Ƶ University Presents “Dance Spectrum” April 27 to 30
Ƶ University’s Theatre and Dance Program will present “Dance Spectrum” April 27 to 30, 2017 at the Ƶ University Performing Arts Center, William Granger Ryan Theatre. Join the cast and crew for a reception after the opening night performance on April 27. There will be a talkback with choreographers and dancers following the Friday evening performance. Tickets are $16, with student and group rates available. Call the Ƶ Performing Arts Center Box Office for tickets at 724-552-2929 or purchase tickets online at www.setonhill.edu/tickets.
Performances: Thursday, April 27, 8 p.m.; Friday, April 28, 8 p.m.; Saturday, April 29, 8 p.m. and Sunday, April 30, 2 p.m.
“Dance Spectrum” presents a variety of choreographic styles, from ballet to jazz, modern to tap with some surprises thrown in the mix. The various pieces represent the spectrum of dance and feature solo, duet and ensemble numbers.
In addition to Ƶ student dancers, Dominic DeFabo is from Crabtree, Pa., will be performing. He is a junior at Hempfield High School and studies dance with Laurel Ballet.
ճ Ƶ student company of “Dance Spectrum” includes dancers Madyson Baer of Lewisberry, Pa.; Luc Bouille of Greensburg, Pa.; Hanna Brandebura of Carnegie, Pa.; Alyssa Brown of Amityville, NY; Sarah Chelli of Lawrence, Pa.; Bayley Clark of Charleroi, Pa.; Jamie Corbett of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Carrie Ellis of Ligonier, Pa.; Angela Emanuele of Greensburg, Pa.; Michele Gala of McKeesport, Pa.; Kelsey Greco of Beaver Falls, Pa.; Jessica Hanson of Bethel Park, Pa.; Zuri Hodge of Verona, Pa.; Nicole Holland of Kersey, Pa.; Jessica Joos of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Elizabeth Kealey of Harrisburg, Pa.; Laura Kerestes of Irwin, Pa.; Adriana LaMantia of Blairsville, Pa.; Lindsey Lawrence of Carnegie, Pa.; Alexis Martin of Granville Summitt, Pa.; Hannah Barkley-Mastalski of Jeannette, Pa.; Elizabeth Miller of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Sydney Molter of Jeannette, Pa.; Paige Overly of North Huntingdon, Pa.; Jamie Pasquinelli of Jefferson Hills; Chelsea Pawlak of Belle Vernon, Pa.; Taylor Puc of North Huntingdon, Pa.; Amber Riggin of Uniontown, Pa.; Emily Ritchey of Roaring Spring, Pa.; Kayla Sweigard of Erie, Pa.; Megan Vichich of Cranberry Township, Pa.; and Shane Wiseman of Elizabeth, Pa.
The Ƶ student production and technical staff includes Kathleen Adler of Springdale, Pa., paint and props crew; Jessie Belding of Waynesburg, Pa., scene shop staff; Elena Bravo of Pittsburgh, Pa., costume shop crew; Molly Carbone of Allentown, Pa., show electrician; Nicole Castelli of Canonsburg, Pa., dresser; Victorious Collymore-Bey of Spring Valley, N.Y., hair and make-up manager; Sarah Como of South Park, Pa., scene shop staff; Ian Denham of Bunola, Pa, show electrician; Brittany Dilliott of Arnold, Pa., costume shop crew; Angela Emanuele of Greensburg, Pa., costume shop crew; Elena Falgione of Glenshaw, Pa., wardrobe manager and costume shop crew; Ashley Filapose of Greensburg, Pa., assistant master carpenter; Tosha Gaumer of Walnutport, Pa., paint and props crew; Hallie Gilbert of West Newton, Pa., master carpenter and scene shop staff; Jordan Gilbert of West Newton, Pa., scene shop staff; Lauren Grasser of Johnstown, Pa., costume shop crew; Jena Grgurich of Pittsburgh, Pa., stage manager and costume shop crew; Zuri Hodge of Verona, Pa., assistant to the choreographer and costume shop crew; Nicole Holland of Kersey, Pa., paint and props crew; Hannah Kirschner of North East, Pa., costume shop crew; Maddie Kocur of Oakmont, Pa., costume shop crew; Adriana LaMantia of Blairsville, Pa., costume shop crew; Jess Lami of Farmington, Ct., light board operator and scene shop staff; Julie Lang of Pittsburgh, Pa., costume shop crew; Gwen Little of Mechanicsburg, Pa., house manager and costume shop crew; Ike Mason of Mt. Pleasant, Pa., stage electrician; Tasha Matthews of Springdale, Pa., dresser; Jordan Mayers of New Park, Pa., paint and props crew; Kaitlyn Mayers of New Park, Pa., scene shop staff; Elizabeth Miller of Pittsburgh, Pa., costume shop crew; Elaine Montgomery of Trafford, Pa., scene shop staff; LeeAnn Moore of Perkiomenville, Pa., assistant master carpenter and scene shop staff; Sydney Molter of Jeannette, Pa., assistant to the choreographer and costume shop crew; Hopemarie Moyer of New Alexandria, Pa., paint and props crew; Cameron Nickel of Bethel Park, Pa., assistant stage manager; Lakin Pebley of Everett, Pa., paint and props crew; Leah Prestogeorge of Pittsburgh, Pa., costume shop crew; Halle Polechko of Harrison City, Pa., show electrician; Adam Sarp of Latrobe, Pa., costume shop crew; James Scharer of Greensburg, Pa., sound board operator, stage electrician and show electrician; Erin Slagle of Pittsburgh, Pa., scene shop staff; Lyn Starr of Pittsburgh, Pa., stage electrician; Justin Taylor of Bronx, N.Y., scene shop staff; Noah Telford of Greensburg, Pa., scene shop staff; Robert Tramontina of South Park, Pa., stage electrician; Megan Vichich of Cranberry Township, Pa., assistant to the choreographer; and Jacob Westwood of Irwin, Pa., assistant stage manager and costume shop crew.
“Dance Spectrum” is choreographed by TaMara Swank, assistant professor of dance; Stefan Zubal, assistant professor of dance; adjunct faculty Kim Clay and guest artist Gerard Holt.
The Ƶ University technical staff for the production includes Ken Clothier, assistant professor of theatre, lighting design and sound coordination; Thomas K. Crowley, technical director; Kristina Miller, adjunct instructor of theatre, costumer; and Susan O’Neill, theatre instructor, costume design and costume director.
About the Choreographers:
Kim Clay, originally from San Antonio, Texas, received her Masters of Fine Arts Degree in Dance from Sam Houston State University (SHSU). While at SHSU, she taught Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Musical Theater Workshop, produced an evening length work titled Elbow Room and was the rehearsal director for the production of Carnival of the Animals. She is a former Holland America Cruise Lines dancer, Six Flags Theme Park dancer, and was a guest performer with Houston’s Recked Productions. Since moving to Pittsburgh in 2014, she has choreographed work for Bombyx Collective, participated in the Pittsburgh Biennial as a dancer under the film direction of Carolina Loyola-Garcia, performed with Attack Theater, and currently dances with TanzTheater, Andre Koslowski. Kim has taught master classes for Carnegie Mellon University, ACDA, ADTS, and currently is an Adjunct Professor at Ƶ University. Additionally, Kim is on faculty at Seneca Valley High School, Pittsburgh Ballet House, and Millennium Dance Complex Pittsburgh, where she is also the Certificate Program Director.
Gerard Holt began dancing at the school of the Hartford Ballet. At sixteen, Mr. Holt was offered an apprenticeship with the Hartford Ballet Company. His professional training included The Dance Theatre of Harlem School, the School of American Ballet, the School of the San Francisco Ballet, all of which he attended as a scholarship and stipend student. Mr. Holt’s professional career includes the San Francisco Ballet, the Richmond Ballet, the State Ballet of Missouri (now Kansas City Ballet) and Ballet Met in Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Holt joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 1990. Mr. Holt was on staff for two years at Point Park University and was ballet master for five years at the Western Pennsylvania Performing Arts Company in Vandergrift, PA. Mr. Holt returned as ballet master for Sandra Lynn’s School of Dance. Mr. Holt became the Artistic Director of Dance of the La Roche College Dance Department in January 2001 until May 2010. Mr. Holt is Artistic Director of Mid-Atlantic Contemporary Ballet Company, founded with colleague Miriam Scigliano in April 2008. Mr. Holt is the Curriculum Director, Ballet Master for the pre-professional dance center - Impact Dance Center, and he is a ballet adjunct instructor at Point Park University.
TaMara Swank is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Ƶ University where she teaches undergraduate courses in all styles of dance, as well as dance kinesiology, teaching of dance and dance for children with exceptional needs. As dance faculty she has choreographed more than thirty pieces. Her choreography has been selected to perform at the Baltimore Dance Invitational- Professional Dance Showcase in Baltimore, MD and the 30th Annual Jazz & Tap Festival in Fairfax, VA. TaMara also has a list of original works including, The Seven Deadly Sins dance concert and EleMental Revolution, a dance theatre production, produced in collaboration with theatre colleagues. She has been teaching dance for over twenty years and served as the Artistic Director and founder of Studio 22 Performing Arts Center, the founder of Ƶ University community dance program (SHUDA) and assisted in the development of the of the Ƶ dance major. She has taught master classes for many festivals and conferences including the Governor’s School for the Arts Regional High School dance Festival in Norfolk, VA. Her recent project, Collaborative Culture in Education, was presented with Dr. Jennifer Suppo at ACRES National Conference, the Early Childhood Institute Annual Conference and the National Dance Education Organization. She holds a Master of Science Degree in Exercise Science from California University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Dance from Point Park University.
Originally from Forest Hill, Md, Stefan Zubal discovered ballet while studying music in college. He received his early training with County Ballet Studio, the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and finally with the Washington School of Ballet. Joining the Richmond Ballet in 1992, Stefan danced in a variety of classical and contemporary works. He moved to Fort Wayne in 1999 to teach and dance with the Fort Wayne Ballet. In 2007 he graduated from Indiana University and Purdue University at Fort Wayne with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre: Acting emphasis and in May 2010 his Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Florida State University. He has choreographed several musicals, including Hair for the School of Theater at FSU and recently Urinetown for Ƶ. A strong collaborator, he has worked with Gregory Streiber and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic on three projects integrating dance, music and text with literary classics: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and A Soldier’s Tale. In addition to stage work, Stefan has three film projects under his belt: the documentary Embodiments of Silence; An Onsite Dance Experience about the filming of Tim Glenns’ Embodiment of Silence at Birdsong Nature Conservatory; the Sweet Duet and The Question. The latter featured his own score and was part of Project Dance Awareness at Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC.
Ƶ University’s Performing Arts Center is 73,000 square feet of everything a performing arts major needs to move from student to professional. The Center houses two dedicated, flexible performance spaces, the Carol Ann Reichgut Concert Hall and the William Granger Ryan Theatre. The Center also includes a performance studio, new classrooms, rehearsal rooms and technical areas that include the best equipment for learning and performing, from Steinway pianos to the latest in lighting, sound, video and acoustics. ճ Center is located in downtown Greensburg, putting it squarely in the middle of the city’s cultural district yet still only minutes from Ƶ’s main hilltop campus.
The Ƶ University Theatre and Dance Program has a long history of educating performing arts majors for professional careers while playing a vital role in the educational life of the campus. Ƶ’s Theatre and Dance Program offers four full-length productions (as well as a number of shorter works) and one dance production each year that generate audiences of over 3,500 and speak to topics addressed in courses across Ƶ’s curriculum. For more information on the Theatre and Dance Program at Ƶ, please visit www.setonhill.edu or call 724-552-2934.
