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New Dance Call for Submissions
New Dance February 22nd & 23rd




New Dance at Saint Joseph Ballet

March 10-14, 2009

Call for Submissions

 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Saint Joseph Ballet will host four modern dance companies at its 2nd annual New Dance production in March 2009.  The purpose of this event is to support and produce new work by local artists in Southern California, and to provide master classes and art-making experiences for Saint Joseph Ballet’s 400 students.  Choreographers are not expected to create work to be performed by Saint Joseph Ballet students.

 

Previous New Dance Choreography Commissions:

“Brackish Waters”, Choreography by Ana Maria Alvarez

“In Other Words”, Choreography by Liz Casebolt and Joel Smith

“Small Spaces”, Choreography by Stephanie Nugent

“Monster: Portrait 4”, Choreography by Rebecca Pappas

                       

LOCATION

Performances and master classes will be in the Saint Joseph Ballet Studio Theatre in Santa Ana, CA.  The Studio Theatre is a state of the art 150 seat black box theatre with three wings, a black traveler, and white cyclorama.  The stage dimensions are 26’ wide x 30’ deep.

 

SCHEDULE

Tuesday March 10th

Technical Rehearsals in the morning.

Master Classes in the late afternoon and early evening for Saint Joseph Ballet students.

 

Wednesday March 11th

Technical Rehearsals in the morning.

Master Classes in the late afternoon and early evening for Saint Joseph Ballet students.

 

Thursday March 12th

7:00pm Dress Rehearsal for Saint Joseph Ballet students and families.

 

Friday March 13th

8:00pm Performance.

 

Saturday March 14th

8:00pm Performance

 

WORK

Saint Joseph Ballet is commited to assisting artists in the creation of new work for New Dance at Saint Joseph Ballet.  Saint Joseph Ballet will provide a stipend of $2,000 to each choreographer/company to be used for artist fees.  Saint Joseph Ballet will also make available to the choreographer their resident lighting designer (Ben Tusher), pay for technical fees for the Studio Theatre (crew, lighting and sound expendables, etc), and provide marketing for the production.  Additionally, space grants may be available for use of Saint Joseph Ballet’s studio spaces for rehearsals during the creation of the dance work.

Preference will be given to applicants premiering a new contemporary dance at this production.  Dances must be a minimum of 10 minutes in length and not exceed 20 minutes.  Choreographers will provide their own dancers; Saint Joseph Ballet students will not be performing the work.

 

ORGANIZATION BACKGROUND

Saint Joseph Ballet is a unique nonprofit after-school program that uses dance to teach young people what it takes to succeed in life – self-esteem, confidence, leadership, cooperative learning, and discipline. 

 

Saint Joseph Ballet has pioneered the practice of involving youth in a high quality and professional process of creating new, contemporary dance with renowned choreographers and other collaborating artists. New work is regularly commissioned from artists, such as Sean Curran, Mark Haim, Melanie Ríos Glaser, Donald McKayle, Scott Wells, Nami Yamamoto, Sally Silvers, and composer Alan Terricciano among others. Works are created with and performed by students at an Annual Concert at the Irvine Barclay Theatre as well as performances in Saint Joseph Ballet’s Studio Theatre. Dance companies in residence have included the prestigious Límon Dance Company, Eliot Feld Ballet Tech, and Elizabeth Streb’s STREB, who have worked with the students on repertory and master classes.

 

Through participation in Saint Joseph Ballet’s cutting edge programs, professionals ignite creativity in nearly 400 low-income youth.  Utilizing collaborative rehearsals and performances, young people passionately engage in the artistic process. 

 

Saint Joseph Ballet believes in contributing to the research and development of contemporary dance in Southern California as a way to live its vision of innovation.

 

APPLICATION PROCESS

For consideration please submit:

 

  • A DVD of the proposed dance work.  If unavailable, please submit other recent work demonstrating your aesthetic (see next item).
  • A DVD of three recent performances of your work.
  • A New Dance at Saint Joseph Ballet application form - click here to download
  • Choreographer’s resume.
  • Choreographer’s biography.
  • Company biography / dancer biographies.
  • Choreographer’s personal statement describing:
    • Abstract summarizing the proposed dance work.
    • Number of dancers.
    • Length of the dance work.
    • Information about the music and/or composer.
    • Any relevant production elements.
  • Application Fee of $20 – Make checks payable to “Saint Joseph Ballet”.

 

SELECTION PROCESS

Please send all application materials to:

            Ben Tusher, Production Director

            Saint Joseph Ballet

            1810 North Main Street

            Santa Ana, CA 92706

All applications must be postmarked by September 30, 2008.

 

Applications will be reviewed by the New Dance selection committee and final participants will be announced by October 31, 2008.  Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.  Submitted materials will become the property of Saint Joseph Ballet.

 

For application questions please click here to contact Ben Tusher. 

 

To read about last year's production of New Dance at Saint Joseph Ballet, click here.