January 2007 Vol. 1

Family YMCA at Tarrytown Announces New Dance Company-In-Residence featuring Jane Alexandre and Julie Johnson.
 

The Y Dance Program is happy to welcome evolve Dance Inc. as its company-in-residence.  evolve Dance is a not-for-profit professional dance company with associated adult, teen and children’s apprentice ensembles.  Dancers work with guest artists and choreographers and participate in various performance opportunities including professional concerts, outreach programs, and artist residencies.  For more information, please email Julie  Johnson at evolvedancetheatre@gmail.com.

Y Dance Faculty

Jane Alexandre (Co-Director)… Jane Alexandre has been working in the New  York dance world for more than 20 years as a performer, teacher, director, administrator and writer.  After training in the U.S. and Canada, she began her performing career in ballet, and was dancing with Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Workshop when she left to become director and soloist with a fusion company—the Humphrey Dance Ensemble.  In 1987 she founded the Tappan Zee Dance Group, which she directed until 2006.  She was a visiting artist for the Westchester Arts Council for many years, and also the director of a special dance project at the New York School for the Deaf.  She is a certified teacher of Pilates exercise, holds a BS from Queen’s University (Canada), an MA from Antioch University, an MS from Pace University, and is a PhD student at Antioch University.  She is the General Manager of The Equus Projects/Dancing With Horses in NYC.

Julie Johnson (Co-Director)… Julie Johnson has been dancing since the age of four and has had extensive training in ballet/pointe, modern, and jazz.  She studied at  the renowned  Baltimore School for the Arts, The Ailey School, and the SUNY Purchase Dance Conservatory.   In addition to working with a number of independent choreographers, Julie has performed with such  modern companies as Danscores by Ofelia Loret de Mola and Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance.  Julie is a dance teacher and choreographer, and has been an artist-in-residence and outreach instructor in the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns for several years.  Julie earned her B.A. degree in dance from Marymount Manhattan College and is currently a graduate student at New School University.

In addition, both Jane Alexandre and Julie Johnson have joined the elite roster of Y Arts Artists-in-Residence, joining Y Theatre Artist-in-Residence Peter Royston and Y Music Artist-in- Residence Steve Tubin.  Starting December 4, 2006, Alexandre is teaching adult ballet and adult jazz classes and Intermediate/Advanced Teen Jazz at the Family YMCA at Tarrytown.  Watch for more classes to be offered during our Spring sessions, which begin February 5. 
 

The Y Arts Summer Program offers intensive programs in dance and theatre during July and August. 

The Y Arts Summer Program offers intensive programs in dance and theatre during July and August.  Y Theatre Shakespeare in the Parks camp, led again by Director Peter Royston, will run from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm July 9 through August 6, with outdoor performances at Tarrytown’s new Neperan Park the weekend of August 3, 4, and 5, 2007.  This year, Peter and his troupe will be presenting AS YOU LIKE IT. This magical comedy, set in the enchanted woods of Arden, is perfect for our new outdoor home. AS YOU LIKE IT will be set in the swinging 60s, featuring the wild music and brash fashion of that era and featuring Y Dance company-in-residence, evolve Dance Inc.

Y Dance will offer an Intermediate/Advanced Teen Dance Intensive from July 23 to August 4 from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, featuring Jane Alexandre, Julie Johnson and a roster of guest artists.  From August 13 to August 24 we will offer a Children’s Dance Intensive from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm for ages 5 to 6 years, and from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm for ages 7 to 9 years. The intensives will give young dancers the chance to explore and develop various techniques, stage craft, and performance skills.

Y Arts will also offer a “crossover program” during the week of August 6, called Dance/Theatre Workshop, which will feature Dance for Actors / Theatre for Dancers, for ages 9-12 year old, led by Jane Alexandre, Julie Johnson and Peter Royston.  Y Arts is happening, and you can be a part of it!

Registration for all summer programs, including our Y KinderCamp and outdoor summer camp, YMCA Camp Combe, begins in January at the Family YMCA at Tarrytown.
 

Shakespeare's For the Masses in Tarrytown

On February 12^th and 13^th, a group of over 100 students at Washington Irving Elementary School will perform “Comedy of Errors” four times. Not one of them paid a penny, all of them auditioned, and each one of them got a part. The program is funded through grants from the Westchester Community Foundation and the Foundation for the Schools of the Tarrytowns to the Family YMCA at Tarrytown.  

“Any child who is willing to do the work, who is willing to be at his or her rehearsals, should have a spot in the play, should have the experience of being in a production,” says director Peter Royston. “There will be plenty of time for them to be cut from teams, casts and clubs later - our mandate is to be all-inclusive. I want to show the kids that theatre can be a community, a family, a family that can be tough and exacting, but one that is always welcoming.”

Amazingly, since its inception three years ago, the numbers of students who want to do Shakespeare in this diversely populated district have more than tripled, with many students coming back to help as assistant directors after they’ve left elementary school. 

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