Registration through Queens College Summer Session One

2011 Cross-Cultural Summer Dance Intensive FestivalDirected by Yin Mei Critchell

Monday, June 6–Friday, June 24Queens College, CUNY | Flushing, New York

The 2011 Queens College Cross-Cultural Summer Dance Intensive Festival is a 3-week program open to all college students* (including incoming freshmen) that will offer a unique intercultural contemporary dance experience. Participants will take classes in contemporary dance technique, movement analysis, Asian performing arts, repertory, performance, tai chi, hip-hop, yoga, and more! Students will work directly with a faculty of experienced international and New York City-based dance professionals, and also have the opportunity to develop firsthand experience working with and getting to see professional dance companies performing each week at Queens College’s Kupferberg Center for the Arts!

The 2011 Summer Dance Intensive program, held during Queens College’s Summer Ses-sion 1S, has been designed to help each participant, regardless of level of experience, to achieve his/her artistic potential and uniqueness in various cultural dance genres through a contemporary dance approach. Classes will explore the intersection of cultures, teaching dance and movement forms from around the globe, in a variety of movement approaches, in addition to repertory from the resident artists. Students will experience techniques designed to cultivate and develop strong and agile bodies, nurture a finely tuned approach to the body/mind experience, and encourage individuals to perform and create with more awareness both personally and culturally.

*All non-CUNY students must matriculate through Queens College.

SUMMER SESSION 1S CURRICULUM Monday, June 6– Friday, June 24, 2011

■ DANCE 150. Introduction to Dance (special summer section)*■ DANCE 164. Asian Performing Arts ■ DANCE 166. Tai Chi Chuan■ DANCE 259. Dance Analysis (special summer section)**■ DANCE 395. Independent Study in Dance ■ DANCE 396. Special Topics in Dance & Movement: Hip-Hop

*Fulfills a QC Perspectives requirement. **Fulfills a requirement for dance majors.

■ Participants must enroll through CUNYfirst; no audition is required. ■ For costs and registration information, please visit the Summer Session webpage at

www.qc.cuny.edu/Academics/SpecialPrograms/SummerSession/Pages/default.aspx and the Bursar’s webpage at www.qc.cuny.edu/admissions/bursar/Pages/QCTuitionCosts.aspx

Instructors Erick Montes Chavero (Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company), Sara Pearson and Patrik Widrig (Pearson-Widrig Dance Theater), Lindsey Dietz Marchant (Dietz Marchant Performance Projects), Rokafella (Full Circle Productions and All the Ladies Say), Kwikstep (Full Circle Productions), Nadine Thouin (Go-On Productions), Dai Jian (Trisha Brown Dance Company), Yin Mei (Queens College Professor of Dance, program director), Marshall Davis (Queens College Adjunct Professor), Shi Bo and Su Xue Bing (Beijing Dance Academy), and members of Dance China NY.

SPECIAL DANCE CONCERT PRESENTATIONS■ Thursday & Friday, June 9 & 10 Erick Montes Chavero, Lindsey Dietz Marchant, Nadine Thouin, Dai Jian

■ Thursday & Friday, June 16 & 17 Sara Pearson, Patrik Widrig, Shi Bo, Su Xue Bing■ Thursday & Friday, June 23 & 24 Rokafella, Kwikstep, Yin Mei, Dance China NY

Queens College’s Drama, Theatre & Dance Department Charles Repole, Chair presents

Artists’ Biographies

ERICK MONTES CHAVERO (Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company) is originally from Mexico City and joined the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in 2003. Trained at the National School of Classical and Contempo-rary Dance in Mexico City, his professional career began with the Compañia Barro Rojo Arte Escenico, A-Quo Danza Contemporanea, Aksenti, and Thania Perez-Salas. After receiv-ing first prize in the Premio Intercontinental INBA-UAM in 2001, he collaborated with choreographer Stephen Petronio in projects sponsored by Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors and Queens Theatre in the Park. In 2004 he was invited to participate in the Festival Mex-ico Now in New York City. Erick has received grants through the Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y Las Artes (2002 and 2005) and from Aaron Davis Hall for E-Moves (2005).

SARA PEARSON (Co-Artistic Director of Pearson-Widrig Dance Theater) is an Associate Professor at the School of Theater Performance Studies at the University of Maryland. She has appeared with the Sara and Jerry Pearson Dance Company (1980–86), Murray Louis Dance Company (1975–80), Nikolais Dance Theatre (guest artist, 1974–76), and Nancy Hauser Dance Company (1967–73). Currently her repertoire includes 15 full-evening dance theatre works and 30+ solo and duet works. Sara has guest taught at Hunter College, Juilliard, Laban Centre London, Movement Research, NYU, Oberlin, and Skidmore and other universities throughout the U.S. She specializes in contemporary dance, choreography, and movement technique. PATRIK WIDRIG (Co-Artistic Director of Pearson-Widrig Dance Theater), an Associate Professor at the School of Theater Performance Studies at the University of Maryland, has an international repertoire of 15 full-evening dance theatre works and 20+ solo and duet works. In addition to photography projects and 20 short video works, stand-alone or inclusive to PWDT performances, Patrik has guest taught at Hunter College, Juilliard, Movement Research, NYU, Oberlin, Queens College, and other universities and institutions throughout the U.S. He specializes in contemporary dance, movement technique, and choreography.

Teaching—Both Sara and Patrik have trained with the Nikolais/Louis Dance Lab, New York City, and extensively studied Alexander Technique/Somatic Training, Regina Wray, and Ann Rodiger. Patrik and Sara have performed at such venues as Lincoln Center, Joyce Theater, Bates Dance Festival, Jacob’s Pillow, and the Kennedy Center in the U.S., as well as world-wide. They combine a passion for the joy and power of pure dancing and movement theatre with the deep inner work of over 20 years of exploration in release and bodywork techniques. With infectious enthusiasm, they not only help people connect what they experience inside the studio with their life in the world, but awaken their curiosity to explore, confront, integrate, and communicate their experiences. After developing a firm foundation in sound principles of body use, students are able to move safely with full abandon, exploring qualities of dynamics, timing, space, momentum, direc-tion, and musicality. LINDSEY DIETZ MARCHANT (Dietz Marchant Performance Projects) is a freelance dancer, choreographer, improviser, and teacher living and working in NYC. With her partner and collaborator, Jason Dietz Marchant, she has been creating and performing work for the past 11 years. Performances have taken her throughout the U.S. and around the world. Her work has been presented internationally at conferences and festivals about dance and technology, dance and improvisation, and interdisciplinary perfor-mance. In NYC she has performed at such venues as City Center Studio Theater, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, and the Duke Theater.

Teaching—Lindsey has taught advanced modern and set repertory in the U.S. and internationally at universities and art conservatories such as the Juilliard School, SUNY–Purchase, University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and the Art Institute of Indonesia. She also teaches regularly in the Modern Guest Artist Series at Dance New Amsterdam in NYC, and is a guest artist setting repertory and teaching for their New York Summer Dance Intensive program. In addition, Lindsey is a regular guest teacher at 100 Grand and Bill Young’s in NYC, and was a guest lecturer at the University of Michigan (Winter 2008). www.dietzmarchant.com

ANITA “ROKAFELLA” GARCIA (Full Circle Productions), a hip-hop dancer/choreographer, was born in Spanish Harlem and by the age of 16 began back-up dancing for freestyle singers in the local NYC party scene. Later Rokafella and her hip-hop dance style became integral to street performing crews such as the Transformers, the Breeze Team, the New York City Float Committee, and, in 1994, with GhettOriginal, a hip-hop dance company. In addition to co-hosting the Internet radio show “88 Hip-Hop,” Rokafella’s video appearances such as Fabolous’ “Holla-back Youngin” are part of a resurgence of breaking, locking, and pop-ping in the hip-hop mainstream. Also a judge of break-dance competitions for Red Bull and the International Battle of the Year in Germany, she is presently producing a documentary based on the challenging lifestyles of female break dancers featuring B girls from all over the world.

Teaching—Rokafella has taught workshops at Broadway Dance Center, NYU, Howard University, and Queens College, as well as at neighborhood high schools and community centers. The nonprofit company she co-found-ed with her husband, Gabriel “Kwikstep” Dionisio (Full Circle Productions), serves the community with educational performances and multimedia urban-themed performances. Her classes focus on the basic techniques of popping, breaking, locking, and uprocking, in addition to discussing the roots and the social exchange that embodies the global movement.

GABRIEL “KWIKSTEP” DIONISIO (Artistic Director, Full Circle Produc-tions), a hip-hop dancer/choreographer, is a NYC native who began experi-menting with hip-hop at the age of 8. Quickly moving from “The Robot” to popping, boogaloo, locking, and breaking, by 19 he was touring with the New York Express around China. By 1991 he had won a Bessie award for choreography and in 1992 founded the internationally known Full Circle. In 1996 Kwikstep and his wife Anita established the nonprofit, internationally acclaimed hip-hop collective known as Full Circle Productions. Today he is an international icon in breaking, and is best known for his smooth style, versatility, and signature head spins.

Teaching—Kwikstep has taught at the Broadway Dance Center, Beatriders Camp in Texas for Red Bull, The Point in the Bronx, and The Door in Manhat-tan. He has judged dance contests such as the Battle of the Year in Germany and Red Bull’s BC ONE, and mentors through Full Circle Productions. He aspires to have his own school of urban arts, providing options to the teens of today who, like him, are presented with the challenges of street life as the only way to live. www.fullcirclesoul.com NADINE THOUIN (Founder, Go-On Productions) is renowned for her boldness and creativity as a multidisciplinary artist, dancer, choreographer, and director. Her prodigious career spans over 25 years, encompassing 27 productions performed in more than 20 countries and 40 cities around the globe. Her artistic journey is anything but typical; Nadine took her first steps on stage in the 1970s at the age of 4. She began teaching dance and theatre in 1985 and has since shared her wealth of knowledge with over 50 renowned academies and companies worldwide. In 1999, Canadian embas-sies and consulates recognized her as a cultural ambassador to Asia.

MARSHALL L. DAVIS, JR. (Queens College Adjunct Professor) was born in Miami Beach, and began dancing at the age of 10 at the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center. The following year he was a finalist in the Rising Star Competition, and was the Florida winner for the Tri-Star Pictures Tap Day contest, a promotion for the movie Tap starring Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis, Jr. At 13, he won the coveted 1991 Star Search Teen Dance Competi-tion, and since then has performed throughout Europe, Japan, and the U.S. Marshall’s dancing is influenced by his mentor, the late Steve Condos of the Condos Brothers. He also has received guidance from James “Buster” Brown and others. He performed in the Tony Award-winning Broadway and international touring production of Bring in Da’ Noise Bring in Da’ Funk, starring and choreographed by Savion Glover. Prior to Noise/Funk he performed with Harold “Stumpy” Cromer at the Guthrie Theater as Pocket in the musical Babes in Arms. Named “Most Unusual Dance Soloist” by the Miami Herald for his rendition of the Morton Gould Tap Concerto, Marshall also is the recipient of Isaac Hayes’s “Breaking the Barrier Award” for his achievements at such an early age.

DAI JIAN (Trisha Brown Dance Company) was born in Hunan Province, China, and has been a student of martial arts since 1985. He began his dance studies in 1993, and graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy & Guang-dong ATV Professional Academy for Performing Arts. His professional career spans 15 years in various styles and techniques of classical and modern dance. In 1998 he won the Fourth National Dance Competition, and in 2004 he received a full scholarship to attend the American Dance Festival. Dai Jian danced and choreographed for Jin Xing Dance Theater and Guangzhou Song & Dance Ensemble in China before becoming a member of the Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2005, where he also worked as Shen Wei’s assistant for the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. He has developed various collaborative projects with choreographers Yin Mei, Hou Yin, and multimedia artist Kimberly Mayhorn, and has choreographed for Queens College’s Drama, Theatre & Dance Department; Carolina Friends School in Durham, NC; New York Chinese Cultural Center; and the Puffin Room in NYC. In addition to dancing professionally, he gives lessons in modern and contemplative dance.

YIN MEI (Queens College Professor of Dance) was born in China and started her professional career in traditional Chinese dance during the Cultural Revolution. Joining a leading dance company at the age of 14, she was trained in Chinese traditional dance forms. Before coming to the U.S. to study modern dance on a grant from the Asian Cultural Council, she was a principal dancer with the Henan Song and Dance Troupe, and later a principle of the Hong Kong Dance Company, where she danced leading roles in the traditional Chinese dance repertoire and won first prize at the Inter-national Choreography Competition. Invited to the American Dance Festival as an international choreographer, she studied at NYU and received her BA and MFA and completed coursework toward a PhD. She now choreographs and performs her contemporary works worldwide through her company, Yin Mei Dance. Her choreography has been presented at numerous New York venues, including City Center Fall for Dance Festival, Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, Dance Theater Workshop, La Mama E.T.C., the Asia Society, and the Japan Society, as well as at major festivals, performing arts venues, and many universities. Internationally her work has been presented in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Israel, Germany, and England.

Teaching—Yin Mei teaches contemporary dance technique, choreog-raphy, improvisation/composition, Asian performing arts, yoga, qi gong, tai chi, and dance studies at Queens College, and has choreographed for and directed numerous student performances. She has offered workshops and seminars worldwide, and has been a guest instructor and artist-in-residence at over two dozen universities. www.yinmeidance.org

SHI BO (Beijing Dance Academy) holds an MFA in dance from the Beijing Dance Academy, and is Director of the Han Tang Classical Dance Teaching and Research Center at the Academy. A member of the Chinese Dance Association and the Chinese Nuo Drama Association, his work in Han Tang classical dance regularly takes him to international competitions. In addition to being well traveled, he documents his trips through his favorite hobby, photography. Shi Bo will be at Queens College until August 2011, and this summer will be teaching Chinese classical dance.

SU XUE BING (Beijing Dance Academy) graduated with a degree in edu-cation and an MFA in dance from the Beijing Dance Academy. She special-izes in Chinese folk dance and is currently a professor with the Academy. She will be at Queens College until August 2011, and this summer will be teaching Chinese folk dance.

DANCE CHINA NY, the resident touring company of the New York Chinese Cultural Center, is composed of award-winning professional dancers and

musicians. The company brings the richness of tradi-tional dance, Peking Opera, and music to audiences across the country. Each year, the company presents

over 750 performances, workshops, master classes, and lecture/demonstrations for 180,000 people of all ages, at theatres, schools, and cultural centers throughout the U.S. www.chinesedance.org

Photo credit: Martine Bisagni