September 2017 College News

DANCE Dance Studies, Per formance & Choreography, Single Teaching Certif ication, & Dual Teaching Certif ications FACULTY ACCOLADES Ana Baer and Vlasta Silhavy ( Theatre) co-directed and hosted 16 middle school girls at Texas State University’s initiative LEAP (Leadership Empowerment Arts Project). [ 1 ] With the assistance from C3, Ana and Vlasta got funding from REP, Equity and Access, and the City of San Marcos Youth Plan. Additionally, eight Theatre and Dance students were hired to assist with the camp. In late June, Ana filmed “Wild-er-ness” in the North Yorkshire Moors, UK with dancers Michelle Nance and Heike Salzer. In addition to filming, Ana presented the multidisciplinary piece “WECreate Ice” at the Symposium Between Spaces. [ 2 ] University of Chichester, UK. In July, Ana and Michelle Nance traveled with 11 dance students to New York City for the newly created course, NYC Dance Intensive. In late July, Ana began filming “Doll’s Eyes” in Marfa, Texas with dancers Kaysie Seitz Brown , Michelle Nance , Nicole Wesley . Ana internationally premiered the screendance piece, “THE WALL” (Dancer: Michelle Nance; Original music by Richard Hall ) at Cine Club Sandwich in Puebla, Mexico and in the US at the Grand Indie Wise Convention in Miami. “THE WALL” was also selected to screen at the AM Egypt Film Festival, Cairo, Egypt. In September, multidisciplinary piece “Wild-er-ness” will premiere at the Irey Theatre, in Boulder Colorado, as part of UNWrap . The performance will include live dance by Michelle Nance and Heike Salzer, live music composed and performed by Richard Hall and multi-screen video design by Ana Baer. Kaysie S. Brown presented on her on-going research, “Enhancing the Learning of Science Through the Creation of Dance” at the 2017 Body-Mind Centering Association’s Annual Conference, The Fluid Body: A Somatic Journey in July. Kaysie has been asked to serve as a member of Flashfit, LLC’s Advisory Board. Brandon Gonzalez choreographed and performed “Touch Loop,” an installation/performance, produced Middle-school girls at Texas State University’s initiative LEAP, hosted by Ana Baer and Vlasta Silhavy multidisciplinary piece WECreate Ice at the Symposium Between Spaces Study Abroad dance students perform TransPecos at the US Festival in Bedford, England 8 | September | College News 1 2 3 College of Fine Arts and Communication | 9 by KOMPANIE OFFSPACE in Freiburg and Kassel, Germany. Brandon was a guest teacher at the Freiburg International Contact Festival in Germany and taught a weekend workshop Touching Form. In September, Brandon choreographed “The Shape of our Shapes,” an installation/performance with Professor Pat Stone , to be performed at the Texas State Art and Design FL3X Gallery. Lastly, Brandon is an upcoming guest artist at Eastfield College this semester, choreographing a performance and exhibition in the art gallery. Michelle Nance performed in “Glacier” with the Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company in the Rollins Studio/Long Center in May. Michelle also taught a class and enjoyed ‘catching up’ with several Dance alumni as part of the Dance Division Alumni Reunion. In collaboration with Ana Baer , Michelle filmed in the North York Moors in England. The project will premiere in Boulder, CO this September as a live dance with video. Michelle along with teaching faculty Nicole Wesley , Ana Baer , and Kaysie Seitz Brown filmed in Marfa, Texas as part of a new video/dance project to be premiered in Opening Door Dance Theatre in December. In July, she premiered her new solo “And So She Did”, a dance improvisation devised in collaboration with Caroline Sutton Clark. In August, Michelle and Ana Baer accompanied 11 students on a week-long visit to NYC as part of the “Study in America” program. Christa Oliver , performs in Singing in the Rain at Zach Theatre in Austin. The show runs September 27th through October 29th. Pat Stone performed “Twisted Hair,” a collaborative choreography with Shay Ishii and alum Anna Antoniewicz for the North American Body-Mind Centering Conference, “The Fluid Body: A Somatic Journey” hosted by Texas State University in July. Production Coordinator and Lighting Designer Scott Vandenberg returned to Summer Stock Austin for his second season as their lighting designer. He designed Monty Python’s Spamalot , A Shoe Story , and Annie Get Your Gun , with all three musicals performing in rep in the Rollins Theater at the Long Center. In June, Assistant Professor Nicole Wesley conducted the course Critical Issues in the Arts and Culture at The University of Bedfordshire in Bedford, England. The 13 TX ST Dance Division students performed in the International US Festival while at Bedford and devised a 25-minute work “To Wipe All Tears from Our Eyes” that will premiere in October at the Arts Practice Research Conference at Texas Tech University. Nicole performed the work “I.T.L.O.T.H.” at the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival at National Sawdust in Brooklyn, New York in July. Nicole travelled to Marfa, Texas in late July to perform in the screendance “Doll’s Eyes” filmed and directed by Ana Baer . She presented Impacting the Artist: How The JUSTICE Project influences Authentic Performance in a Community of Dancemakers at the 2017 Body- Mind Centering Association’s Annual Conference, “The Fluid Body: A Somatic Journey.” Nicole conducted a three-day workshop in Modern and Contemporary Dance at Shirley McPhail’s School of Dance in Austin. In August, Nicole co-taught with Dr. Maureen Keeley (Communication Studies) the workshop Acting + Non Verbal Communication Skills that Improve Teaching Effectiveness and Well-being hosted by the School of Art and Design for elementary and middle school art teachers. In the September issue of the Hill Country View , Nicole’s studio that she co-owns and directs, Wimberley Dance Elite, was highlighted in a featured article . Lastly, Nicole co-authored “To Wipe All Tears from Our Eyes: Devised Pedagogy and Practice-Based Research in a Music and Dance Immersive/Intensive Experience” in collaboration with Dr. Christopher Smith of Texas Tech University for PARtake: The Journal of Performance as research at The University of Colorado, Boulder. ALUMNI ACCOLADES Recent graduates, Shuan Davis , Francesca Iannelli , Kaelyn Miller , were accepted and attended the Mark Morris intensive in New York City. Kaelyn Miller was accepted into the Broadway Dance Center Professional Training program. Jessica McFarlane was accepted into a Master’s program in Dance at New York University (NYU). Anne Wharton was accepted into the Graduate Program at Texas Tech University and collaborated for the Texas State Study Abroad Program in Bedford, England in June. [ 3]