Area

For a detailed schedule of events, visit www.dancemetrodc.org and click on Dance Is The Answer.

Dance/MetroDC is a branch office of Dance/USA, the national service organization for professional dance, providing promotion, resources and collaborative opportunities for the local dance community. More information on DITA can be found at www.dancemetrodc.org or by calling (202) 778-1190.
Straight From The Hip
March 14, 2007
By LaVon Rice
March/April 2007
ColorLines
Wilkins positions the celebrated dance ensemble as a counterpoint to the media drones' pathology-obsessed portrayals of Black men.

See the lilting Black man. Watch his body articulate itself in space. ("He speaks so well!")

Watch him sidestep assumptions, shrug off popular images of Black manhood that never fit him anyway. His choreographer could be Helanius Wilkins, founder and artistic director of the Washington, D.C.—based Edgeworks Dance Theater. Established in 2001, the theater is believed to be the only primarily Black male dance company in the United States. Wilkins positions the celebrated dance ensemble as a counterpoint to the media drones' pathology-obsessed portrayals of Black men.
Read more...
Thrash Jazz: Fast and Furious
March 09, 2007
By Lisa Traiger
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, March 9, 2007; Page WE48
So, you think you can dance? Then Derek Brown's thrash jazz class will take you to the next level.
You're not a dancer but want to be? Brown will push you from count 1 to 5-6-7-8, putting your body and mind to the test.
Thrash jazz? "It's about knowing your body, knowing control of your space," Brown said. "Literally you can at times be throwing yourself around the room. Sometimes it feels like that. It's very, very tiring on the body. After a 90-minute class, it really feels like you've been dancing for four hours."
Read more...
The Washington School of Ballet Appoints New Director
March 08, 2007
Kee-Juan Han, Former Director of Arizona Ballet School,
Assumes Position in July 2007
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Board President Kay Kendall announced today the appointment of Kee-Juan Han as the Director of The Washington School of Ballet. The Washington School of Ballet was co-founded in 1944 by Mary Day and Lisa Gardiner and led by Miss Day until her retirement in August 2004. The School most recently was under the directorship of the late Rebecca Wright. Han is currently a full-time faculty member of North Carolina School of the Arts and will assume the directorship on July 1, 2007.
“I am very pleased Kee will be joining us here at The Washington Ballet,” Kendall says. “He has demonstrated through his extensive experience and training to be well suited to run the School, and he has an amazing and engaging teaching style that will resonate well with our students.”
“I'm delighted to welcome Kee aboard,” says Artistic Director Septime Webre. “He brings a deep knowledge of classical training, an international reputation, and a track record of producing beautiful dancers. I look forward to forging a great partnership with him as we build on the wonderful legacy of Mary Day and Rebecca Wright.”
Han has a remarkable background in ballet training, most recently on the faculty of North Carolina School of the Arts and the Director of Arizona Ballet School for 10 years. With an impressive track record of training world-class dancers, including David Hallberg of American Ballet Theatre, he also has former students dancing professionally with American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Ballet West, Milwaukee Ballet, Ballet Arizona and The Washington Ballet.
"Mr. Han acts as my sole mentor in forming my basis for classical ballet,” says Hallberg. “He not only showed me the fundamental technique for a career in dance but the work ethic and discipline for succeeding in everyday life.  I always go back to Mr. Han because I know he holds the knowledge of a truly great teacher."
 In addition to his extensive background in training, Han has always had a strong connection with the School, with deep relationships with founder Mary Day and Choo-San Goh, former resident choreographer and associate artistic director.  
“I look forward to continuing the vision of the legendary Mary Day, “says Han. “ I am so impressed with this organization- the involvement of the Board, the synergy between the School and the Company, and the talented students in the School.”
A committee of 14, headed by Board member Gahl Burt, conducted the international search and worked with David Mallette of Management Consultants for the Arts, Inc., to select Han.
“We are delighted that we found Kee-Juan and we welcome him to the school whole heartedly,” says Burt. “The School has been through the awful tragedy of losing Rebecca Wright, and we are very much looking forward to Kee taking over the helm.”
Han began his dance career in his native Singapore, where he began training at age ten with Florrie Sinclair and Goh Soo Khim. He later went on to train at the Australian Ballet School and performed with the Sydney Dance Company, Goh Ballet in Canada, Indianapolis Ballet Theater and was a soloist with the Boston Ballet. He danced most of the principal roles in the classical repertoire, as well as ballets by Balanchine and modern works by José Limón, Mark Morris, Ralph Lemon and Bebe Miller.
Han officially takes the helm of the School on July 1, 2007. Over the next four months, he will meet regularly with Webre, the Board, artistic staff, faculty and various auxiliary groups to collaborate on a multi-year strategic plan, integrate with the staff and faculty and gradually take on the day-to-day operations of the School.
www.washingtonballet.org
Chi-town on the Pike: Giordano Jazz Dance
February 22, 2007
All that jazz? It’s in Rockville this weekend. Jazz dance, Chicago-style, with Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago performing, local choreographer Tony Powell premiering a piece called ‘‘Impulse,” and American Dance Institute executive director Michael Bjerknes getting back to his Windy City roots.
Read more...
Dance Exchange gets $250k Covenant grant for programming
February 16, 2007
Coup for Lerman
Dance Exchange gets $250k Covenant grant for programming with a Jewish take
by Lisa Traiger
Arts Correspondent
Washington Jewish Week
February 14, 2007
It's not often a dance company receives recognition for being on the cutting edge in developing interactive educational programs with a Jewish twist.
But, for the second time, the Takoma Park-based Liz Lerman Dance Exchange has done just that, receiving a three-year $250,000 Covenant Foundation grant to support new programming in conjunction with Lerman's 2005 work, "Small Dances About Big Ideas."
Read more...
Local Dance Companies Awarded Grants from the Creative Communities Initiative
February 07, 2007
The Greater Washington Creative Communities Initiative and The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region Announce $150,000 in Inaugural Arts Grants

The Greater Washington Creative Communities Initiative (CCI), a project of The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region, announced today the inaugural round of grant awards grants totaling $150,000 made through The Creative Communities Fund. The grants will support collaborative projects between nonprofit organizations and artists to create and present new works that engage underserved communities. Projects made possible by these grants represent a broad range of artistic disciplines reflecting the rich and diverse cultural landscape of our region -- from hip-hop to traditional Cambodian music, from street murals to Chinese opera.

"A healthy arts ecosystem requires investing in all levels of the arts community -- from major institutions to small and mid-sized organizations to individual artists. By leveraging investments for artists and artmaking, CCI is cultivating a broad-based arts sector where creativity can flourish on all levels,'' says Terri Lee Freeman, president of The Community Foundation.

CCI is one of 10 programs across the country that make up the national Creative Communities Initiative, led by Leveraging Investments in Creativity, an intermediary supported by The Ford Foundation. Locally, initial funding for CCI has been provided by The Community Foundation and its donors, The Lodestar Fund, Leveraging Investments in Creativity, The Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, and The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation.

Established in 1973, The Foundation is dedicated to facilitating individual, family and organizational philanthropy in order to make the Washington metropolitan area a better place to live. The Foundation and its donors are the foremost funders of Washington-area charities, awarding some $91M in grant funds in FY2006.

2006-2007 Creative Communities Fund Grantees (9):

1. Cambodian Buddhist Society & Chum Ngek -- traditional Cambodian
musician -- (Montgomery County) -- $10,000 to support
Akangamaso, a new dramatization of the classical Cambodian story,
Magic Diamond Finger, building on traditional Khmer musical forms
and dance.

2. Dance Place & Reggie Glass -- dancer/choreographer --
(Washington, DC) -- $10,000 to support Raw as Life, a new work
that explores relationships between the sexes and includes
hip-hop dance, spoken word, and video.

3. GALA Hispanic Theatre & Hugo Medrano -- playwright/actor --
(Washington, DC) -- $20,000 to support a dramatic work based on
life stories of Salvadoran immigrants from different generations
and socio-economic backgrounds.

4. Joe's Movement Emporium & Laura Schandelmeier --
dancer/choreographer (Prince George's County) -- $10,000 to
support the creation of Portals, a new work that explores the
five rites of passage.

5. Gateway Community Development Corp. & Valerie Theberge --
visual/public artist (Prince George's County) -- $20,000 to
support the creation of a glass mosaic mural to be installed at
the Brentwood Art Center and visible by 20,000 commuters a day.

6. School for the Arts in Learning & Jane Jerardi --
dancer/choreographer -- (Washington, DC) -- $20,000 to support
Chance, a video-dance series that investigates coincidence in
time and space. The video will be projected onto buildings,
creating "chance" encounters with the public in unexpected
settings.

7. Transformer & Kelly Towles -- visual/public artist --
(Washington, DC) -- $20,000 to support The Grate Project, a
series of murals painted on roll-down security gates. Towles
will hold block parties to engage community residents in painting
each piece.

8. Washington Chu Shan Chinese Opera Institute & Chu Shan Zhu --
Chinese opera/theater (Montgomery County) -- $20,000 to support
the world premiere of Northern Song Washi, a new form of
theatrical art integrating the skills and techniques of modern
opera and musical theater into traditional Chinese performing
arts.

9. Young Playwrights' Theatre & Patrick Crowley --
playwright/multidisciplinary artist (Washington, DC) --
$20,000 to support A Nation of Immigrants. Crowley will engage
immigrants (particularly youth) in the Columbia Heights
neighborhood to share their stories in an effort to unmask the
human face of the national debate on immigration.

Tony Powell Interviews Sylvia Waters of Ailey II
January 17, 2007
Local artist, Tony Powell, interviews Sylvia Waters of Ailey II, click here to read the full article in the Maryland Gazette.
CityDance Ensemble Launches the CityDance Center at Mt. Vernon Square in the historic Carnegie Library Building at 801 K Street NW
January 10, 2007
Partnership with the National Music Center revitalizes historic building, returning dance to downtown DC

Washington, DC— CityDance Ensemble, Inc. announces a new partnership with the National Music Center to bring dance education and performance to the historic Carnegie Library Building, located near Chinatown at 801 K Street NW.  The CityDance Center at Mt. Vernon Square brings 21st century energy and style to the 19th Century beaux arts landmark, providing students an opportunity to take dance classes infused with the energy and excitement of downtown Washington.

The location of the Center—across the street from the DC Convention Center, two blocks north of the Verizon Center, with Metro's red, green and yellow lines all within two blocks (Gallery Place and Mt. Vernon Square stations) and more than 1,500 parking spaces on the grounds of the old Convention Center—makes it an ideal place to bring people together from all over the DC area.

"The opportunity to restore dance in downtown Washington is a priority for CityDance, particularly because we are able to do so in a way that returns vitality and life to this landmark building—a building which was, first and foremost, a statement about the importance of philanthropy in our society," comments Paul Gordon Emerson, Artistic Director of CityDance Ensemble. "Being in the Carnegie Library Building allows CityDance to bring dance back into the heart of the city, cultivating the presence, influence, and availability of dance in the District."

Beginning January 29, CityDance Center at Mt. Vernon Square will offer weekly hip hop classes in partnership with Washington's award-winning hip hop troupe Culture Shock, Washington DC (www.cultureshockdance.org). Classes and open hip hop sessions will be held on a walk-in basis for beginner, intermediate, and advanced hip hop dancers on Monday and Thursday evenings. More information on class schedule and prices can be found at www.citydance.net.

In March 2007, CityDance will expand its class offerings at CityDance Center at Mt. Vernon Square to include swing classes taught in partnership with Washington's popular Gotta Swing instruction company. The Center's programming will continue to expand over the summer and fall sessions, creating a rich and diverse Center for dance downtown. CityDance will continue offering its complete curriculum of classes at the CityDance Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, Maryland, and at the Madeira School for Girls in McLean, Virginia.

Support from Washington, DC's foundation community has been critical to the creation of the CityDance Center at Mt. Vernon Square. The Philip L. Graham Fund awarded $30,000 to build-out dance studio space in the National Music Center. Using these funds, CityDance is adding sprung floors, mirrors, and sound-proofing panels to create an environment which will celebrate both dance and the building in which the Center is housed.

CityDance is partnering with the Carnegie Library's primary partner, the National Music Center, to redevelop the 150-seat Carnegie Theater, housed on the first floor of the Library. With an additional $40,000 grant from the Philip L. Graham Fund, and $60,000 from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities—an amount to be matched in full by the National Music Center—CityDance and the National Music Center will transform the space from its current state as a film-screening theater into a fully-operational proscenium theater with stadium seating, wing, fly and trap space ideal for intimate performances of dance, theater, music, and any combination thereof. The new Carnegie Theater is scheduled to open in Fall 2007, providing an elegant and much-needed performance space for downtown arts organizations.

About CityDance Ensemble, Inc.
CityDance Ensemble, Inc. is the parent organization to CityDance Ensemble, an award-winning contemporary repertory dance company; Early Arts, an arts outreach program for youth serving more than 25,000 students each year; CityDance Education Centers, facilities committed to excellence in dance training for youth and adults; and FilmWORKS, a creator and presenter of dance-on-camera. The mission of CityDance Ensemble, Inc. is to advance the appreciation for and participation in the art of dance in Washington, DC, the United States, and around the world through excellence in dance performance, education, film, collaboration, and innovation.

About Culture Shock, Washington DC
Culture Shock is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting healthy lifestyles, physical fitness, and community involvement through the power of hip hop music and dance. Culture Shock dancers are trained in hip hop and American street dance by national and international dance instructors who introduce new and exciting choreography at their weekly company classes. In a world where style and music are constantly changing, Culture Shock choreography remains innovative and unique, resulting in a troupe of individuals who express hip hop in a style all their own.

About the National Music Center
On March 30, 2006, the National Music Center entered into an agreement with The Historical Society of Washington, DC that calls for the Music Center to occupy a substantial portion of the 1901 beaux arts Carnegie Library for the next four years. During its occupancy, the National Music Center will offer a wide variety of performances, classes, exhibits and special events that will showcase the breadth and depth of music in Washington, DC and throughout America.
"New Heights for Local Scene" The Washington Times
January 09, 2007
NEW HEIGHTS FOR LOCAL SCENE
By Jean Battey Lewis
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
December 28, 2006
-----------------------------------------------------------
The big news of 2006 is the striking growth of the local dance scene. Beginning with the new millennium and culminating this year, we have witnessed a higher level of choreography, freshly empowered dancers, increased financial support and the arrival of new theaters in which to perform.

It should be noted quickly that dance has always been the stepchild of the arts, underfunded and underrecognized, and that dubious distinction has not gone away.

Nevertheless, the forward thrust of the past six years is impressive. Here, in no particular order, are 10 highlights of the 2006 season.

*The Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage Local Dance Commissioning Project began modestly but importantly six years ago with three choreographers receiving $5,000 stipends and a chance to perform on the Millennium Stage. The stipend has increased, and Kristen Brogden, the program's administrator, has raised the level of critical support -- finding more rehearsal space, arranging private showings for feedback before public performances, augmenting the performances with a weekend at Dance Place and offering connections to designers and lighting staff.
In addition, the Kennedy Center has added one or two local dance performances to its monthly Millennium Stage schedule, which will attract as many as 400 people -- both sitting and standing -- per show.

*The Washington Ballet has been on a roller coaster, beginning the year embroiled in a bitter labor dispute, followed by the successful conclusion of its first-ever union contract and a healthy new respect for the professionalism of its talented dancers. In spring, the company mounted "Always, No Sometimes," a vivid work to music of the Beatles by its resident choreographer, Trey McIntyre.
In the fall it danced its first Jerome Robbins ballet, "In the Night," and a gut-busting Twyla Tharp piece, "In the Upper Room," concluding the season with Artistic Director Septime Webre's grandly staged "Nutcracker."

*Metro DC Dance Awards, off to a shaky start six years ago, has become a much fairer reflection of the treasures of Washington dance. Two of the biggest winners this year were Nejla Yatkin for her beautifully realized "Mata Hari" and Maida Withers, whose ambitious multimedia, multiyear-in-the-making, multicultural "Thresholds Crossed" was a striking collaboration of American and Russian dancers exploring the fables and foibles of their respective countries -- a fitting climax to Miss Withers' 40 years of provocative dance-making.
The awards committee realizes it still has some kinks to sort out, including how to accommodate under its welcoming umbrella such disparate elements as the dozens of modern-dance groups, with budgets only in the thousands, and the two Washington behemoths with their multimillion dollar budgets -- the Washington Ballet and the Suzanne Farrell Ballet.

*In the midst of rejoicing, we lost five who immeasurably enriched the dance world. Three were veterans -- Doris Jones, a pioneer in providing training in classical ballet to young black dancers; Mary Day, a teacher of international renown, founder of both the Washington School of Ballet and the Washington Ballet; and Erika Thimey, whose dance company and teaching at Howard University and in her own studio was a bedrock of the developing modern-dance scene beginning in the 1940s.
Two died in midcareer: Rebecca Wright, whose untimely demise has left the Washington School of Ballet in a state of suspended animation, and choreographer-dancer Ed Tyler, whose suicide devastated the modern-dance community.

*Dance/Metro DC is a service organization that both reflects and enhances the growing strength of dance here. Project director Johanna Seltzer runs a behind-the-scenes operation, issuing a calendar of dance events every two weeks that attracts dancers as well as the general public to its Web site.

*Dance Place hums all year, but this fall it proved why it has meant so much to so many for the past 30 years.
One weekend brought dramatic solo portraits of black women by Gesel Mason. Others showcased glowing works by the veteran Alvin Mayes, a cerebral series of solos set to Bach suites by the galvanizing Nejla Yatkin, a stunning performance by fast-growing Step Afrika! and director Carla Perlo's heartfelt tribute to her father.

*Michael Bjerknes, director of American Dance Institute in Rockville, is generously using his splendid facility to give much-needed support to the dance community. He provided rehearsal and performance space to the Washington Ballet dancers in late winter for a benefit performance as their unresolved labor dispute wore on. He carefully chooses promising choreographers to nurture, and he is working with the Kennedy Center to provide needed rehearsal space for its commissioning project.

*Liz Lerman Dance Exchange is marking the 30th anniversary of its probing, innovative way of looking at life through dance, one that garnered Miss Lerman a prestigious MacArthur "genius" award in 2002. Her troupe, in its newly rebuilt home in Takoma Park, celebrated with a gala retrospective program at the Clarice Smith Center that included a witty commissioned piece featuring the full company, the fine University of Maryland student orchestra and a bemused conductor.

*Joy of Motion, also celebrating its 30th anniversary, is a force of nature on the local scene under the direction of Douglas Yeuell, with four studios scattered across town and a distinguished faculty teaching all kinds of ways to move with ballet, hip-hop, flamenco, Pilates and everything in between. It also presents such established dancers as Dana Tai Soon Burgess as well as young choreographers just trying their wings.
JOM is one of the most welcoming venues in town; many promising choreographers not yet ready for the big time have had their first taste of the footlights at its intimate Jack Guidone Theater on upper Wisconsin Avenue.

*This was the year when Fabian Barnes' efforts to found an important inner-city dance program and mount a classically based black dance company came to fruition, with his soaring new state-of-the-art building on 14th Street in Columbia Heights. Along with that, he has a new performance space across the street -- Gala Hispanic Theater -- and on his opening program the exuberant "New Second Line" was a metaphor for the high spirits of his Washington Reflections Dance Company. His new digs join a spate of new performance sites that are enriching the area from Thearc in Anacostia to American University's Greenberg Theater on Wisconsin Avenue.

*A raft of shakers and movers have gone unmentioned, from Daniel Burkholder's improvisations to CityDance Ensemble at Strathmore -- but that leaves room for next year's story.

"The Returns of Alwin Nikolais: Bodies, Boundaries and the Dance Canon"
January 05, 2007
New book to be published by Wesleyan University Press in June 2007:
"The Returns of Alwin Nikolais: Bodies, Boundaries and the Dance Canon."

Naima Prevots is one of the contributors along with: Philip Auslander,Herbert Blau, Jana Feinman, Mark Franko, Bob Gilmore, Claudia Gitelman, Yvonne Hardt, Rebekah Kowal, Randy Martin, Marcia Siegel. You can save 20% when you order from the web site: www.wesleyan.edu/wespress
Suzanne Farrell featured in Dance Teacher magazine
December 28, 2006
Pick up the January 2007 issue of Dance Teacher magazine to read the full interview, or visit www.dance-teacher.com
Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Co featured in Dance Spirit Magazine
December 28, 2006
Dance Spirit followed DTSB & Co for a behind the scenes look into their 10-day tour in Peru.  Check out the January 2007 issue of Dance Spirit to read the full article, or visit www.dancespirit.com for more info.
DC Discovered: Inside the District's dance scene
December 28, 2006
In this month's issue of Dance Spirit several local dance companies, venues & studios were featured.  Pick up the January issue to find out what's happening in & around DC's dance scene!
Meisha Bosma named one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch" for 2007
December 28, 2006
Pick up the January 2007 issue of Dance Magazine for more information, or visit www.dancemagazine.com.
National Arts Advocacy Day 2007
December 19, 2006
March 12–13, 2007
Entering its 20th consecutive year, Arts Advocacy Day is the only national event designed to bring together a broad cross section of America’s national cultural and civic organizations. These groups will join hundreds of grassroots advocates from across the country to underscore the importance of developing strong public policies and appropriating increased public funding for the arts.

Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC
-Congressional Arts Breakfast
-Arts Advocacy Training
-Meet with Your Members of Congress
-20th Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on the Arts and Public Policy
Featuring:
Robert MacNeil, Chairman of the Board of The MacDowell Colony
Previously the Executive Editor and Co-Anchor of The MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour on PBS

For more information:
Schedule
Hotel Information
National CoSponsors

REGISTER NOW!
Registration is now open! Three easy ways to register:
Register online
Register by mail:
Download our printable PDF registration form and mail to:
Americans for the Arts
PO Box 91261
Washington, DC 20090-1261
Register by fax:
Download our printable PDF registration form and fax to:
(202) 371.0424
Attn: Meetings and Events

Reserve your hotel room at the discounted rate by February 23, 2007.

Community Gathering on Loss and Healing
December 07, 2006
As an expanding dance community we have the ability to support each other in a myriad of ways. In this time after our friend, colleague, and teacher Ed Tyler has passed we can continue to find comfort, support and resources in one another.

On Saturday, December 16th from 3-5pm at the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Ginger Wagg and Dance/MetroDC will host a gathering facilitated by Carol Napoli of the Wendt Center for Loss and Healing. This will be an opportunity to share in an open dialogue with our dance community and find resources to help us find ways to explore healing. Safe space will be created to give us a chance to discuss our reactions, associations, and difficulities we may have with the loss of Ed.

Discussion, silence, and emotions are all relevant and accepted at this gathering. While each of our individual healing processes are unique this time is intended to give us a place to grieve openly and a chance to find comfort in each other as we navigate our own way.

The Wendt Center for Loss and Healing is a premier resource for addressing grief in adults and children. They provide mental health services, training, and education to ease the impact of illness, loss, and bereavement. They respect individuals and their experiences, understand the pain of loss, and support people in times of illness and death. Their website and office (located next to the red line Van Ness metro stop) provide useful, practical and accessible information for those interested in learning more about the process of healing around life-challenging illness, loss and grief. This includes community resources in DC, links to related websites, and a books and publications list. To learn more please visit: www.wendtcenter.org

To RSVP or for more information regarding the gathering please email Ginger Wagg at gingerclove@hotmail.com Please include "RSVP Saturday December 16th" in the subject line.

Special thanks to the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange for donating space for this gathering.

Liz Lerman Dance Exchange
7117 Maple Avenue
Takoma Park, Maryland 20912
(301) 270-6700
www.danceexchange.org

By Metro: Red Line to Takoma. Exit Metro station and continue straight on Carroll Ave. At second stop light, take a left on Maple Ave. Dance Exchange is half a block down on your right.

By Car: please visit the Contact Us at www.danceexchange.org/contactus.asp

We hope to see you soon.

Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Company chosen by the Catalogue for Philanthropy
December 04, 2006
A company about to embark on a year long fifteenth anniversary celebration, DTSB&Co. has been honored by the prestigious Catalogue for Philanthropy which and named one of Washington DC's best charities - a special distinction for a dance company.  Visit their page on the Catalogue's web site: http://www.catalogueforphilanthropy.org/dc/2006/dana_tai_9916.htm

Beginning in January 2007, the company celebrates fifteen years presenting work with distinctive cross-cultural artistry to the nation's capital's dance audiences. To celebrate we are planning fifteen richly diverse performances, reflecting our history and our future. The company will conclude the Anniversary Season with gala Kennedy Center performances in collaboration with the Washington Performing Arts Society and Dance Place.

For more information on DTSB&Co.'s upcoming anniversary celebration performances, visit www.dtsbco.com.

 

Maida Withers invited to present in Norilsk, North-East Russia
October 30, 2006
Maida Withers, Artistic Director of the Dance Construction Company and Professor at The George Washington University, has been invited to take part in the third series of annual conferences organized by the Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation (Cultural Initiatives Foundation) of Norilsk, North-East Russia, November 2-6, 2006. Ms. Withers presentation focuses on the research for and performance of her Russian/American project, Thresholds Crossed.  Anastasia Oleynik and Konstantin Grouss from Moscow will accompany Ms. Withers to perform excerpts from Thresholds Crossed as part of Ms. Withers presentation.  Excerpts from the documentary video of the world premiere at Lisner Auditorium April 21, 2006 and the art video projected during the performance will be shown.
The conference agenda is regarding Integrity of Cultural Space – the Notion of “Border” in Historical and Contemporary Contexts.”   The focus is on culture in Russia and culture in the provinces. The series of annual conferences is held within a large-scale program of the Prokhorov Foundation aimed at revitalizing cultural life in Norilsk, Russia.
During the upcoming third conference the following issues will be raised:
The conference program is designed in such a way that it combines different approaches to these problems in research, arts and educational practices. For more information about the conference series, please, visit  http://www.prokhorovfund.ru/rus/conferences/.  For more information about Thresholds Crossed, please visit http://www.maidadance.com.

A Building Boom for Local Dance, but Is The Barre Set Too High?
October 30, 2006
By Sarah Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 29, 2006; Page N01

It looms in the distance as you head out of the Columbia Heights Metro station: the Dance Institute of Washington, a $5 million monument to an art form and an era. Forgive it for sticking out so baldly among the construction sites in a part of town once scarred by the 1968 riots. With its sharp midtown-Manhattan angles, this gleaming glass-and-steel ballet school is certainly the most stylish element of the stretch of 14th Street NW.

It is also the leading edge of a revamping of the local dance community, an expansion of studio and performance spaces taking root amid a real estate boom that's transforming Washington -- and transforming the arts scene. The theater community is already undergoing a facelift, with several new facilities open or under construction. Dance leaders may have come late to the party, with some spaces still in the planning stages, but starting this season, and especially in years to come, audiences will see fundamental changes.

Here's a glimpse of the dancegoer's future: There will be spanking-new theaters with airy foyers and comfy seating. Some will have cafes and shops in the lobby. Hand-in-hand with the new stages will come new studio space. If you're a dance student, or tempted to become one, there will be a head-spinning array of schools, including the Dance Institute, to choose from. Those staples of the dance studio of yore -- bad flooring, low ceilings and pillars in the middle of the floor -- will be a thing of the past, dance professionals predict.

Click here for full article.
Washington Dance Pioneer Erika Thimey Dies at 96
October 12, 2006
Erika Thimey, 96, a noted and well-loved Washington dancer, teacher and choreographer, died September 20, 2006 after a brief illness. She had been living at the Somerford House in Hagerstown since 2001.
Ms. Thimey was born in 1910 in Itzehoe, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Her family moved to Berlin, where her early education included art and music lessons. A performance by pioneering German modern dancer Mary Wigman sparked her passion to dance.
Ms. Thimey graduated from the Wigman School in Dresden in 1931, and performed for a season with the Dessau Opera. She was invited to teach at the North Shore Conservatory in Chicago, and gave her American debut performance in January, 1932. Ms. Thimey was among the first generation of Wigman-trained dancers, which included Hanya Holm, Jan Veen and Pola Nirenska. They brought Wigman’s philosophy of improvisation, creativity and exacting, expressive physical training to the new discipline of modern dance in the United
States.
From 1932-1938, Ms. Thimey gave many solo concerts and directed two huge outdoor dance pageants sponsored by the city of Chicago at the Buckingham Fountain and on the steps of the Field Museum. She also began to experiment with dance as a part of worship services, and offered a sacred dance performance in December, 1932 at the First Unitarian Church. Ms. Thimey, along with Ruth St. Denis, is credited as a founder of liturgical dance as a part of worship services.
In 1938, Ms. Thimey moved to Boston at the invitation of Jan Veen, with whom she performed from 1938-1946. Veen and Thimey performed in Boston with the Boston Pops Symphony and on tour throughout the United States. She became an American citizen in 1946.
In 1939, Ms. Thimey moved to Washington, D.C. to teach at the King-Smith Studio School, a performing arts finishing school. She became active in the cultural life of the city and in 1943 opened her own modern dance studio at Dupont Circle, offering classes for adults and children. In 1944, Ms. Thimey began teaching dance at Howard University. For the next 11 years, she presented the Howard dancers in concerts at the University and, in spite of segregation, on tour at colleges and performing spaces along the East Coast. She later recalled her time at Howard as a rare opportunity to be part of the creative exchange between fine arts and performing artists in the support of education.
Thimey was also part of a pioneering generation of dancers, actors and musicians with a special interest in creating performances for children’s audiences. In the 1950’s, she sent her dancers on summer performance tours throughout the United States. In Washington her dancers performed for many years in free public performances in city parks and recreation centers. With the Concerts in the Schools program of the Washington Performing Arts Society, Thimey’s Washington Dance Theatre developed and performed new choreography related to school curricula. Her dance company performed works for countless children’s audiences in myriad
settings in the Washington metropolitan area for over 30 years.
From 1959-1979, Ms. Thimey’s dance studio was in Georgetown. Her school was a center for dance education for children and adults, where she enjoyed several creative performance collaborations with musicians and composers, and sponsored many guest artists in residence.
In 1979, she and her sister, Hertha Woltersdorf, moved to a renovated church in Smithsburg, MD, where they lived until 2001. Ms. Thimey continued to be involved with dance, creating new choreography, teaching and rehearsing dances and  working with many churches and conferences to bring sacred dance to congregations.
Ms. Thimey’s many awards and honors include the Mayor’s Art Award for her work in Washington, and honors from the Sacred Dance Guild and the International Association of Blacks in Dance. The Erika Thimey Dance and
Theatre Company maintains and performs her choreography. A biography, Erika Thimey: A Life of Dance, A Dance of Life, was published in 1999.
Ms. Thimey was predeceased by her brother Berthold Thimey and her sister Hertha Woltersdorf. She is survived by her sister Irmgard Thimey and nephew Hartwig Schuldt of Hamburg, Germany, and her nephew Berthold Teamey, of Klamath Falls, Oregon, as well as great-nieces and nephews in Europe and the United States.


Memorial Service Information
A memorial service and celebration of Erika’s life and work will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 22, 2006 at the River Road Unitarian Church, 6301 River Road, Bethesda, MD 20817.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to:
The Erika Thimey Dance and Theater Company
Church of the Brethren, 337 North Carolina Avenue S.E., Washington, DC  20003

The celebration includes an opportunity for dancers to participate in a candle procession to honor Erika’s memory. If you are interested in participating in the candle procession, please contact Sharon Werth at
301-779-7556  or by e-mail, sbodul@comcast.net for more information.

Local Dance Companies Join Forces
September 23, 2006
DC Dances, a group of Metro area dance companies, will perform as part of a Performing Arts Exchange Independent Showcase at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture on Thursday, September 28 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.  This performance will feature seven companies in solo and group dance samplings. This convergence is a free opportunity to witness the diverse offerings of some of the area’s most talked about companies.
In addition to performing, the groups will share or have their own booth space to entice presenters in the way of performances, education outreach and community enrichment.
Bus transportation is provided from the Convention Center to Reginald F. Lewis Museum; look for the bus labeled DC Dances Showcase! 
For information on the DC Dances Showcase, please call 202.778.1190. 

DC Dances Performance
CityDance Ensemble 
www.citydance.net
ClancyWorks Dance Company 
www.clancyworks.org
EDGEWORKS Dance Theater 
www.hjwedgeworks.org
Jane Franklin Dance
www.janefranklin.com
Momentum Dance Theatre 
www.momentumdancetheatre.com
Next Reflex Dance Collective 
www.nextreflexdc.com  
Washington Reflections Dance Company
www.danceinstitute.org

Also in the DC Dances Booth
Carla & Company
www.danceplace.org/carlaandcompany/
Nejla Y. Yatkin
www.bsos.umd.edu/gvpt/davenport/NY2/
Jane Jerardi
www.janejerardi.com/
Motion Mania Dance Theatre
www.motionmania.org/

Announcing the 2006 Metro DC Dance Award Winners!
September 19, 2006
The 2006 Metro DC Dance Awards were held Monday, September 18, 2006 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. For more information and a complete list of finalists, visit www.mdcda.org/awards/nominees.html

Outstanding Individual Performance in a Dance Production
Nejla Yatkin in "De/Reconstructing Mata Hari" at Dance Place, November 5/6, 2005

Outstanding Group Performance in a Dance Production
Daniel Burkholder/The PlayGround in "together/apart" at Dance Place, April 1/2, 2006

Outstanding Youth Performance
Joy of Motion Youth Dance Ensemble at The Jack Guidone Theater at Joy of Motion Dance Center, Friendship Heights, May 20/21, 2006

Outstanding New Work
"Grandmother Project" by Vincent E. Thomas performed by VTDance at Dance Place, January 7-8, 2006

Emerging Performer or Group
Culture Shock DC at Dance Bethesda, Roundhouse Theatre, March 4/5, 2006

Emerging Choreographer
Vincent E. Thomas of VTDance for "Grandmother Project" at Dance Place, January 7/8, 2006

Excellence in Costume Design
Laurel Victoria Gray for "Guldasta, Samarkand Ushori, Darya Toshkin" performed by Silk Road Dance Company at the Publick Playhouse, April 8, 2006

Excellence in Lighting Design
Enoch Chan for "Mermaids and Other Tales of Truth" performed by ClancyWorks Dance Company at the American Dance Institute, April 15, 2006

Excellence in Sound Design/Original Composition
Sven Abow for "Cold Case" performed by EDGEWORKS Dance Theatre at Dance Place, March 17-19, 2006

Excellence in Stage Design/Multimedia
Joyce Ellen Weinstein for "Cold Case" performed by EDGEWORKS Dance Theatre at Dance Place, March 17-19, 2006

Outstanding Overall Production - Small Venue
"De/Reconstructing Mata Hari" by Nejla Yatkin performed at Dance Place, November 5/6, 2005

Outstanding Overall Production - Large Venue
"Thresholds Crossed" by Maida Withers Dance Construction Company at Lisner Auditorium, April 21, 2006

Outstanding Achievement in Dance Education
Yvonne Edwards

Alan M. Kreigsman Award
Carla Perlo

The 2006 Pola Nirenska Awards were presented to Paul Gordon Emerson and Hedi Pope.

New Organization Will Fund Individual Artists
September 11, 2006
On December 4, 2006, United States Artists (USA) will inaugurate a new annual tradition with the announcement of the recipients of the first fifty $50,000 USA Fellowships.
After decades of dwindling support, America's finest living artists now have a new home where they may find unprecedented private funding. USA is a new nonprofit organization, launched in September 2005 with $20 million in seed funding from a coalition of leading foundations. The long-term vision of the organization is to "ignite the creativity that makes this country great while building a permanent endowment to support artists' work in perpetuity."
USA Fellows, the organization's first program, will annually award 50 grants of $50,000 each. The fellowships are designed to function as "research and development" funding or "venture capital" for the imagination of artists by encouraging recipients to test new ideas and applications in their work.
Fellowships will be awarded across a broad array of disciplines - Architecture, Design, and Fashion; Crafts and Traditional Arts; Dance; Literature (fiction, nonfiction, and poetry); Media Arts (film, media, and radio); Music; Performing Arts (performance art and theater); and the Visual Arts.
For more information, visit the USA website
The Washington Ballet Appoints Katrina Toews
August 27, 2006
The Washington Ballet appoints Katrina Toews as Director of its programs at THE ARC.
Toews has served as interim director the first season at this satellite campus of The Washington Ballet in Southeast Washington, DC (Washington, D.C.) Artistic Director Septime Webre announces the appointment of Katrina Toews as the Director of The Washington Ballet @ Town Hall Education and Arts RecreationCenter (TWB@THEARC), after a year of serving as interim director. Katrina has been a joy to have at the helm of our programming at THEARC and I am thrilled to have her as the permanent face of TWB@THEARC, says Webre. Her steadfast dedication and immersion in the community demonstrate her love for the students, education and ballet. As Director of TWB@THEARC, Toews will instill the artistic vision and professionalism of The Washington School of Ballet at its satellite campus in Southeast. In addition, she will build upon the successes of this first year including an increase of enrollment from 60 to 285, the first summer intensive program and numerous ongoing partnerships with the Levine School of Music, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Children's Health project and Parklands Community Center. "It has been rewarding to see the community come alive with students and parents, and to witness the proof that the community and The Washington Ballet @ THEARC are truly building bridges," says Toews. "I feel a sense of pride and success when I look into the eyes of my five-year-old dancers and can see the potential and drive that they have within themselves; the talent is coming directly from the neighborhood." Toews says she looks forward to the challenges that lay ahead of her and aims to one day establish a touring and performing company of the top-level students enrolled in the programs at TWB@ THEARC. "I want to get out in the community and share the talent of the youth with Ward 8 and the larger community of Washington, D.C.," she says. "The students have the talent, and TWB@ THEARC is the vehicle to provide the highest caliber training." Toews started working at The Washington Ballet in August 2004 as the Director of Education and Outreach. She received her BA in Fine Arts and Elementary Education from Bethel College in North Newton, KS, and a MA in Dance from American University in Washington,DC. She has taught at American University, James Madison University, The Washington School of Ballet, Dance Place and the Davis Center. In addition to teaching, Toews founded K2 Dance Company and has performed at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage, Dance Place, The Jack Guidone Theater, THEARC Theatre, and American University's Greenberg Theatre. She has danced with BosmaDance, Carla & Company and Sister's Trousers, all Washington-based companies.
www.washingtonballet.org

FloydProject Dance Company
Founded in 2000 by Debra K. Floyd, FloydProject Dance Company works to establish a support system for women through the influence of dance. FloydProject is committed to choreographic study of diverse experiences, cultivation of performance and training excellence, and development of community outreach programs. The company strives to build positive images, raise audience awareness of broad issues and empower people to uphold women and their aspirations; thereby fostering their motto, "Dancing for EmpowHERment." Photo by Michelle Workman.
www.floydprojectdance.com




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Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 778-1190
info@dancemetrodc.org