Press Contact:
John Munger, Project Director
(Minnesota) Phone: 651/646-8076
Email: Jrmdance@aol.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 12, 2006
Dance/USA announces Minnesota Dance Mapping Project Advisory Committee
Representives from across the state and all parts of the dance community will help guide census
Saint Paul, MN, April 12, 2006 – Dance/USA, the national service organization for professional dance, announces the formation of the Advisory Group for the Minnesota Dance Mapping Project, a first-ever statewide census of dance makers and dance educators in Minnesota. The 17-member Advisory Group was drawn from a solid cross section of the Minnesota dance community and includes choreographers and performers; dance educators affiliated with for- and non-profit studios, K-12 and college programs; dance students, arts administrators and funders. Communities represented include the Twin Cities and surrounding suburbs, Duluth, Rochester, Winona and St. Cloud. Genres of dance represented include ballet, modern, hip-hop, tap, jazz, Native American, and liturgical.
The MN Dance Mapping Project is being conducted in 2006 by Dance/USA with funding from The McKnight Foundation. The Project is an effort to capture complete listings and important basic information about dance-making and dance-educating entities throughout the State of Minnesota. Th e Mapping Project has been welcomed as a concrete step towards building a knowledge base about dance in our state—information that can be utilized by individuals, collectives, organizations and the dance community as a whole.
The Minnesota dance community has grown dramatically over the past three decades, seeing a significant increase in both the number of dance artists and the diversity of dance forms taught and performed. Many culturally-specific entities, smaller companies, independent choreographers and rural dance-makers around the state are not plugged into existing channels and thus do not show up on many radar screens. It is important to give them a face, a place, and a voice. Similarly, institutions that teach dance in Minnesota have never been formally catalogued and their operations quantified. By contacting all these entities for inclusion in a comprehensive census, this project will help to bridge these disconnects.
The main functions of the Advisory Group are:
§ To serve as ambassadors for the Minnesota Dance Mapping Project, actively promoting participation in the census within all segments of the dance community and all geographic areas.
§ To assist with determining criteria and developing interview questions for the census process: What information about dance makers and dance educators would be most useful for the community?
§ To offer input on opportunities and challenges the Mapping Project may encounter, including strategies for disseminating the data once it is collected and the best approach for offering training on
how the data can be utilized by the community.
Diversity of experience and viewpoint are highly valued and will help the Mapping Project realize its fullest potential. Inclusivity and transparency are also crucial to this project’s success as a statewide initiative. In-person meetings of the Advisory Group will be open to the public so that anyone from the dance community who wants to have a voice in the process will have this opportunity. Questions, comments and suggestions are welcome by phone or e-mail at any time.
A list of Advisory Group members is below.
MINNESOTA DANCE MAPPING PROJECT ADVISORY GROUP
Diane Aldis
Dance & Theater Education Specialist
Perpich Center for Arts Education
Golden Valley, MN
Roberta Carvalho-Puzon
Dance Educator
Sheridan Global Arts & Communications
Minneapolis Public School District
NE Minneapolis, MN
Gretchen Cohenour
Dance Program Director, Professor
Winona State University
Winona, MN
Beverly Cottman
Performance Artist, Storyteller
Minneapolis, MN
Michelle Doyle
Artistic Director
Deuxmensions Dance Theatre & School
Minneapolis, MN
Nina Ebbighausen
Architect, Adjunct Assistant Professor
and Dance Student
Minneapolis, MN
Allen Fields
Artistic & Executive Director
Minnesota Ballet
Duluth, MN
Amy Frimpong
Senior Program Officer
Minnesota State Arts Board
St. Paul, MN
Craig Harris
Executive Director
Ballet of the Dolls and The Ritz Theater Foundation
Minneapolis, MN
Ellen Huston
Artistic Director
Rochester Dance Company
Rochester, MN
Ellen Keane
Co-Artistic Director
Keane Sense of Rhythm Tap Company
Plymouth, MN
Debra Leigh
Dance Program Director, Professor
St. Cloud State University
St. Cloud, MN
Jason "Abomination" Noer
Teacher/Choreographer/Competitor
Artistic Director, The Faculty
St. Paul, MN
Karla Petit
Co-Owner/Director, the danceXchange
Director, Expressions of Faith
Minneapolis, MN
Chandra Saign
Director, Wilderness Dance Camp
and City Scape Dance
Teaching Artist, Minnesota Children’s Theater
and Keane Sense of Rhythm
Bloomington, MN
Deborah Jinza Thayer
Choreographer/Director
Deborah Jinza Thayer/Movement Architecture
St. Paul, MN
Larry Yazzie
Artistic Director
Native Pride Dance Ensemble
Minneapolis, MN |
