BAX Announces THIRTEEN IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE, 5/21-22

THIRTEEN IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
A Year End Culminating Performance featuring
BAX's Dance Performance Workshop (DPW), Level III and BAXco

May 21st & 22nd, 2011
Saturday @ 8:00 pm | Sunday @ 4:00 pm

Admission: $8 General | $5 Low-Income
Tickets can only be purchased at the door.
Box Office opens 30 minutes before showtime. No reservations please. 

"Thirteen In A Foreign Language," the DPW III year-end concert, showcases the original dance works of the advanced teen dancers at BAX. This unique program allows serious pre-professional teen choreographers the chance to bring their artistic visions to full expression. With full control of lighting, costuming, sound and movement these young adults have created an inspiring evening of modern dance.

This showcase features choreography from students, DPW III Director, Helen Tocci, and BAXco guest choreographers Pamela Pietro and Mollie O'Brien.

About Dance Performance Workshop (DPW), Level III

Brooklyn Arts Exchange's Dance Performance Workshop III, directed by Helen Styring Tocci, is the advanced dance workshop class offering a high level of technical and improvisational study in contemporary dance with a strong emphasis on performance skills and composition, encouraging students to rise beyond their technique alone to become well-rounded dancers, dance makers and dance community members.

Helen Styring Tocci, DPW III Director
Helen Styring Tocci began dancing in the woods of Northern Vermont and has since performed in Washington, D.C. with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange; in Senegal, West Africa; in Boulder, CO; and finally in NYC with various choreographers. She holds a BA in Religious Studies and Dance from Connecticut College. Helen is a co-founder of Varoom Group Dance Collective and her own collaborative works with Nicki Calia Marshall have been presented at BAX, DTW's Family Matters, Joyce Soho, and Judson Church. Helen and Nicki Calia were the recipients of a BAX space grant in 2008. Helen is a certified yoga instructor and teaches privately throughout the city. She has recently completed her training in CircusYoga with Kevin and Erin O'Keefe and travels nationally teaching workshops and sharing this innovative new practice. Helen has been on the dance faculty of the Brooklyn Friend's School since 2001, in addition to dancing and exploring with the lovely dancers at BAX for the past 10 years.

About BAXco: youth dance company

BAXco, BAX's youth dance company, is a repertory company that performs work by professional choreographers both guest and faculty and is a pre-professional model for young dancers wishing to expand their experiences in the dance community. The company members are also ambassadors for BAX programs, performing throughout NYC and beyond.
Directed by long time BAX faculty members, Beth Bradford and Pene McCourty, BAXco is comprised of both DPW II and III students, and, as of the Fall of 2010, new interested students.

Beth Bradford, BAXco Co-Director
Beth Bradford, originally from Virginia, holds a BA in Dance from James Madison University. Beth is the Director of Dance at Greenwich House Music School in addition to co-directing BAXco and teaching private pilates lessons. Since moving to New York, Beth has had the pleasure of working with Monica Bill Barnes, Kelly Bartnik, Shannon Hummel, Casey Blake, and she is currently collaborating with Human Company under the direction of Kelly Hanson. Her own choreography and collaborations have been presented at Dixon Place, James Madison University, PS 122, The Kitchen, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, University Settlement, and The Arizona Performing Arts Center.

Pene McCourty, BAXco Co-Director
Pene McCourty is an arts administrator, educator and interdisciplinary performing artist who uses movement as her base. She has worked with several locally and nationally known dance performance companies and community arts organizations. As a performer and teacher she was a member of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Marlies Yearby's Movin' Spirits Dance Theater and Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group. As an educator, Pene has created, taught and facilitated movement, dance and theater workshops in numerous schools, senior centers and universities within the New York City area and beyond for the past 13 years. She is a trainer for the National Center for Creative Aging and was the Performance Director of Elders Share the Arts creating/directing Continuum Dance Collective-a cross-generational performance and teaching collaborative. As an art maker, her work has been presented at St. Mark's Church, Joyce Soho, Chicago's Links Hall, Towson University and San Francisco State University. She has also worked collaboratively with percussionist Leon Parker, writer Suhier Hammad and composer Tigger Benford. Pene is currently the Director of School Settlement Association.

Pamela Pietro, BAXco Guest Choreographer
Pamela Pietro is currently a Master Modern Dance Teacher at NYU. She received a BFA from Florida State University and MFA from University of Washington. Pietro has performed professionally with Anthony Morgan Dance Company, Michael Foley Dance, RaceDance, Houlihan and Dancers, and bopi¹s black sheep/dances. She was a dancer and rehearsal director for Houlihan and Dancers from 1991­1999, and for the New World Dance Ensemble Australian Tour in 1994. Pietro served as Mark Haim¹s assistant for the Saint Joseph Ballet projects (2002, 2004, 2007) and part of their summer faculty in 2004. She has been on the faculty at the American Dance Festival since 1997 and a guest teacher with ADF linkage programs to Guangzhou (China) and Tel Aviv, Israel. Pietro has been a guest at universities throughout the country, and her choreography has been presented at various venues, nationally and internationally. She is a certified personal trainer, Pilates instructor, and assistant to Irene Dowd.

Mollie O'Brien, BAXco Guest Choreographer
Mollie O'Brien has been living, creating and performing dances in New York City for the past thirteen years. She creates immediate and physical worlds that explore the shifting landscape between emotional and physical states of being with a specific interest in the ways we treat and respond to each other. Her company, MOB Productions, has been produced by a number of renowned dance venues in New York City, including, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, Movement Research at the Judson Church, Joyce SoHo, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, New Dance Alliance's Performance Mix, Dancing in the Streets and Dance New Amsterdam among others.

 

BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange is a professional community arts center located in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Artist opportunities include the Artist in Residence program, the Space Grant program, the Subsidized Rehearsal Space Rental program, Professional Development Workshops for Artists, and more. For more information about BAX and its opportunities for performing artists please call 718-832-0018 or visit us on the web at www.bax.org.