STANDARD POODLE Comes to Town Hall Theater, 5/8

PatTy Smith, the elder stateswoman of the Vermont dance scene, has performed at Town Hall Theater as a solo dancer, with her students, and with dancers from around the state. On Wednesday, May 8th, she joins Karen Amirault and Shelley Ismail to create an evening of dance under the title Standard Poodle.

These 3 dancers have known each other for years. Karen Amirault, under the auspices of the Vermont Arts Council, has tirelessly crisscrossed the state to bring dance to school children. Inspired young dancers, boys and girls alike, have joined her performing troupe, Karen Amirault and Kidz, and have delighted audiences year after year at Burlington's First Night celebrations.

Shelley Ismail can claim what very few her age can - that she was and continues to be a ballerina. She began her early training in NYC and counted among her teachers and life-long mentors the great Margaret Craske and the incomparable Anthony Tudor, both mainstays of American Ballet Theatre. By the age of 17 she was performing in London with the famed Ballet Rambert. At age 22 she joined Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montreal, where she made her home for over a decade. Eventually, her personal life brought her to Vermont where she continues to perform and teach.

PatTy Smith is well-known in Addison County for her expert training and choreography for children, as well as her own eclectic solo dance repertoire. She received her early and classic training in Boston where she was a child protégé of Jan Veen, the founder of The Boston Conservatory of Music's Dance Department and a disciple of the great German modern dancer, Mary Wigman. Patty enjoyed professional success in a variety of dance disciplines in both New York and San Francisco before launching out upon her own path. Since then her work garnered her several Fellowship Awards from both the Vermont Arts Council and the Vermont Community Foundation.

In the spirit of "all dancers must teach," which is the way this mysterious art is passed on, these three dancers will invite a few of their own young protégés to perform in this recital.

The Standard Poodle Dance Collective will perform on Wednesday, May 7 at 7 pm, at Middlebury's Town Hall Theater. Tickets are $15/$10 children, and may be purchased at 802 382-9222, www.townhalltheater.org, at the THT Box Office (Mon-Sat, Noon-5 pm) or at the door.

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