Featured Profile: Meet Our Newest NBDT Members We would like to introduce you to the six newest members of NBDT! They recently performed with the company in NBDT's February 18 & 19 GWC Professional Invitational Dance Concert and will be joining us for our collaboration with the Long Beach Opera as well. We are very excited to have these six strong, talented and beautiful dancers joining us for our 2011 season and cannot wait for you all to meet them!  Alicia Arguilla / Photo by Liz Thompson Alicia Arguilla graduated from San Diego State University in August of 2008 with a BFA in Dance. She received the Outstanding Student Award in Dance and went on to receive the Outstanding Student Award in the College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts. Upon her EOP Graduation Reception, she received the Outstanding Community Service Award for working with children and dance in the community. While attending SDSU, Alicia was a part of the University Dance Company and has had the privilege of working with Leslie Seiters, Joe Alter, and Patricia Sandback. During her time with the company she toured and performed in Mexico, Germany, Switzerland, and Poland. Alicia also performs with Domino Affect Dance Company, and currently teaches and choreographs throughout the greater Long Beach area. This is Alicia's first year with NBDT and she welcomes new opportunities and experiences with the company.
 Clare Bayens / Photo by Liz Thompson Clare Bayens began her extensive training in ballet, tap, jazz, and modern at the age of 4 in Houston, Texas. During the summer seasons, she continued her studies at University of the Arts, Gourcher College's Summer Arts program, Alvin Ailey's Summer Intensive Program, Bates Dance Festival, and most recently at Praxis Dance Project. Under the direction of Loretta Livingston, Donald McKayle, Bob Boross, and Diane Diefenderfer, she graduated in 2006 with a BFA in Performance from the University of California, Irvine. Since that time, she has performed with Kybele Dance Theater and Grounding Point Dance Company.
 Claire Hanson / Photo by Liz Thompson A native of Dallas, Texas, Claire began her dance training at an early age at Dallas Ballet Center, joined City Dance Theatre (a pre-professional ballet company), and in 1990 had the opportunity to work with Paul Mejia and the Fort Worth Ballet. She continued her education and training at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, enabling her to work with such artists as Donald McKayle, Ann Reinking, Bella Lewitsky, Paul Taylor, Newtown School for Performing Arts in Sydney, Australia, and numerous others. In 2001, Claire received her BA in Dance and Art History from Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, and then returned to Texas to become a jazz instructor at the Hathaway Academy of Ballet. In 2002, Claire moved to Los Angeles and became a founding member of Meh-Tropolis Dance Theatre and has since danced with numerous other Los Angeles companies including Faux Pas, Intersection Dance Project and Visceral Resolution. Currently, utilizing her Art History background, Claire works in the Antiquities Conservation Department at the J. Paul Getty Museum-Villa. Claire is very excited and honored to be working with the Nannette Brodie Dance Theatre.
 Cristina Kole / Photo by Liz Thompson Originally from New Jersey, Cristina has danced her way south of the border, then west, and finally ending up in California. Cristina danced with Plexus Dance Theatre in Ojai, performing and teaching throughout Ventura County. After a hiatus from the dance world, Cristina returned to school and received her BA in Dance from California State University, Long Beach. Throughout her dance career, she has studied and worked alongside many inspirational artists such as Susan McLain, Keith Johnson, Holly Johnston, Marlies Yearby, Patrik Widrig, Isabel Gotzcowsky, Joanna Mendlshaw, Gloria McLean, Art Bridgman, and Myrna Packer. She has also performed works by Sean Curran, and Twyla Tharp's, "The One Hundreds", in New York City. Recently, Cristina has discovered technical theater and lighting design as a complementary passion. She has been a lighting designer for several modern dance concerts. Cristina is happy to be a new member of the Nannette Brodie Dance Theatre this year and is looking forward to an exciting season of performing and teaching.
 Rebecca Leviton / Photo by Liz Thompson Rebecca Leviton is excited to be graduating this year from California State University, Long Beach with a BA in Dance where she studied Modern, Ballet, Jazz, and African dance as well as choreography and lighting design. In 2010, she debut her first original full length choreographic piece, "A Picture of a Girl and an Elephant". She is so thankful for all the life changing and influential knowledge that the whole CSULB Dance Department provided her and she now looks forward to all the new experiences and opportunities that NBDT has to offer. This is her debut performance with the Nannette Brodie Dance Theatre and she has loved the journey so far and can't wait to see what happens next with them!
 Joseph Szekula / Photo by Liz Thompson Joseph recently graduated from Renaissance High School of the Arts. He performed at the Golden West College Concert, “Move Me” in 2010. He currently dances for Encore as well as Nannette Brodie Dance Theatre. The Long Beach Opera project will be his first performance with NBDT. He is excited to be a new member of the company.
Featured Profile: Angelika Nemeth Dance Ensemble  Angelika Nemeth Dance Ensemble The Angelika Nemeth Dance Ensemble (ANDE) is an award-winning world dance company based at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, CA where the Ensemble director and acclaimed dancer, Angelika Nemeth, is on faculty. The Ensemble tours and performs not only in large concert venues but also in the more intimate settings of Middle Eastern weddings, festivals and nightclubs. They have been featured on numerous videos/DVD and in 2007 performed in Cairo, Egypt, at the prestigious international dance festival, “Ahlan Wa Sahlan”. Their repertoire includes a variety of classic and folkloric dances from the Near and Middle East. In the past few years Ms. Nemeth has commissioned renowned choreographers to create regional dances from Kuwait, Lebanon, Iran and India exclusively for her company.
Angelika Nemeth has been traveling and seeking to enhance her knowledge most of her life. For over two decades she has journeyed through the paths and roads of Oriental Dance, and has studied with many notables of Middle Eastern Dance in Egypt and the United States.
Angelika was born in Germany to Austro-Hungarian parents. When she was five years old, the family immigrated to the United States and settled in Pennsylvania. For four years, they lived in Philadelphia. Her community was ethnically diverse with African-Americans, Hispanics and Jewish enclaves mixing with the new European immigrants. This gave her the first taste of other cultures which she found both intriguing and stimulating.
 Angelika Nemeth Dance Ensemble Upon entering the culture of America, Angelika also discovered the world of Hollywood films. The exotic portrayal of Middle Eastern romanticism in such films as Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves took hold of her imagination. She often identified with and fantasized about being the beautiful dancer in such films.
As is often the case, the teen years were tumultuous. Angelika sought refuge and recognition primarily through American rock and roll dancing during that time. "I was a natural street dancer. I would see a move and then go home to practice it in front of the mirror until I got it right." If she had been in the Middle East, the movement vocabulary would have been of the Raks Sharki. But she was in America and the influences of Mother Africa came through Black American rhythm-and-blues inspired Rock and Roll. The beat held ascendancy for Angelika and would be of major importance in her journey to Oriental Dance.
During her junior year in college, Angelika had the opportunity to study in Germany and travel throughout Europe. While at the university in Marburg, she befriended a Persian student who invited her to family gatherings. This experience provided her with an intriguing glimpse into the Persian culture and a lasting fascination for all things Middle Eastern.
 Angelika Nemeth Dance Ensemble After returning to the United States and finishing college, Angelika was offered a position as a high school German teacher in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. But she could not bring herself to sign the contract. Instead, she went to New York City to join the National Maritime Union in order to work on cruise ships and pursue her passion for travel. While working on cruise ships she had the opportunity to travel worldwide. Then a friend suggested that she interview for a position as a flight attendant, which she did, and was hired by World Airways in Oakland, California. After four years, she left her position and moved to Southern California, where she found a belly dance class taught by Feiruz Aram. Feiruz introduced her to Oriental Dance. "I learned the most from her when she just cut loose and danced during class. My strength as an improvisational dancer comes in part from all my lessons with her. Another thing that was an important lesson for me was Feiruz's unconditional love for her students and this dance form."
In 1974, Angelika had an opportunity to give a talk about Middle Eastern dance to the B'nai B'rith in the city of Downey. During her research for this presentation, she was surprised that most of the articles on Oriental Dance were by a dancer named Morocco. Magazines that we now take for granted, such as Habibi and Arabesque, did not exist. Her lecture-demonstration to the B'nai B'rith proved to be a starting point towards a new career; she was hired to teach Middle Eastern Dance at the Downey Community Center in Southern California.
 Angelika Nemeth Dance Ensemble When Feiruz decided to take a sabbatical to Cairo, Egypt, in 1976, she needed someone to teach her class at Long Beach City College. Since Angelika had a teaching degree, she was accepted on Feiruz's recommendation. When Feiruz returned there were actually enough students for two accredited classes. Angelika taught the beginning students, while Feiruz taught the advanced class.
In the late seventies, Orange Coast College (OCC) in Costa Mesa, California, hired Angelika onto the dance faculty to teach Middle Eastern dance. However, at this time, the established dance community as well as the general public did not take Danse Orientale seriously. Therefore, it was not surprising that Angelika's students were not asked to audition for the prestigious annual student dance concert. In order for her students to have a performing outlet, Angelika created her own dance recitals. The first recitals were held in the dance studio in the summer of 1977.
By 1982, the popularity of these recitals necessitated a move from the studio to the larger Fine Arts Recital Hall, and An evening of Middle Eastern Dance was born. For the first time an admission was charged, however, it was still a recital on its way to becoming a concert. There were endless hours of rehearsal and Angelika was always looking for rehearsal space. In 1983, the department chair, Karen Shanley, took notice. She was surprised that Angelika had accomplished so much with so little departmental support. The following year, she gave her a repertoire class which allotted a specific time and place for rehearsals.
 Angelika Nemeth Dance Ensemble The concerts became ever more popular. 1984 saw the expansion of the concert to two performances, Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon. This was necessary, as they had to turn people away at the door the previous year. In 1986 a dance drama/comedy, "Harem Rhapsody" was included in the concert. Agnes Makk was the creatrix of the piece and also did the artwork for the flyers. Angelika fondly remembers, "Agnes was a great inspiration. Her creativity and artistry added a new and exciting dimension to the concerts." Subsequently, Agnes created three more dance/drama pieces. Beside the flyers, she also designed the costumes, stage sets and the lighting for her pieces.
Another individual of whom Angelika speaks with great admiration and respect is Dorothy Hefner, whose dance career dates back to the days of Vaudeville. Angelika relied upon and benefited from Dorothy's expertise and choreographic skills to the extent that Dorothy became an integral part of every production and eventually became her personal dance coach as well. "Another important member of the production team has been Leslie Akers," Angelika adds. "Her talent for writing produced the program notes and press releases. She always had great ideas and solutions to problems."
The venue of the concert was still the 240-seat Recital Hall. Over the years, the director of Community Services at OCC, George Blanc, had taken note of the successful performances given by Angelika and her group. He had repeatedly offered Angelika the prestigious Robert B. Moore Theater, which at that time seated 1200. Angelika had refused for two reasons: she thought the raised proscenium stage would disrupt the connection with the audience and she worried that she could not fill the seats with enough people. But her dreams outweighed her fears and she knew it was a risk that had to be taken. In 1987, the concert moved to the Robert B. Moore Theater. It had taken ten years for the recital to evolve into a bona fide theatre concert.
 Angelika Nemeth By 1987, the concert had become an extravaganza with the pre-production work actually beginning a year and a half in advance with the booking of the theater and special guest artists. There was now such a vast amount of organization in terms of people and paper that Angelika decided to hold the concert every other year. One of the many beneficial outcomes of these concerts was that the Middle Eastern dance students were now invited to audition and perform in the annual student dance concert presented each Spring in the Robert B. Moore Theater.
In order to reach new audiences, Angelika began to include other ethnic dance forms that related to Middle Eastern Dance, i.e., Flamenco and East Indian. By showcasing both Spanish and classical Indian dance in these concerts, she has been instrumental in expanding the World Dance Program at OCC. In 1991, her concert with a show on Saturday and Sunday was attended by almost a thousand people and competed successfully with other professional shows presented in the theater that year.
Angelika had achieved her goal. Her dream was realized. She had produced beautiful, professional quality concerts, which not only entertained, but also educated the public at large about the variety and scope of Middle Eastern Dance. She had learned that with a clear focus, determination and hard work, any goal could be reached, any dream obtained.
The piece that will be performed at the Golden West College Professional Invitational concert was choreographed by company director, Angelika Nemeth. It is a high energy group piece using modern Egyptian techno music and incorporates veils, soulful improvisational solos and ends with an exciting group drum solo with live percussion.
The Golden West College Professional Invitational will take place on February 18 & 19 2011, at 8 pm. It is being held at the Robert B. Moore Theater, which is located on the Orange Coast College campus in Costa Mesa, California. Tickets are $12 for General and $10 for Students; they are available through the OCC Box Office and online at www.occtickets.com.
For more information on the Angelika Nemeth please check out her website: www.AngelikaNemeth.com
In conjunction with the 2011 GWC Professional Invitational, Golden West College and the Nannette Brodie Dance Theater are proud to present the Professional Dance Invitational, Master Class Series. The classes will take place at Dance Asylum Dance Studio in Costa Mesa, California on February 18 & 19, 2011. Classes are $10 each, cash or check. Please read below for more information about each class we will be offering! We hope to see you there.  Photo by Scott Belding
Friday, 2/18 10—11:15------Anandha Ray---Intuitive Technique
Intuitive Technique was developed by Anandha Ray to teach dancers an intuitive mastery of pure technique, this class is based on developing the body's pure, kinesiologically correct technique. It incorporates highly directed improvisational content to unlock the physical blocks to absolute and intuitive technical mastery. A non-stop, highly athletic technique class, it provides the opportunity for each student to experience pure technique in motion through guided movement instructions that expose and re-program blocks to pure technique in the performance arena. It can be attended by all levels but is best suited for intermediate/advanced students.
Anandha founded Moving Arts Dance in 1996, after directing ARK III Dance in California and Arizona from 1980 - 1995. She has choreographed over 50 major works and received national awards including national selection as one of nine choreographers for the prestigious National Dance Festival Award presented at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC (also honored in Dance Magazine, 1986). Her choreography has been presented in honorary concerts across the nation and in Europe. In addition to showcase performances sponsored by the Martha Graham Company, her choreography has been commissioned/performed by Repertory Dance Theater (RDT) of Utah, several universities and colleges, and in festival performances across the United States and in Europe.
She was recently named One of Twenty-One Visionaries for the 21st Century (2000) and one of Twenty-Five Women Arts Visionaries (2004) by Diablo Magazine, as well as being inducted into the Womens Hall of Fame in Contra Costa County, CA (2004).
Ms. Ray has a BA in Dance Education from ASU, two Master of Arts degrees from UCLA (a double major in Choreography and Kinesiology and a second degree in Dance/Movement Therapy). She has guest lectured and served on the faculties of colleges and universities throughout the nation, and was the Director of the Dance Program at Yavapai College 1980-84; Assistant Professor, Director of Dance for the University of the Pacific from 1988-1990; and directed the dance program at Walnut Creek's Civic Arts Education from 1993-2000. She has served as adjudicator for selection committees for the American College Dance Festival, for grants committees, and for many years toured a lecture circuit to festivals and universities across the nation.
She has appeared in television shows and commercials nationally and in France and has performed the choreography of several renowned choreographers including Tandy Beal, Bill Evans, Doris Humphrey, Margaret Jenkins, Cliff Keuter, Alwin Nikolais, and Anna Sokolow among others. She has performed with Moving Arts Dance , ARK III Dance, The Anandha Ray Collective, the UCLA touring Company, A Ludwig Company in AZ, Clarence Teeters and Dancers in NY, ASU's touring Company, and festival and workshop performances across the nation and in Europe. And, in her spare time, she is a wife, mother and grandmother!
 Kenneth Walker Dance Project Friday, 2/18 11:30—1:00----Kenneth Walker---Ballet Technique Class
Kenneth Walker Dance Project was founded in 2004 and incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 2005. KWDP grew out of the former Ballet Pacifica, where Kenneth Walker, a dancer with BP at the time and a few of his colleagues created a show to perform at a festival. The success of this project spawned a collaboration that was brought home to the community in which Kenneth was born. KWDP’s first dancers volunteered their talents and time to grow the organization into an exciting collaborative rather than a traditional company. Kenneth invites the thoughts and ideas of his dancers when creating new works and offers dancers the opportunity to find their own voice within the work. KWDP has a solid reputation for presenting performances which meld collaboration between interesting music, talented dancers and innovative movement to create a meaningful artistic experience.
The company presents annual concerts and in 2008 KWDP successfully produced summer shows at two venues in Los Angeles, both in underserved communities. KWDP has appeared at festivals throughout LA, including the Pasadena Dance Festival, Los Angeles Dance Invitational, Mix Match Festival, Palm Desert Choreography Under the Stars, Central Coast Summerfest, Dance! Now at the Miles Playhouse in Santa Monica, MAD BAD Festival in the San Francisco Bay Area, AAPHERD Southeast Conference in Virginia, Central Coast Summerfest in Monterey, California, American Dance Guild’s annual showcase in New York, and twice at Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC.
Mr. Walker’s choreography has been well received by audiences and respected dance artists alike. John Meehan former director of Hong Kong Ballet, described Walker’s Savage Grace as “…a fun piece, full of energy with some nice choreographic invention” and Alun Jones, former director of Louisville Ballet, called it “tremendous.” Pointe magazine named KWDP’s video collage of their ballet Transient Memory editor’s choice for August 2008Nominated for a 2007 Lester Horton Award for Outstanding Performance by a Company, KWD performs the ballets of Kenneth Walker exclusively to date and is based in the Los Angeles area.
 Photo by Javier Armijo Saturday, 2/19 12—1:30--------Andrew Vaca---Jazz Technique Class
In 1982, Choreographer Dale Scholl created the original Jazzworks – A Dance Company as a vehicle to share her concert jazz dance work with the Sacramento community. Andrew Vaca joined Jazzworks in 1986, and became the Assistant Artistic Director in 1989. In 2005, Vaca began using Jazzworks – Long Beach as a name for his ever-changing group of dancers who presented his work beyond the walls of the CSULB Department of Dance, where he is the Assistant Department Chair. He was thrilled to receive the blessings of Ms. Scholl in presenting his first concert featuring the new Jazzworks in the City of Long Beach last September.
Andrew Vaca is the Artistic Director of Jazzworks – Long Beach, and the Assistant Department Chair of Dance at California State University, Long Beach, where he teaches jazz and modern technique and theory courses.
Vaca has danced with Jazzworks-A Dance Company, Ririe-Woodbury, Keith Johnson/Dancers, BodyTalk, and Roman DanceTheatre, and thanks Dale Scholl, Ron Brown, Pat Catterson, Doug Nielsen, Janis Brenner, Dan Wagoner, Sharon Kinney, Keith Johnson, Terri Best, Cindera Che, and MaDonna Grimes as his most influential teachers. Vaca has choreographed large halftime shows featuring the Goo Goo Dolls, Enrique Iglesias, and Ciara, and also recently choreographed for the Boston Celtic Dancers and the NFL Pro Bowl Cheerleaders. Vaca is thrilled to continue presenting work through Jazzworks-Long Beach, and thanks his beautiful dancers, and Nannette Brodie, for their support and artistry.
Featured Profile: Kelly Roth & Dancers  Kelly Roth & Dancers From Las Vegas, choreographer Kelly Roth is honored to present his company in two recent works at this year’s Golden West College Professional Invitational Dance Concert. An excerpt from his recent creation based on the book of Jonah, the work features the company dancing the light-hearted “Sailors of Joppa,” with a commissioned score by contemporary Norwegian composer Thor Ellyk, recorded by the Oslo New Music Ensemble.
In strikingly abstract contrast, an excerpt from the Mahler Project, part of a two year celebration of the life of composer Gustav Mahler, casts Kelly Roth & Dancers in interplay of ever shifting spatial and sculptural relationships.
Kelly Roth & Dancers is in residence at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas. The company fluctuates in size depending on project needs. The post-modern repertory is generated by choreographer Kelly Roth and covers a wide variety of subject matter and approaches from pure abstraction to dance theatre with an often comedic flare.
 Kelly Roth & Dancers Kelly Roth & Dancers was founded in New York City in 1978, giving its debut performance in January of the following year at Lincoln Square. Since Mr. Roth's departure from the city in 1985 the company has followed him to various locations across the United States, including Arizona, Wisconsin, and for the past several years in Nevada. As a now western-based organization, Mr. Roth & company have appeared at the Avignon Festival in France, the International Choreographic Festival in Mexico City, the Prague Dance and Theatre Festival, the Dance Grand Prix Italia, the Barcelona Dance Awards, and to frequent engagements around the western United States.
Kelly Roth was born in Carmel, California. As an adolescent, lessons in karate followed by ballet studies at the Arizona Academy of Dancing, under the direction of Mary Moe Adams, a Royal Academy of Dance examiner, led to a Ford Foundation Scholarship at the San Francisco Ballet where at eighteen he was asked to join the company. In 1976 Mr. Roth moved to New York City, commencing an intensive artistic apprenticeship under modern dance legends Murray Louis, Alwin Nikolais, and Hanya Holm, at the Nikolais/Louis Dance Theatre Lab.
 Kelly Roth & Dancers Since then he has choreographed and performed globally in a variety of settings with dance companies including those of Murray Louis, Robert Small, and his own company, Kelly Roth & Dancers in New York City, as well as Danse Theatre Susan Buirge in Paris, City Contemporary Dance Company in Hong Kong, and Danse Partout in Quebec. Mr. Roth has also taught at Coker College, Texas Woman’s University, Mesa Community College, The University of Wisconsin, and Arizona State University where he received his MFA in dance and was honored as the Outstanding Graduate of the Graduate College.
In 1995, Mr. Roth was invited to relocate to Las Vegas in order to build a dance program for the College of Southern Nevada. In addition to his duties as Head of the CSN Dance Program, he continues to choreograph for such organizations as the Las Vegas Civic Ballet and Desert Dance Theatre, and appears as guest artist with various companies including Nevada Ballet Theatre, The Nannette Brodie Dance Theatre and A Ludwig Dance Theatre. With co-founder Kyla Quintero, Roth created the Dance in the Desert Festival in 1999. Heralding the event, which attracts participants from across the nation, CALLBACK observed, “One thing is certain, dance lovers who miss the annual Festival, as directed by Kelly Roth, do themselves a disservice because it always offers innovative, exciting performances in varied dance styles and disciplines.” In his ongoing role as Artistic Director of Kelly Roth & Dancers he has taken his mixed choreographic bag of literal and abstract narratives to the Avignon Festival in France, to the International Choreographic Festival in Mexico City, the Prague Festival in the Czech Republic and to frequent engagements in California, Arizona, and Utah.
 Kelly Roth & Dancers In June 2003, Kelly Roth and company received first prizes for Choreography and Best Contemporary Dance Presentation at the Dance Grand Prix Italia in Cesena, Italy. In Spain, the company gleaned the silver cup for dance theatre at the Barcelona Dance Awards, 2006. Described in Dance Spirit Magazine as “one of the most exciting modern dancers and choreographers on today’s dance scene,” Mr. Roth was also cited by the Nevada Arts Council for “high artistic achievement,” and awarded a prestigious Nevada Artist’s Fellowship for 2005. City Life magazine’s recent Best of the Valley 2008 issue designated Roth as Las Vegas’ “best local choreographer.” Evaluating Mr. Roth’s impact on the cultural climate of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas dance critic, Hal de Becker, stated, “CSN and the community at large are fortunate to possess a creative artist of his caliber.”
The Golden West College Professional Invitational will take place on February 18 & 19 2011, at 8 pm. It is being held at the Robert B. Moore Theater, which is located on the Orange Coast College campus in Costa Mesa, California. Tickets are $12 for General and $10 for Students; they are available through the OCC Box Office and online at www.occtickets.com.
For more information on the Kelly Roth & Dancers please check out their website: http://sites.csn.edu/kroth/
Featured Profile: Luminario Ballet  Luminario Ballet Luminario Ballet is a contemporary ballet company, under the direction of Judith FLEX Helle. The company is also able to present classic modern dance repertory and aerial dance. Our dancers live in LA, but come from everywhere, representing the region's diversity and excitement. Our choreographers range from the classically inspired, such as San Francisco Ballet’s Michael Smuin and Polish ballet Maestro Stefan Wenta, to edgy, contemporary choreographers such as Josie Walsh and Jamal Story.
Judith FLEX Helle began dancing, choreographing, and producing in 1980 in Berlin, Germany with her concert modern company, FLEX. She danced with the Deutsche Opera Berlin for 6 years, performed in film, TV and music videos, as well as spent 3 years touring internationally with Brazilian Follies.
 Luminario Ballet In addition, she performed as a trapeze artist internationally in circuses, theatrical productions, and other settings. Judith FLEX Helle is best known in SoCal for her collaboration with rock and cirque world colleagues on her aerial ballet, LedZAerial, which received input by rock gods, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.
Judith FLEX Helle started Luminario Ballet of Los Angeles in Dec 2008, with a foundation grant from the Charles Evans Foundation, NYC, and donations from supporters like you.
 Luminario Ballet Since then, Luminario Ballet has performed for over 15,000 people, around Southern California in repertory shows and guest spots at festivals, presenting original and revival choreography. Last spring, the LA Philharmonic commissioned Luminario Ballet to perform a piece, choreographed by Judith FLEX Helle, with the orchestra at the Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of its Toyota Symphony for Youth series.
Luminario Ballet is also at the forefront of the synergy between aerial and dance with Judith FLEX Helle's "LedZAerial" and with Alexandre Magno's (So You Think You Can Dance; Madonna) premiere of his first combined aerial/ballet piece in 2010.
LBLA had a busy 2010 year, performing Copland's "Rodeo" and Ginestera's "Estancia" on Apr 10 & 17. Their repertory shows at the Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood and UC Irvine's Claire Trevor Theatre featured three world premieres: "If the Walls Could Scream" (Jamal Story), "Cheers Darling" (Alexandre Magno) and "Fantasy on Polish Airs" (Stefan Wenta), a homage to Chopin's 200th birthday.
2010 Revivals included "TURF" (1991) by LA modern dance legend Bella Lewitsky, staged by John Pennington; and "Bouquet" (1981) by Michael Smuin, San Francisco Ballet's former co-director.
 Luminario Ballet The international highlight of the season found Luminario at Orange County Performing Arts Center for a choreography workshop with Nacho Duato's Compania Nacional de Danza, Madrid. Following last year's successful workshop with CND2, Luminario was excited to be in studio learning more choreography. In upcoming seasons, Luminario Ballet hopes to acquire a piece from this detailed, emotional and technically demanding choreographer.
At this year’s 2011 GWC Professional Invitational, Luminario Ballet will be performing both Friday and Saturday. They will be performing a short excerpt from "If the Walls Could Scream", choreographed by Jamal Story for Luminario Ballet 2010 on Friday, and on Saturday they will be performing a work from San Francisco Ballet's Michael Smuin, choreographed in 1981, titled "Bouquet". Both pieces should not be missed.
 Luminario Ballet The Golden West College Professional Invitational will take place on February 18 & 19 2011, at 8 pm. It is being held at the Robert B. Moore Theater, which is located on the Orange Coast College campus in Costa Mesa, California. Tickets are $12 for General and $10 for Students; they are available through the OCC Box Office and online at www.occtickets.com.
For more information on the Luminario Ballet please check out their website: http://www.luminarioballet.org/
Featured Profile: Nevada Repertory Dance Theater "Let it Rain, a powerful solo By Marko Westwood....Westwood demonstrated his complete control of his instrument...,yet never allowed his technique to overwhelm the emotional charge of the dance" -Geri Jeter - Las Vegas Weekly  Nevada Repertory Dance Theater
Nevada Repertory Dance Theater is a fresh new company emerging in the Vegas valley and has hit the ground running. Since it's inception in 2010, Artistic Director, Marko Westwood has had the company involved in benefit concerts for the Ronald McDonald House, Miley Achievement Center, Las Vegas Annual Book Festival and recently, THANKS: An emergency benefit that helped raise money for an elderly couple who were on the brink of eviction. NRDT has performed in over 15 concerts/ performances in less than a year and Mr. Westwood sees no reason to stop, as their season is full from now until 2012.
 Nevada Repertory Dance Theater Nevada Repertory Dance Theater’s mission is to create, develop and perform the art of dance as conceived by choreographer Marko Westwood. In doing so, they strive to cultivate a passionate and captive audience in the Las Vegas valley that is inspired to appreciate all art forms. NRDT has begun building a foundation for dancers, choreographers, and the public to support dance and the arts in Las Vegas and beyond. NRDT is a modern/contemporary based company welcoming the fusion of ballet, jazz, ethnic and hip-hop vocabulary into their work. The company plans on inviting in guest artist that will continue to accentuate the diversity of the already existing repertoire.
Marko Westwood, the company's Artistic Director has been bringing artists together for the last two decades, first under United Dance Experience and than with Westwood and Dancers. Seeing the need to cultivate an official company, Mr. Westwood began taking the necessary steps to build this foundation.
 Nevada Repertory Dance Theater Beginning his choreographic journey some years ago, Marko has made the conscious decision to constantly redefine his approach to dance with each piece, never trying to duplicate what he had done earlier. In doing so, Mr. Westwood has gone from musical theater to deep, visceral contemporary dance in the blink of an eye.
Marko instills the same ideology into his company, challenging them to think not only outside the box, but also to look deep inside it to explore new and inventive ways to create movement, to step away from what is comfortable and to investigate, formulate and forge fresh, untraveled paths to produce movement.
This years selected work for the Golden West Invitational is entitled “Addiction” and it is a piece comprised of a movement quality Marko has referred to over the last few years as “mod-hop”, a fusion of modern based movement and hip-hop. This years selected work for the Golden West Invitational is entitled “Addiction” and it is a piece comprised of a movement quality Marko has referred to over the last few years as “mod-hop”, a fusion of modern based movement and hip-hop.
 Nevada Repertory Dance Theater Most of us believe that an addiction is substance based, but we fail to realize that an addiction can be about one's personal feelings of loneliness and the length they go through to remain in a situation that is ultimately detrimental to their life.
The Golden West College Professional Invitational will take place on February 18 & 19 2011, at 8 pm. It is being held at the Robert B. Moore Theater, which is located on the Orange Coast College campus in Costa Mesa, California. Tickets are $12 for General and $10 for Students; they are available through the OCC Box Office and online at www.occtickets.com.
For more information on the Nevada Repertory Dance Theater please check out their website: http://nrdtlv.org/index.html
Featured Profile: Jazzworks - Long Beach  Jazzworks - Long Beach In 1982, Choreographer Dale Scholl created the original Jazzworks – A Dance Company as a vehicle to share her concert jazz dance work with the Sacramento community. Andrew Vaca joined Jazzworks in 1986, and became the Assistant Artistic Director in 1989. In 2005, Vaca began using Jazzworks – Long Beach as a name for his ever-changing group of dancers who presented his work beyond the walls of the CSULB Department of Dance, where he is the Assistant Department Chair. He was thrilled to receive the blessings of Ms. Scholl in presenting his first concert featuring the new Jazzworks in the City of Long Beach last September.
Andrew Vaca is the Artistic Director of Jazzworks – Long Beach, and the Assistant Department Chair of Dance at California State University, Long Beach, where he teaches jazz and modern technique and theory courses.
 Jazzworks - Long Beach Vaca has danced with Jazzworks-A Dance Company, Ririe-Woodbury, Keith Johnson/Dancers, BodyTalk, and Roman DanceTheatre, and thanks Dale Scholl, Ron Brown, Pat Catterson, Doug Nielsen, Janis Brenner, Dan Wagoner, Sharon Kinney, Keith Johnson, Terri Best, Cindera Che, and MaDonna Grimes as his most influential teachers. Vaca has choreographed large halftime shows featuring the Goo Goo Dolls, Enrique Iglesias, and Ciara, and also recently choreographed for the Boston Celtic Dancers and the NFL Pro Bowl Cheerleaders. Vaca is thrilled to continue presenting work through Jazzworks-Long Beach, and thanks his beautiful dancers, and Nannette Brodie, for their support and artistry.
“Fences” is a dark mass of swirling emotions brought out to play on the stage. Inspired by the end of a relationship, and the amazing music of Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand, Tanita Tikaram, and Antigone Rising, “Fences” depicts the frustration of an end without notice, and the strength it takes to come back to play the game of life.
 Jazzworks - Long Beach “Fences” was originally choreographed in 2005, but the version being presented in the GWC Invitational is a new rendition, streamlined to emphasize how a person lost in her own pathos can find her own way out. Vaca would like to acknowledge the support of the CSULB Department of Dance in the production of Fences, and Liz Pelster for her beautiful costuming.
The Jazzworks – Long Beach dancers performing in the GWC Invitational are Angelynn Bair, Erin Butkivich, Emily Edgell, Vanessa Johnson, Danae McWatt, Rhetta Nelson, Madeleine Roell, and Sophia Sosa. Each dancer worked with Vaca as a student at CSULB, and seven of the eight performers are graduates of the CSULB Department of Dance. This is their first season dancing with Jazzworks.
The Golden West College Professional Invitational will take place on February 18 & 19 2011, at 8 pm. It is being held at the Robert B. Moore Theater, which is located on the Orange Coast College campus in Costa Mesa, California. Tickets are $12 for General and $10 for Students; they are available through the OCC Box Office and online at www.occtickets.com.
Featured Profile: Kenneth Walker Dance Project “The choreography of Kenneth Walker is original, versatile, intelligent, and well crafted. Mr. Walker is a choreographer to watch.” – Diane Lauridsen, Artistic Director of South Bay Ballet and Lauridsen Ballet Centre
 Kenneth Walker Dance Project Kenneth Walker Dance Project is a contemporary ballet company dedicated to the expression of the modern condition through the lens of the classical vocabulary. The company was founded in 2004 and incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 2005.
The vision of KWDP is to bring the artist and audience to the poetics of the human condition. Inherent in this vision are several tensions: taking artistic risks without leaving our audience behind, managing financial stability while allowing for artistic experimentation, being sensitive to the community while recognizing that ballet is not a mass art form. We believe the transforming capacity of art and its power to affect human life will fulfill these objectives.
 Kenneth Walker Dance Project To achieve its mission the company will: Provide a breadth of dance experience, create original dance works, engage with the audience via the work and dance literacy, and build upon the ballet tradition to create a more expansive form of expression.
KWDP grew out of the former Ballet Pacifica, where Kenneth Walker, a dancer with BP at the time and a few of his colleagues created a show to perform at a festival. The success of this project spawned a collaboration that was brought home to the community in which Kenneth was born. KWDP’s first dancers volunteered their talents and time to grow the organization into an exciting collaborative rather than a traditional company. Kenneth invites the thoughts and ideas of his dancers when creating new works and offers dancers the opportunity to find their own voice within the work. KWDP has a solid reputation for presenting performances which meld collaboration between interesting music, talented dancers and innovative movement to create a meaningful artistic experience.
 Kenneth Walker Dance Project The company presents annual concerts and in 2008 KWDP successfully produced summer shows at two venues in Los Angeles, both in underserved communities. KWDP has appeared at festivals throughout LA, including the Pasadena Dance Festival, Los Angeles Dance Invitational, Mix Match Festival, Palm Desert Choreography Under the Stars, Central Coast Summerfest, Dance! Now at the Miles Playhouse in Santa Monica, MAD BAD Festival in the San Francisco Bay Area, AAPHERD Southeast Conference in Virginia, Central Coast Summerfest in Monterey, California, American Dance Guild’s annual showcase in New York, and twice at Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC.
Mr. Walker’s choreography has been well received by audiences and respected dance artists alike. John Meehan director of Hong Kong Ballet, described Walker’s Savage Grace as “…a fun piece, full of energy with some nice choreographic invention” and Alun Jones, former director of Louisville Ballet, called it “tremendous.” Pointe magazine named KWDP’s video collage of their ballet Transient Memory editor’s choice for August 2008.
 Kenneth Walker Dance Project Nominated for a 2007 Lester Horton Award for Outstanding Performance by a Company, KWDP performs the ballets of Kenneth Walker exclusively to date and is based in the Los Angeles area.
This beautiful contemporary ballet company will be bringing the final two movements of a dance called “All That Glitters”, to the 2011 Golden West College Professional Invitational.
The Golden West College Professional Invitational will take place on February 18 & 19 2011, at 8 pm. It is being held at the Robert B. Moore Theater, which is located on the Orange Coast College campus in Costa Mesa, California. Tickets are $12 for General and $10 for Students; they are available through the OCC Box Office and online at www.occtickets.com.
For more information on the Kenneth Walker Dance Project please check out their website: www.kennethwalkerdanceproject.org
Featured Profile: Intersect Dance Theatre  Intersect Dance Theatre 2010/11 Intersect Dance Theatre (IDT) is proud to be Riverside’s first regional Contemporary company. IDT is multi-genre with a focus of blending the vocabularies of modern dance and contemporary ballet. The company features both Riverside Community College students as well as professional dancers from across Southern California. The company is led by Sofia Carerras and Mark Haines.
Sofia Carerras was born in Barcelona, raised in Geneva, Switzerland, where she received her early training at the Ecole de Danse du Grand Theatre de Geneve. She began her professional career at age 13 at the Geneva Opera House performing alongside Mikhail Barishnikov, and working under the direction of George Balanchine in his staging of Coppelia.
 Intersect Dance Theatre Encouraged to move to the US she then trained with Alonzo King of Lines, performed for the San Francisco Ballet and was a soloist for the Sacramento Ballet. Gradually recovering from an injury that ended her professional career, she trained with Ballet West and began her education at the University of Utah. She earned a BA in English with a minor in Theatre from Sacramento State University. She spent a year in the graduate modern dance program at Mills College before transferring to UC Irvine in the ballet program. She graduated from UCI with an MFA in dance in 2001.
She has taught in several schools and companies in Southern California, including Riverside Ballet Arts, Inland Pacific Ballet and Ballet Etudes of Huntington Beach where she served as Artistic Director. Her choreography has been performed at the International Ballet Competition (Varna, Bulgaria), the American Grand Prix in New York, and in venues throughout California. As an Associate Professor of Dance at RCC, Sofia is passionate about giving back what she had received along the way to her community.
 Intersect Dance Theatre Working alongside Sofia, is Mark A. Haines who has been the Co-Artistic Director and resident choreographer for the Riverside regional modern/ballet company, Intersect Dance Theatre for the past 2 years. He has been teaching dance in Southern California and around the nation for the past 20 years, working with dance companies in Washington, Colorado, South Carolina, and California as well as choreographing for television, Industrials and Musical Theater.
After years of performing throughout the United States and Europe as an entertainer with King’s Productions and Princess Cruise Lines, Mark began his formal dance training at Riverside City College under the tutelage of Jo Dierdorff and Rita Chenoweth. He has since graduated from Cornish College of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance, and completed a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from University of California, Irvine, with an emphasis in Lighting Design. Currently, Mark is an Associate Professor of Dance at Riverside City College.
 Intersect Dance Theatre Intersect aims to create and occupy the space where historically distinct genres can coexist. Envisioning a differentiated art form, Intersect is committed to drawing on the emerging talents of local students, developing talents of choreographers and dancers from different backgrounds with the help of experts from varied genres.
It is this commitment which allows Intersect to appropriately represent innovative art to the world of diverse communities throughout Greater Riverside area, the Inland Empire and Southern California regionally. The meeting of past and future, classical and avant-garde, professional and student, define Intersect and its bold new/innovative direction for dance as art.
The company invites real people – such as dancers on stage of all ages, backgrounds, gender and form – to become part of the exciting blend of human form exploring art and offering it back to their community.
 Intersect Dance Theatre For our 2011 Golden West Professional Invitational, Intersect Dance Theatre will be performing their piece “Losing Port”. Using a vocabulary of everyday pedestrian gestures and set against a haunting score by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Intersect Dance Theatre’s Losing Port is an emotionally compelling exploration of a world faced with vanishing interpersonal relationship skills.
The Golden West College Professional Invitational will take place on February 18 & 19 2011, at 8 pm. It is being held at the Robert B. Moore Theater, which is located on the Orange Coast College campus in Costa Mesa, California. Tickets are $12 for General and $10 for Students; they are available through the OCC Box Office and online at www.occtickets.com.
For more information on Intersect Dance Theatre please check out their website: www.intersectdancetheatre.com
Featured Profile: Desert Dance Theatre  Photo by Heather Hill Desert Dance Theatre is a contemporary dance company that was founded in 1979 by four Arizona State University Dance Graduates. Currently, the company is under the artistic direction of Lisa R. Chow, Marion Kirk Jones, Renee Davis and Step Raptis.
Lisa R. Chow, received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Arizona State University in 1988. In 1990, she received ASU’s Outstanding Alumna award for “A Tribute to Ethnic Women in the Arts and Sciences.” She has studied many modern dance techniques such as Graham, Horton, Nikolais, Cunningham, and Hawkins. Ms. Chow serves as Desert Dance Theatre’s artistic director, company manager, choreographer, performer and educator, and has toured with the company throughout Arizona, Mexico and neighboring states since 1983. She was the first Vice-President on the board of the Arizona Dance Arts Alliance, and since 2000 she has coordinated the Annual Arizona Contemporary Dance Festival, currently called the Arizona Dance Festival. She is one of the founders and Vice-President of the Arizona Dance Coalition, a newly formed web-based non-profit organization that supports dance resources throughout Arizona.
 Desert Dance Theatre / Photo by Heather Hill Also heading up this Arizona company is Marion Kirk Jones, who is a Professor Emeritus of Dance at Arizona State University. Jones was a member of the Lester Horton Dance Company in NYC and has taught at several universities including: Cornell University, Purdue University, University of Rochester, and the Cranbrook Institutions of Michigan. Her studies included intensive work with modern dancers: Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, Hanya Holm, Ted Shawn, and Louis Horst. She received her ballet training at the School of American Ballet with George Balanchine, Anatol Oboukhoff, Pierre Vladimiroff, and Muriel Stewart. Ms. Jones has choreographed many works for Desert Dance Theatre since its founding in 1979. She became Artistic Director for Desert Dance Theatre in 1988, and has been sharing those responsibilities with Lisa R. Chow and Renee Davis since 1993. In addition to her career in dance, Jones is on the Board of Directors of the Arizona Institute for Peace Education and Research.
 Desert Dance Theatre / Photo by Heather Hill Renee Davis joined Desert Dance Theatre in 1986. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance from the University of Maryland where she performed with Maryland Dance Theatre. Renee has performed with Dancing Plus, at the Nat Horne Musical Theatre in New York City, Murray Spalding Movement Arts in Washington D.C. and Baltimore Dance Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland. Her work with Desert Dance Theatre has included choreography and costume design for many productions. Renee relocated to Austin, Texas in 1998 and since then she recently formed the Circle of Friends Dance Collective through funding received by the City of Austin under the auspices of the Austin Arts Commission and the Texas Commission of the Arts. As an Associate Artistic Director and performer, Renee loves returning to Arizona several times a year to continue her work with Desert Dance Theatre.
 Desert Dance Theatre / Photo by Heather Hill Lastly, Step Raptis, who is originally from Detroit, has lived in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and New York. He currently resides in Mesa, Arizona with his wife, Lisa Chow. He has worked with Le Groupe de la Place Royale, Toronto Dance Theatre, Danny Grossman, Louis Falco, Jennifer Muller and Christopher Hyde. He also worked at Concordia College and N.Y.U.’s Tisch School of Dance. Raptis is currently a member of the world music ensemble, Meadowlark. He also performs his own works through Step’s Junk Funk which debuted at the Arizona Dance Festival in January 2006. Step has composed several music compositions for Desert Dance Theatre as well as contributing as a choreographer.
These four talented leaders continue to take Desert Dance Theatre on new and exciting journeys. The Company has an eclectic variety of dances in their current repertory, which range from classical, comical, abstract and theatrical. The company is comprised of experienced performers, choreographers and enthusiastic educators who strive to bring the openness, spontaneity and diversity of dance to the public. The company offers a variety of quality programs to schools and communities that are inspiring, entertaining and educational, including: master classes, lecture demonstrations and performances.
 Photo by Heather Hill Desert Dance Theatre also specializes in theme-related programs that focus on cultural diversity and about the lives of prominent people who have fought for freedom in America, through the form of music/dance/dramas. Through its Guest Choreographer Series, the company also performs commissioned works by choreographers of national and international acclaim. The new works continue to enhance the diversity of the current repertory.
For their performance at the 2011 GWC Professional Invitational on February 18 and 19, 2011, Desert Dance Theatre will be performing their work “Let Go.” “Let Go” is a journey that each person may take in their life. We sometimes reach for things that are out of our control, and hold on to emotions that may hold us back. So in essence, we must let go in order to move forward.
This talented company will be performing at the Golden West College Professional Invitational, which takes place on February 18 & 19 2011, at 8 pm. It is being held at the Robert B. Moore Theater, which is located on the Orange Coast College campus in Costa Mesa, California. Tickets are $12 for General and $10 for Students; they are available through the OCC Box Office and online at www.occtickets.com.
For more information on Desert Dance Theatre, please check out their website: www.desertdancetheatre.org
|
RSS Feed