NORDC/NOBA Center for Dance Announces Summer Intensive Audition Dates

The NORDC/NOBA Center For Dance (CFD), a cultural, community partnership of the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission and the New Orleans Ballet Association, will hold auditions on Saturday, March 19 for the Summer Dance Intensive that will take place at Tulane University in July.

Auditions Date & Times for Summer Intensive
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Tulane University, McWilliams Hall, 3rd Floor
Times: 10am - 12pm - Youth ages 9-12
1pm - 3pm - Youth ages 13-18

Summer Intensive classes take place July 5 - July 29, 2011 from 9am to 4pm on Monday-Friday.
Junior Intensive classes take place July 6 - July 28, 2011 from 5pm-8pm on Monday/Wednesday/Friday.

Audition Requirements: Auditions for youth ages 9 to 18. There is NO pre-registration for the auditions and no audition fee. Students must have at least two years of ballet training. Students should come dressed to take technique classes in ballet and modern. If accepted, students must attend the entire four week camp. There is a supplies fee of $150/participant for the Summer Intensive and $75/participant for the Junior Intensive.

An extension of the CFD's year-round pre-professional program, the Summer Intensive provides training for 90 dance students ages 9-18 with local and guest artists for four weeks. The tuition-free program, which includes technique classes in ballet, modern, and other dance forms, is designed to give advanced students the opportunities to broaden their understanding of various dance styles, to study with world renowned guest artists in an intimate, dynamic environment, and to make friends with other youth from around the region.

This year's guest artist faculty includes Ballet Hispanico Artistic Director Eduardo Vilaro and dancers, as well as other national artists to be announced. Vilaro and Brooklyn-based choreographer Ronald K. Brown, both of whom have been part of NOBA's Main Stage Series multiple times, handpicked the CFD as a forum for piloting and refining the educational components of Espiritu Vivo, a new Ballet Hispanico-commissioned work by Brown that explores the intersection of the African and Latino Diasporas in the Caribbean and Latin America. During the intensive, Vilaro and two Ballet Hispanico dancers will offer technique classes, a lecture, community interaction, and a series of movement studies and workshops that explore the choreographic process and cultural context developed through the new Brown work. The resulting work will be performed by the students in a culminating concert at the close of the camp.
Both Ballet Hispanico and Ronald K. Brown have worked and performed in New Orleans several times over the past few years. In November 2008, Ballet Hispanico visited New Orleans to perform on NOBA's Main Stage and to conduct a one-week residency in New Orleans public schools. In addition, Vilaro, who was artistic director of Luna Negra Dance Theater at the time, participated in the Summer Intensives in 2005 and 2006. Ronald K. Brown's company Evidence has appeared on NOBA's Main Stage Series in 2002 and 2007, and conducted extensive residencies in the schools and with the CFD.

The diversity in style and training of the guest artists in this year's Summer Intensive represents a unique opportunity for artists, students, and audiences in the New Orleans area to celebrate the excellence and outstanding repertoire of both classic and new works.

"The camp provides an opportunity for dance students throughout the area to gain access and insight into what it takes to train at such an intensive level," said Jenny Hamilton, NOBA Executive Director. "Since the guest artists work with all levels of students, even the beginners, students as young as 9 are provided with a rare opportunity to work with internationally acclaimed artists."
For more than a decade, the summer intensive has provided extraordinary training opportunities for students throughout the community, and has grown each consecutive year to support the demand. Past guest teachers include highly acclaimed artists from Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Luna Negra Dance Theater, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Pilobolus, and Dance Theatre of Harlem, among others. Artists are chosen to participate in the Summer Intensive because of their deeply rooted commitment to working with youth.

"NOBA's ongoing dedication to the NORD/NOBA Center For Dance and their passion for enhancing the lives of our children has been critical to the tremendous success and national recognition of this program," said Vic Richard, Director of NORDC. "We're excited to continue this partnership with NOBA and to be a part of the creativity, discipline, and imagination of our youth as they are given the opportunity and access to truly explore the arts."

The Summer Intensive program will culminate with a public concert for the local dance community and general public. The program will feature two works by Ballet Hispanico dancers, as well as the premiere of new works developed over the residency performed by the students. The date, time, and location of the performance are TBD; for more information call NOBA at 504.522.0996.

NORDC/NOBA Center For Dance
The NORDC/NOBA Center For Dance is a cultural community partnership between the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission (NORDC) and the New Orleans Ballet Association (NOBA). Founded in 1992, The Center was born out of a need to make dance accessible to all school-age children. A program that began with just 30 students now has an enrollment of more than 350 children per semester at 7 locations citywide. With a core curriculum of ballet, classes are open to any child in Orleans Parish with a demonstrated interest in dance. Through a professional faculty, master classes by NOBA Main Stage artists and other visiting artists, a mentor program and field trips, the Center works with each child to cultivate dreams and strengthen futures. The Center is the recipient of many awards and honors for excellence, including the 2002 Coming Up Taller Award, nominated for the Big Easy Classical Arts Award for best dance performance, national grants through the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Guild of Community Schools for the Arts, among others.

This project is supported in part by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans as administered by the Arts Council of New Orleans; a Decentralized Arts grant from the Louisiana State Arts Council through the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts as administered by the Arts Council of New Orleans; by grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with South Arts and the Louisiana Division of the Arts; and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserved great art.

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