RDA CRAFTS CHOREOGRAPHERS.

AUSTIN, Texas--Choreographers have a rare opportunity to take time to hone their skills and receive feedback on their work in Regional Dance America's Craft of Choreography Conference. The thirty-ninth annual conference, to be held July 25 to August 7 at the University of Texas in Austin, offers intensive practical training in the craft of choreography. According to Beth McNeil of University of Louisville Dance Theatre, "The conference ... offers so much to young choreographers.... In the middle of the rat race we lose focus on the art we are trying to create."

Alan Hineline, who has created works for several regional companies, serves as director of choreography. Other faculty are Jerome Begin, director of music; Laura Alonso, ballet; and Lyn Elam, modern dance. The conference will be led, as in past years, by Glenda Brown.

After warming up each morning, choreographers meet to discuss and experiment with different aspects of dancemaking such as space, energy, and movement themes. Each choreographer is then given a piece of music, a group of dancers, and a specific assignment. Afternoons are devoted to developing and rehearsing the choreography, and in the evenings the assignments are performed and critiqued. "I cannot express in words the knowledge I gained in those two weeks," says Santa Cruz Ballet Company's Lauren Bergland. "I grew as a choreographer, and, more important, as a person."

Dancers at the conference start each morning with both a ballet and a modern class, followed by afternoon rehearsals and an evening performance of the new material. They work in a variety of styles with different choreographers each day.

Among the many alumni of the conference are Leslie Jane Pessimier, who has choreographed for the Joffrey Ballet, among others; New York choreographer Saeko Ichinohe; and choreographer in residence of the Charleston Ballet Theatre, Jill Eathorne Bahr.