DASSdance

DASSSchoolofContemporaryDance Experience TOP Seattle contemporary dance makers! HONE your technique and DEVELOP hot new styles with fun and challenging master teachers! *New Fall Classes!* DASSdance, in partnership with Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, will be offering professional classes for all dance levels October 12 - November 20. Classes are Mondays and Fridays Introduction to Contemporary Dance 3:15PM-4:30PM Cost: $42 single class per week or $84 for 2 times per week Contemporary Dance for Beginning/Intermediate 4:30-6:00PM Cost: $63 single class per week or $126 for 2 times per week. Intermediate/Advanced Contemporary Dance 6:30-8:00PM Cost: $63 single class per week or $126 for 2 times per week. Class descriptions Introduction to Contemporary Dance Explore the foundation of contemporary dance through the introduction Modern, Ballet and Jazz techniques in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. This class incorporates floor stretching, strengthening, release, moving across the floor and jumps. The music is modern beats that will get you up and moving! Beginning/Intermediate Course An open-level class geared toward the recreational dancer. Stretching, strengthening, movement and jumps will be covered. Intermediate/Advanced Course Requires a basic knowledge of dance. Focus is on alignment, fluidity, speed and agility. Stretching, strengthening, movement and jumps are also incorporated. Mission: DASSscd was developed to offer opportunity for contemporary dance to flourish. The desire for students of all ages and levels to engage in and experience contemporary movement is rapidly increasing. DASS answers that call by offering access to training that will allow dancers to enjoy this fun and athletic style as well as reach a marketable professional level. To reflect the mission of DASSdance, DASSscd is equally committed to the encouragement and training of under-served talent in the Seattle area. DASS offers multiple scholarships for every session.	reservations info@dassdance.org / 425-672-7758 scholarship questions 206-684-4758
Summer '09 Staff Daniel Wilkins, Director Contemporary / Choreography Artistic Director/Choreographer Daniel Wilkins graduated from the School of American Ballet, and in the early years of his career, danced professionally with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Donald Byrd/The Group, Complexions, and the Suzanne Farrell Ballet. Wilkins formed danielandsomesuperfriends (DASSdance) in 1996, with the intention to push the athletic and architectural limits of dance. An additionally integral part of his artistic vision is a curiosity in visual art that began with employment at the Guggenheim Museum, and remained with him to fuel his All-Terrain and multi-media choreographic endeavors. Wilkins has collaborated with renowned fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg on costume design for six full-length works, including several premiered at DvF--The Theater in NYC. Wilkins recently premiered his seventh work with DASS, Fighting Water, at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center (LHPAC) in Seattle. The performances of Fighting Water have led to an artistic partnership with the LHPAC who will be working with Wilkins on future DASS projects as well as the development of the recently established DASS School of Contemporary Dance. Wilkins has likewise connected to the community with his works through partnerships with Read Across America, Real Change and Puget Soundkeeper Alliance. He has also been presented at a variety of festivals in NYC and WA State, and his choreographic skills have been commissioned nationally and internationally, including for the Chrysler Salon, Spectrum Dance Theater, Cornish College of the Arts, Men in Dance, and Flux Laboratory in Switzerland. Wilkins is the driving force behind DASSdance, overseeing all aspects of the organization's operation.	Photo by: Angela Sterling
Zoe Scofield Contemporary / Choreographic Composition Zoe Scofield studied ballet and modern as a scholarship student at Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts in Boston. While there, she started choreographing and won the Monticello Scholarship for Emerging Choreographers at the Regional Dance of America festival. Upon graduating, she joined Prometheus Dance Company in Boston, performing with them throughout the U.S. and France. After receiving the Breaking Ground Festival scholarship in Toronto, Canada, Zoe began studying Ashtanga Yoga at Downward Dog Studios and danced with Bill James Atlas Dance Company until 2002. Scofield began showing her work in Seattle at Velocity Dance Theater, MOVE! Performance Series, Ten Tiny Dances: 11 (Portland and Seattle), and On the Boards' 12 Minutes Max. In 2005, Scofield began her collaboration with video artist Juniper Shuey and musician Morgan Henderson. Their works have been presented at On the Boards, Jacob�s Pillow/Inside Out, Bumbershoot, SCUBA 2007, Bates Dance Festival, PICA's TBA Festival, Wesleyan University, Spectrum Dance Theater, Dance Theater Workshop, ICA Museum/CRASHArts, The Frye Art Museum, and The Myrna Loy Center. Scofield has also curated various festivals and won several awards. She will be in residency with Shuey at The Trafo House of Contemporary Art (Budapest) and The Body Festival (New Zealand) in 2009. She is co-artistic director of zoe\|juniper. For more info: zoe\|juniper	Photo by: Juniper Shuey
Kiyon Gaines Ballet / Choreography Kiyon Gaines is from Baltimore, Maryland. He trained at Baltimore School of the Arts, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, School of American Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet School. He joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 2001. Gaines has danced in many featured roles and is an aspiring choreographer. Among other works, he has created blitz...Fantasy, Infinite Intricacies, Interrupted Pri'si'zh'en for PNB's annual Choreographers' Showcase performances, and {SCHWA} which was taken into PNB's repertory during the 2007 Celebrate Seattle Festival. Gaines has also participated in the prestigious New York Choreographic Institute and has recently been invited by Peter Boal to create his first repertory work for PNB in 2008. For more info: pnb.org/company/bio-gaines.html	Photo by: Angela Sterling
Master Teachers Jerome (Jeromeskee) Aparis Body Rock Jerome Aparis of Massive Monkees Crew, known the world over as "Jeromeskee," has sought the kind of opportunities available breakdancers in international markets. His experience reflects that effort, and his ability is unsurpassed. In addition to winning every competition on the planet, Jeromeskee has worked with clients like Nike, Scion, Microsoft, Kenneth Cole, T-Mobile, Nordstrom, MTV and the NBA. He reaches more than one million impressions per year with his travels across four continents, and still holds workshop classes in Seattle every Wednesday to teach his craft to the next generation. He has experience in modeling, theater performance, commercial acting, and is the subject of a feature length documentary based in Seattle with the executive producer of Just For Kicks (Thierry Daher) leading the project. For more info: jeromeskee.com
Jill Schaffner Acrobatic Floor Work Jill Schaffner was born and raised in Eugene, OR, where she trained as a competitive gymnast. After high school, she moved to New York City where she studied dance at Hunter College on scholarship, choreographing and performing. Since moving to Seattle two years ago, she has danced/choreographed for Walrus Dance Company and performed with The Asterisk Project, Full Tilt 2008, and the E.P.I.C. festival. In her free time, she practices aerial arts and can be found hanging from trees or rafters around town. She is in her first season DASSdance.	Photo by: Troy Turner
Danielle Wilkins Modern / Coaching Danielle Wilkins is from Kentucky where she trained for ten years at the Louisville Ballet. She received her BFA degree from the University of Hartford Hartt School of Music, during which she performed at the Kennedy Center as a soloist in Jean Grand Maitre's Uroborus. Danielle has worked professionally with Rebecca Kelly Ballet, Mary Seidman and Dancers, Mimi Garrard Dance Company, Steven Koplowitz, Marco Carrabba, Thought Forms Dance Company, and Spectrum Dance Theater, most recently appearing in the 5th Avenue Theater's production of West Side Story and the Seattle Opera's Pearl Fishers. Danielle serves as the Company Manager and Rehearsal Director and is in her tenth season with DASSdance.	Photo by: Troy Turner
Kabby Mitchell Jazz Kabby Mitchell III is a choreographer, educator, and performer whose signature choreography has been seen in Black Nativity since 2000. He has danced with Dance Theatre of Harlem, Nederlands Dance Theater, Civic Light Opera, Oakland Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. Mitchell has been a dance instructor for more than 20 years, having taught ballet, modern jazz, and Haitian dance at schools and dance academies in Seattle, Iowa, and Mexico. In Seattle, he has worked with Pacific Northwest Ballet, Cornish College of the Arts, University of Washington, and Ewajo Dance Workshop. He is currently on the faculty at Evergreen State College in Olympia, as well as a teacher and performer with the Tacoma City Ballet. His local choreography credits include work with Spectrum Dance Theater, The Group, Seattle Rep, Bathhouse Theatre, ACT, and Civic Light Opera. He frequently contributes his time to help programs that support the development of young urban dancers, and is a supporter of local art and theatre companies whose goals are to serve the underserved community through the arts. In 2007, as part of PNB's 1st Celebrate Seattle Festival, Mitchell was honored for his significant contributions to the Northwest dance scene and for being the first African American to dance with PNB. Also in 2007, he was featured on the cover of ColorsNW magazine's August issue and, Arthur Mitchell, the director of Dance Theatre of Harlem, asked him to be part of the "Masters and Mentors" program.