Jill Eathorne Bahr Coordinator/Choreographer

CBT Center for Dance Education

Engaging Creative Minds Dance Movement Workshops

201320132013---201420142014

615 Johnnie Dodds Blvd. Suite 101

Mount Pleasant SC 29464

www.charlestonballettheatreschool.org

843 737-0698 843 813-4696

j.bahr @charlestonballet.org

Don & Patricia Cantwell, Directors Jill Eathorne Bahr Resident Choreographer

THE HISTORY OF CHARLESTON BALLET THEATE (1987-2013) . Committed to Tradition, Daring to be Different, CBT was an ensemble of world-class dance artists that produced bold, original choreography, superb classics, and brilliant, often rare, works by great choreographers. In addition, the Company toured throughout South Carolina and the Eastern States and presented performances at Gaillard Auditorium in Charleston, Sottile Theatre at the College of Charleston and several major performance venues in the greater Tri County Area.

Since the inception of the professional company in 1987, one of the primary artistic goals of the directors, Don and Patricia Cantwell, and resident choreographer Jill Eathorne Bahr, was to develop a distinctive repertory offering a mix of works by great contemporary choreographers such as Balanchine and Limon. These works provided dancers with the challenge of interpreting great works of art, which in turn helps them to develop and expand their artistry. At the same time the audience was given the op-portunity to broaden its understanding of dance by seeing a wide range of dance styles. Charleston Bal-let Theatre was not your run-of-the-mill ballet company steeped in white tutus and old Russian classics. It was a company of artists committed to the excellence of artistic quality who have retained their own distinctive characteristics, even as they meld together to achieve a uniform style. That style can best be described as: an ease in performing, the ability to effortlessly convey the electric modern movement of Jill Eathorne Bahr, to the pure classicism of Romeo and Juliet and everything in between.

In January of 2013, The Board of Directors of Charleston Ballet Theatre ceased operating after 25 years of presenting the highest caliber dance in Charleston. This rash and sad dissolution has been devastat-ing to the dancers and artistic staff that were involved in its day to day existence. In preparation for a rebirth of the organization under a new name , complete with a new regional board, mission and goals, the artistic team of Don & Patricia Cantwell and Jill Eathorne Bahr will continue to offer educational programs through the CBT Center for Dance Education. Now, as we reflect upon CBT’s flourishing history, the Bahr/Cantwell team is poised to launch onto an even more energetic course. The Company achieved remarkable artistic success in its 25 year performance history, capturing enthusiastic public response, substantial critical acclaim, and international recognition. We welcome you to join the ride.

 

Every group of people that has lived

on the American continent . . . has been restless and explosive in expression. This shows in the migration of entire peoples,

the moving about of individuals, as well as in the tension and dynamics of dancing . . . Agnes De Mille

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BUILDING THE HOUSE

WHY DANCE EDUCATION?: THE RATIONALE The process of educating students is much like building a house— It is up to each teacher to complete the house in a manner that meets the particular needs of his or her students. Schools are encouraged to exceed the minimum requirements of law and State Board of Education rules by supplementing these state standards with meaningful activities, resources, and instructional materials. Enter Stage Left: DANCE EDUCATION

DANCE EDUCATION begins with an awareness of the movement of the body and its creative potential. At this level, students become engaged in body awareness and movement exploration that promote a recognition and appreciation of self and others. Students learn basic movement and* choreographic skills in musical/rhythmic contexts. The skills and knowledge acquired allow them to being working independently and with a partner increasing and performing dances.

Children in grades 1st– 5th love to move and learn through engagement of the whole self. They need to become lit-erate in the language of dance in order to use this natural facility as a means of communication and self-expression, and as a way of responding to the expression of others. Dancing and creating dances provide them with skills and knowledge necessary for all future learning in dance and give them a way to celebrate their humanity.

Experiences in perceiving and responding to dance expand students’ vocabularies, enhance their listening and viewing skills, and enable them to being thinking critically about dance. They investigate questions such as “What is it? How does it work? Why is it important?”

Practicing attentive audience behavior for their peers leads to describing movement element and identifying expres-sive movement choices. Students learn to compare works in terms of the elements of space, time, and force/energy and to experience the similarities and differences between dance and other disciplines. Through DANCE EDUCATION, students can also come to an understanding of their own culture and begin to respect dance as a part of the heritage of many cultures. As they learn and share dances from around the globe, as well as from their own commu-nities, children gain skills and knowledge that will help them participate in a diverse society. We adapt and adjust to our constantly changing environment; We think on our feet In a society characterized by rapid change, students need opportunities to respond to changing conditions such as those experienced in dance improvisation. Perceiv-ing, feeling, thinking, testing limitations, brainstorming, creative decision making, and seeking multiple solutions to solving problems with body movement are attributes of the improvisational experience.

JILL EATHORNE BAHR— COORDINATOR/CHOREOGRAPHER

Jill Eathorne Bahr is an extraordinary and consummate dance professional in every sense of the word. From her initial dance training at the American Ballet Theatre School, the Joffrey Ballet, Harkness Ballet, and Houston Ballet she has developed her professional career across the United States, to her present position as resident choreographer for the Charleston Ballet Theatre (CBT). Her tremendous energy, creativity, and commitment to excellence are consistently demonstrated in every performance of the CBT. Jill strives to be innovative in her choreography and teaching to push the limits of the dancer and enable audiences to re- conceptualize not just their ideas about the art form, but also about movement and space.

Jill graduated from the University of Akron (Ohio Ballet in residence) with a BFA in Ballet. She been awarded two National Endowment for the Arts Choreographic Fellowships, four Monticello Choreographic Fellowships, the William Habich Choreography Award, the South Carolina Arts Commission Choreography Fellowship in 1997 – the first time offered in 10 years, two Astral Choreography Awards, and was part of the Celebration of the Uncommon Woman in Oregon. Bahr was most recently awarded the Verner Award from the SC Arts Commission recognizing outstanding achievement and contributions to the arts in South Carolina and a second choreography fellowship from the same organization in 2009.

Her choreography can be found in the repertoire of Atlanta Ballet, Boston Ballet, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Ballet Eddy Toussaint USA, Eugene Ballet, Indianapolis Ballet Theatre, Nevada Dance Theatre, North Carolina Dance Theatre, State of Alabama Ballet, Ballet Omaha, Joffrey II Dancers and the Fort Wayne Ballet. She has taught at many colleges including University of Akron, the University of South Florida, the University of Maryland/Baltimore and has adjudicated numerous American College Dance Festivals and Regional Dance America Festivals. She has been an adjudicator in all Five Regions of Regional Dance America. Bahr recently served on the National Endowment for the Arts Dance Panel. She is one of the Five National Adjudicators at the Regional Dance America Festival that was held in Montreal in May of 2012.

“If all children in every school from their entrance until their gradua-tion … were given the opportunity to experience dance as a creative art, and if their dancing kept pace with their developing physical, mental, and spiritual needs, the enrichment of their adult life might reach beyond the results we can now contemplate.”

-Margaret N. H’Doubler

Patricia Cantwell SCHOOL DIRECTOR CBT CENTER FOR DANCE EDUCATON

Patricia Cantwell oversees all aspects of the program, including building the entire dance curriculum, assigning teachers, and planning performances. As an alumni of the School of American Ballet, she was principal dancer of Charles-ton Ballet Theatre and the Savannah Ballet. Miss Patty” teaches the Intermediate and Advanced levels of the school. After an illustrious performing career, dancing principal roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Nutcracker, and Romeo & Juliet, Patricia, with her husband Don spearheaded the creation of the professional company of Charleston Ballet Thea-tre in 1987. In her role as Executive Artistic Director of South Carolina's World Class Professional Ballet Company she recruited many outstanding dancers, expanded the repertoire to include the finest in classical and contemporary bal-let, and created a number of remarkable productions that have garnered fantas-tic acclaim. Mrs. Cantwell has been called one of the most articulate voices in the dance world. Mrs. Cantwell came to Charleston from the Savannah Ballet, where she danced as principal ballerina, a position she also held with Southern Ballet. She began her training with the Atlanta Ballet and the Southern Ballet. Under a full scholar-ship, she trained at the School of American Ballet in New York under George Bal-anchine, Artistic Director of NYCB. Balanchine found Patricia dancing at a SERBA Dance Festival when she was 13 years old. She retired from the stage in 1988 af-ter performing the principal ballerina roles in the entire Charleston Ballet Theatre repertoire. She is the former Board Chairman of the South East Regional Ballet Association, and has served on the Board of Directors of Regional Dance Ameri-ca, and the National Association of Regional Ballet in New York. As co-director of the CBT Center for Dance Education, which teaches children and career track pre-professional dancers from age 3 and up. She has created an extremely success-ful summer workshop, which draws students to Charleston from as far away as Tai-wan. It is Patricia Cantwell's hope that she continues to guide Charleston Ballet Theatre's development in a way that involves and enriches the Southeast with excellent and innovative performances and dance education.

Great teachers know the power of the arts to transform, motivate and inspire. Great arts teachers know the power of connecting their work to the teaching and learning in other subjects. Authentic connections reinforce the power and relevance of the arts, and add depth and dimension to studies in other disciplines.

In upper elementary school, children become increasingly keen observers of their world. Capable of complex patterns of logic, they like to analyze and define people, activities, situations and events. They enjoy inventing games, working cooperatively on group projects, and creating secret codes and personal languages. At this stage they have developed a more detailed sense of their bodies’ movement capabilities as regards effort in space and time, and will challenge themselves to achieve new skills in dance. Group dance experiences with longer-term resolutions that incorporate the opportunity to practice independently or in small groups give students a chance to express themselves in a unique and self-affirming way. Ongoing participation in dance classes develops the following skills and understandings:

Physical: Rhythmic patterning, fine motor control, isolation of body parts, and transitions between movements.

Social/affective: Initiating, cooperating, co-planning, and respecting others’ opinions.

Cognitive: Classifying, interpreting, comparing, analyzing and generating movement.

Aesthetic: Revising and refining movements, and recognizing varied notions of beauty in dance.

Metacognitive: Reflecting on their own dancing in a wider cross cultural context.

Dorchester II School System   Ashley River Crea ve  Arts  

Possible Scenarios and Anticipated Student products/outcomes in ECM Movement Workshops:

One minute they're mischievous, flirting, screeching, racing, and climbing the walls. Fifteen minutes later each child is in a separate, private world, eyes closed, discovering the details and nuances of a

body shape with the conscientiousness of a pioneer. The applications of kinesthetic learning are remarkably wide ranging: Increased comprehension: grasping a theory through physical means

helps children — especially at the elementary level — to grip, internalize and keep forever abstract information..

In Mathematics: Children can explore geometric shapes:

Mathematics and dance are linked in many beautiful and surprising ways: the geometry of the moving body, the symmetries of dancers arrayed across the stage, the rhythmic patterns of dance phrasing, the complex connections between dancers, the varied paths through space. In this interactive week of exploration we will examine the ways that choreographers employ mathematical concepts, both consciously and unconsciously, and see how mathe-matical questions sometimes arise within a dance. When students act out mathematical con-cepts with steps, movements, and gestures, the concepts become real to them. Weaving dance into mathematics instruction is viewed as a way of integrating the arts into the main-stream curriculum and, at the same time, making mathematics more interesting and extend-ing the attention span of students.

By stretching their bodies and long pieces of elastic and discovering the relationship of one shape to another. To help with fractions, children can make complicated rhythm charts that govern the timing of their dancing — they can understand science better by exploring space through looking birds in flight. Many science lessons, too, can be taught by incorporating kin-esthetic activities. The principles governing light waves, animal adaptation, kinetic energy, body systems, simple machines, and even aspects of molecular energy, can all be graphically and experientially demonstrated through children’s bodies. Once "performed," these princi-ples will not be forgotten.

In Science: The Solar System can be "mapped" through the creation of a dance piece involving spinning: The child who is Venus will be the only one rotating clockwise; Mercury will revolve around the Sun four times faster than Earth. Multidisciplinary learning then occurs when each "planet" develops a short solo dance representing some aspect of the mythological god for which the planet was named. Holst’s most famous Music scores the “Planets to be the aural map. For teachers who may feel intimidated or over-whelmed by the idea of using movement and creative improvisation as a teaching tool, remember that you do not have to do the movement yourselves. The children will supply all the physicality needed for a successful lesson. My job is to supply the direc-tion, the guided imagery, the permission to be physical, and an encouraging gleam in your eye. The idea is not to have the children imitate my movements, but to discover their own physical language. For teachers who are not comfortable with what might seem like uncontrolled energy, set up a system of freedom and restraint that will supply a secure structure for everyone

Western Expansion : Dance.—A Hoedown Interpret visual information to deepen a student understanding about what life was like during the Western Expansion movement. Dance provides a wonderful way to ex-plore both the universality and particularity of human cultures. By learning ethnic danc-es and physically interpreting the poetry, literature and folklores of diverse cultures, chil-dren develop deeper insights into the aesthetics and value systems of those cultures. Representing academic concepts in physical ways makes the learning more accessi-ble and memorable for children, and fosters creative and dynamic energy in the class-room. Besides learning specific curricular content from these kinesthetic activities, chil-dren exposed to creative movement as a language for learning are becoming more aware of their own natural resources. They are expanding their concepts of creativity and of how they can use their own bodies. They are learning through their own crea-tions. The combination of discipline and imagination is an invaluable foundation for creative thinking. Dance is the most fundamental of the arts, involving a direct expres-sion and experience of oneself through the body. It is a basic form of authentic com-munication, and as such it is an especially effective medium for learning information.

Dance Information Websites Americans for the Arts (AAA): www.americansforthearts.org

Arts education research on a national level, arts advocacy

Kennedy Center: http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org

Three major sections: Teach (Lessons, Standards, Web-Links and How-To’s; Connect (Articles and Reports, Contacts, and

Advocacy Essentials); and Explore (Look-Listen-Learn, Arts Days, Meet the Artist, and Arts Quotes); history of various

dance forms

American Dance Guild (ADG): www.americandanceguild.org

Scholarly essays, news about scholarships, conventions & performance opportunities

American Dance Festival (ADF): www.americandancefestival.org

Information on festival programs, performances, & study op-portunities

Dance/NYC: www.dancenyc.org

Information about New York City dance companies, perfor-mance schedules, rehearsal spaces, and dance news and

research

Dance/USA: www.danceusa.org

Information about national trends in dance, dance news and research, federal-level dance advocacy, and national  

In the process of studying dance, students accomplish many specific tasks and gain knowledge in a number of ways, developing skills that are valuable for achievement in

other areas of school and life. Over the course of a dance program, students will: Develop meaningful concepts of self, human relationships, and physical environments

Build critical thinking skills by examining the reasons for dancers’ actions, by analyzing individual responses to lessons and performances, and by interpreting the intent of choreographers

Strengthen and refine creative thinking skills by creating original interpretations of dances, based on response to others’ work, and by constructing scenery, props, lighting, and makeup

Learn to contextualize dance in culture and history by exploring how a dance relates to the time and place of its origins

Learn the communication methods of different media by carefully examining live and recorded dance performances

In Jill Eathorne Bahr’s recent full length Ballet

Wizard of Oz — 36 students with little

or no experience participated in the production.

Don & Patricia Cantwell, Directors Jill Eathorne Bahr, Resident Choreographer

615 Johnnie Dodds Blvd. Suite 101

Mount Pleasant SC 29464

www.charlestonballettheatreschool.org

843 737-0698 843 813-4696

Questions? Contact: j.bahr @charlestonballet.org