The Teach-Learn Connection.

Ann Barzel, Sybil Shearer, and Margot Koche, were honored by Focus on the Arts in Highland Park, Illinois, in April. Focus on the Arts is devoted to artistic excellence and arts education, exemplified by these three Chicago grande dames of dance. They are accompanied by Ginny Siano-Eck. [] Dance Magazine's senior dance critic, Barzel taught ballet and Hebrew for many years and "daylighted" as a math teacher in the Chicago public schools while she collected an extensive library of dance books, periodicals, and more than 50,000 feet of dance film, which now resides at the Newberry Library in Chicago. [] Shearer studied dance in New York with Hanya Holm, performed with the Humphrey-Weidman dance group, and worked with Agnes de Mille as assistant choreographer. Critics hailed Shearer for her solo recital at Carnegie Hall. After moving to Illinois, she was sought after as a dancemaker and teacher. [] Dancer and dance director Margot Koche earned the title "Queen of the Mud Opera" because she presented full-costumed, "high-toned entertainment" to general audiences at county fairs [Dance Magazine, 1933].

Back to School

Marjorie Thompson has been appointed director of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School. Thompson comes from the Seattle area, where she has held the position of director of therapy and conditioning for Pacific Northwest Ballet School since 1999. She danced with the New York City Ballet under the direction of George Balanchine from 1964 to 1971, when injuries turned her toward the study of anatomy and kinesiology. Thompson replaces David Holladay, who resigned as school director for PBT last spring.

Thompson will be responsible for planning, directing, and overseeing all artistic and educational aspects of the PBT school, as well as creating the syllabus and curriculum in accordance with Artistic Director Terrence Orr's vision for the 300 students who attend.

--Merrill Leigh

Degree for Teacher Training

Canada's National Ballet School (Toronto) and Simon Fraser University's School for the Contemporary Arts (Vancouver) have announced an agreement that will allow graduates of NBS's full-time Teacher Training Program to continue their education at SFU, earning an undergraduate degree in two more years. NBS also has a joint program with the York University dance department (Toronto). For more information, contact Anuschka Roes, Teacher Training Program manager, at 416/964-3780 or [e-mail].

--Merrill Leigh

Bill Evans Honored by New Mexico Governor

Bill Evans, a performer, choreographer, and teacher based at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and artistic director of the Bill Evans Dance Company and Summer Institutes of Dance, received the New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence and Achievement in the Arts in Santa Fe on September 21.

This is New Mexico's most prestigious artistic honor, which has been received by only three other dance artists in its history: Maria Benitez, acclaimed Santa Fe-based flamenco artist; Eleanor King, a modern dance pioneer; and Elizabeth Waters, a former member of the Hanya Holm Dance Company who founded the modern dance program at the University of New Mexico.

--Don Halquist

Barat College Dance Program Phases Out

Lake Forest, Illinois's Barat College Conservatory of Dance program is still in existence; however, Barat College no longer recruits students interested in earning a bachelor's degree or bachelor's of fine arts degree in dance as of spring 2001. The dance program, which offered ballet, modem, performance, and choreography, will be phased out over the next several years because of low enrollment.

All students who are enrolled in the dance program have the option of continuing at Barat or transferring to another institution of higher education. All scholarship students will continue to receive any and all monies awarded to them until the time that they complete the program or transfer to another institution.

Barat College will continue to offer a dance therapy major.

Questions should be referred to Dan Becker, director of marketing and communications, Barat Education Foundation, at 847/604-6247 or at [e-mail].

--Dan Becker

Beth Dean Carell Receives Medal of Order of Australia

Beth Dean Carell, Australian correspondent for Dance Magazine for more than fifty years, was honored by Australia and the Queen when she was awarded the medal of the Order of Australia (OAM). The citation read "For service to the indigenous arts, particularly as a dancer, choreographer, writer, lecturer, and critic."

--Merrill Leigh