April May 2022 College News

In April, Christa Oliver organized Merge Dance Company's private in-person master class with Sayiga Eugene Peabody. (Pictured Below) Eugene can most recently be seen on Musical Teater and TV/ Film stages. As a former dance captain at Marriott Teater Lincolnshire, IL, he performed in the regional productions of Cats , Anything Goes , Te King And I , Sister Act , and Evita . He was a member of the 1st national touring cast of Broadway’s An American in Paris and a featured dancer on the FX TV series Fosse/Verdon . 1 Merge Dance Company's performance and recruitment event at Austin Community College 2 CIM TEYA with director Kaysie Seitz Brown at Fuentes Elementary in Kyle 3 Ralph Harrell Award for Outstanding Senior Ilse Mascorro with Dean Fleming 12 | April & May | College News DANCE Dance Studies, Per formance & Choreography, Single Teaching Certif ication, & Dual Teaching Certif ications FACULTY ACCOLADES Ana Baer’s “Imágenes de una Realidad” screened at Moving Image Arts International Short Film Festival, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Ana presented the lecture “Screendances for a Diverse World: Social Justice, Equality, and Representation in the Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema” via Zoom, to a live audience at Te University of Roehampton, UK. She had multiple works included in the following festivals: “Ixchel” screened at FilmArte, Berlin, Germany at Te Black Panther International Short Film Festival, Delhi, India and was awarded Honorable Mention for Best Experimental Film by Tokyo International Monthly Film Festival. “Tule,” a collaboration with Richard D. Hall was screened at Wicklow ScreenDance Laboratory 2022, Co.Wicklow, Ireland. “Parakata” screened at Inheritance – Te Environmental Festival, Belfast, Ireland and at the event Video Danzas al aire Libre, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico. “Being Together” collaboration with Body Shift Merge Dance Company and Richard D. Hall, screened at PlatArtistic-Spring Danceflm Fest, Museu D’Art de Cerdanyola, Catalunya, Spain and was awarded Best Micro Short SCREEN ATX, Austin with a live screening on May 21. Additionally, “Dancing LA: Stay Behind the Yellow Line” screened at ALC Video Art Festival, Museum of Contemporary Art of Alicante, Spain. Christa Oliver was accepted to the 2022 Mellon School of Teater and Performance Research at Harvard University. In March, Christa organized the opportunity for Merge Dance Company to receive a private tour of the Gershwin Teatre and take a virtual master class with Jo'Nathan Michael ( Wicked on Broadway). She also organized the hip-hop and yoga classes Merge Dance Company taught at the Poder Learning Center in San Marcos. She also coordinated Merge Dance Company's performance and recruitment event at Austin Community College, [1] and she brought students from the Poder Learning Center to Jowers to participate in a jazz class with Merge Dance Company. Scott Vandenberg was the Production Manager for the 9th Annual Heller Awards for Young Artists in Dell Hall at Te Long Center in Austin. Tis event is a "Tony's" style event celebrating the eforts of over 30 High School Musical Teatre programs in the greater Austin area. Te evening's events saw over 400 performers and presenters on stage, with 15 musical theatre performances. STUDENT ACCOLADES CIM TEYA, directed by Kaysie Seitz Brown , performed for hundreds of Seguin ISD 4th graders on March 25th. Tey then traveled to Fuentes Elementary in Kyle on April 1st and performed two shows. [2] Teir season ended on April 29th at Voigt Elementary in Round Rock where Texas State and CIM TEYA alumna Rebekah Balli teaches dance. ALUMNI ACCOLADES Alumna (Dec. 2021) Ilse Mascorro received the Ralph Harrell Award for Outstanding Senior. [3] MERGE MASTERCLASS College of Fine Arts and Communication | 13