Idaho Fine Arts Academy Dance Program

Our hearts, minds, and bodies are full from a week of learning and creating with Bill Evans. Thank you, Bill for your generosity of time, talents, and expertise as a dance artist. Idaho Fine Arts Academy, Idaho Dance Education Organization, Katie Ponozzo and Rachel Swenson thank you. Bill Evans Dance

Recommended

Deadline: 10/15 YoungArts 2022

Idaho Dance Education Organization and Idaho Fine Arts Academy Presents Bill Evans and Andrew Nemr with special guests Idaho Dance Theatre, Idaho Fine Arts Academy, Explore Dance Company, and Project Flux in concert: “A Life in Dance; Lessons in Creativity, Possibility, & Community, on Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021, 7:15 p.m. at Boise State University, Special Events Center, 1800 University Drive, Boise, ID 83706

Tickets are $10 for the performance and can be purchased online with Whova: https://whova.com/portal/registration/ideoa_202104/

Bill Evans photograph by Jim Dusen.

Project Flux TedTalk

Project Flux with Prose | Project Flux and Prose | TEDxBoise Project Flux is an improv based dance company of technically advanced dancers exploring the freedom of movement. The poet joining them on stage has a small b...

The IFAA dancers will be the only students performing this Saturday. Bill Evans, Andrew Nemr, Justin Nielsen, Idaho Dance Theatre, Ballet Idaho dancers, Explore Dance and Project Flux. Here are links to Andrew Nemr TedTalks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzgT4xcFNNo
https://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_nemr_the_sounds_and_sights_of_tap_dance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjfsMMCrgfc

The sounds and sights of tap dance The audio aspect of tap dancing is just as essential as the visual. Choose your own adventure by listening with your eyes closed and/or watching as TED Fellow Andrew Nemr performs an exploration of rhythm and sound, joined by dancers from the Vancouver Tap Dance Society.

The IFAA Dance Majors performance with Bill Evans and Andrew Nemr, A Life in Dance; Lessons in Creativity, Possibility, & Community, is Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021, 7:15 p.m. at Boise State University's Special Events Center. Call time for performers is 6 p.m. in full makeup, hair, and costume at the theater (no dress rehearsal). Tickets are $10 for the performance and can be purchased online with Whova:

whova.com

We are highlighting arts education in Idaho in honor of National Arts in Education Week! Today's highlight is the Idaho Fine Arts Academy in the West Ada School District, where students are placed in one area of focus based on their audition in dance, instrumental music, vocal music, theatre or visual arts. Students work with professionals in their chosen artistic field. The photo below shows dance teacher Rachel Swenson with her students - Ms. Swenson teaches multiple classes of dance education!

Join us at Dance and the Child International this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/daci-usa-days-of-dance-be-where-our-feet-are-tickets-163664614267?fbclid=IwAR21l6z-naX3OkFnHaY8yGUysAeejbBlAlVFsiux-fu4r74kmDHDNSYg08k

daCi USA Days of Dance - "Be Where Our Feet Are" Join dance artists from all over the country as they facilitate creative, cultural, and community dance activities.

Happy Arts Education Week! IFAA dancers were featured on the Idaho state department’s Instagram page today.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CT0Fd4sBV9K/?utm_medium=copy_link

We are highlighting arts education in Idaho in honor of National Arts in Education Week! Today's highlight is the Idaho Fine Arts Academy in the West Ada School District, where students are placed in one area of focus based on their audition in dance, instrumental music, vocal music, theatre or visual arts. Students work with professionals in their chosen artistic field. The photo below shows dance teacher Rachel Swenson with her students - Ms. Swenson teaches multiple classes of dance education! #BecauseOfArtsEd

Another reason to register for the IDEO conference.

Meet Sarah Anderson another presenter at the IDEO Fall Conference!

Session Title: Where is the Jazz? Implementing A More Engaged Study of Jazz Dance in Higher Education

Description: In this class, participants will engage in deep dialogue, self-inquiry, and critical thinking as we look at Jazz dance through historical and cultural lenses. Approaching Jazz Dance from its Roots to its Branches can assist the dance educator in developing a more holistic and culturally sensitive pedagogical practice. Studying Jazz dance through these historical lenses, offers the clarity and understanding needed to
implement a comprehensive Jazz Dance Curriculum which many higher education spaces are lacking. For years, jazz dance has been taught from a predominantly Eurocentric lens, leaving out key elements, influential artists, and crucial historical backdrops leading to a diluted, whitewashed version of what it once was. Racial tensions, oppressive laws, and systems built around prejudice scaffolding, have created a very narrow field of study and focus in the dance world. As most of us are aware, the effects of these truths reach far beyond dance spaces, but when we look at dance through these lenses, we discover an entire realm of hidden or unrecognized value systems. These value systems have been carried throughout history and still linger in our dance practices today. So, how can we change the pervasiveness of these value systems that were built on racist ideas? Why do we need to change? How can shifting the way we teach Jazz Dance influence this much needed change? Participants in this class will gain a greater understanding of Jazz Dance as a genre worthy of deep investigation, discuss possible adjustment that can be implemented
now, and begin the process of developing a curriculum that embraces inclusivity, equity, and community through the implementation of an engaged jazz dance curriculum. We will explore topics such as credit distribution within higher education, and how the pervasive practice of allotting more credits to
predominantly Eurocentric styles m demonstrates a biased value system, whether conscious or unconscious. When we favor one practice over another, what does that tell our students? How does this tradition that
was originally founded in racist ideas continue to perpetuate inequity in our communities? Where does this view of “higher art” versus “lower art” stem from? These questions will be addressed throughout this class as well as the many ways in which a Jazz Dance Curriculum can benefit our students and our communities.
When Jazz dance is explored through historical and cultural lenses from its roots in West African dance, students will have opportunities to develop in ways that will strengthen their skills across dance disciplines. We will discover the variety of ways in which the addition of an in-depth Jazz Dance curriculum can be an impetus toward positive change, engage students in important dialogue, and help students develop
skills necessary to become more holistic dance practitioners and empathic beings in this world.

Bio: Sarah Anderson is the Artistic Director for the non-profit dance company, The Dance Collaborative (TDC), and has been teaching and choreographing in a variety of capacities for the past 21 years. She received her ballet training through the Royal Academy of Dance Syllabus (Levels 1-8) and was awarded with Distinction in her examinations. Sarah has extensive dance training in Modern, Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, and Contemporary. She is also experienced in Tap, Character, and Musical Theater.

Sarah has an Associate of Science and Arts degree in Dance (2002) and a Bachelor of Science in Health Science with an emphasis in Health Promotion and Dance (2005) from Brigham Young University-Idaho. She is currently a graduate student in the low-residency Master of Fine Arts program in Dance at St. Mary’s College of California. She has been an instructor at Dance Tech Academy since 2014, an adjunct faculty member at BYU-Idaho from 2005-2009 and 2017 to 2020, and provides private lessons, master classes, and community classes through TDC.

While attending BYU-I, she performed with the audition-based touring company, Contemporary Dance Theater, and performed all over the U.S., Mexico, and Central America. Her choreography has been performed on stages in Russia, Canada, across the U.S., Mexico, Central America, and South America. She is certified and licensed in Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT) and was awarded the Thom Cobb Memorial Scholarship by the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) in 2018.

Sarah is a trained Pilates instructor, and continually pursues any educational opportunities she can. Sarah believes that dance has the capacity to make positive change in the world. She values dance as a means for deep human connection, creative expression, and healing.

Have you registered for the IDEO conference yet?

Meet Amy De Vera!

Her session for the IDEO Fall conference is titled: Modern Technique, Seeking Sensation Over Shape

Description: This class, informed by principles from the research of Dr. Lexie Kite and Dr. Lindsay Kite, researchers
who specialize in body image resilience, will invite dancers to prioritize sensations occurring within the
body, rather than attempting to match external shapes. We will utilize floorwork, inversions, and the
concept of yielding as a framework to facilitate inner awareness and a lens of sensation. Self objectification (or imagining the self from an outside perspective) often occurs when the external
appearance of the body is emphasized over the lived experience within. This is deeply detrimental to
dancer’s performance in both its physical and psychological effects. Movement, through the lens of
sensation, can become a tool for overcoming self-objectification, allowing us to discover and experience our bodies in real time.

Bio: Amy De Vera was born in Utah but has been an Idaho transplant since 2013. From 2019 to 2021, she worked as an adjunct professor at her alma mater, Brigham Young University-Idaho, teaching modern dance technique, choreography and improvisation, and assisting the touring team, Dance Alliance. In 2019, she performed with her fellow faculty in a full-length work, Dichotomy, directed and choreographed by Ashley Storm and Joy Harris. She also choreographed for and performed with The Dance Collaborative in their 2018-2019 season and performed for three years with BYU-Idaho’s touring company. Amy has trained extensively in contemporary technique, floorwork, somatics, composition, improvisation, jazz, and ballet. She also holds a YTT200 certification in yoga.