Audition
Tour 2009
Our 26 City Audition tour has been a great experience for Nutmeg staff, graduates
who assisted and the over 250 dancers who have auditioned for Nutmeg Summer and
Fall Programs. Nutmeg wishes to thank Alums & Staff, Barry Hughson, (Atlanta
Ballet), Natasha and Joshua Brooksher (Phoenix Arizona), Denise and Michael Limoli
(Saratoga, New York), Mary Mock (Sarasota, Florida), Dustin Shane (Washington
Ballet), and Joan Kunsch, Associate Director of Nutmeg, for conducting our auditions
around the country. During the trip Joan often had to get up after four hours'
sleep, get to the airport two hours before a very early flight, land and take
a taxi directly to the audition, find dinner an do it all again in a distant
city, three days in a row. But the excitement of working with the young dancers,
reunions with colleagues and new contacts for Nutmeg became a huge reward.
Joan had also invited Nutmeg graduates and trainees to attend auditions near
them and was happy to catch up with Mauro Villanueva (Joffrey Ballet Chicago),
Danielle Arico (just retired from MOMIX and studying massage therapy in Denver),
Andrew Skeels (Colorado Ballet), Emily Parkinson (has finished her MBA in the
Arts and is doing internships), Dr. Catherine Takacs Witkop, Air Force Lt. Colonel
and Medical Doctor recently transferred with her family to Colorado Springs.
Joan
taught in all sorts of ballet schools including
the splendid new Joffrey Tower in Chicago. She saw
outstanding performances by Ballet West and the San Francisco
Ballet as well as student companies in the Fort Worth area
where four of Andrew Parker’s works were premiered in one evening
(Andrew will be at Nutmeg in two weeks to guest teach for our
classes) Opportunities arose for Ms. Kunsch to interact with
company directors
and major teachers around the
country. “Nutmeg is known and respected out there” said Ms. Kunsch “and
we should soon be welcoming new summer and resident students chosen on this
tour.
Congratulations and thanks to Joan Kunsch and the rest of the audition team.
Ms. Kunsch has returned and will be out on the road again next week to do her
final of 19 audition cities, in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Our summer programs are scheduled for June (2 week), July (4 week) and August
(2 week). Of course, our own year round students are invited to join
one or more of these programs and should be in touch with Marguerite Sabia, our
Admissions director at 680-482-4413 ext 303 or
msabia@nutmegconservatory.org.
Our
year round
resident students may wish to do a summer program with a credible summer intensive
and are all encouraged to attend the August course in preparation for the fall
programs at Nutmeg. We will take the month of March to talk with parents and
students about their future dance interests.
Thank
you,
Sharon Dante
Artistic Director
Eleanor D'Antuono teaching a recent class
at Nutmeg!
Eleanor
D'Antuono is in fabulous shape!
Here is
a recent photo of Nutmeg Faculty member and former Prima Ballerina
(ABT/Joffrey) Eleanor D'Antuono. Eleanor has served as Resident Coach to Nutmeg
since 1984 when she met Sharon Dante and Victoria
Mazzarelli at the New York International Ballet Competition.
Ms. D'Antuono and her husband John have a home in New Milford and New York
City. Ms. D'Antuono will serve as an advisor to the staff, as well as teaching
and
coaching
during the 2008/2009 season.
Nutmeg's Graduate of the Month!
Emily Patterson is a 1996 graduate of Nutmeg who danced first in th ABT Studio
Company and then moved to Chicago to work with the Joffrey where she is currently
a soloist
along
with
her husband Thomas Nicholas. Emily and Thomas are regular guest teachers
and coaches at Nutmeg and will be here again in the summer of 2009 to guest
teach. Congratulations to both!
READ
ABOUT OUR RESIDENCY AND SUMMER PROGRAMS click here to
download |
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Faculty
Members Tim Melady and Joan Kunsch |
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Nutmeg's upcoming Guest Artists
Ted Kivitt is
scheduled along with his wife, Michelle Lucci for a 2 day residency
which includes teaching 2 ballet classes a day on Fri., Feb. 27, & Sat.,
Feb. 28, 2009
Presently an Assistant Professor of Dance at the Purchase Conservatory
of Dance in Purchase, NY. Mr. Kivitt, a native of Florida, joined ABT and
within 6 years, rose from the corps de ballet to the ranks of soloist and
Principal dancer. He has performed all over the U.S. and internationally
as a noted classical dancer in the ballets Swan Lake and Giselle among
others, and partnered ballerinas Cynthia Gregory, Eleanor d'Antuono, Lupe
Serrano, Carla Fracci, and Natalia Makarova. Following his ABT career,
Mr. Kivitt performed with the Pennsylvania Ballet where he met and married
the Prima Ballerina, Michelle Lucci. He was Artistic Director of the Milwaukee
Ballet where he brought more than 50 of the world's finest works, from
the classical, contemporary, modern and Americana repertoires to the Company.
He has also served on the national dance panels for Dance USA and the National
Endowment for the Arts.
Michelle Lucci's Bio
Presently on the faculties of the
Purchase Conservatory of Dance and the Dance Theatre of Harlem in NY.
She was trained at the
National Ballet School in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the Royal Dance
Academy in Buffalo, NY and studied under Benjamin Harkarvy, Robert
Joffrey, David
Howard, Yurek Lazowsky, Valentina Peraslavic, Lupe Serrano, Arnold
Spohr, and Hector Zaraspe. She has also been on the faculties of the
following:
theCentral Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Andahazy School of Classical
Ballet, Baltimore Ballet, Larkin Dance, Milwaukee Ballet, to name a
few. Michelle
danced with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, was Principal dancer with the
Pennsylvania Ballet, Prima Ballerina with the Milwaukee Ballet, and
was Dance Captain
for the Music Box Company Production of Phantom of the Opera for 7
years.
Jane Vorburger will be teaching on March 17, 2009!
Jane Vorburger completed her dance training with Hortensia Fonseca
and Michelle Lees at the Academy of the Maryland Youth Ballet. She joined
American Ballet Theater at age 16 and spent 5 years with this company performing
principal, soloist and corps de ballet roles in the U.S.A. and abroad.
With ABT she created the role of the Child in one of Agnes de Milles last
ballets and performed a lead in Anthony Tudor's Echoing of Trumpets. She
went on to study Contact Improvisation and choreography at Oberlin College
and completed her Master of Fine Arts degree from New York University's
Tisch School for the Arts. She teaches ballet at Marymount Manhattan College,
Tisch School for the Arts at NYU, American Ballet Theater, the Joffrey
Ballet School and Alvin Ailey American Dance Center.
A Nifty Guide to
Downtown Torrington
A guide to Downtown Torrington. A showcase of local restaurants,
shopping,
Arts and Culture and more, click here to
download. |
The
Nutmeg Conservatory is pleased to announce a 40th Anniversary
performance at the world famous Jacob’s Pillow
Dance Festival. For over 75 years, the Pillow has been
presenting the very best of dance to an enthusiastic
and loyal audience.
Nutmeg will be part of the Pillow’s Inside/Out
Dance Series. Dance performance combines with dance education
in this forum of performance and a question and answer
session with Nutmeg’s Founder and Artistic Director,
Sharon Dante. Several generations of Nutmeg Graduates
will perform as Guest Artists in this historic event.
Graduates Emily Patterson Nicholas and her husband Thomas
both soloists with the Joffrey Ballet, Dustin Shane currently
dancing with the Washington Ballet and Kate Meehan founder
of a New York Based contemporary dance company named
SYREN.
Nutmeg Summer Program students will also perform cameo roles at this 40th anniversary
event on Wednesday July 22 and then they will return to the Torrington based
home of the Nutmeg to perform in the Nutmeg Studio Theatre for our local audiences
as well.
We hope that you will be able to join us at one or more of this series of performances
by Nutmeg. If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me.
Best, Regards, Marguerite
Nutmeg Director of Admissions
The Nutmeg Jacob’s Pillow Performance Schedule
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
6:30pm to 7:20pm
40 minute performance
10 minute Q&A
This time includes call and costume changes.
The performance takes place rain or shine.
For more information or directions, please call Jacob's Pillow Dance at 413.243.9919
or email
info@jacobspillow.org
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Ron Alexander
with Guest Artists
Ted Kivitt and Michelle Lucci
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April
18, 2009 at 8pm at the Warner Theatre
Waterbury Chorale presents "Broadway
Sings"
(One night Only--at the Warner Theatre) with the Waterbury Chorale Festival
Orchestra and Special Appearance by Dancers from the Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory
The Waterbury Chorale, established
in 1967, to provide an opportunity for singers from the
Greater Waterbury, Connecticut area to enjoy and perform
outstanding musical theatre. Current members of the chorale
reside in many Connecticut communities including Beacon
Falls, Farmington, Litchfield, Middletown, Torrington,
and of course, Waterbury, to name a few.
The Waterbury Chorale is under the music direction of Joseph J. Jacovino, Jr.,
a graduate from the Manhattan School of Music with a MA in Music Education.
He has been the Director of Music at Holy Cross High School for the past 26
years, and has accompanied the Waterbury Chorale for the past four years.
The program will include excerpts from Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein's
Carousel (1945), Oklahoma (1955), and Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's
West Side Story (1957) in addition to other musical numbers from popular Broadway
shows. Choreography for excerpts from Carousel, Oklahoma, and West Side Story
by Ronald Alexander, Principal of the Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory, and performed
by selected Nutmeg students.
Ron Alexander says: I was thrilled to be asked to do the choreography for these
musical selections which represents some of the best American music ever composed
for Broadway, and to have another unique performing opportunity for Nutmeg's
superb dancers at the Warner Theatre was a chance of a lifetime.
2008-2009 Academic Calendar
now online!
Click here to go to the 2008-2009
Calendar, or if you prefer, download the calendar by clicking here.
Nutmeg Board initiates its 39th annual giving campaign
The Board of Directors of Nutmeg
Conservatory has been meeting regularly this summer to
discuss future fundraising efforts for Nutmeg. The main
objective is to work through these harder economic times
while still growing the training programs. Nutmeg is
pleased to announce that this year's effort will concentrate
on our student scholarship fund so that we can continue
our large men's division and develop further our ability
to teach the most advanced partnering, which is the key
ingredient needed for those aspiring to professional
careers. We are beginning our plans to celebrate our
40th anniversary and several of the board members will
be heading up focus groups in order to insure our programs
in the future. If you are an Alum, an Alum Parent, a
current student, or parent we need your help. Any who
are interested in becoming members of one of our special
groups should contact our Business Manager, Joanne Lavine,
at
jlavine@nutmegconservatory.org.
Check out our fundraising efforts to assure the Conservatory's
future! Watch for more information coming soon.
A Nutmeg trainee performs during class.
A quiet moment at Nutmeg.
Nutmeg's Alumni Notebook
What we are doing now...
KATE MEHAN: Thanks
for listing SYREN on your Alumni page! Whenever anyone has a chance, could
it be listed
as SYREN Modern Dance. We try to stay consistent for PR sake.. Thanks so
much, and long live Nutmeg!
COURTNEY COUGHLIN: Since leaving the Nutmeg
family in 2001, I graduated from the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut
and have gone on to receive a Presidential Arts Scholarship in Dance from George
Washington University in DC, where I study Spanish and English literature in
addition to Dance (primarily modern and postmodern). I spent last semester
in Alicante, Spain, where I had the opportunity to study a bit of flamenco,
and this semester I was asked to Stage Manage the Dance department's concert,
which is certainly a full time job (in addition to those pesky 6 classes I
keep having to go to). Some of my own choreography will presented in the concert,
which I am very excited about.
I never dreamed that when I left Nutmeg to pursue academia, I would be able
to keep one foot dancing at all times. Its wonderful, and I certainly owe the
opportunity of dancing with GW to my training at Nutmeg.
CHRISTO GARCIA: I am the writer, director,
and executive producer of the ballet movie "Morristown
- A Ballerina Love Story."
EILEEN POTTER: Hello! This is a fantastic website! What have I been
up to? Well, I recently began a new adventure as the Toddler Coordinator for
Our Children's Place in Glastonbury. For the 8 years previous to that, I served
as the Director for the Easter Seals Child Development Center in Meriden -
Susan Szabo and friends often came to visit us and performed for the children
at the center! I hope the dorms are doing well - I miss my time spent as Nutmeg's
Dorm Director! I now cheer on my 15 year old neice - Hannah Pelkey - she is
currently a student at Nutmeg. I was married last year to a wonderful man,
Ken, who happens to have 5 children - we live a crazy and busy life, but it
is a good life! My best to Nutmeg!
RAMON BACA: I have started a dance company,
Exit 12 Dance Company, in New York. We rehearse at Battery
Dance down on Broadway south of Canal St. and have performed
at locations in NYC, Connecticut and Vermont.
DUSTIN SNOODY: Hi, I wanted to e-mail Ms.
Dante but her address isn't on the website. I just wanted to
thank her for all her help and to let her know I am very happy
to be finishing my third season with Orlando Ballet and will
be joining The Washington Ballet as full company member this
September. Thank you to all my teachers and I would love to
hear back from anyone. Also, I love those Nutmeg survivor shirts!
Where can I get one?
PHIL SKAGGS: Sharon, I just wanted to tell
you the good news. I just found out today that this cast
of OKLAHOMA! will be archived as the formost and definitive
version of the show. So I will be Immortalized in the Lincoln
center library as the dream Curly for future Okies. I cant
believe the stuff that I stumble upon. I thought you might
get a kick out of that. Love Phil
Phil Skaggs with the cast of Oklahoma
TIFFANY MCGINLEY: I am currently living in Orlando Florida, working
at Princeton House Charter School for autistic children. I am also working
with Orlando Ballet to begin a special needs dance program.
HAYLEY STONE: I am going on my 4th season
with Atlanta Festival Ballet. I am a teacher for them
and I am also their Summer Intensive Coordinator. We
just opened our sister school a few towns south of where
we are located and I am the director of their Dance Competition
Team.
BARRY HUGHSON: Go Nutmeg!
CRYSTAL POWELL: I attended Nutmeg's
residency program from 1998 thru 2001. Since then,
I graduated Clemson University in 2006 with my
Master's in Professional Accountancy. After graduation,
I accepted an offer with Ernst & Young to work
in the firm's Assurance and Advisory Business Services
practice as an external auditor in the public accounting
industry. I am currently working on obtaining my
CPA license. I have been happily married to Brandon
Powell, for almost two years (August 19, 2006).
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TSOB
Winter/Spring registration has been extended until
February 15th due to inclimate weather. TSOB will
be open for Second Semester Registration on
Saturday, Dec.
20 & 27 and on Saturday,
January 3, 10, & 17. Registration
on those dates is between 10am-12pm. Classes begin on February
1st.
Nutmeg's 2009/2010 Residency and
Summer Programs Brochure is now available!
Click here to download your copy.
A word of thanks from the parents of one of our Nutmeg
trainees.
Dear Mr. Alexander,
We received Carly's evaluation forms in the mail yesterday and wanted to thank
you and the other professional staff for your efforts. We realize it was a tremendous
undertaking for you to evaluate each student. We were very pleased to see that
Carly is giving her best effort and that she is behaving like the young lady
she was raised to be. We can't thank everyone at Nutmeg enough for recognizing
her potential as a dancer and her individual value as a human being. She's received
excellent dance instruction and a wealth of experiences at Nutmeg. You've all
been an inspiration to her and opened up a world to her that doesn't exist in
Brockport, New York. Thank you for mentoring and guiding her as she hopefully
finds a place in the dance world.
Leisa and David Strabel
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WE WANT YOU...
Please
make sure that we have all your latest information,
you can update it by clicking
here. This way you'll be able to participate in
our online discussions, blogs, newsletters and much
more.
| TSOB
NEWS |
Daytime and TSOB notes
Congratulations to TSOB
students who have recently joined the A3
level on Monday’s. This
is a great opportunity for younger students
of the School to participate with the daily
training program. Susan Szabo recently auditioned
our TSOB students for the spring program
and has two wonderful pieces in rehearsals
for
our Spring Program. It has always been a
Nutmeg tradition to bring the younger children
into
the next level during the second semester.
It takes two years to transfer from TSOB
to Nutmeg programs so that they can gradually
become accustomed to the pre-professional
10
year training program. Congratulations to:
Kelsey Morris, Christina Zaharevich, and
Heather Gracey for making that transfer.
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Jasmine stretches out.
Victoria Mazzarelli talks with a Nutmeg trainee.
A Nutmeg student during CAP
Paulina gets ready for class.
New photo galleries from the Nutcracker
performances are online at printroom.com…
Visit
printroom.com to view and purchase prints of your favorite
Nutmeg Trainee. Photographer Ross Whitaker has posted
many new galleries to choose from. Take a look here
Ron Alexander
More from the Alumni Notebook...
AMANDA SESKO: Wow!
It has been a long time! I came across the website and
was struck with a blast from the past. I left in 1996
when my family moved to Wisconsin but was there from
around age 4/5 and on. Nutmeg has shaped a lot in my
life and I am forever grateful and think about dancing
a good deal. It has been about 12 years since I have
danced, and although I miss it, Nutmeg and all of the
frieds and family I made will always be apart of me.
I recieved my B.S. in psychology and women's studies
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and am now at
getting my PhD in social psychology at the University
of Kansas. I hope all is well and I send my love to everyone!
MARY ELIZABETH MOCK: Artistic/Executive
Director of Florida Ballet Arts Academy in Sarasota,
FL; Director of Florida Ballet Arts Ensemble
(pre-professional company associated with school);
also giving Master Classes & guest teaching
in Southern California. It's
wonderful to see how much Nutmeg has grown over
the years! I feel fortunate to have been a part
of the school in the early 90's on Water Street
and to be able to witness and appreciate the
developments that have taken place since then.
I was amazed when visiting my student, Shelby
Elsbree, during her summer intensive there in
2001. Nutmeg's growth and success is an inspiration
to all!
KERRY MILES: Love the new building
and the programs that have been established since
I was there in the early 80's. I will be sending
some news clippings/pictures of when I took classes
there myself on Water St. It is fascinating to
see Victoria, Cheryl Madeaux and some of the
other students that are still around, and to
see how their careers have skyrocketed! Can't
wait to read and see more :-)
JARROD KENTRELL: It has been such a long time since I have been able
to have a free moment to come by here and say hello. At the current moment I
just returned form Montreal from a 3 weeks professional dance project what was
made up of many international dance companies such as Cas Public, CND (Nacho
Duato), Ballet Jazz de Montreal, Flakk Danse Montreal, Cirque du Soliel, and
many more. Another company that was apart of this amazing process was Les Grands
Ballet Canadians de Montreal. So I had the great pleasure of meeting John Hall
1st hand. He was super nice and was happening to be there as a photographer the
night of out showing. I am now on my to start my 2nd season with the Atlanta
Ballet, but this time as an apprentice. So look out for my bio and headshot online:)
I am super excited. I hope that everyone is doing well and I will be in contact
sooner than later.
NATASHA BROOKSHER: Josh and I spent a few days at Nutmeg
setting Le Corsaire pas de deux on about 30 couples! Phew...it was great
fun, and all the students were lovely to work with. This was the first time
I had actually worked in the new building, so that was a big change from
21 Water St.! Those of you who remember the 3rd floor mid-summer, no airconditioning
with the fan in the doorway! haha. Josh had a wonderful time with the young
men...we both hope to return again soon!
Pointe is ballet at its best. From the top Summer Intensive programs, and
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Member of the National Association of
Schools of Dance.
Supported in Part by the Connecticut Commission on Culture and the Arts. |
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