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Dancers 07-08 Aroldo Fernandes Aroldo Fernandes is a native of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. He holds a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Dance Performance and a Pedagogy License in Dance Education from Federal University of Bahia, where he worked as a professor in the Department of Choreographic Studies. In 1999 Aroldo was awarded a grant by the CNPq- Centro Nacional de Pesquisa (National Center of Research) to conduct a project focusing on the relationship of dance costumes and their interference with the dance movement. He is also the Artistic Director of the Contemporary Dance Group HIS. HIS is a Modern dance company that performs throughout Brazil. In 2001 Aroldo was invited by the Department of Dance at ASU and the Center for Latin American Studies to do Collaborative Work in Choreography with graduate student Alberto Lima. He is a member/Choreographer of Desert Dance Theater. He performed also with A Ludwig Dance Theater and Via Corpo Dance Research of Paradise Valley Community College. This is his second year with A Ludwig Dance Theatre. Frances Goritsas received her MFA in Dance from Arizona State University, May 2005, in performance, choreography and dance preservation. Most recently Frances has had the opportunity to perform for choreographers Mary Fitzgerald, Yin Mei, Melissa Rolnick and Montreal Danse. Before moving to Arizona Frances performed for Vancouver, BC, Dance Artists Judith Gary, D-Anne Kuby and Pipo Damiano. She also choreographed numerous works which have been shown in a variety of venues throughout the Vancouver community and at Dance Space in New York. While at Arizona State University Frances received grants from the Herberger College of Fine Arts and the Graduate and Professional Student Association to perform and research historical works of Ruth St. Denis. Frances also received the British Columbia Arts Council Dance Scholarship, Vancouver Foundation Scholarship and the annual Service Award for Dance at Simon Fraser University. This is Frances' second year of performing with A Ludwig Dance Theater. Nancy has been performing with A Ludwig Dance Theatre since 2001. Her performance career also includes working with the companies of Zvi Gotheiner and Anna Sokolow in New York. Nancy moved to Phoenix to pursue a masters in dance and technology. In 2002, she began exploring the relationship of film and dance and the ways in which cinematography, editing, choreography and dance can be used to create new and unique ways of experiencing both mediums. A Jacob Javits Fellow while at Arizona State University, her 2003 thesis project, Brick Garden, made use of live webcasting and pre-recorded video during performance. Nancy is currently teaching for the Pre-Professional Program at The School of Ballet Arizona and for Arizona State University. Lauren grew up in Maryland and received her early training at the Washington School of Ballet from Mary Day, Pat Berrend, and Lupe Serrano. She then embarked on a life as a ballet dancer working with Washington Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet and other companies around the country. Lauren then attended college and graduate school in New York City and began taking modern dance classes there. She studied with Saba in Graham technique and at Dance New Amsterdam in Simonson technique, as well as Steps and Alvin Ailey and performed choreography by Saba and Isabel Gotzkowsky. Since moving to Phoenix in August, Lauren has been working with Desert Dance Theatre. This is her first experience with A Ludwig Dance Theatre and she is excited to explore this new opportunity. Nancy graduated from University of Michigan with an MFA in Dance where she received a full grant to attend, and from Purchase College with a BFA in dance graduating from both schools with high honors for her choreography and performance. She danced in NYC with various and independent artists and choreographers such as Mel Wong, Jane Comfort, Douglass Dunn and Merce Cunningham and can be seen as a featured dancer for a Cunningham Foundation technique video. She has been a dance teacher and choreographer for numerous colleges, public and private schools throughout the East Coast. She is very glad to have the opportunity to work with Ann Ludwig and company in Arizona. Professor Emerita of Dance at ASU, joined the ASU faculty in 1969 and served as Chair of the Department of Dance from 1977 to 1994. She holds a BS Ed in Mathematics, an MA in Dance and a Ph.D. in Biomechanics and Dance. She was honored in 1985 by the Governor as one of Arizona’s Women Who Create. Dr. Lessard was named the 1990 Outstanding Dance Alumna of Texas Woman's University. With A Ludwig Dance Theatre, she has performed in New York City, along the East Coast, in West Germany, and on a ten-week US Embassy tour of Portugal. She was guest teacher in Espirito Santo, Vitoria, Brazil 1987; Salvador Bahia, Brazil, 1988; and Puebla, Mexico 2001. Currently, in addition to performing with A Ludwig Dance Theatre, Dr. Lessard studies Pilates ,Yoga and Meditation. Yeong Wen Lee is a member of Tsukayama Dance Collaborative and FLUX Dance Project. For the past years, as a freelance dance artist, he had performed internationally in NYC international Fringe, Perth Fringe Festival, the Asia Arts Festival in Tokyo and Arizona Dance Festival. In 2001, Yeong represented Singapore in the Realizing Rama tour to Europe by the ASEAN Flagship Voyage. In 2002, with support from the National Arts Council (Singapore), he enrolled himself in the Arizona State University to further his studies in dance, successfully graduating in 2004 with a BFA in Dance (Choreography). In Fall 2007, Yeong had returned to Arizona to pursue MFA in dance at ASU. Yeong is very grateful to Ann Ludwig Dance Theatre for including him in this production. Shouze Ma is an Associate Professor in the Department of Dance at ASU. He was a founding member of Guangdong Modern Dance Company, the first modern dance company in China. In 1997, he came to the United States and earned his MFA in dance at The
University of Iowa and has taught and performed internationally at different
universities and festivals, such as: Beijing Dance Academy; the Central
University in Korea; The university of Alabama; The University of Minnesota;
Elon University, NC; Beijing Modern Dance Company; American Dance Festival;
and Dance Space Center in New York. is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where he began dancing at the age of 16. His first classes were in jazz, then ballet at GACEMSS Theatre. After his studies Claudio joined Ballet Rio de Janeiro and worked additionally with local modern dance companies. His aerial acrobatics training and skill with roller blades has helped give him opportunities in numerous European Festival performances. Most recently he was a member of the Deborah Colker Dance company which toured world wide. Now in the United States, Claudio studies American modern dance and continues to develop and show his choreography. This is Claudio's second year with A Ludwig Dance Theatre. Karen Schupp is a performer, choreographer and educator in a variety of dance forms. Karen is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Dance at Arizona State University where she teaches technique and theory courses in both the MFA and BFA programs. She has performed and toured with Victoria Marks, Mary Fitzgerald, A Ludwig Dance Theatre and Fred Darsow; choreographs and performs her own work in festivals such as the Cool New York Dance Festival, the d.u.m.b.o. dance festival and the Arizona Dance Festival; and has worked with international digital artist Christian Zeigler in the development of Dance Dance Revolution, which premiered at the Zentrum fur Kunst un Mediatechnologies in Karlsruhe, Germany. Her scholarly research has been presented at both the National Dance Education Organization's and the Congress on Research in Dance's annual conferences. Karen has received a Lester Horton Small Ensemble Performance Award for her dancing in Victoria Marks Against Ending, a Devils Advocate Award for outstanding contribution to the ASU community and is a 2006 ASU Wakonse Teaching Fellow. For more information please go to www.karenschupp.org. Jennifer Walker received her Masters of Fine Arts in dance education and choreography from Arizona State University where she received the Herberger College of Fine Arts Scholarship and Evelyn Smith Scholarship. Along with her dance background Jennifer is a certified Authentic Pilates Instructor. Currently, Jennifer is the co-founder and co-artistic director of the FLUX Dance Project. Formally, she was the Artistic Director of Jennifer Walker & Company based in New York City (1999-2001). Jennifer's current projects include teaching and designing curriculum for ASU's Programs for Talented Youth. Jennifer is a Faculty Associate at Glendale Community College. Originally from Taiwan, Jia Wu received her B.F.A. in Dance from the Taipei National University of the Arts (formerly called National Institute of Arts) in Taiwan, and M.F.A. in Dance from Arizona State University. During her studies at ASU she began exploring the technology in dance education and performance. She continued pursuing computer technology application and later received her second master degree -- M.S. in Technology from Arizona State University East. She has performed with Guest artists Kevin O' Day and Art Bridgman, and danced with Cliff Keuter, Elina Mooney, Young-Aei Park and Ann Ludwig. She has been in the dance field as a performer, choreographer and teacher since 1990. Jia is currently working in the field of computer networking and teaches Chinese and modern dance in her Tempe studio, www.virtuosostudio.com. She is also the A Ludwig Dance Theatre website developer and graphic designer. She began dancing with A Ludwig Dance Theatre in 2001. |
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Last Updated: February, 2008