SCPA Summer Dance Intensive Taking the Stage July 14

July 6, 2012 | Category: Arts

 The School for Creative & Performing Arts (SCPA) presents the Finale Dance Concert of its 6-week long Summer Dance Intensive on Saturday, July 14 at 5:00 PM at the Corbett Theater located at SCPA, 108 W. Central Parkway, 45202.  The Dance Concert features students who have dedicated six weeks of their summer vacation to developing their ballet technique under the direction of the SCPA dance faculty and Soloists from the Cincinnati Ballet.  Senior Soloist, Gema Diaz, and Soloist, Dawn Kelly, join the Co-Directors of the SCPA Dance Program, Pat Rozow and Daryl Bjoza, and faculty member Sara Swinehart, through the support of the Artistic Excellence Program of The Mayerson Foundation.   This year the Artistic Excellence Program is the recipient of an arts education grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

Summer is not “time off” for SCPA dance majors.  This is the third summer that a dance workshop has been offered at SCPA.  Prior to moving into SCPA’s new state-of-the-art facility in 2009, a summer dance workshop would have been impossible in the non-air-conditioned building on Sycamore (the old Woodward High School).  Today gleaming mirrors, sprung floors and high-tech audio systems support the education of the young dance majors at SCPA.  Most importantly, the dedication and commitment of SCPA’s excellent dance faculty helps students to soar during the summer.

Co-Directors, Patricia Rozow and Daryl Bjoza, are joined by Sara Swinehart for the Summer Dance Intensive.  For the faculty as well as the students, the Summer Program is an opportunity to re-dedicate oneself to dance without the demands of the rigorous academic curriculum and the distractions of social life during the regular school.  “Students who participate in our Summer Program throughout their high school years actually complete an additional year of dance study,” said Mr. Bjoza.  The nationally recognized dance curriculum at SCPA and the Summer Intensive helps to make SCPA dance students nationally competitive.   

Just ask alumni Garrett Steagall (Class of 2011) and Justin Hogan (Class of 2005) about being nationally competitive.  Both are returning as adjunct faculty in the Summer Dance Intensive.  Garrett received a full scholarship to study at the prestigious Conservatory of Performing Arts at Pointe Park University in Pittsburgh after his stint in the Summer Dance Intensive.  Justin is now a dancer with the Louisville Ballet.

Through the Mayerson Foundation’s Artistic Excellence Program, two Soloists from Cincinnati Ballet, Gema Diaz and Dawn Kelly, join the faculty for SCPA’s Summer Dance Intensive.  The Artistic Excellence Program helps to bring world-class artists to SCPA for master classes.  It also supports artists-in-residence who provide instruction to students throughout the school year.  In April of 2012, the Mayerson Foundation was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in support of the Artistic Excellence Program at SCPA.  The Summer Dance Intensive is the first program of the coming school year to be supported by the NEA grant.  In addition to Gema and Dawn, the Mayerson Foundation is also providing financial aid to SCPA students who would not otherwise be able to participate in the Program. 

Cincinnati Ballet’s Gema Diaz and Dawn Kelly teach class and rehearse students during the Monday through Friday 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM program.  For Gema, a Senior Soloist with Cincinnati Ballet, the SCPA Program is an excellent way to teach the discipline necessary for a career in dance.   For Dawn Kelly, who is returning for her second year with the Summer Dance Intensive, the Program enables her to help bridge the great legacy of Russian ballet with the next generation of dancers who will not have the opportunity for primary contact with the Russian greats such as her teacher Tatiana Legat who also coached Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova.

The SCPA Summer Dance Intensive Finale Concert will take place in the Corbett Theater at SCPA on Saturday, July 14 at 5:00 PM.  The program will feature original choreography by Co-Directors, Pat Rozow and Daryl Bjoza, by adjunct faculty member Garrett Steagall and Justin Hogan, by Sara Winehart, and by special guest faculty Dawn Kelly, who will dance alongside her SCPA students.  Tickets for the dance performance are $5 and will be available at the door.  For further information contact Jeff Seibert, The Mayerson Foundation, at 513-621-7500 or jeffs@mayersonfoundation.org.

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