The Teach-Learn Connection.

NDEO HOLDS CONFERENCE IN SALT LAKE CITY

SALT LAKE CITY, UT--Focus on Dance Education: Different Contexts and New Perspectives is the conference title of the April 6-9 meeting of the National Dance Education Organization at the foot of Utah's Wasatch Mountains in the heart of Salt Lake City. Issues addressed in the conference program will be gleaned from the varied contexts of independent dance schools, pre-kindergarten through grade 12 dance education, dance in higher education, hot issues in national and state departments of education, arts and dance councils. One conference goal is to promote discussion that crosses traditional boundaries and emphasizes common goals and interests. Most papers or panel presentations are limited to thirty minutes, but some workshop sessions will be given one hour of time. Planned time for socializing and networking is part of the schedule.

The conference runs Thursday evening through Sunday and will include a half-day trip to the extraordinarily large dance program at Brigham Young University in nearby Provo and a performance by the internationally recognized BYU Ballroom Dance Troupe.

N.D.E.O. is an independent national organization for professionals dedicated to dance as arts education. President of the organization is Elsa Posey and executive secretary is Jane Bonbright; e-mail contact is [e-mail].

FIRST CLASS APPEARS IN COPLAND

NEW YORK, NY--Joffrey Ballet School/New School University's B.F.A. dancers make their debuts in a program celebrating the Aaron Copland centennial, on May 8 at the Joyce Theater in Manhattan. Featuring three world premieres by faculty members Kathryn Posin, Trinette be accompanied by the Mannes Orchestra from Mannes College of Music. Mannes is also part of New School University. The Bachelor of Fine Arts program, chaired by Kathryn Posin, is the result of a partnership formed by the Joffrey Ballet School and New School University in 1999. The forty-eight dancers in Joffrey/New School's charter class range in age from 18 to 22.

UNITY AND SESAC SIGN PACT

NEW YORK, NY--UNITY, a coalition of dance education organizations (see "UNITY Unites Dance Educators," Dance Magazine, March, page 106) negotiated a reduced SESAC music license fee for member organizations. SESAC (a company name, not an acronym) contracts with musicians, arrangers, composers, and music publishers to collect the use royalties due them under copyright law. Dance school owners who are members of UNITY organizations and opt to pay through UNITY will receive a 40 percent reduction on their standard studio rate. Eligible organizations for the contract year 2000 include American Academy of Ballet, Chicago National Association of Dance Masters, Dance Masters of America, Dance Teachers Club of Boston and The American Society, Florida Dance Masters, International Teachers of Dance, Inc., National Dance Association, National Dance Education Organization, National Registry of Dance Educators, and Southern Association of Dance Masters. Teachers should contact their organizations for payment instructions.

UNITY is open to membership organizations that serve dance education through activities that enhance knowledge in the discipline of dance. For more information, contact Patricia G. Cohen, Secretary-UNITY, 212/580-8976 or e-mail her at [e-mail].

NO BAT BOYS NEED APPLY

LEXINGTON, KY--Kentucky State Governor's School for the Arts (GSA) will be held this year at Transylvania University in Lexington. The summer residential program enables the state's outstanding young artists in seven artistic disciplines (creative writing, dance, drama, instrumental and vocal music, visual arts, and a new discipline in musical theater) to explore the creative process. The three-week summer session begins in June of 2000. Accepted students attend free of charge because of the public/private partnership which funds scholarship values of more than $2500 per person. Applications may be picked up at any Kentucky high school counselor's office or by calling the GSA hotline at 502/562-0192.

NEW ARTISTIC DIRECTOR FOR HOLLAND

ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS--Samuel Wuersten will become artistic director of Rotterdam Dance Academy effective September 1, 2000. An arm of the University of Professional Education in Music and Dance Rotterdam, the academy offers programs of dance performance, choreography, dance teaching, and preparatory education. Wuersten is currently artistic director of the annual Holland Dance Festival.

WIRED FOR SOUND

ITHACA, NY--Byron Suber, dancer, teacher at Cornell University, choreographer, and multimedia artist, has created a pair of computerized dancing shoes and an electronically sensitive stage in collaboration with the Media Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The shoes are a pair of athletic shoes with sixteen computer sensors that detect movement and send signals to the computer through an antenna. The computer then delivers sounds that have been mapped to each particular sensor. Suber and his MIT collaborator, Joe Paradiso, made a grid area on a stage and set up different sonars, which detect the shoes and play music samples. Suber used the shoes and mapped stage as a demonstration of technology at the American Dance Festival last summer. A Louisiana native, Suber has danced with the Hartford Ballet, Donald Byrd's The Group, and with performance artist John Kelly.