Department of Dance

News

AILEY II Associate Director, Mr. Troy Powell, in Residence in the Towson University Department of Dance

November 30- December 7, 2009

Troy Powell, Associate Artistic Director of Ailey II will be in the Towson University Department of Dance to set 5 excerpts of Alvin Ailey’s works on future members of the Towson University Dance Company (Spring 2010 cast).  The works will be performed as a part of the Towson University Dance Company’s Spring 2010 season.  Mr. Powell will also be conducting Advance Modern Master classes during his residency:

Tuesday, December 1st from 2-3:50 pm in Center for the Arts Rm. 1008

Friday, December 4th from 11 am- 12:50 pm in Center for the Arts Rm.  1003

Saturday, December 5th from 11:30- 1 pm (Center for the Arts location TBA)

All master classes are open to the public for a $20 fee that will be collected before class begins.

Brittany Eberly, Dance Major, recipient of Chemistry Scholarhship.

Ms. Eberly is the recipient of the SAACS Scholarship.  Some of the requirements to receive this scholarship were a solid 3.0 GPA, community Service.  The Department is very proud of her achievement.

Vincent Thomas/VTDance honored with 2009 Metro DC Dance Award

Vincent Thomas/VTDance was honored with the 2009 Metro DC Dance Award for Overall Production/Small Venue.  The awards took place on September 16, 2009 at the Kennedy Center on the Millennium Stage  You can see the show online at www.kennedy-center.org and search the Millennium Stage Performances for September 14, 2009.  The performers included Mr. Thomas,

Dr. Cecylia Barczyk (TU Music Faculty), Jason Armstrong Baker and Shodekeh (TU Dance Accompanists) as well as several Towson University Dance Alums.  Messrs. Baker and Shodekeh provided musical interludes and jams for the event.

Sandra Perez Links Towson University with Baltimore City School.  Here is the article which appeared in the "Towerlight."

This semester, Towson dance education majors will bring their talent to the classroom as part of the University’s plan to reach out to local Baltimore schools. 

A group of 15 Towson students were presented with a unique challenge last week: to use choreographed movement to teach earth science to a class of 30 sixth grade boys at Chinquapin Middle School in Baltimore.  This plan embodies the principles of arts integration, according to assistant professor in the department of dance Sandra Perez. It means “applying kinesthetics,” or bodily movements, to encourage learning in different academic subjects.  

The all-female class of Towson dancers will be creating lesson plans throughout the semester that incorporate the middle school’s various curriculum factors, such as rock cycles and weather conditions. “By using movements and music to become the elements they are studying, the students may have a better chance of understanding and remembering information,” Perez said.  

Gerrie Okwesa, the instructional support teacher and science department head at Chinquapin, said that she is excited to give her students this opportunity. “We’re simply delighted that our sixth grade young men will have the opportunity to practice and learn science in an exciting and unique way,” Okwesa said. “This learning experience will allow the teachers to translate many basic ideas in science into meaningful, self-assessing movement activities that put abstract ideas into tangible, visible form.  ”Towson’s outreach specialist, Barry Evans, played a crucial role in bringing the arts integration program to action. Using grant money provided by the Maryland Higher Education Commission, Evans began to initiate summer and after-school programs over the past few months in Chinquapin Middle School, which is located about three miles from Towson.  This semester, dance integration was added to the program.“It is crucial to Towson’s role as a metropolitan University to help out neighboring schools,” Evans said. “[Towson’s goal] is to get students more attuned to school at a young age so that they are less likely to drop out.”  However, the newest program benefits more than just the Chinquapin community. The future dance teachers at Towson are also benefiting from this new learning experience.  “A crucial part of becoming an educator is hands-on, classroom experience, something that many dance education majors may be lacking,” Perez said. Okwesa believes that her students have a lot to learn from the Towson dancers. “Imagine a sixth grader being surrounded by a sophisticated dance instructor and her cadre of swan-like dance students coming to visit you once a week,” Okwesa said.  “Put that together with the ability to draw on their kinesthetic, visual and musical intelligence to increase achievement in science and strengthen their repertoire of learning and social skills – they might learn a few things, don’t you think?”  

Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell will represent the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre at the prestigious Chicago Dancing Festival.

Ms. Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell will be performing the solo "CRY" choreographed by Mr. Ailey at the prestigious Chicago Dancing Festival in August of 2009.  Ms. Fisher-Harrell performed this work numerous times during her tenure as a Principal Dancer with the Ailey Company.

http://chicagodancingfestival.com/2009Festival.aspx

Susan Mann's "Do You Like that?" selected for an International Festival

"Do you Like that?", a dance for the camera choreographed and performed by Dance Professor, Susan Mann, has been selected for inclusion in ADF's 14th Annual Dancing for the Camera: International Festival of Film and Video Dance.  The 2009 Festival will take place from July 10-12 at White Lecture Hall and the Nasher Museum of Arts on the campus of Duke University in Durham, N.C.  "Do You Like That?" was also selected for screening at the Third Practice Electroacoustic Festival in Richmond, VA.

Arts Integration at Work - Foundational Ballet and Modern Repertory classes perform at Rodgers Forge Elementary School

Arts Integration was the topic of a presentation by the Foundational Ballet Class and the Modern Repertory class of the TU Dance Department. WaterCycle: The Dance was performed at Rodgers Forge Elementary School under the direction of Assistant Professor of Dance Sandra Perez. This piece taught fifth graders the cycle of water on earth and illustrated how dance can represent ideas.  Towson students participating learned first hand about teaching academic subjects such as science through the arts. Two students from the Modern Repertory class developed movement representing thunder and lightning. They worked improvisationally with prompts from Ms. Perez who then collaborated with them to add spacing and dynamics to the movements. Her Foundational Ballet class was then taught movements representing the water and the men in the class became the sun. Both classes were then integrated to form the dance. This method of choreography was later discussed by the Modern Repertory class as an excellent method for creating dances and teaching choreography simultaneously. This arts integration was made possible through a TU 2010 Service-Learning Grant awarded through President Caret's 2010 initiative and the Department of Civic Engagement.

TU Dancers Perform at American College Dance Festival

Towson University sent a talented group of dancers to the American College Dance Festival to perform in the Gala Concert on March 20. The concert was adjudicated by Trish Casey, Tarek Halaby, and Francesca Harper. Among the 12 pieces selected for the concert was Muffle the Puppet, a solo choreographed by TU faculty member Nicole Martinell and performed by B.F.A. dance major Jeanna Riscigno for a large and enthusiastic audience. "Words cannot explain her fabulous embodiment of this challenging character," said dance department chair Susan Haigler-Robles. " We look forward to sending another group to ACDF next year!"

B.F.A. dance major Jeanna Riscigno with choreographer Nicole Martinell.	A number of dance majors attended the American College Dance Festival.

Department of Dance
Center for the Arts, Room 1002
Hours: Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Phone: 410-704-2760
Fax: 410-704-3752
E-mail:mdemeo@towson.edu