Young Dancemakers Company
A Free Summer Dance Ensemble composed of
New York City Public High School Students
Summer 2008
Founding Director: Alice Teirstein
Assistant Director: Jessica Gaynor
YOUNG DANCEMAKERS COMPANY is a completely free summer ensemble open to students from public high schools throughout New York City, brought together by their love of dance and desire to create and perform their own choreography city-wide.
The company enters its 13th year in the summer of 2008, beginning the season in the state-of-the-art professional studios of Dance Theater Workshop and continuing in the newly renovated Performing Arts Center of the Fieldston School, in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, easily reached by subway or bus.
Training & Rehearsal
In daily, intensive sessions Mondays through Fridays throughout the month of July, the company explores dance-making processes under the direction of Alice Teirstein, choreographer, dancer, dance educator and head of the dance program at the Fieldston School. In the guest Repertory Project, students learn the work of a master choreographer. Past projects have been the work of Donald McKayle, Robert Battle, Sean Curran, Ronald K. Brown, José Limón and Alvin Ailey. In the 2008 Guest Repertory Project students will learn and perform work from the repertoire of famed choreographer Merce Cunningham. The company's city-wide performance tour will conclude with a Gala Celebration Concert at The Ailey Citigroup Theater August 3. The season dates in 2008 are June 27 to August 4, and the hours most days are 10 AM to 5 PM.
Performing on Tour
YDC performing Alvin Ailey repertory The company performs their choreography at various sites throughout the city. These performances are often followed by participatory dance-making workshops involving the entire audience, led by Alice Teirstein and the company, exploring the elements of dance through improvisation and on-the-spot choreography. In recent seasons there have been additional performance opportunities post-season, including the renowned DanceNow/NYC Festival at Dance Theater Workshop.
YDC leads post-performance
audience participation on stage The Company has been produced by the Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival in Lee, Massachusetts, Dancing in the Streets, the Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, Dance Theater Workshop, Abrons Arts Center, The Brooklyn Museum, Schomburg Center, Stuyvesant High School, Fordham University at Lincoln Center, the World Trade Center, Chelsea Piers, the Downtown Dance Festival in Battery Park, Dance Now NYC festivals at the Joyce SoHo Theatre, the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, the International Conference 2000 "Dancing in the Millennium" in Washington, DC, The Bridge for Dance as part of the Uptown Performance Series, "Up! On the Roof" at John Jay College Theater. It has given highly successful performances and workshops for hundreds of young people from United Neighborhood Houses and at Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture for capacity audiences of 900 youngsters and adults, Ailey Dance Camp, the Police Athletic League, The Arts at University Settlement, The Point, a community development initiative in the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx, Goddard-Riverside Community Center, the 92nd St. Y, Chelsea Art Museum, Harlem School of the Arts, The Yard in Martha's Vineyard, MA, Mt. Sinai Medical Center, Lovinger Theater at Lehman College, The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, The Flushing Library, and at Fieldston School for audiences of community groups from throughout the city.
Dance New York,
YDC with master tap dancer Savion
Glover, following his concert at the
Joyce Theater, NYC an enrichment component, introduces students to the professional world of NY dance, with trips to dance concerts, behind-the-scene visits with choreographers and their company rehearsals, master classes with guest artists, and college/career seminars.
A Completely Free Funded Program
Young Dancemakers Company, offering motivated urban youth an opportunity not otherwise available to them, is made possible by foundation funding, individual contributions and the Fieldston School. The 16-member company is selected by city-wide auditions, to which they are referred by their high school teachers. The Company members represent diverse social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds with one goal, to create and perform their own work.
The Company is grateful for the generous support of the Richenthal Foundation, the Joseph S. Kornfeld and Emily Davie Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, the Harkness Foundation for Dance, the Arnhold Foundation, and the New York Times Company Foundation.
Student Application Process/Auditions
Students are selected through auditions held in March. Maximum enrollment is sixteen students. Both males and females are encouraged to apply through the recommendations of their city high school dance teachers, guidance counselors, or community center leaders. Prior dance experience is preferred, but the Company welcomes highly motivated beginner students with technical and creative potential. Students must be open to new ideas and ready to commit to rigorous intensive work. Acceptance is based on student potential for both artistic growth and development of skills, as well as demonstrated motivation and seriousness of purpose.
For More Information
If you are a student applying to the program, a teacher who would like to help students apply, a program director interested in bringing the Young Dancemakers Company to your stage, or an audience member interested in seeing the Young Dancemakers Company
Click on the appropriate link below for additional information for:
or contact Alice Teirstein, Director (718) 329-7300 ext. 3358 or by email at aliceteirstein@aol.com
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