dance professor

Dancing in the ‘Secret Garden’

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Against a city and nature background, dancer in a blue shirt, blue mask, and black leggings touches tree bark with hands while looking up toward branches.

By Amelia Martinez

I had the pleasure of observing the freshmen Improvisation class taught by Christine Colosimo. The talented young dancers were creating and learning in a new environment that was a beautiful nature filled area, filled with warm sunlight through the trees on this October day. With masks on, the class transitioned to an outdoor classroom to allow for safe distancing in the pandemic, as well as providing Zoom for those who choose to attend class from their homes.

Dancers in masks, hoodies, and athletic pants are spread across a field of grass. One dancer stands in a light blue hoodie, has their back to the camera with arms spread out to the sides, and head tilted slightly to the right.

Christine led them through many peaceful and experiential exercises, allowing them to observe the natural space around them. She related these exercises to Avatar the Last Airbender’s elements: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. There were dancers who chose to dance based on the observations they found from the brick wall, the trees, the expanse of the space, and even the grass.

Dancer in a white hoodie lays down on grass. Their hand gently touches the green grass and newly fallen yellow leaves.

Throughout the class there were opportunities to create movement and share them with the class in groups. The Zoom classmates were not left out at all, as the outdoor class circled around the screen, a safe distance away from each other, to see the movement discoveries that were being made. After they showed their improved movement, they shared in discussion about their learning. One student on Zoom danced in their kitchen with a chili pepper and found that they were relating to nature in a new way. Thinking about the growth and agricultural process it takes for that chili pepper to make it to their kitchen right then and soon to nourish their body, inspired a movement that was new and exciting for them.

Professor Colosimo sits on the grass with a black shirt, grey pants, and white mask with a clear barrier over mouth. Christine is holding the Zoom class on her silver computer toward the outdoor class to watch their movement and listen to their reflections

The dancers had some time to reflect with paper and pen about their experiences dancing in nature and they came up with unique drawings and poems! These helped them to have a tangible record of what they were experiencing in this class that will hopefully continue to inspire them in their dance creations for the future.

Dancer in a grey and white striped zip up sweater and red mask, shows an orange drawing made as a reflection to their improvisational movement that was shared in class.

Finally, the dancers moved across the expanse of the “Secret Garden” to engage all their discoveries in a full-bodied expression of movement. Seeing their movements come alive in their own unique way was a beautiful experience and it makes me so hopeful for this new generation of Temple dancers!!

Dancers in masks, hoodies, and athletic pants spread out across a brick wall in various dance poses or mid movement, while being socially distanced.

 

Amelia Martinez, MFA in Dance Candidate. Amelia is in a grey shirt against a white background and offset black shadow of her body while her face looks past the camera.

A Lesson In Breaking

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The Temple Breakers

By Amelia Martinez

Before social distancing was implemented, I went to a Breaking workshop hosted by the Temple Breakers on campus. This week-long event had many movement sessions and lectures by leaders in the breaking field. The Temple Breakers is a student organization on campus that meet in Mitten Hall to build community together through the learning of Breaking technique. You can find the Temple Breakers on Owl Connect: https://temple.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/templebreakers

One of the speakers at this event, Kwikstep, challenged me to think about the lineage of the dance. He spoke about how we as dancers need to orient ourselves within the lineage and history of the dancers and dance form before us, instead of just trying to learn the tricks in the movement. The lessons need to be learned with a respect for the development of the form and the meanings behind it all. Hip Hop was not meant to just be a movement independent from the music but an integrated pairing that, at its start, was a voice of social protest. In this, the aesthetics of cool in Breaking can be examined and understood by the lineage. This gives respect to the history and meaning beyond the perceived aesthetic. Lineage seems to be a powerful value of Breaking that the dancers in this club hold onto. This is one of the reasons they dance this form of movement, because they connect to it in a deeper historical and meaningful context beyond that “it looks cool” or “it’s fun”. Granted, Breaking does look cool and is fun; but the people who really invest in this technique and go far in the field are the ones who take the time to care about the lineage. It is the placing of their own identities within that lineage that carry forth the future of Breaking.

During one of their movement workshops I was able to observe the technique and community environment of the organization. There were various students and local professionals in attendance, and even our very own Dr. Sherril Dodds, who is the faculty advisor to the Temple Breakers, participated in the workshop! The class started off with a group warm up follow-the-leader style around the room, doing various cardio and non-static stretches. The class had various levels, so there were moments in learning the beginner Top Rocks and Side Steps one-on-one while the intermediate/advanced students were in the middle doing an introductory Cypher.

It seems to be an inclusive and inviting atmosphere for people in their movement journey to grow together. After this they learn to Stack, focusing on the proper placement of the body to build up to a Freeze that can be performed in the final Cypher practice. Three groups form of Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced, and they take turns practicing their Stack in a half-circle format where the dancer can be encouraged from the dancers around them. After the buildup of the Freeze, they take a moment to shake it all out as a group while the President of the organization, Renaissance Ray, tells a story of the Iron T-Shirt. Renaissance Ray leads everyone in a slapping massage of their limbs to “break out the damage from walking all day” and then encourages all to wipe the tension all off, leaving them renewed. Finally, everyone comes together in a circle to take turns in the center performing their newfound skills while the group energetically cheers them on.

In speaking with one of the dancers during the class, he said that he had been training in breaking since he was fifteen. He keeps coming back to these sessions because of the community and understands that it is more than just the initial strength and shapes but about the people he is here to grow with.

Some words of advice from Renaissance Ray, the club president, to beginners in Hip Hop and Breaking is: Know what you are getting into, it is high impact, but you grow more as a person than just in body. It is a self-exploration beyond physical boundaries as you invest in the lineage and history of the dance as a form of communication and community. You may find your identity as part of the rewards you reap through the blood, sweat, and tears that you and the people before you have shed. It is an “Each one, Teach one” mentality that passes the knowledge and lineage to the next dancer, but first, you must Reach one (Kwikstep’s words). 

To advanced dancers Renaissance Ray says: “Know what your goals are, who you are, and what role you play. Not everyone can be the superstar”. This reminds me that all parts in this community are valuable in building and carrying that movement history to the next generation.

So, if you want to go to the Temple Breakers to dance with them in the new academic year, let me know and I will go with you!! Together we can embark on this community journey and find new strength within it. I don’t know about you, but after this season of isolation, I will need some positive community to grow with! Why not let it be with the Temple Breakers?

Amelia Martinez MFA in Dance Student

Colloquium-Mark Franko

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By Christine Colosimo

Dr. Mark Franko presents parts of his new book at the Temple University Dance Studies Colloquium

On Tuesday, January 21, 2020, at the Temple University Dance Studies Colloquium, our very own distinguished professor, Dr. Mark Franko presented a paper entitled, “Parade as a Critical Concept in French Interwar Theory.” Dr. Franko, an eminent scholar in the field of dance studies, has authored eight books, including his most recent, The Fascist Turn in the Dance of Serge Lifar: French Interwar Ballet and the German Occupation, which is forthcoming in June of 2020. This evening’s colloquium talk acted as a sneak preview of Franko’s forthcoming book as he introduced some of its materials, ideologies and theories.

As many of you may know, Dr. Mark Franko is a virtuosic dance researcher and professor of dance. He holds degrees in French literature from the Department of French and Romance Philology, Columbia University. He was a dancer and is a choreographer. His critical theory in developing this new book is informed by his extensive knowledge of both French culture and his career as dancer and choreographer. Through a genealogy of French history and ballet, Franko began the colloquium talk by differentiating terms, such as classicism, neoclassicism, modern, modernity and the modern, all complex and difficult concepts to understand and delineate.

Original program booklet for 1917 ballet, Parade.

Franko’s talk began with the one act ballet entitled Parade which was choreographed in 1917 for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Parade was conceived by Jean Cocteau and choreographed by the famous dancer, Leonide Massine. The music for this ballet was composed one year earlier, in 1916, by Erik Satie. Pablo Picasso designed the scenery and costumes. Of significance is the partnership between Picasso (paint), Massine (dance), and Satie (music) and Cocteau (libretto, direction, performance) which, until the premier of Parade, had not yet happened. Parade bridges the modern ideal of cubism with ballet theater and modern, contemporary music. You can see from the photos that the costumes and sets are apropos of the plastique arts in Paris at this time. Parade premiered in Paris, France at the Theatre du Châtelet.

The idea behind the ballet Parade and the collaboration between Picasso, Satie and Massine was that of playwright, poet and novelist, Jean Cocteau. Cocteau was the focus of Franko’s talk. Franko is clear to point out that his research is not actually about Parade as a French 1917 ballet, but rather, his talk is about the idea of parade in French performance history.  He explained this difference through his theoretical framing of ballet, the return of the “neo” in ballet, and located one aspect of French neoclassicism within the idea of Parade. For me, thinking about the neoclassical in this way is new, but Franko’s theory gives one pause to stop and rethink what is neoclassical.

Parade. Choreographed by Leonide Massine. Music by Erik Satie. Libretto by Jean Cocteau. Costumes designed by Pablo Picasso in the cubist style.

Ultimately, the topic of Dr. Franko’s talk is about finding “a kind of alternate neoclassicism” within the ballet, Parade. He frames his research in terms of the neoclassical within the limits of French ballet, which focuses on the 1920s and 1930s. He then poses the question, when is classicism, and who has ownership of classicism; the Greek, the French or the Russians? This question has long vexed dance scholars.

Focusing primarily on the writings of Jean Cocteau, Franko compares the latter’s theory on poetic populism with French poet, Paul Valery’s ideology of self-rejuvenating mimesis. He states that dance is an unstable artifact, one which is expressive of cultural and national identity. In his argument, he turns his attention to the folkloric, which is rooted in seventeenth century courtly dance, and introduces discourse around the problems of tradition. Bridging the folkloric to the classic through his framing of ballet is interesting. It sheds a new perspective on that which we think of as neoclassicism.

photos by Luciano Romano http://unitel.de/media/files/flyer/A-000-50055-0000_pompeii_flyer_WEB.pdf  
 All rights reserved · credits not contractual · Different territories · Photos: © Luciano Romano · Flyer: luebbeke.com

In conclusion, Franko’s re-reading of Cocteau finds that there is a populist version of neoclassicism, which can be seen in the ballet Parade.

As a PhD student in dance studies, I feel honored to study with Mark. Temple is certainly fortunate to have him as a professor and I highly recommend his seminars to any graduate students.

Lastly, for those of you who have never seen Parade, a 2017 version is available for streaming on Medici TV. Leonide Massine’s son, Lorca Messine, sets the original choreography on the Corps de Ballet of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma in Pompeii, Italy. Only twenty-five minutes, the ballet is well worth a viewing. As Eleonora Abbagnato, the director of the Opera di Roma’s Ballet says, “These ballets belong to the history of dance but at the same time are very modern.”

 

Christine Colosimo, TA and PhD in dance studies student at Temple University; Adjunct Professor in dance at Rider University.

MFA Thesis II -Surya Swilley

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A Reflection on “Between the Intervene”

Surya Swilley Temple MFA in Dance, Adjunct Professor

Surya Swilley MFA in Dance, Adjunct Professor at Temple University

Crash, boom, rewind! My head was spinning, heart was racing, and I felt my adrenaline rushing at warp speed. Rehearse, rewrite, polish, go back, and repeat!

What is the intention? What did you mean by that? Let’s revise. Repeat.

I experienced a whirlwind of emotions, and wasn’t exactly sure of the extent of the labor that would go into producing an evening length concert.

I remember in the spring semester of this year, (January 2019) I began rehearsals and had no idea what I was doing. I was forcing myself to enter the studio with this idea of using a table as a prop, but had no idea how to be in collaboration with the table to get my point across. I experienced a significant amount of frustration while trying to verbalize to my dancers what my vision was, but the reality is, I wasn’t sure. The only thing I did know was that I needed to get moving towards generating a show. It was arduous.

 

I was influenced by several vignettes inside of black history and protest in the United States to develop “Between the Intervene”. Not that I interpreted these events as dramatized episodes towards freedom, but I recognized the choreographic protest inside of historical spaces such as lunch counter sit-ins, how black children navigate what can be an anxiety provoking experience while sitting at school desks, and the trauma inflicted onto black consciousness and black body while sitting behind the wheel in a vehicle. All of this, while knowing that one’s hands need to be placed on the dashboard to be visible in the face of police. These are the historical and contemporary notions that influenced the work, but the lens through which I decided to share the choreography was through honesty, and that was rooted in my truth inside of being a queer black woman.

Oh yes.

While developing this work, I came out. I reckoned with my truth inside of my gender expression and sexuality, and it freed me to embark on a more truthful journey inside of other things. It is interesting how the development of this work, and my coming out contain a parallel inside of the timing. I was influenced by the freedom of transparency as I deepened inside of the work, and what emerged from this was a very fervent connection to telling my truth and working with my dancers so that they would be empowered to dance from an authentic place. I think adding my personal anecdote/truth inside of the mix not only help to bring the show to a cohesive understanding for me and the audience, but perhaps it allowed people to see that sharing one’s truth as an individual on stage, while working in collaboration with a group of dancers can be done, and can be done without any burden. I hope to showcase freedom on a variety of levels. My intention in everything I do is to liberate and empower.

My goal after graduation is to fly. I am harnessing my wings as a dance entrepreneur, and artist activist. Some tangible ways to see that are through my work as new adjunct professor at Temple University, through my partnership with the Center for Racial Justice and Education, and as I launch my own dance company in the summer of 2020.

It feels good to be done with the thesis concert, even though I know there’s so much more for me to dive into. I am ready for the challenge, and I am excited to see what comes next. What a rewarding experience this work came out to be. It’s my hope that even more reward will come, as I know that the next phase of life and career is filled with nothing but infinite possibilities.

-Surya Swilley

Ziying Cui’s Ballet Journey

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By Ziying Cui

When I was a child, I remember I begged my mother to take me to every Swan Lake performance in my hometown. I was fascinated by the dancers’ virtuosity, the orderliness of the corps de ballet, the romantic love story, and the gorgeous costumes and stage settings. My early experience of watching ballet motivated me to study this Western dance genre. Within more than twenty years’ ballet training in China and the US, my curiosity of ballet expanded beyond idealizing my body alignment and mastering dance movements. I was intrigued by the rapid development of Chinese ballet and how this Western art found avid audiences and practitioners in China.

Ziying Cui

 

In 2016, I began to study a PhD in dance at Temple University. This allowed me to shift my position from a dance practitioner to a dance researcher. The first two-year’s course works not only broadened my view of the English dance scholarship, but also provided me a large amount of theoretical and methodological knowledge of conducting doctoral research in dance. I have had the honor to learn with some of the most celebrated scholars around the world, and observed diverse research projects. Beyond the coursework, my endeavors out of class in the past three years, including exams preparation, attending dance colloquiums, and dance conference presentations, helped to prepare my own research in Chinese ballet. In addition, adequate ballet classes and teachers at Temple allow me to keep practicing ballet while doing research.

As a non-native English speaker, I had to work harder in and out of class to catch up the academic works. While the first year was the most challenging, my professors and colleagues helped me through the difficult time. At Temple, faculty members are always there to help students, but most importantly we have to work hard to make progress through our own efforts.

Ziying Cui, PhD in Dance Student

Last Spotted In London

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Temple dance professor, Dr. Sherril Dodds, went to London to give a performative lecture on break dancing. The lecture was entitled “Drilling, Grit and Flava: Epistemologies of Breaking” at a symposium on ‘Hip Hop Pedagogies’ at the University of East London’s Centre for Performing Arts and Development and the Dance.

The lecture reflected upon Dodds’ experience as a 50-year old novice b-girl.  She reflected on how breaking has prompted ontological and epistemological ruptures that move her literally and metaphorically.  In conversation with a practice-led methodology, she placed ‘doing’ at the centre of knowledge production.  From this she came to understand concepts of drilling, grit, and flava, and she engaged in alternative models of learning, collective pedagogy, and community belonging.  Through the performative lecture, she examined how sessions and cyphers enable her to encounter the aesthetic and history of the b-girl body, confront her present identity position, and begin to re-imagine the social and physical expectations of her body.

-Alissa Elegant, MFA Student

Professor Merían Soto Awarded 2016 Leeway Transformation Award

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Congratulations to Professor Merìan Soto for being awarded the 2016 Leeway Transformation Award and for her feature in Contact Quarterly! Read about Soto’s commitment to the Philadelphia dance community and her recent artistic explorations HERE!

Soto’s work Todos Mis Muertos (1996) is inspired by life, death, and memories of her treasured Mamita. The piece was recently reconstructed and performed for the Fleisher Art Memorial. Read more about Soto’s choreographic process and spiritual endeavors HERE!

 

Photo Credit: Bill H

Dr. Dodds’ Trip to France

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I was lucky enough to spend the past two weeks at Blaise-Pascal University in Clermont-Ferrand, France. I was invited to teach on the Choreomundus MA Program in Dance Knowledge, Practice and Heritage. This distinctive program is delivered across four European universities and attracts a diverse array of international students. I had the pleasure of meeting a cohort from Italy, Columbia, South Africa, Uzbekistan, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, China, Finland and the US. The international breadth made for lively discussion and I enjoyed working with them specifically in the areas of popular dance, screen dance, and dance ethnography. In addition to my teaching, I had the opportunity to work on some of my own research, and this included participating in a wonderful breaking class led by Dimitri Manebard. Although I worked hard during the day, I could not resist sampling some of the wonderful French food, and have eaten enough croissants, bread and cheese to see me through until the new year. choreomundusClermont-Ferrand is one of the oldest cities in France and I loved wandering through its intricate network of narrow streets sparkling with Christmas lights and the dramatic sight of its gothic cathedral. I feel incredibly fortunate that dance has been a passport both for international travel and for meeting students from across the world who share this mutual passion.

 

-Dr. Sherril Dodds

Professor of Dance

 

Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Laura Katz Rizzo

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Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Laura Katz Rizzo
This summer, Laura Katz Rizzo danced through achievements in film, literature and ballet.
First, she attended American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum Course to refresh her work in ballet curricula. She also studied with with Igal Perry and gained new perspectives on the structure and teaching techniques of ballet class.
Laura attended the CORPS de Ballet International Conference, where she took master classes from Virginia Johnson and presented her own work on the dancer/wrestler Ricki Starr. Laura submitted her chapter on Starr, which will be featured in a collected edition of essays entitled Wrestling and Performance.
Laura also spent her summer working with young musicians, conducting interdisciplinary workshops on Baroque dance and history.
Nelly Berman Workshop
In addition to her studies in ballet and dance history, Laura began work on an independent film entitled Tako Vs Sora with film-maker Lauren Wolkenstein, dancer Sun Mi Cho , Ophidian and Closet Champion Mike Quakenbush, and members of Chikara Promotions.
ophidian
It doesn’t stop there! This Fall, Laura has been invited for guest residency and lecture appearances for her book, Dancing the Fairy Tale: Producing and Performing The Sleeping Beauty. 
51SmSS3D8rL._UY250_
She recently spoke about the book in several summer ballet intensives, and will next present at Ballet Forte in New Jersey. Laura has also been invited to speak at Smith College this fall. All are encouraged to come out and support our incredibly dedicated faculty member. Here’s to another year of success.

Red Earth Calling

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Red Earth Calling

Associate Professor of Dance Jillian Harris has brought her career to new heights with the success of her co-produced dance film, Red Earth Calling. This multi-media work is a collaboration with choreographer, director and producer Jennifer Jessum. The dance film explores ideals of love, mystery and spirits. Harris’s work was recently shown at Ririe Woodbury’s 2015 Momentum Festival at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Harris received her B.F.A. in dance at the University of Utah and later traveled nationally with the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company. Momentum is staged each year to celebrate the works of the company’s alumni. Harris was one of six choreographers to present unique work in the festival on August 27 and 28. Red Earth Calling was the first dance film to be shown at Momentum. The film, shot in Moab, Utah at Arches National Park, explores the narrative of a lost man in the desert who becomes enchanted by a spirit of the land. According to Salt Lake City Weekly‘s “Entertainment Picks”, Red Earth Calling serves as an excellent example of how works of Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company alumni contribute to the constantly evolving dance culture.

 

-Meghan McFerran

B.F.A. Dance

B.A. Journalism