College-News-September-2021

1 Dance, Teatre and Music faculty produced SemillaFest featuring the performances by Teatre students and Merge Dance Company 2 Left to bottom right: Laura Smarella, Olivia Moran, Sarah Speck, Grace Crain, Robert Ramos, Amber Cantu. Not pictured: Kaytlyn Collier. 3 Mark Gonzalez’s (2020) latest Dance for Film, “Whispered Lullaby of the Sea” has been selected as a feature for Dancinema Film Festival DANCE Dance Studies, Per formance & Choreography, Single Teaching Certif ication, & Dual Teaching Certif ications FACULTY ACCOLADES In May, Ana Baer’s La Sabin a was selected for screening by Cineminutos in Córdoba, Argentina. Semilla Fest [1] On July 25 & 26 Dance, Teatre and Music faculty produced SemillaFest featuring performances by Teatre students and Merge Dance Company. Te festival celebrated the artistic voices of traditionally underrepresented peoples from the African, Hispanic, and Latin American diasporas. Te two-day festival was performed at the City Plaza Outdoor stage and featured the work of Nadine Mozon, Jerry Ruiz, Christa Oliver, Richard D. Hall, Ana Baer and guests Claudia Fragoso and Rocio Luna from Morelia, Mexico. Tis new initiative was created by Ana Baer and Michelle Nance , and funded by the College of Fine Arts and Communication, the Department of Teatre and Dance, and the City of San Marcos Arts Commission. Kaysie Seitz Brown was a consultant for a feature on job market statistics for Texas State University graduates in Zippia's Future Of Te Job Market Report (May, 2021). Associate Professor Nicole Wesley recently was appointed the role of Associate Chair of Curriculum and Student Services for the Department of Teatre and Dance, Nicole was nominated by the Wimberley ISD School Board to serve on the 2022 school year School Health Advisory Council. She was Alpha Chi Favorite Professors for 2021 nominated by the Alpha Chi National Honor Society. Te Way We Are in Space , a videodance piece Nicole performed in, was selected to the Quarantine Exhibition of the Hibrido Brazilian Videodance Festival that was hosted exclusively on Instagram @hibridofest . Nicole attended a “Dare To Lead” online workshop hosted by Texas Woman’s University and conducted a college recruitment class at Heather Stolle’s School of Dance in August. During the summer, Brandon Gonzalez taught the workshop Arriving at Contact and performed his solo performance "Standing Wave" at the Mini Movement Festival. Te festival was produced by Agora Artists at Arts Mission Oak Clif in Dallas. He also co-founded Ekstasis, a series of classes and large-group community dance experiences in Austin. Michelle Nance performed her piece “ ToMAYto/ ToMAHto ” in the Austin Dance Festival at Pioneer Farms, together with Richard Hall (composer) and Catherine Solass (performer). She also served on the curation team for Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema, helping to select the upcoming season of international screenings. During the spring semester, Amanda McCorkle was recognized as one of the Alpha Chi National Honors Society’s Favorite Professors of 2021. Over the summer, she performed in and choreographed for a nationally aired Texas State promotional commercial featuring the Dance Division. Most recently, Amanda has taken on the role of head of the B.A. in Dance. STUDENT ACCOLADES Creative Dance Outreach Under the guidance of Misti Galvan , TXST Dance majors taught Creative Dance for ages 5-14 years at the beautifully renovated San Marcos Library during the last week of July. Gaining practical experience as well as observing their peers teaching was the highlight of the course, said several students after the experience. Six TXST students and one alumni [2] became certifed yoga teachers in May, 2021 through the Yoga Teacher Training program in the Dance Division. Tis program requires 200 hours of study and is led by Misti Galvan and Becky Jordan. ALUMNI ACCOLADES Mark Gonzalez (2020) was selected as 1 of 13 professional and pre-professional Artists from around the country to perform with Dark Circles Contemporary Dance USA, a project focused dance company based in Las Cruces, New Mexico and participated in their latest project, Arts Lab Desert Peaks. He had the privilege to work with Artistic Director Joshua L. Peugh and New York City based choreographer Mike Esperanza for two weeks and performed Mike Esperanza’s new world premiere titled “Spellbound”. Mark Gonzalez’s [3] (2020) latest Dance for Film, “Whispered Lullaby of the Sea” has been selected as a feature for Dancinema Film Festival Mark Gonzalez (2020) has been selected to make his performance debut as a company member with the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company 2 in Dayton, Ohio for the 2021-2022 performance season. Daniel Garcia (2019), currently MFA candidate in the Department of Dance at Texas Woman's University, was awarded the Outstanding Academic Graduate Student scholarship (MFA). His Dance Film “Staccare” was showcased at Contact Dance International Film Festival in Toronto, Ontario, and was selected as a flmmaker for the SKY program. Staccare was also presented at opine Dance Film Festival in Philadelphia, PA. Garcia was commissioned to present and teach an excerpt of his work APTUS & Konfikt II-IV at Ysleta Independent School District and El Paso Community College. He also was given a chance to have a creative talkback with young artists from the El Paso community. Four recent TX State alumni were selected for the Houston Texan Cheerleaders team. #ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT Samantha Tompson ] (2018) was awarded the 509 Extra Mile Award for Outstanding Teaching at Comal ISD. College of Fine Arts and Communication | 11 10 | September | College News