IMMEDIATE RELEASE!! PRESS CONTACT: Fiona Green
October 20, 2007 703-298-3235
WHAT: DANCE SHOWCASE, "Dance Sampler"
WHO: JANE FRANKLIN DANCE presents
Full Circle Dance Company, Karen Reedy Dance, ETC Dance Co., Tara Madsen, Next Reflex Dance Collective, Nellie Rainwater, Annetta Dexter Sawyer, & Ft. Henry Gardens AHC, Inc. after-school dancers
WHEN: NOVEMBER 10, 2007 at 8 PM and NOVEMBER 11, 2007 at 3 PM
WHERE: GUNSTON THEATER ONE, 2700 South Lang St., Arlington, VA
TICKETS: Festival Pass $35 unlimited classes + evening or matinee performance
“Dance Sampler Goes Regional”
Arlington, Virginia – Jane Franklin's Dance Sampler, established two years ago as a showcase of distinctive dance artists, goes regional by presenting a Bates Dance Festival Emerging Choreographer, artists from Pennsylvania and Baltimore, and emerging and established companies from the Metro area. Showcase performances are held on Saturday November 10, 2007 at 8:00 pm and Sunday November 11, 2007 at 3:00 pm at Gunston Theater One, 2700 S. Lang Street in Arlington. Jane Franklin Dance is an Arlington-based contemporary dance company that seeks to bring dance to all segments of the community through performance and participation.
On November 10 beginning at 9:30 am, classes are held on stage. Participants get a sampling of what it is like to perform onstage or what it is like to inhabit a variety of movement styles. Whether you're a beginner, a pro, or if you just enjoy watching dance on stage, Dance Sampler has something for you. Workshops are held for all levels of experience, and are led by the featured choreographers.
Workshop Schedule:
9:30-10:30 Young Dancer's Workshop by Jane Franklin for ages 8 - 13, dance technique and creative strategies in dance making.
10:30-11:30 Modern/ Contemporary by Elisha Clark, this workshop is perfect for teens and adults and will place importance upon finding organic ways to engage the body in active, athletic and kinesthetically driving movements.
11:30-12:30 Developing the Improvised Solo, by Roxann Morgan Rowley is a improvisational class where students will develop and explore choreography; it is open to all ages and levels.
12:30-1:30: Modern Technique or Choreography/Composition, by Karen Reedy is open to any age level
Performance Saturday:
Next Reflex Dance Collective, Tara Madsen, Nellie Rainwater, Full Circle Dance Company, Jane Franklin Dance, Karen Reedy Dance, ETC Dance Company.
Performance Sunday:
Next Reflex Dance Collective, Ft. Henry Gardens AHC after-school dancers, Annetta Dexter Sawyer, Full Circle Dance Company, Jane Franklin Dance, Karen Reedy Dance, ETC Dance Company.
Next Reflex Dance Collective will be performing "Affixed Exchanges", a choreographic exploration of the metro system. Next Reflex Dance Collective, founded by Erika Schonemann and Roxann Morgan Rowley in 2006, is a Virginia based modern dance company focusing on collaboration and experimentation.
Full Circle Dance Company of Baltimore presents "Across the Lines" a piece that explores race issues that plaque today's society. Full Circle Dance Company, named Baltimore's Best Dance Company by Baltimore City Paper, has performed locally at the Hippodrome Theater, at Baltimore's Artscape Festival, at the Baltimore Museum of Art Exhibit Expressions series, and by invitation in the Maryland Council of Dance Festival Concert. The company, which is directed by Donna L. Jacobs, has also performed by invitation at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and the Broadway Dance Center Choreographers’ Performance Outlet in New York.
"Path of Attraction", performed by Karen Reedy Dance, explores the primal instinct of attraction and its evolution within a relationship. In Washington, DC, Ms. Reedy performed with Eric Hampton Dance and DC Dance Theater. In New York, she has danced with Robert Battle, Sue Bernhard, Patricia Kenny, and Louis Johnson, and she continues to perform frequently with the Mark Morris Dance Group.
"Flight" is a dynamic piece inspired by birds in flight, choreographed by Tara Madsen and performed by Kate Jordan. Tara Madsen is currently living in Philadelphia and performing professionally with the Tania Isaac Dance Company. She received her MFA in Performance and Choreography from Smith College and her BA in Dance from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania where she was awarded the Outstanding Choreographer Award.
ETC Dance Co. performs Elisha Clark's, "Frozen Angels", concerning today's frantic world and the disconnect of human beings to one another. Elisha is the co-Artistic Director of Burnidge Clark Dance Project with collaborator Anne Burnidge. In 2006, she was honored to be in residence at Bates Dance Festival as the Emerging Choreographer. She was also awarded a Pennsylvania Partnership for the Arts grant in 2006. Her latest work Frozen Angels, was chosen for the White Wave/DUMBO Dance Festival.
Annetta Dexter Sawyer presents "Trolling for Now" inspired by the over fishing of our waters. Ms. Sawyer is an adjunct professor with Trinity University's Fine Arts Program and her company Two Hot Mamas Productions (with herself & local performer Terry Nicholetti as principles) has been awarded a Creative Projects Grant from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County.
Nellie Rainwater's "Quarter Life Crisis" includes a cast of eight dancers. Her choreography has been presented at the American College Dance Festival in Tempe, Arizona and at the Greenberg Theatre in Washington, DC. She graduated magna cum laude from St. Olaf College in 2002 with a B.A. degree in Dance and English. She currently teaches dance and creative movement throughout the DC metro area.
Jane Franklin shows a community participation piece performed by Ft. Henry Gardens Affordable Housing Community after-school dancers. The work comes out of an eight week residency with the young dancers. AHC, Inc. exists to preserve the supply of affordable housing for low and moderate income families and enhances the quality of life in neighborhoods where they are located. Jane Franklin Dance also offers a Washington DC premier of "Boundary." Space is one of the basic elements in art, and one of the most resistant to definition. Boundary takes up, contains, describes, and encloses space as an abstract concept, and sometimes literally. There is shrinking personal space in the segment entitled "Big Box Getting Smaller." Meaning follows words, rippling in and out of focus in "One Step Behind."
Jane Franklin Dance celebrates movement and makes dance accessible to a wide range of audiences through public performances, community engagement, dance education, and collaborations with artists from other disciplines. The company has been presented at numerous state and regional venues including the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Booth Playhouse in Charlotte NC, and the International Dance Festival in NYC. Collaborative projects with poetry, live music, community participation and visual art have received funding in multiple years. Performances and workshops are conducted for Montgomery County Public Schools and for Arlington's Humanities Project. A STAR Award recipient for "Outstanding Community Outreach," JFD's ongoing projects include work with the Senior Adult and community, after school projects for young dancers, and Dance Sampler, a one-day festival showcasing regional choreographers. Jane Franklin Dance has been recognized by Metro DC Dance Awards, Virginia's Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts and the company tours for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Paul Mellon Arts in Education Program and the Virginia Commission's Tour Directory. _______________________________________________________________________
Jane Franklin Dance is supported in part by Arlington County through the Cultural Affairs Division of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Resources and the Arlington Commission for the Arts; by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, by Alexandria Commission, Arlington Community Foundation, Washington Forrest Foundation, William D. Euille Foundation, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Paul Mellon Arts in Education Program and by individuals. ---End---