Summer Classes

Take some classes to continue your development during the summer, even if you aren't traveling! The Boll Family YMCA and the Detroit Opera House each have summer classes, as follows:

• The following are located that the Boll Family YMCA on Broadway in Downtown Detroit. All classes are $10 a piece and are taught by Aimee Cox who is a former Ailey dancer and fabulous teacher!
  Wednesday: Intermediate Jazz- Teens and Adults 7:30-9pm
  Saturday: Pre Ballet (4-6 y.o.) 12-1pm Beginning Ballet (Teens and Adults) 1:15-2:15
  Intermediate/Advanced Ballet (Teens and Adults 2:30-4
• Detroit Opera House- 1526 Broadway, on the 5th floor.
  Thursdays: Horton Technique- Taught by Michael Means $15 a class

SPIKE in Cincinnati

Jan Van Dyke invited her Wayne State University cast of SPIKE to Cincinnati for the Choreographers' Festival 2008, celebrating 35 years of modern dance in the city. This experience provided Martha Dobbs, Tiffany Janeway, Kate Vincek, and Renee Westervelt continued experience in the world of professional modern dance. Congratulations!

Get Dance NYC!

Call it an immersive experience in dance--after the junior year, select dance majors have the opportunity to participate in GetDance NYC, attending classes, rehearsals, shows, and socializing with working professionals as they plan for future careers in dance.

This year, Martha Dobbs, Jazman Flagg, Denita Gregory, Rachael Harbert, and Nicholle Noble spent nearly a week in the city.

WSU Dancers in La Traviata

Assistant Professor Jeff Rebudal created new choreography for La Traviata, Michigan Opera Theatre's season finale.
"I...enjoyed the performances of the...opera singers, the choreography...and everything else," wrote one audience member. The dancers were both participants in the action of the opera, and symbolic of thematic elements in the plot.
As seen in these photos by John Gritaitis, Beth Stolzenfeld, Bryan Strimpel, and Brandon Richardson, WSU dance majors, were featured dancers in the production.

Lauren Cansler and WSU Dance in The South End!

Senior Lauren Cansler is featured in this week's edition of The South End, Wayne State's campus paper. Check it out here.

Jody Oberfelder

Dance majors were joined by Dance 2000 students taking a master class by Jody Oberfelder, New York City choreographer. The class, on May 15th in the Maggie Allesee Studio Theatre, was co-hosted by Harriet Berg and the Department of Dance. Ms. Oberfelder's company will be performing on Saturday, May 17th at 8 PM in the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. General admission $10, students $5.

Master Class!

Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, founding Artistic Director for Urban Bush Women was on campus last week, and what an inspiring experience it was! Maggie Allesee came to watch, and halfway through the class had to join.

The class was made possible because the Urban Bush Women had been in residence at the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC) in Florida, and performed in the Power Center in Ann Arbor, MI.

Just another exceptional experience here in our department...

Dance Workshop Showcase

Fresh on the heels of its New York City debut performance, the Wayne State University Dance Workshop presents the April Dance Showcase Concert on Friday and Saturday, April 4 and 5 at 7:30PM in the Maggie Allesee Studio Theatre, Old Main Building 3rd Floor. Featuring new and award-winning dances, Dance Workshop presents two full programs of outstanding student, faculty and guest works.

The Spring Showcase features various works choreographed by members of the Dance Workshop as well as pieces from other talented dance students, faculty and guest artists. Kardia, choreographed by Rachael Harbert and Rachel Swykert, and Things Hoped For, by Martha Dobbs, were both given high honors and selected to perform at this year’s American College Dance Festival. The Showcase also features Jan Van Dyke’s seminal work, SPIKE, as performed by the Dance Workshop in New York City at Hunter College’s 2008 Sharing the Legacy festival. Idiosyncrasy, choreographed by Workshop member Natalie Soave and Best If Used By June, the latest work of Ali Woerner, Workshop faculty director, will also be performed. A fundraising raffle benefiting Dance Workshop’s artistic endeavors will be held.

Tickets: $5. Boxoffice opens at 7PM. Seating is limited.

Sharing the Legacy

Dance Workshop left today to perform Jan Van Dyke's SPIKE at Hunter College in New York. Hunter hosts the Sharing the Legacy festival to honor and maintain seminal works in modern dance. The dancers have worked hard to raise some of the money for this trip, and are seasoned travelers, having just returned from ACDFA last week.

The dancers will be accompanied by directors Ali Woerner and Doug Risner.

Best wishes for a fabulous performance!

ACDFA

Prior to our departure for Kalamazoo, MI for the ACDFA regional conference, Jeff Rebudal and I challenged the 22 dancers to extend friendship to dancers from other schools, to build networks, and take advantage of the learning opportunities. Our dancers were fantastic--in the studio, in the halls, at the hotel, wherever they went, they were exemplary representatives.

On Saturday, Martha Dobbs' piece, Things Hoped For, was performed in an informal concert. After a moving performance, a faculty member from another institution came up and said, "You guys came loaded for bear, didn't you?" His reference to the outstanding work from our students came after two adjudicated pieces, Kardia, by Rachel Swykert and Rachael Harbert; and A Woman's Window, by Lauren Cansler were both selected to be performed in the gala performance Saturday night.

The gala performance featured 12 dances of 37 adjudicated over the previous three days. Of the 12, two were chosen to represent the region at the national conference, June 4-6 in New York. A Woman's Window was chosen as one, and Lauren Cansler was selected as outstanding choreographer and outstanding performer, and will represent the region in the national Dance Magazine competition at the national event.

Dance Workshop Shines

Studio C has a new magic about it, after the Dance Workshop hosted its alumni reception and showing last Saturday, February 23.  DW alumni, families, and faculty gathered to enjoy socializing, reminiscing about the history of the workshop, and finally, to showcase SPIKE, Jan Van Dyke's piece that will be performed in NYC at the Sharing the Legacy festival on March 14.  Don't miss our department concert March 21-22 to see this and other works at the Bonstelle Theatre.

Telematics

We've just experienced what may be a glimpse into the future. Imagine this--a university dance department hosts a prominent guest artist. Other departments want to join in the experience. You could use an internet video chat, but the video is too compressed to really be able to physically interact in the way dance instruction requires.

Telematics! This technology isn't new--in fact, our department has been part of telematics performances before. But the application for teaching was clear this week as Ben Munisteri, Maggie Allesee Artist-in-Residence, taught a composition class for students at both Wayne State University and Western Michigan University. Dancers on both campuses responded to instruction, gave each other feedback, and ultimately danced together in duets.