All That Jazz.

Boston College's Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation and Educational Policy (CSTEEP) has received a two-year grant of $530,000 from the Spencer Foundation for the Drawing on Education project, which will explore and document how drawings can be used as an alternative method for assessing and examining educational practice in schools. For more information contact Walt Haney, Boston College, [phone] and ask about including dance classrooms.

Western Kentucky University, in the spring of 1999, will become the first institution of higher learning to offer a course in the history of American jazz dance via the World Wide Web. Assistant professor Bob Boross will teach a three-credit course titled Jazz Dance History beginning January 1999, in which the evolution of American jazz dance from African origins to Broadway and the concert world will be explored. The course will include discussion of the relationships between jazz dance and society, technology, culture, and popular expression.

It is expected that the class enrollment, open to any college-level student who has a computer and Internet access, will be national and possibly international in scope. Students enrolled in other schools may transfer their WKU credits back to their own universities.

Enrollment is limited, and students must either be currently enrolled in an accredited university or apply to WKU for acceptance as a part-time, non-degree-seeking student. For registration information contact Dance 321 Jazz Dance History Web site at http://www.wku.edu/ ~bboross/dance321/main.html. Or, contact Boross at [phone], or at bob.boross@ wku.edu.

The seven-member Chamber Dance Company, founded in 1990 by Hannah C. Wiley, is the first professional dance company to be in residence at the University of Washington in Seattle. The company, comprised of candidates for the M.F.A. degree in dance at the University, perform dance works of historical and/or artistic significance that might not otherwise be produced here.

The CDC program January 28-31 at Meany Hall on the UW campus, includes Paul Taylor's Aureole; Lar Lubovitch's North Star; Charles Weidman's Traditions; and Men's Dance; and Soaring, a Ruth St. Denis and Doris Humphrey collaboration created in the 1920s.

Auditions for the academic year 1999-2000 at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts are set for Fridays, February 19, April 16, and June 4. Auditionees should be prepared to participate in a ballet barre, modern dance center, and to do improvisations. Contact Martha Curtis, Chair VCU, Department of Dance and Choreography, 1315 Floyd Avenue, Richmond, VA 23284-3007; [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]; or http://www.vcu.edu/artweb/Dance/.

The Zoellner Arts Center of Lehigh University, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, plans an extensive series next year of performances including dance, theater, and musical comedy. Philadanco presented a preperformance master class and a miniperformance at the university's Taylor Gym Dance Studio in November and the annual December presentation of The Nutcracker, staged by Oleg Briansky and Mirelle Briane, artistic directors of the Ballet Guild of Lehigh Valley. Zoeller Arts Center is a new state-of-the art educational, performance, and exhibit facility that had an attendance record of more than 40,000 patrons last year.

The Children's Dance Division of Towson University ended its fall session with two performances on December 13 at Stephen's Hall Theatre on the University campus. The concert included 180 students between the ages of seven and eighteen who are enrolled in ballet, modern dance, jazz dance, tap dance and musical theatre dance and performance courses. The division, started in 1981 by Helene Breazeale to provide dance instruction to young boys and girls, has grown and presently exceeds 900 students who take weekly classes. The division, now under the direction of Karen Muccioli and Gloria Lang, was recently named the official dance group of Baltimore Thunder, an indoor La Crosse league, and performed in Disney World's Magic Kingdom.

Send your college dance items to Marian Horosko, Dance Magazine, 33 W. 60th Street, New York, NY 10023 or e-mail at [e-mail]. You can also find us on the web at www.dancemagazine.com.