SMU Meadows to host “Teaching Jazz Dance” symposium

DALLAS (SMU) — The Division of Dance at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas, Texas, will host its second “Teaching Jazz Dance Symposium,” June 16-18, 2014. 

The symposium, organized by award-winning choreographer and SMU professor of dance Danny Buraczeski, includes three days of classes and presentations dedicated to the continued vitality and relevance of jazz dance.

Speakers will include Cathy Young, director of the Boston Conservatory Division of Dance, discussing jazz dance pedagogy, and Bob Boross, associate professor of jazz dance at Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia. Boross will give a presentation on the freestyle jazz artistry of the late Matt Mattox, considered one of the greatest jazz dance teachers of the 20^th century, and teach a Mattox technique class. Other activities will include a tour of the Dallas Arts District, the largest urban arts district in the nation.

“The symposium will cover jazz today, what is happening and what can or should be happening,” says Buraczeski. “The jazz dance form needs to stay vital and inspiring to a new generation of dancers, and the symposium will serve as an engine to spark ideas toward this goal. We particularly want to focus on what we can do to support future generations of jazz dancers, jazz dance teachers and choreographers.”

The first “Teaching Jazz Dance” symposium, held in summer 2012, drew participants from across the country and covered such topics as the importance of pushing the boundaries of the jazz dance genre; the perceived devaluation of jazz dance in academic and “high art” settings; the impact of popular variety shows such as So You Think You Can Dance; and more.

Cost of the symposium is $150; a special hotel rate is also available. Participation is limited to 25.

For more information, contact Danny Buraczeski at dburacze@smu.edu or 214-768-3818. For registration information, contact Heather Guthrie at hguthrie@smu.edu or 214-768-2718.

About Danny Buraczeski

Danny Buraczeski is a professor of dance at Southern Methodist University, teaching classic jazz dance technique, composition and choreography. His work as a classic jazz stylist for over two decades has traced a clear and deep investigation of jazz, its sources and its ongoing evolution.

After a career on Broadway appearing in such musicals as Mame with Angela Lansbury and The Act with Liza Minnelli, he founded the original New York City-based JAZZDANCE in 1979. Based in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul from 1992 to 2005, the company performed at leading concert halls and festivals in more than 35 states and in Europe, Russia and the Caribbean. Buraczeski’s choreography has been commissioned by the Walker Art Center, the Joyce Theater, the Library of Congress, the American Dance Festival, the Bates Dance Festival and the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.

He was a recipient of a 2003 McKnight Fellowship in Choreography and was a 2004 Bush Foundation Fellow. Buraczeski was named Artist of the Year in 2000 by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He has received multiple fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, for which he is now a regular panelist/consultant.

Related Link:

• DanceTeacher: All That Jazz

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