3074 Whitney Ave.
Bldg. 2, 2nd Floor
Hamden, CT 06518
phone: 203-230-8101
fax: 203-230-8131

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American Ballet Theatre

Available Dates

November 26 – November 30th 2007, January 14th -January 18th and January 28th- February 1st, 2008

American Ballet Theatre, America's National Ballet Company is committed to bringing the highest quality of dance to the largest possible audience through performances, education and outreach initiatives.  Through these programs, ABT not only trains young dancers but also serves children and families who may not otherwise be exposed to ballet through in school residencies.

American Ballet Theatre is offering Connecticut schools the opportunity to hold a week-long residency with an ABT teaching artist.  This program is designed to reach students in Upper Elementary and Middle School.  Grades 3 through 8.  This program is designed to culminate in a grade level showing and sharing of new skills and creative processes.  These showing and sharing opportunities allow students to perform the work of the residency, during in school time.

Karen Lacy has been performing and teaching dance in New York City for 13 years.   She received her B.A. in Dance and English from Skidmore College.   Her performing credits include the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, New York City Opera, Neville Dance Company, John Passafiume Dancers, Empire State Ballet, Ballet for Young Audiences, Eglevsky Ballet, and Soliton.   Her choreography credits include La Traviata, Romance Romance, Once Upon a Mattress, The Big One, and 5 years of work at the Lucy Moses School for Music and Dance summer program. She teaches ballet and modern at the School of the Garden State Ballet in NJ and has worked as a teaching artist for ABT for 6 years.

Catherine Jhung is an actress, dancer and teacher currently living in New York City.  Catherine appeared as a featured dancer and royal wife in “The King and I” First National Tour and at the Westchester Broadway Theater.  Modern dance credits include Bill Young and Dancers, New York City, Silesian Dance Theatre, Bitom, Poland and the New Dance Ensemble, Minneapolis, where she had the pleasure of performing in the works of many notable choreographers including Bill T. Jones, Douglas Dunn, Bebe Miller, Ralph Lemon and Doug Elkins.  While in Minneapolis, she also performed with Theater Mu, Ballet Arts Minnesota and the Children’s Theatre Company.

Most recently, Catherine has appeared on television on ABC’s “One Life To Live” and “All My Children”.  She is also a member of the Rising Circle Theatre Collective and was awarded Outstanding Ensemble at the 2005 New York Innovative Theater Awards for her work in Rising Circle’s original production, Pulling the Lever.

Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Catherine graduated from Sarah Lawrence College where she studied liberal and performing arts.  Catherine is also a graduate of the acting conservatory program at The Actors Center in New York City headed by J. Michael Miller.  She has taught dance and movement throughout the New York City public schools and in private studios and has guest lectured on creating a career in dance at the University of Minnesota, Gustavus Adolphus College, Muhlenberg College and Dance Fest/Stamford Center for the Performing Arts.

Ian Spencer Bell is from Middleburg, Virginia. He graduated from North Carolina School of the Arts and spent his summers studying at School of American Ballet. Mr. Bell trained and performed with Pacific Northwest Ballet and Pennsylvania Ballet. In 2001, he was awarded a grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts and for his choreography. In New York City, Bell has shown his work at The National Arts Club and the 92nd Street Y. Mr. Bell is a Teaching Artist for American Ballet Theatre.

Below are listings of student outcomes:

• Students will explore ballet training; building movement skills and technique.
• Students will experience the language of dance.
• Students will work with dance elements: time, space and energy.
• Students will work alone, in pairs and in groups.
• Students will respond to each other’s work using dance vocabulary.

• Students will explore the creative process: Exposure, Foundations, Creative Practice, revision and performance.
• Students will create using the language of dance.
• Students will create movement sentences.  Incorporating shape, locomotive and axial movements, pattern and pathways.
• Students will explore reordering and reversing movement phrases.
• Students will respond to each other’s work using dance vocabulary.
• Students will respond creatively to changing musical tempos, impulses, moods, and settings for dance experiences.

Examples of past week long residencies have included:

• Poetry project– Upper Elementary grades. Students used classroom-writing assignments specific to grade level. Beginning with “words that describe” and graduating to Alliteration and rhyming schemes.  Teaching Artists and students choreographed movement sequences based on written material. A final class wide presentation was held in which students showed and shared their work following the five consecutive days working with the artists.

• Story Ballets – 6th grade   Students work with the teaching artists to flesh out the structure of story ballets using specific grade level reading material for  example: The Adventures of Ulysses. Students have created the movement vocabulary for characters, and ordered the events and plot points using Story Structure.  The story ballets are shown and shared by class with another visiting class, in a double period so that sharing and reflection are built in to the residency.  The final showing is prepared during the five consecutive days with teaching artists and classroom teachers working in tandem to flesh out larger themes of the novel.

• Other possible residencies may include
• Folk and character dances in Story Ballets.
• Fairy Tales in Story Ballets – Swan Lake, Cinderella
• Folk Tales in Story Ballets. – Billy the Kid
• The Great Gatsby and the roaring Twenties - 8th grade material

• All residencies promote literacy through the structure of Story Ballet.

Schools may work with the Artistic Coordinator of Educational Outreach, Richard Toda in designing and implementing a specific grade subject matter.  ie  Great Innovators, The American West - Western Expansion,  and Manifest Destiny.

How the creative process works over the 5 day residency. : Your daily guide to the residency

1) Exposure: Pre residency and Day 1

• Introduction to dance and American Ballet Theatre

Students will:

• Recognize American Ballet Theatre as the presenter of a repertoire of many different types of ballets.
• Meet the dancers of American Ballet through photographs and pre residency study guides.
• Experience the timeline of dance and ABT in connection to world history.

2) Foundations:Everyday in your school

Students will:

• Use dance vocabulary in movement sequences.
• Make entrances and exits.
• Dance alone, with a partner, and in small groups.

3) Creative Practice:Day 2, 3 and 4 in your school

Students will:

• Repeat, reverse, and revise choreography.
• Add elements of character or concept to the choreography.
• Radiate those intentions through working with gesture.

4) Revision:Day 4 in your school, Preparation for the sharing

Students will:

• Actively participate in revising their performance.
• Be aware of time management.
• Use good rehearsal protocol.

5) Performance:Day 5 in your school

Students will:

• Perform the work of the residency.
• Watch and respond to the work of their peers in the showing of the pieces.
• Use reflective writing and discussion to further deepen the learning process.