Educators in the news. (The Teach-Learn Connection).

DANCE ALLIANCE OF RHODE ISLAND HOSTS THE National Dance Education Organization June 26-30 in Providence. "Dance: A Living Legacy of Building Bridges," offers 125 sessions, including a keynote address by Carolyn Adams, a former Paul Taylor Dance Company soloist. An exhibit of photographs and other memorabilia will honor prominent early Rhode Island dance educators including Bertha Carr, Christine Hennessey, Doffs Holloway, Fannie Helen Melcer, and Lydia Pettine. For more information and registration, contact NDEO: www.ndeo.org, 301/657-2880.

NATIONAL DANCE EDUCATION ORGANIZATION announces publication of Standards for Dance in Early Childhood. The thirty-two-page softbound book provides the first age and developmentally appropriate guidelines for teaching dance to children 2 to 5 years old. Developed by NDEO, the guidelines were tested under a pilot program through the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts. For more information or to order a copy, contact NDEO at 301/657-2880, [e-mail].

THE CENTER FOR MODERN DANCE EDUCATION OF New Jersey celebrates its fortieth anniversary June 9 with a gala performance of Claire Porter's It's About Time, created for Stuart Hodes, head of the Martha Graham School of Dance; Alice Teirstein, founder/director of Young Dancemakers Company, a free city-wide summer project for NYC public high school students; Irving Burton, who created a dance-theater piece about stuttering that's been performed at World Stuttering Conferences; and Shirley Ubell, the center's founder. Notably, all four performers are over age 70. The center offers classes, workshops, and performance opportunities to preserve and promote modern dance as an indigenous U.S. art form.

CORPS DE BALLET INTERNATIONAL WILL HONOR George Zoritch (see Presstime News, Dance Magazine, May, page 25) on June 12 as part of its fourth annual conference, hosted this year by Western Michigan University Dance Department. Zoritch, now of Tucson, Arizona, coaches young dancers and judges for international ballet competitions. His performance resume includes Ida Rubenstein's company, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas, and Broadway in Balanchine's On Your Toes. More recently he owned a studio in Los Angeles and taught ballet at the University of Arizona. The CORPS conference also features a seminar, "Teaching Ballet in Higher Education," with Finis Jhung, June 13-16. For more information, call 706/542-4432 or visit [e-mail].

DIANE WAWREJKO COCHRAN (shown above) joined the National Dance Association as executive director in January. With a BA in ballet from Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania, and an MFA in performance and choreography from Arizona State University, Cochran most recently served as assistant professor and dance-program coordinator at the University of Texas-Pan American.

THE AILEY/FORDHAM BFA PROGRAM in dance, initiated in 1998, graduated its first class of fifteen in May. The four-year, 148-credit program makes it possible for dancers of The Ailey School to take liberal-arts classes across the street at Fordham University's Lincoln Center campus.

CONNIE JO HEPWORTH-WOOLSTON of Salt Lake City, Utah, is the National Dance Association's Heritage Honoree for 2002. Hepworth-Woolston chairs the East High School dance department in Salt Lake City and is a past president of the NDA. While at the University of New Mexico, she worked with the Acoma, Navajo, White Mountain Apache, and Zuni Tribes as consultant and master teacher for the Inter-Tribal Health, Physical Education and Recreation Program. NDA hosted its annual award luncheon April 13 at the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance National Convention and Exposition in San Diego, California.

KAY FULTON ACCEPTED THE Santa Barbara Dance Alliance's Fifth Annual Lifetime Achievement Award. Fulton teaches at Santa Barbara City College and is a graduate of Northern Illinois University and the University of Colorado, Boulder.

FRANK AUGUSTYN HAS JOINED Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, as director of dance. Augustyn was a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada from 1972 to 1989. Immediately prior to the Adelphi appointment, Augustyn was the Ashley Fellow at Trent University in Ontario.

AT LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY'S Brooklyn Campus, a new BS in dance offers related minors in management, media, dance history and criticism, theater, music, and pre-physical therapy. The program is designed to expand career opportunities for dancers. For more information call 718/488-1075 or visit www.liu.edu.

ANNETTE AV PAUL IS THE NEW director for the summer dance program at The Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada. A Centre faculty member since 1980, av Paul was a principal ballerina with the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Harkness Ballet of New York, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal and was most recently the pedagogical consultant and teacher for L'Ecole Superieure de Danse du Quebec. Brian Macdonald, artistic director from 1982 to 2001, becomes artistic advisor effective summer 2002. David LaHay, a faculty member since 1993, becomes associate director.

GARY MASTERS HAS JOINED San Jose State University as associate professor of dance. Masters is artistic director of the Limon Dance Company's San Jose operations. He created San Jose's Limon West Dance Project in 1994, directed the ensemble until 1998, and is a key reconstructor for the Limon Institute.

Karen Hildebrand is editor of the annual Dance Magazine College Guide and associate editor for education of Dance Magazine.