Verb Ballets' Choreography Intensive with Nationally Recognized Artists

For the dance art-form to sustain and renew itself, talented dancers need encouragement and training to step into the role of choreographer, yet there are few structured means to pursue that path. Verb Ballets enters into the company's 30th Anniversary Season and will build on its mission of artistic excellence and exemplary community engagement with the Choreography Intensive Project. Funded through the generosity of the Ohio Arts Council, Verb Ballets will host nationally recognized artists to teach workshops in choreography, dance and technology.

Maurya Kerr, San Francisco-based choreographer, educator and former dancer with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, will start the new year with Verb Ballets in the continuation of the Choreography Intensive. The project commenced in October with sought after speaker Sydney Skybetter. The internationally acclaimed choreographer, Rosalind Newman and technology guru, Jared Bendis will also visit the company in January. See scheduled arrivals below.

The Choreography Intensive is an initiative inspiring professional dancers to consider extending their careers through choreography. Spearheaded by Verb Ballets Director, Dr. Margaret Carlson, the project is an evolution of her Verb Ballets' "Fresh Inventions" concept which provides company dancers the opportunity to develop works for performance. These professional development workshops are designed to further their education in the field of choreography. Verb Ballets has extended an invitation to local professional dancers to attend the workshops alongside the Verb Ballets company in order to increase Northeast Ohio's dancers' capacity to contribute exceptional choreographic work in the community.

Through Director Dr. Carlson and Associate Director Richard Dickinson's extensive relationships with the national and international dance community, the following dance professionals are visiting Cleveland for the Choreography Intensive.

Sydney Skybetter Monday, October 24, 2016 Sydney Skybetter will be leading a workshop on expanding the definition of choreography. Sydney Skybetter is a choreographer, technologist, and writer. His dances have been performed around the country including The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Jacob's Pillow and The Joyce Theater. A sought-after speaker, he lectures on everything from dance history to cultural futurism. For more information of Sydney Skybetter visit: http://skybetter.org/human/bio/.

Maurya Kerr Monday, January 2, 2017 Maurya Kerr will teach company class and a workshop about stretching the boundaries of classical ballet. Maurya Kerr is a San Francisco-based choreographer, educator, and former dancer with Alonzo King LINES Ballet. She is founder and artistic director of tinypistol, an ODC artist-in-residence and is on faculty with the LINES Education Programs. For more information on Maurya Kerr visit http://www.tinypistol.com/about-2/#/about/

Rosalind Newman, PhD Friday, January 6, 2017 Rosalind Newman will teach company class and a workshop about the essentials of choreography. Internationally acclaimed choreographer Rosalind Newman has set her works on a variety of international companies and has taught widely as a guest artist worldwide. She is founding artistic director and choreographer of Dance HK/NY in Hong Kong and was senior lecturer in modern dance at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. For more information on Rosalind Newman, PhD visit http://rosalindnewman.com/about/

Jared Bendis Monday, January 16, 2017 Jared Bendis will teach a workshop on Virtual Dance New Horizons. Jared Bendis is a specialist in photography, game design, virtual reality, interactive and new media. He received his MFA in Contemporary Dance with a focus in Performance Media. As a visual artist, he focuses on the way people see, augmenting their reality via technology and visual perception. His art practice also includes creating immersive installations that provide interactive social and sensory experiences for viewers. For more information on Jared Bendis visit http://jaredjared.com.

The Choreographic Intensive will engage the community through works-in-progress showings of the dancers' work. This type of connectedness between audience, dance-makers and dancers represents a natural outgrowth of Verb Ballets' mission to ignite audience passion and participation in dance. The Choreography Intensive reflects Verb Ballets vision to be recognized as a catalyst to promote learning and encourage dialogue about the dance art-form. The project will bring Northeast Ohio's dancers' unique visions together in common effort to elevate the quality and diversity of professionalism in the field. These workshops offer professional choreography instruction and a training ground for the next generation of talented practitioners in Ohio.

Verb Ballets is grateful to the Ohio Arts Council for making this project possible.