SKIDMORE DANCE NEWSLETTER

The Skidmore Dance Department is committed to improving communication and transparency in our department. Therefore, we will be frequently sending a newsletter to our student body to share upcoming events, departmental action items, and other reports. We hope this is the first of many steps to engage more openly as a community!

We are thrilled to have Urban Bush Women virtually visit our department this semester to engage in a BOLD workshop with our community. This workshop is mandatory for all students registered in technique classes levels 2-4 and will take place on Sunday 3/28 from 2pm-3:30pm. Zoom links will be distributed via email closer to the workshop date. We look forward to learning from and with you during this important event! https://www.urbanbushwomen.org/bold

We are pleased to have the Doug Varone Dance Company present a series of virtual workshops this Spring Semester Sponsored through the office of Special Programs

https://www.dovadance.org/

Saturday 2/20 – Virtual Showing and Q & A at 7pm

https://skidmore.zoom.us/j/91703325218#success

Monday 2/22 – Modern 3 @ 10:30am

Modern 3 @ 5:25pm

Tuesday 2/23 – Modern 2 @ 11:45am

Choreography 1 @ 1:10pm

Modern 4 @ 4:45pm

Thursday 2/25 – Modern 4 @ 4:45pm

What Does it Mean to Be Moved?

Join Ensemble Connect for an immersive journey—in collaboration with contemporary dance artist Wendell Gray II and director Isabella LoRusso—that explores music’s power to physically and emotionally move people. Including a structured improvisation based on body movements, engage with the music at home to see how it inspires movement and how movement inspires music. The event also features works by Boulanger, Boulogne, Paquito D’Rivera, Hindemith, Koechlin, Komitas, and Villa-Lobos.

Watch on Facebook or YouTube

March 1st 8-9pm

Come talk with Dance Majors & Minors and Faculty about opportunities for students majoring and minoring in dance, as well as classes, workshops, research, and performance opportunities.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://skidmore.zoom.us/j/99608264344?pwd=azE2d05LTEx6VGNRS3FoMmZFMHIwZz09

Anti-Racism Training

This Spring, the department faculty and staff are engaging in an Anti-Racism educational program led by Kasey Catlett, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the College of the Holy Cross. The Department met for the first of five sessions on Jan 22nd and will engage in an additional four workshops (one per month) throughout the semester.

Spring Virtual Guest Artist Series

Led by Prof. Erika Pujic, the department has been working to set up an extensive virtual guest artist workshop series for the Spring semester! We'd like to thank Prof. Pujic for her work in organizing this fantastic line up of guests artists for us to work with. Please see details of this series in the 'Departmental Events' below.

Studio Usage Policies

The department is working to clarify the studio usage policies for the remainder of the semester. Due to COVID restrictions, the dance studios/ theater space can only be reserved by seniors working on dance related Capstone projects. We hope to make studio space more readily available in the future as we are all eager to get back to doing more of our favorite thing - dancing!!

The student committee met with Prof. DiPasquale and Prof. Ohlberg on Friday 2/11 from 10-11am to review policies and procedures for the committee moving forward. The committee will be discussing the document presented at this meeting and will reconvene to further discuss in Mid March. We look forward to sharing additional news and notes from the student committee in this newsletter each month.

The senior Capstone class is hard at work engaging in their projects this semester! Jaiyue Hong, Elodie Linck, Kathleen Oakley, Allai Regan, and Sofia Saenz will presenting their work in late April. The details of those performances will be forthcoming due to the uncertainty of the pandemic. Despite these unknowns, please mark your calendars for Friday April 23rd at 7pm for a showing of their work!

The first of two community forums for the Spring Semester was held on Monday Feb 16th and led by Kasey Catlett, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the College of the Holy Cross. Students shared their voices and the need for change within the department. We hope you will join us for the next Community Forum on Wednesday March 24th at 7pm.

Erika Pujič is choreographing a new work with an original score by Carl Landa for Brown University's Festival of Dance which will premiere in a live virtual performance on March 20, 2021. She will also be dancing in a new work by New Mexico native lisa nevada on the same program. Erika is also staging Robert Battle's Rush Hour on the dancers at Queensborough Community College which will be part of a virtual performance in mid-May.

Carl Landa was the accompanist at the Doug Varone Virtual Winter Intensive 2021

https://www.dovadance.org/events/virtual-winter-intensive-2021

Prof. Sarah DiPasquale recently published a paper in Research in Dance Education with dance alumni Meaghan Wood '17. https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/AKIKKM3XMKQUBKEW7XZR/full?target=10.1080/14647893.2021.1884673 Prof. DiPasquale presented at the Skidmore Board of Trustees meeting on Feb 17th discussing the use of remote and hyflex models of teaching in dance pedagogy.

Professor Jason Ohlberg has published an in-practice academic paper in the Journal of Dance Education entitled “Rethinking Technique: Considering Visual, Oral, And Movement Literacy to Promote Technical Skill and Artistic Growth”. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15290824.2020.1866761

Prof. Ohlberg will be presenting on a teaching panel "Adventures and Experiences in Virtual Teaching" to Skidmore retired faculty and staff on March 19th.

Questions or comments? Please contact Associate Chair of Dance Sarah DiPasquale at below contact info to set up an appointment.

Email: sdipasqu@skidmore.edu
Website: https://www.skidmore.edu/dance/index.php
Location: 815 North Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY, USA
Phone: 518 580 5360
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SkidmoreDance