Lea Antolini Receives Jete Award for Her Work Advancing Dance Arts

Lea Antolini, Assistant Professor of Theater and Dance at Centenary College, and regular choreographer, director and performer with the professional Centenary Stage Company, will be accepting the "Jete Award" at the 2014 Dance New Jersey Festival on Saturday, June 28 at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, located on the Douglass campus of Rutgers in New Brunwick.

The Jete Award is presented by the Dance New Jersey organization to someone who has made "a leap forward" for the dance community in the state. Antolini took her leap forward as curator of the Centenary Stage Company's annual Dance Fest over the past 3 seasons at Centenary's state-of-the-art performing arts facility, The Lackland Center. The CSC Dance Fest, which is funded in part by a generous grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, has featured a plethora of New Jersey's finest dance companies over the past three years, including the celebrated Nai Ni Chen Dance Company, the Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company, Lustig Dance Theatre, Nimbus Dance Works, Umoja Dance Company, The Art of Motion, Inc. and moe-tion dance theater.

In addition to the performances, each year the Centenary Stage Co.'s Dance Fest opens its doors to dancers in the community, offering workshops and classes open to the public, and taught by visiting artists, which is spearheaded and managed by Antolini. The workshops and performances of Dance Fest are part of CSC's mission to expand appreciation of and audiences for contemporary dance.

"I am very pleased to see Professor Antolini receive this award," says Carl Wallnau, Artistic Director of the Centenary Stage Company, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts and Chair of the Communication and Fine Arts Department. "Lea is a passionate advocate for the art form, and she works tirelessly to advance appreciation of the dance arts.

Credit must also be paid to our funding partner, the visionary Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, whose commitment to contemporary dance and the performing arts in New Jersey has enormously enhanced the cultural landscape of our state and made our festival possible."

Antolini is a graduate of Brandeis University where she received her MFA in acting, after completing her undergraduate studies at University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She has performed professionally in New York City and New Jersey as well as regionally on the east coast. She is a member in training of New York's Blessed Unrest theatre company, where she has also served as assistant director and choreographer this past season. As an educator in the arts, Antolini has taught at Brandeis University, James Madison University, and numerous Montessori schools in the area, as well as working as a teaching artist and performer with The Growing Stage for years, and in various schools in the area developing movement and music programs for young children. Currently, she teaches at Centenary College in the Theatre Department, as well as with the Centenary Stage Company's Young Performer's Workshop musical theatre program. Antolini also directs the Centenary Stage Company's Young Audience Series Tour program.

The Dance New Jersey organization is led by Executive Director Macada Brandl and Managing Director Stephanie Evans. The organization is committed to reaching new audiences and promoting the energy, excitement and excellence of dance and dance education in the state. During the Dance New Jersey Festival in New Brunswick this month, attendees are invited to attend a day of workshops and classes that focus on various dance styles and hot topics in the field. In addition to the Jete Awards and the Dance Advocate Award, the festival day will also include a meeting of the entire membership and election of new Board members.

Centenary Stage Company is a professional Equity theatre in residence on the campus of Centenary College in the new David and Carol Lackland Center for performing arts.

Information on the CSC Dance Fest and year round programming can be found on the CSC website at www.centenarystageco.org .

Centenary College's main campus is located in Hackettstown, N.J., with its equestrian facility in Washington Township (Morris County). The Centenary College School of Professional Studies offers degree programs online and in two locations: Parsippany and Edison, and at corporate sites throughout New Jersey. The School of International Programs recruits international students for study at Centenary and Centenary students for study abroad.

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