KDE at Performing Arts Center Grand Opening

The Kent Dance Ensemble, KSU’s select student touring company was one of the two surprise guest performers at the Nov. 19 Grand Opening of the new Performing Arts Center on the KSU-Tuscarawas campus.

It was a truly memorable experience for us! The day started at 11:30 AM when 13 company members and guests drove south an hour and 15 minutes to the campus. After settling costumes and dance bags in the chorus dressing room, the dancers explored the facility, checking out the view from the stage (the theatre seats 1,100 people!) and the stairway on which they would be performing. Student Director Katie Naso lead the company in an hour long warm-up and then the real work began.

We had one hour to re-choreography Kim Karpanty’s showpiece “There’s No Business Like Show Business” down two flights of stairs in the lobby, then an hour to rehearse and set the lighting for my own “Rainbow Concerto” on the stage itself. What a joy to dance on a stage with a “sprung” floor! The P.A. Center is intended to draw musicians, comedians, actors, dance companies and even Broadway shows, so the theatre was designed to be attractive to touring groups. Resilient flooring is found in few theatres but what a treat for the lucky performers who find themselves standing (and moving) on this one!

School of Theatre and Dance Director Cynthia Stillings volunteered to accompany us and set lighting for the piece...in an hour...in an unfamiliar space...on new equipment. The result was another Stillings tour de force, as she made the most of the time she had to produce beautiful effects.

Right before the first dance, a photographer, Sean Palmer, from Solid Rock photos, was setting up his equipment to provide complimentary photographs to the guests. We grabbed the opportunity to take a company portrait. Ten minutes later, the dancers were on the staircase, much to the surprise of the 600+ guests in attendance in the theatre lobby!

But there was much more in store for them. The guests proceeded into the theatre where KSU President Lester Lefton, Dean Andrews of the Tuscarawas campus, the Mayor and various state and local dignitaries welcomed everyone and thanked the community whose support made the performing arts center a reality. They stressed that the center would be an engine driving the local economy forward, as people come to the region to enjoy performances, have dinner and visit the surrounding Amish countryside. At a time when so many people see the arts as a “frill” that can be cut from schools, grants and life itself, this came as a refreshing ray of true vision.

School of Music faculty member Jerry Wong performed several pieces by Frederic Chopin on the facility’s new Steinway piano and then it was our turn again.

To the music of Antonio Vivaldi, the 13 KDE members flew across the space as if this was their home theatre. The audience responded with extended applause and throughout the rest of the evening, dancers received many well deserved compliments on their performance. A mere 11 1/2 hours later, we were back in Kent, OH, and several of the dancers got just enough sleep to return to campus for a 9:30 rehearsal the next morning.

Many people think that going to college is “hiding out” from real life, but this day at the KSU-Tuscarawas Performing Arts Center was a very “real world” experience as far as dance is concerned. As a professional, you have little time to adapt to new theatre spaces; you just have to go in and get the job done and do it well. And that is exactly what the Kent Dance Ensemble members did on Nov. 19.

Thanks to Cindy and all of the people who made this performance possible: to the fine faculty members who contribute so much to all the students in the Dance Division; to Dave Burrington and the costume area who had to push to get the costumes ready; to the staff members who helped facilitate the transportation arrangements; and especially the folks at the Tuscarawas Campus, who were so helpful to us in rehearsals and backstage and provided food for the dancers. And my deepest appreciation goes to the dancers themselves—their hard work over the entire semester paid off with a beautiful realization of the choreography.

We get three more chances this semester to “dance the rainbow” at the Dance ’10: TranscenDANCE concert in Stump Theatre on the Kent Campus Dec. 3-5.

--Andrea Shearer (Assoc. Prof./Dance Division Director)

Stump Stage Welcomes Back Dancers

November 17th marked the return of dancers onto E. Turner Stump Theatre as we all prepare for our upcoming concert.


Spacing rehearsals on stage are a very important part of the performance process so that we, as dancers, can reconfigure our movement patterns to the stage space before adding costumes and lighting.

I was thankful that I remembered how cold such a large theatre could get and brought lots of layers to warm up in. Thankfully warming up did not take much time as we run through the dance several times in order to work out pathways and patterns of movement to more appropriately fit this space.

Being that it was our first time on stage this season I was very impressed how little effort we had to put in when it came to changes of staging. This is probably due to the fact that our dance studios are now so much larger in our new space, so we did not have that much extra length to add to our previous movement patterns.

Please come see what we have been working on over this semester in Dance 2010: TranscenDANCE on December 3-5. It will be a very entertaining concert!

--Colleen Weiher (BFA Dance Performance Major)

Tamara Landry: Reflections

Senior year seemed so far away as I was an incoming freshman in August of 2004, but here my senior year is filled with excitement, fear, and the willingness to survive in the business world of arts. When I was in my junior year I was in the dance education program, and one of my biggest fears while in the program was that I had to pass my Praxis exam to become a certified dance educator. After many attempts to pass the exam I had not reach my goal. Completing my junior year I decided that I would take a year off and work in the field of dance. Taking a leap of faith I decided to move to New York and was offered work in Brooklyn teaching dance at a YMCA. That year off from school, I was able to work on my craft as a dance educator while being able to adjust to corporate America. In 2010 I returned to college to finish my degree in dance performance. As I returned I understood the most important part of education is to complete what you have begun. One thing that I have learned from all the dance educators here at Kent State is, no matter what you do, it’s how you do it-- and to never give up on your goals in life.

--Tamara Landry (BFA Dance Performance Major)

Kent Dance Ensemble at the Roe Green Center Opening

The Kent Dance Ensemble performed a piece of choreography at the Roe Green Center Grand Opening on Saturday, November 6, 2010. The piece, danced to "There’s No Business Like Show Business,” was fun and entertaining, but the preparation process was difficult. When a dancer steps onstage, the dancer understands that things may happen that are out of his or her control, but we, as professionals, learn to deal with the unexpected. For the Roe Green Center Grand Opening, KDE would be dancing in the lobby—the lobby that was expected to be filled with 300 guests. During rehearsals, we could not fill the lobby and practice dancing around the guests. We had to plan the best we could while understanding that the actual performance would be nothing like our rehearsals. Fortunately, the guests at the Grand Opening were gracious and allowed us to dance around them. The experience was like no other. The fourth wall did not exist in this performance; instead, the audience and the performers shared a very intimate space. Dancing in the new lobby and being part of this exciting time in the school’s history is an honor.

--Jessica Kinsey (Dance Performance Major)

Reflection: Hosting our First Audition

A week ago, on October 27, the Junior class hosted an audition for the Student Dance Festival. Most individuals choreographing for this concert have attended many different auditions, but never been sitting behind the table analyzing the dancers. This was an entirely new experience. We had to come in with some kind of knowledge of either skills or quality of movement we wanted our dancers to possess. We also had to be able to look at and work around dancers schedules and work with our fellow choreographers so we could all have a cast that would work well for our pieces.

Also, for a select few of us, we had to create movement phrases that were simple enough to teach quickly but had elements that could show us what the dancers could do. Some elements used in the phrases were speaking, improvisation, both slow and fast movement, movement across the floor, movement on the floor, and some very basic partnering. Jessica Mego and I created a phrase that used a lot of movement on the floor and abdominal control.



Our phrase was only four 8 counts long but included an improvisation at the beginning and end. By both creating and teaching this phrase we had to learn to be both succinct and accurate in demonstrating what we wanted from the dancers, both in the choreography and improvisation sections.

Having this whole experience as part of our journey towards a degree is extremely helpful to my future. Whether I become a choreographer and use this beginning knowledge to build upon for future auditions, or at least to understand what all goes into the audition and selection process for a cast or company.

-Colleen Weiher (Junior BFA Dance Major/2011 SDF Choreographer)

Kent Dance Association Masterclass with Desmond Beasley

On Sunday, November 21st the Kent Dance Association will be hosting a dance masterclass with Desmond Beasley. It will be held in the dance studio D123 from 1:00 to 3:00pm. Desmond will be teaching contemporary dance for the first hour and hip-hop for the last hour. The class is FREE to anyone who wants to come! All levels of students are encouraged to join, so come take Desmond's class and bring a friend. Even if you have never taken hip-hop or contemporary it is always good to try new types of movement and have experience with a variety of styles. His bio is posted below and if you want to learn more about him, you can visit his website here. There are photos, videos and his schedule of where and when he teaches. The Kent Dance Association would appreciate it if you can join us FOR this event, so that we can further awareness of the dance division at Kent State University.



Desmond Beasley's technical dance history began in Fall 2005, when he first enrolled at the University of Akron where he majored in Dance and Business. Originally from Cleveland, Desmond began dancing is his middle school and high school show choir. Desmond won many awards at various show choir competitions in and out of Ohio, including outstanding performer, most dynamite performer, and best male soloist. In spring of 2007 at the University Desmond was awarded a dance scholarship from one of the dance faculty members. Desmond’s first self-choreographed piece "State of Circumstances" was chosen to be part of The University of Akron’s Dance Company Fall performances. The piece was modern/contemporary dance, and was about everyday emotions, and breaking points in life. Each fall semester faculty members choose a student's work which they feel will fit best in the faculty show. Akron News Now.com wrote, " Once intermission started, the crowd looked and found that it was a student who choreographed the dance. The audience was surprised that a student could create something so professional. "State of Circumstances" was perfect." While in college Desmond has performed with the University of Akron Dance Company and various students works. He is also a member of the Akron based hip-hop group ILL’U’SYN. This group performs all around the Akron, Canton, and Cleveland area but has also traveled to New York, Florida, and Nashville for various hip-hop competitions. ILL’U’SYN has been seen on BET’s 106 & Park, BET’s Spring Bling, and BET’s Blaze the Stage. Desmond specializes in Hip-Hop but also studies ballet, modern, tap, jazz, african dance, and jazz phunk. Desmond was given the title of Artistic Director at his studio in Canton, Ohio, "The Turning Pointe School of Dance." Just recently moved back from Las Vegas, Desmond now does some choreography for the University of Akron's Dance Team and also Marietta College Dance Team and teaches dance at various studios and cities across the state of Ohio.




--Amanda Black (BFA Dance Major/ KDA President)

Student Dance Festival

Being a Dance Performance major at Kent State provides a great number of opportunities and privileges. I am currently a junior, and I am quite thrilled about this entire year. The biggest event for the junior class is the much-anticipated Student Dance Festival (SDF). This annual concert gives us the opportunity to choreograph a three- to five-minute piece which is performed in the spring by other dance students within the University. This year, we will be presenting our work with the BFA seniors in a combined concert: BFA/SDF 3.14~Infinity. With a big thanks to Roe Green, our concert will be held in the brand new EZ Black Box Theatre.

This past Wednesday, October 27th, our group of fourteen choreographers conducted our first audition to cast for SDF. We have all been anticipating this experience for a long time! Many talented dance students attended the audition, and we felt very lucky with how many were interested in being a part of the performance. After the audition concluded, we chose our casts of dancers in an organized and successful fashion. Each choreographer, including myself, was more than pleased with the results. I personally cannot wait until January 2011, when we are able to begin rehearsing. Words can neither express my thanks to everyone who is involved in this process, nor describe my excitement for what is to come next. I hope to see everyone at the performance this spring!



--Jordan Deckert (Junior Dance Performance Major)

Kent Dance Association's Hula Masterclass

This past Saturday, October 30th, the Kent Dance Association held a Hula Masterclass taught by Vicki Hartkopf. Vicki is the President/C.E.O. of Perrysburg Academy of the Performing Arts, Inc. I found this class to be very challenging but I enjoyed every minute of it. It was wonderful learning a new style of dance. The key to Hula, as Vicki told us, "Is to always keep the knees bent." This allows the dancer to have more mobility through the hips.

We learned a series of five different combinations. Each and every hula dance had a story line with hand gestures that mimicked the words. In Hula the hands tell the story. One of my favorite combinations was called "keep your eyes on the hands." This hula dance was rather humorous. The story was, whenever you're watching a hula girl dance, don't keep your eyes on her hips, just keep your eyes on her hands.

In hula there are names for every step. The main one is the Kaholo, which is: step together, then step together to the right and left with swaying of the hips. Another one is Ami, which is rotation of the hips from the right, to the back, to the left and back to the right or vis versa. The main hula movement is a Kaholo with one arm straight and the other bent. Both hands move like you are petting a very tiny kitten. The motion is very gentle and soft. If you are moving to the right, the right arm is straight and if moving to the left, the left arm is straight. The head always followed the hands in the direction you are moving.

This class was an amazing experience, and I don't know when the next time will be when I can take a hula class. Vicki made the class fun and very interesting to learn about. We had a great time and I would recommend taking new styles of dance to everyone because it gives you more variety and makes you a better dancer!



-- Amanda Black (BFA Dance Major/KDA President)