October 2015 College News

DANCE Faculty Accolades Kaysie Seitz Brown represented the Texas State Department of Theatre and Dance at the National Dance Education Organization Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Ana Baer Carrillo was the Producer for Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema XII at the Atlas Institute in Boulder, Colorado and premiered a multimedia piece, “Dunes,” with live performance and projected images. Shay Ishii and LeAnne Smith produced Dancestry for Opening Door Dance Theatre. Dancestry is a celebration of artistic heritage and revival of historic dance that showcases masterworks of modern dance pioneers, Loïe Fuller, Isadora Duncan, and Erick Hawkins. The concert featured Texas State faculty ( Kaysie Seitz Brown , Michelle Nance , Shay Ishii , and LeAnne Smith ) alumni, the Erick Hawkins Dance Company as well as nationally recognized artists from across the country. Texas State dance majors and music majors also performed in the concert. Shay also received funding from the City of Austin to produce another Dancestry concert in Austin in January 2016 at the Rollins Theatre. The 2015 COCO (Contemporary Choreographers’ Collective) Dance Festival was held at Queen’s Hall in Port of Spain, Trinidad in October. Nicole Wesley is the artistic director and presented at the festival. Nicole was also a steering committee member for the Arts Practice Research: Scholarship, Pedagogy, and the Creative Process Conference. Nicole also presented at the conference, held in conjunction with Texas Tech University College of Visual and Performing Arts, the Roots Music Institute, the TTU Vernacular Music Center, and Texas Association of Schools of Art. Fire Dance Choreographer: Meg Brooker Photographer: Amitava Sarkar Dancers: Jennifer Sprowl, Meg Brooker and Valerie Durham Plains Daybreak Choreographer: Erick Hawkins Dancer: Hawkins’ Company member, Kristina Berger Topographies of Grace Choreographers: Shay Ishii and dancers Dancer: Anna Antoniewicz Student Accolades Texas State dance students, Amber Cantu , Laura Tijerina , Tiffany Walter and Anne Wharton , performed at the Arts Practice Research: Scholarship, Pedagogy, and the Creative Process Conference in October. Alumni Accolades Leah Smit (spring 2015) has recently moved to NYC and has already shown her choreography in two dance festivals in Queens. She, along with Eileene Vicencio and Shannon McMullan (also recent graduates) are living in NYC together, all employed and dancing! Photographer: Leah Smit Dancer: Alumnae, Kayla Speaker Topographies of Grace Choreographers: Shay Ishii Dancers: LeAnne Smith and Anna Antoniewicz Sculpture by: Catherine Lee