Reviews Week Opens Doors to New Choreography and New Teachers

As The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance faculty sits down with each and every dance student to review their progress at CalArts, two wonderful opportunities give way. CalArts Dance faculty stay well connected to the field. Their alliances offer our students a unique opportunity. This week six professional dance artists were invited from outside the CalArts community come to share their work, life experience, and artistry with CalArts School of Dance students. Read more about this week’s guests below.

2009 HERB ALPERT AWARD WINNER:  REGGIE WILSON creates a new work for BFA 4s and The NEXT Dance Company

REGGIE WILSON is the choreographer and Artistic Director of Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group based in Brooklyn, NY. Wilson’s work blends contemporary dance with African traditions that makes brilliant new performance from the spiritual traditions of the African Diaspora. He draws on the movement idioms of Blues, Slave, and Worship cultures to create what he calls "Post-African Neo Hoodoo Modern dance”. Accompanied by driving rhythms--body percussion, aspirated breath, singing and shouts—Wilson’s choreography blends deep ritual into potent, beautiful and energizing contemporary dance.

TERESINA MOSCO teaches Ballet Technique

TERESINA MOSCO danced professionally with the Stuttgart Ballet and Netherlands Dance Theater. She is currently the Ballet Mistress for the Ballet de Teatres in Valencia, Spain.

Although her formal training was in the Vagonova style (she studied 4 years in the Ecole de Danse Classique du Monte Carlo), Ms. Mosco focuses on teaching a more contemporary ballet style in order to prepare dancers for the varied demands that professional dancers are challenged with today. She considers herself fortunate to have been an active part of the 'Golden Age' of the Stuttgart Ballet, when Marcia Haydee was Prima Ballerina Assoluta, and John Neumeier (Hamburg Ballet), Jiri Kilian (Netherlands), and William Forsythe (Frankfurt Ballet) were dancers in the company. She worked under Glen Tetley when he became Artistic Director after John Cranko died.

After ten years with the Stuttgart Ballet, Ms. Mosco joined Jiri Kilian at the Nederlands Danse Theatre. Kilian created original work on Ms. Mosco and she was danced in all of his major pieces. Working with the Nederlands Danse Theatre and being a part of the extraordinary creative output found there was, without a doubt, the highlight of her career.

KRENLY GUZMAN teaches Modern Technique

KRENLY GUZMAN received his MFA in choreography from UCLA World Arts and Culture department and his B.A. in dance from Columbia College Chicago. Mr. Guzman was the Associate Artistic Director of Luckyplush Productions from 2001- 2006. Mr. Guzman is currently on faculty at Cal State LA and has taught at Barat College of DePaul University, Lou Conte Dance Studios and was on faculty at Columbia College Chicago from 1993-2006. As a master teacher he has taught Company classes for Jan Erkert & Dancers, Melissa Thodos & Dancers, Springfield Ballet Company and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Mr. Guzman has also taught and served as an adjudicator for the Festival de Encuentro y Certamen de Danza in Monteviedo, South America, The Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, Fairbanks, AK and The Festival Nacional de Ballet, Mexico City, Mexico among many others. Mr. Guzman’s classes focus on training the body and mind as both an artist and an athlete by incorporating the fundamentals and principles gained through his experience in North American Modern/Post-Modern dance, Salsa, Meringue, Rumba, Afro-Cuban Orisha dance and the methodologies of somatic practices such as Bartenieff Fundamentals, Body/ Mind Centering and yoga.

JANIS BRENNER teaches a Master Class in Improvisation/Choreography, Sound, and Movement

JANIS BRENNER is an award-winning dancer/choreographer/ singer/teacher and is Artistic Director of Janis Brenner & Dancers in N.Y. She has toured in 31 countries and is recognized as a "singular performer" (Eye On Dance) with a multifaceted artistic range. Ms.Brenner's awards include a 1997 NY Dance and Performance Award (a "Bessie") for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Meredith Monk's work "The Politics of Quiet", a 1999 "Bessie" nomination for her performance in "Solo for Janis" choreographed by Richard Siegal, a 1996 Lester Horton Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography in L.A. for the collaborative work "Tom's Renaissance", a 1993 Leach Fellowship for Outstanding Achievement in the Performing Arts from Empire State College and a NY Dance On Camera Festival award (1986).

Janis Brenner’s Improvisation/Choreography Sound and Movement workshops explore the process of integrating movement, voice, and speaking by delving into the mind/ body connection, sensations and experiences through structured improvisation. The classes are geared toward the specific participants in each class; from professional dancers to singers and actors to non-performers who want to increase their range and means of expression, to take risks and discover their own holistic sense of creating art.

RAFAEL LOPEZ-BARRANTES teaches Composition 1

CalArts School of Theater Associate Head, MFA Acting/Voice, Rafael Lopez-Barrantes, performer, voice teacher and co-founder of Archipelago Theatre France as well as Archipelago Theatre USA, has been acting, directing and teaching with the Roy Hart Theatre in France since 1974. His research in Traditional Japanese Performing Arts and Flamenco singing has extensively shaped his approach to voice, body and performance training. He was the Voice Chair at the National School of Puppetry Arts in France (1984-1992).

 His teaching includes Japan, Mexico and Europe, notably the Riksteater of Norway and the French National Conservatories of Dramatic Art. For fifteen years he held a position at the Theatre Studies Department of Duke University where he directed a number of performances for main stages (Kaspar, King Ubu, Blood Weddings, The Tempest, Don Juan, House of Desires, etc.). Since 1992, he has been a faculty member at the American Dance Festival.

He established Celebrations Inc. in 1996, a very successful business venture addressing design, theatrical and production needs in the special events industry (for such notables as President Bill Clinton, Yo-Yo Ma, Luciano Pavarotti, Michael Jordan, etc.). He collaborated as Assistant Director for the Opera Company of North Carolina in 2003 and 2004. Between 2002-2007 he was officially appointed Honorary Consul of Spain in North Carolina. Since 2007 he has taught Voice as a full-time faculty member at the Theater School of the California Institute of the Arts. In May 2008 he directed Rameau's opera "Platee" for the California Institute of the Arts.

SHEL WAGNER-RASCH teaches Advanced Improvisation

SHEL WAGNER-RASCH is a Los Angeles-based choreographer and Contact Improv dancer and teacher. Her Contact Improv scores and choreographic works have been well received in New York City, San Francisco, New Orleans, San Diego, Amsterdam and extensively throughout Los Angeles. Her work has been commissioned by Pacific Dance Ensemble, LACHSA, Jean Jeubert, and Loyola Marymount University. She is a recipient of the Lester Horton Award for Excellence in Choreography and a member of the West Coast Contact Improv Festival Teaching pool. Shel has been on the faculty at ULCA and LACHSA as well as a guest teacher throughout Southern California. Shel maintains a private practice as a Somatic Experience Practitioner, a Pilates instructor, and an Alexander Technique teacher.

For more information about the CalArts Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance, visit www.calarts.edu/dance

Don't forget to mark your calendar for our upcoming dance events. 

MFA II Thesis Concert, Verge, by Rebecca Levy, March 11-13, 8 p.m.

MFA II Thesis Concert, by Christie Nelson-Sala, April 8-18, 8 p.m.

Spring Dance Concert, May 5 and 7, 8 p.m.

The NEXT Dance Company, May 6 and 8, 8 p.m.

The NEXT Dance Company at REDCAT, May 14 and 15, 8:30 p.m.

Last Dance Concert,May 19 and 20, 7 p.m.

All performances take place in the Sharon Disney Lund Theater unless otherwise noted.

Comments

[Coach Tote Bags]

What a pity I miss seeing all those gorgeous knits! Thanks for sharing the photos.

[גני אירועים בשרון]

I read somewhere that Open doors to more opportunities to teach and create. Just email us your Name, Experience/Qualifications, Location and Contact details. You can also include a photo and a link to your youTube Reel.Now that is really very nice opportunities and thinking....

[rc helicopter reviews]

Impressive blog! -Arron