Fall 2019 Dance Concert Program Details

Performing Arts at CCBC
presents

FALL 2019 Dance Concert

CCBC Dance Company Artistic Director
Melinda Blomquist

CCBC Dance Coordinator
Tommy Parlon

CCBC Dance Company Associate Director
Kristi Schaffner

Technical Director
Lighting Designer
G. Maurice “Moe” Conn, III

Seamstress
Charisse Secrest

Choreographers:

Melinda Blomquist | Adrienne Kraus Latanishen
Tommy Parlon | Kristi Schaffner
Guest: Runqiao Du

November 14 at 11:10 am
November 15 at 7pm
November 16 at 7pm

PROGRAM

We (Premiere)
Choreography: Kristi Schaffner
Music: Andy Hall and Robert McDowell
Costumes: Kristi Schaffner
Dancers: Adria Applebee, Ava Correlli, Anastasia McKenzie, Maegan Read, London Smith

Insieme (2019)
Choreography: Ava Correlli
Music: safe to say goodnight by Armon Jay
Dancers: Armeara Blackwell, Dorien Carroll, Maegan Read, London Smith

unplugged… (2019)
Choreography: Paij A. Hardy
Music: Paige and June by Hauschka
Voice over and text by: Paij A. Hardy
Sound Recording and editing: Brian Comotto
Costumes: Paij A. Hardy
Dancer: London Smith
Program Note: Take a moment to unplug and reflect

Refuge (2019)
Choreography: Tommy Parlon
Music: Explosions in a Four Chambered Heart by Moon Eat the Dark
Costumes: Charisse Secrest
Dancers: Anastasia McKenzie, Emily Minter, Maegan Read

Focusing on Focusing (2019)
Choreography: Adrienne Kraus Latanishen with input from the dancers
Costume Design:
Dancers: Adria Applebee, Armeara Blackwell, Dorien Carroll, Ava Correlli, Emily Minter, London Smith, with Kristi Schaffner

Intermission – 10 minutes

A Battle Within (2019)
Choreography: Anastasia McKenzie
Music: They Ran by Message to Bears
Dancers: Anastasia McKenzie and London Smith

Me (Premiere)
Choreography: Kristi Schaffner
Music: Original Score composed for the work by Jordan Addison
Costumes: Krisiti Schaffner
Dancers: Dorien Carroll, Paij A Hardy

Emerge (Excerpts) (2019)
Choreography: Melinda Blomquist and Runqiao Du
Music: Take Anything You Want, Torched and Wrecked, and Ritual Music by David Skidmore; Movement I and II from Violin Concerto No.2 “The American Four Seasons” by Philip Glass
Costumes: Kendra Shapanus
CCBC Dance Company: Adria Applebee, Armeara Blackwell, Ava Correlli, Eriya Littlejohn, Anastasia McKenzie, Emily Minter, Maegan Read, London Smith, Shardai Smith
TU Dance Company: Alexis Brownlee, Anna Carlise, Kayla Clancy, Jiayue Guo, Kaelen Gouviea, Cami Hanixman, Emma Jennings, Dania Lanaa, Savanna Mitchell, Madeline Moayedi, Leah Noland, Maya Richard, Alexandra Rojas, William Swann, Leah Warminski, Maria Weyant, Annie Zickefoose

EMERGE – Coming to light… is a collaborative celebration between the Community College of Baltimore County Dance Company (CCBC) and the Towson University Dance Company (TUDC). For new artistic innovations, TUDC and CCBC Dance Companies have engaged in a unique artistic exchange. The artistic team at each institution set pieces on student dancers at both locations and have combined their creative efforts to share the stage in a collaborative evening length work entitled EMERGE.

The Dancers

ADRIA APPLEBEE
Is currently in her third semester taking dance classes at CCBC, this is her second semester dancing with the CCBC Dance Company. She is a parallel enrolled homeschooler taking full-time college classes at CCBC. Adria is also a gymnast and has been training in aerial silks for 6 years. Her previous aerial productions include Circus, The Flight of Icarus, Under the Sea, The Odyssey, and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

ARMEARA BLACKWELL
began her dance experience started at B.funk Dance Company where she trained for 2 years as a hip-hop dancer. She then transitioned to Morton Street Dance Company where she trained in ballet and modern for a year. After leaving Morton Street she started her own dance group as well as joining her high school’s, Perry Hall, dance company. During my time in high school her was also training with Culture Shock where I am currently in my 4th season with them. She has performed in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Diego, and Las Vegas.

DORIEN CARROLL
was introduced to dance at age 11 when he joined the Ava Fields Dance Company/Ministry. It wasn’t until he was in the eighth grade when he realized that he wanted to take dancing to a more serious level. He was accepted into The Baltimore School for the Arts and trained in classical ballet and modern for four years. He had the honor to work with numerous choreographers and perform well known work such as Martha Graham’s “Appalachian Spring”, George Balanchine’s “Who Cares”, and many more. Dorien thanks each choreographer and cast member he’s work with for this production and his family for always supporting his craft.

AVA CORRELLI
Is in her fourth semester at CCBC as a Dance major. Ava started at CCBC while in her sophomore year of high school, while being homeschooled. Ava has been taking dance lessons on and off for about six years, while primarily focusing on musical theater, and did not dance intensely until becoming a member of the CCBC Dance Company. Ava hopes to attend the Disney College Program and become and performer in Disney parks.

PAIJ HARDY
Born in Washington, DC, Paij began her training at the New Hope Academy under the instruction of Concha Egea Marchitelli. She continued her training at the Marcellus Dance Studio and under the tutelage of Michelle “Ms. Mimi” McDonald , Adrian V. James, and Maya Yamada in PG County Schools. After high school Paij attended Temple University as a dance major. Some of her memorable performances include B.E.T. television, the White House, The Kennedy Center, The Fringe Festival and the Department of Army and Navy. Paij is also the founder of aPART: Inclusive Arts Initiative, a nonprofit arts organization whose mission is to promote various avenues of the arts through accessibility, training, and performance opportunities to reach the artistic voice in everyone.

ERIYA LITTLEJOHN

ANASTASIA MCKENZIE
was born in Kirov, Russia, and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. Anastasia graduated in 2015 from CCBC where she was a dance major. She recently graduated with her BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography at Coker College in Hartsville, South Carolina. Anastasia was a part of the pre-professional Coker Repertory Dance Company at Coker College. In 2012, Anastasia was nominated to travel to London, England to represent Maryland in dance. During the summer of 2016 she was 1 of 25 lucky dancer chosen to travel to Italy for a two-week summer dance intensive. Anastasia is currently back in school perusing another degree while continuing performing and creating choreography.

EMILY MINTER
lives in Baltimore City. She is a company member of Dance & Bmore where she performs, teaches, and provides community outreach regarding violence prevention and conflict resolution to city residents. Emily has been dancing for 10 years. During that time, she has performed with the goal of education on sensitive issues and community building. In 2014 she performed in the National Water Dance, educating the public about environmental issues affecting water.

MEAGAN READ
began dancing at the age of 3 at church. After her passion for dance was apparent to the leader of the dance ministry she began taking classes at an actual dance studio. She began attending Gardenville recreation soon after. After attending Gardenville for a couple of years, she left that studio and started attending Baltimore Dance Tech. She left Baltimore Dance Tech in 2013. Following her departure from that dance studio, she began attending The Maryland Academy of Dance, under the leadership of Darby Pack, which is the same person who was in charge of the church dance ministry when she began dancing. After graduating from High School in 2017, she attended Morgan State University and joined the Morgan State Modern Dance Ensemble. After transferring to CCBC in fall of 2019, she joined the dance company

LONDON SMITH
started her training at CCBC under Thomas Parlon. She attend New Town High School where she graduated in 2018. She has also performed with All County Honors Dance Ensemble and Deviated Theatre. This is London’s first year working with CCBC Dance Company. London plans to transferring to University of the Arts after completing her AFA degree at CCBC.

SHARDAI SMITH
began her dance training at a family friend studio and in her church dance ministry. She attended Franklin High School where she graduated in 2015. She also has danced for Rayn Fall dance studio. This is Shardai first year dancing with CCBC Dance Company. Shardai plans on transferring to Temple University upon achieving her AFA degree in Dance.

Production Staff

The Choreographers

MELINDA BLOMQUIST
(Artistic Director)
received a Master of Fine Arts in Dance Choreography and Performance from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee; and a Master of Arts in Dance Pedagogy from Brigham Young University. Melinda has presented her choreographic work in numerous venues nationally and internationally including: the South Central and Mid-Atlantic American College Dance Festivals; the Southern District AAHPERD conferences; Northwest Vista College; the National Dance Association Pedagogy Conferences; the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee; and at the Attakkalari Festival in Bangalore India. She has also performed her own work and the work of other artists in various venues. Melinda is currently working with Trajectory Dance Project.
Melinda is an Associate Professor of Dance at the Community College of Baltimore County and is the Artistic Director of the CCBC Dance Company. Melinda is involved in community outreach, focusing on promoting the importance of dance as art form in public education. Previously Melinda was a member of the dance faculty at the University of Texas Pan American where she was the Co-Artistic Director of the Dance Ensemble. Melinda has also worked with the Theatre and Music departments as a choreographer for Musical Theatre productions both at the University of Texas Pan American and at the Community College of Baltimore County.

ADRIENNE KRAUS LATANISHEN
(Choreographer)
is not only an adjunct dance professor at The Community College of Baltimore County, but a proud alum too. After transferring to The University of Maryland, College Park she graduated with honors with her B.A. in Dance. Adrienne is currently the Director of Dance at St. Timothy’s School, a private/boarding school for girls. At the moment she dances professionally and independently for Trajectory Dance Project, Molly Jean Kirkup Heer, and herself. She has also danced for BlueShift Dance (principal dancer), The Collective (choreographer, teacher, and dancer), B3W of New York City, Andary Dance, and withhart.dance.projects, of which she was also founding member and assistant director. Her choreography has been commissioned for local theatre groups, high schools, and colleges including Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts where she was made Artist in Residence.

TOMMY PARLON
(Dance Coordinator)
a native of Washington, D.C., received his M.F.A. in Dance (Choreography and Technology) from Arizona State University and his B.F.A. in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University. From 1998-2002 he was an Assistant Professor of Dance at Kent State University. While in New York City he danced with J. Fregalette Janson Dance, Centaur Dance Theatre, Beyondance Inc! and the Paris based multi-media performance art company FIASCO. Mr. Parlon has danced in pieces by Doug Varone, Stephen Petronio, Alvin Mayes, Laura Dean and Elizabeth Streb. In 1996-1998 he collaborated on Falling to Earth, an interactive multi-media performance piece created with the Institute for Studies in the Arts at Arizona State University. His choreography has been commissioned by Incidents Physical Theater of New York City, NEW ARTiculations in Tucson, Arizona, Lansing Chamber Dance in Michigan, and numerous colleges throughout the United States. He was awarded an Individual Artist Award in Solo Dance Performance from the Maryland State Arts Council in 2004 and an Artist Award in Choreography in 2007. Mr. Parlon is currently the Artistic Director of Tommy Parlon Dance Projects in Washington, D.C., the Artistic Associate of Ground Zero Dance in Richmond and the Dance Coordinator at CCBC.

KRISTI SCHAFFNER
(Associate Director)
attended the University of Oklahoma as a teaching fellow where she received her MFA in modern dance (2011). She also has BFA in dance education from Kent State University (2004). Through a graduate student grant, she studied Laban Movement Analysis at the Laban Institute in NYC. Ms. Schaffner has performed with Jeslyn Dance Gallery, Clawson Dances, Junction Dance Theatre, and Tommy Parlon Dance Projects among others, and is a current dancer and Director of Education and Outreach for Dragonfly Dance Experiment. Her choreography has been presented across the country including Pittsburgh, Oklahoma City, Washington D.C., Annapolis, Baltimore, Salt Lake City and at the Howard County Dance Festival. A passion for education has inspired her to create and implement dance curricula for both preschools and charter school students diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. Ms. Schaffner is a current adjunct faculty member in the dance divisions of Anne Arundel Community College and the Community College of Baltimore County and is a frequent guest instructor and performer in schools and community events.

RUNQIAO DU (Choreographer)

was born in Shanghai, China. At the age of 11, he was selected and awarded scholarship to study at the famed Shanghai School of Dance. Upon graduating with honors in 1989, Mr. Du moved to the United States to begin his performing career with The Washington Ballet. During his nearly 20 year tenure with TWB, he performed various leading roles in classical and neoclassical ballets including Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Albrecht in Giselle, Prince Charming in Cinderella, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Prince in Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty, and the Cavalier in The Nutcracker.

He has also had the opportunity to dance leading roles choreographed by some of today’s most influential choreographers including works by Jerome Robbins, Christopher Wheelden, Nacho Duato, Mark Morris, Edwaard Liang, Septime Webre, Twyla Tharp, William Forsythe, Trey McIntyre, Lila York, and Jiri Kylian.

In 2000, while maintaining his principle position with The Washington Ballet, he accepted an invitation from the legendary ballerina, Suzanne Farrell, to join her brand new company The Suzanne Farrell Ballet as a principle dancer. Under her coaching, Mr. Du danced some of the most important works created by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Maurice Bejart.

In 2008, after his illustrious performing career, Mr. Du accepted a lecturer position from the Dance Department of Towson University where he continues to teach Ballet Technique to the top level BFA Majors. He also teaches Ballet Repertory, Men’s Ballet Technique, Partnering, and is the Artistic Director of the Towson Dance Company for the fall semester. In the Dance Department, Mr. Du has played a major role in cultivating an environment for male dancers. He has written a new comprehensive curriculum to train male ballet students in college. He has also developed a new course called Method of Teaching Ballet Technique as a part of the K-12 teaching curriculum. Mr. Du is also a current faculty member of Berrend Dance Centre in Gaithersburg, MD.

Mr. Du joined the American Dance Institute faculty in 2009 and was the Artistic Director of the ADI School from 2010 to the spring of 2015. He also formed Ballet ADI, the resident company of American Dance Institute in 2010. The company produced two highly acclaimed productions each year since its creation. In 2010, he completed an entire production of The Nutcracker for the ADI School students. The School performed The Nutcracker annually at the ADI Theater as well as benefit performances at The Children’s Inn at NIH and Walter Reed Army and Naval Hospital in Bethesda MD. In 2016, as Co-Director, Mr. Du created and successfully launched ADI’s Future Artists Initiative to promote and support diversity in dance.

In 2018, Mr. Du was invited to join the renowned Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, DC as a master teacher to teach a Career Seminar Course, Ballet Technique, and a Choreographic Composition Class to the school’s Pre-Professional level and Senior level students.

In the summer of 2018, Mr. Du was invited to participate as a master teacher in the Master Class Summer Intensive that was part of The 6th Shanghai International Ballet Competition. He taught the Senior level Men’s class and choreographed a new work for the class to be performed at the culmination of the Intensive.

In the summer of 2019, Mr. Du was a guest teacher of all levels at the International Ballet Intensive that was part of the South African International Ballet Competition in Johannesburg, South Africa. His choreographic work for all men was presented at the culminating Gala Performance. He also was a guest master teacher for The Shanghai Opera in Shanghai, China.

Mr. Du has been a guest artist, master teacher, repititeur, and adjudicator nationally and internationally. He has choreographed over 30 classical and neoclassical works for various companies, schools, and universities, including his own version of the full-length ballet, Sleeping Beauty, Coppélia, Swan Lake, and The Nutcracker. His choreographic work has also been presented in festivals and competitions, including Youth America Grand Prix, VelocityDC Dance Festival, New Jersey Youth Ballet Competition, and the Millennium Stage at The John F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts Center.

Special Thanks

Dr. Sandra Kurtinitis | CCBC President
Mr. Jack McLaughlin | Interim Vice President of Instruction
Dr. Rich Lilley | Vice President of Enrollment & Student Services
Dr. William Watson | Dean of Liberal Arts
Dr. Anne M.Lefter | Director, Performing Arts
Professor Patti Crossman | Chair of Performing Arts and Humanities
Dr. Rebecca Ocampo | Arts Pathways Coordinator
Doug Heinle | Graphic Designer
TUDC Artistic Directors: Alison Seidenstricker and Runqiao Du