Metropolitan Ballet Academy Announces 2016 Winter Workshops: Lighting and Costume Design, Tap, Dance History, Dance Medicine

Jenkintown, PA—Metropolitan Ballet Academy (MBA), celebrating its 20th anniversary at 700 Cedar Road in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, announces that registration is now open for its 2016 Winter Workshop. This year, classes held on Saturdays from February 27 through March 19 will offer a unique opportunity for students, dancers and the public to broaden their knowledge of the performance experience with classes in costume and lighting design, dance history, and tap. MBA will also present a free seminar about dance medicine, co-hosted by Aquahab Physical Therapy. Pre-registration is required for all workshops. For information and registration, contact the MBA studio office at 215-663-1665 or Metbaseman@gmail.com.

MBA founder and Artistic Director Lisa Collins Vidnovic says, “Our student dancers engage in a rigorous curriculum of classical dance training for nine to twelve months each year. The Winter Workshop gives them, and the general public, a chance to learn about other aspects of dance and performance art in one-to-three session classes that may inspire them to learn more. We are delighted to offer these exciting classes, taught by expert faculty, and encourage anyone with an interest in these topics to spend some Saturdays in our Winter Workshops.”

MBA 2016 Winter Workshop Schedule: Faculty Bios Follow Schedule

· Lighting Design | How to Talk to a Lighting Designer: Master Class with John Hoey, acclaimed Philadelphia Lighting Designer

An interactive learning experience beginning with basic how-to’s of lights and lighting design, progressing into hands-on projects allowing participants to put their new knowledge into practice. This workshop is generously hosted by Lisa Litchko-Stunder.

Saturday, February 27; 10 am - 3 pm $75.00

Location: Hatboro-Horsham High School Theatre Ages 13-Adult

· Costume Design for Dance: Jan Schleiger, Costume Designer

MBC’s brilliant costume designer presents an intensive design workshop for ballet and contemporary dance. Explore how costumes support the dance, considering movement style, choreography, period, music, ensemble vs solo, dancers’ body shapes and sizes. Gain hands-on experience sketching your own costume designs and examine construction, fabric choices and fitting skills; includes short live performances for inspiration. Ms. Schleiger has more than 35 years of experience designing costumes for renowned dance, opera and theater companies.

2-class workshop: Saturdays, February 20 & 27; 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm $60.00

Location: MBA Studio, 700 Cedar Rd., Jenkintown, PA 19046 Ages 13-Adult

· Dance History: Illustrated Lectures with Kate Carr, Dance Educator

Dancer, educator, teaching artist and certified yoga instructor, Kate Carr received her B.F.A. in Dance Performance from the University of the Arts in 2002. In three fascinating lectures, learn about the history of dance through the ages.

3-class workshop: Saturdays, March 5, 12, 19; 3 pm - 4:30 pm $60.00

Location: MBA Studio, 700 Cedar Rd., Jenkintown, PA 19046 Ages 10-Adult

· Intro to Tap: Pamela Hetherington, Artistic Director, Take it Away Dance

Tap dancer, performer, choreographer, teacher and director, Pamela Hetherington leads the Philadelphia Community Tap Dance Project. In three classes, learn the FUNdamentals of tap.

3-class workshop: Saturdays, March 5, 12, 19; 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm $50.00

Location: MBA Studio, 700 Cedar Rd., Jenkintown, PA 19046 Ages 10-Adult

· Dance Medicine: Angela Santone, Aquahab – FREE WORKSHOP

Dancer and certified Pilates teacher Angela Santone has worked as a licensed physical therapist assistant since 1999. At Aquahab since 2005, she focuses on core development and maximizing physical outcomes for seasoned athletes and professional dancers.

Saturday, March 19; 2 pm - 3 pm FREE for students/dancers

Location: MBA Studio, 700 Cedar Rd., Jenkintown, PA 19046 Ages 11-Adult

Learn More About MBA 2016 Winter Workshop Faculty

COSTUME DESIGN

Jan Schleiger has been the Costumer for Metropolitan Ballet Academy and Company since 1999. She earned an MFA in Dance from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and danced professionally with Ann Vachon Dance Conduit in Philadelphia. Her 36 years of experience include designing, constructing, and fitting costumes for dance, opera and theater companies including Bryn Mawr College, International Opera Theater, local modern dance companies and The Opera Company of Philadelphia. Ms. Schleiger also mentors design students and teaches construction skills, dyeing, fabric design, patternmaking, and fitting.

LIGHTING DESIGN

John Hoey is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts (’89), and Temple University (’92). He also studied privately with scenographer and architect Josef Svoboda in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1988. He has designed at nearly every theater in Philadelphia including the Arden, the Wilma, People’s Light, and the Walnut Street Theatres. He designed over 20 operas for the Opera Company of Philadelphia and just opened his 100th ballet for the Pennsylvania Ballet. He was on the design staff of New York City Opera, and was a Lighting Director at New York City Ballet for 3 seasons. Nationally, he has designed for Luciano Pavarotti, Spoleto Festival, Pittsburgh Opera, Virginia Opera, Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, Folger Shakespeare, Cleveland Playhouse, Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center. Internationally, he has designed and toured to all but one continent. In film he was the Associate Art Director for the movie “Center Stage.” In 2005, John was the recipient of an Independence Fellowship grant and returned to Prague to work with Laterna Magika and the National Theatre. John has received two Best of Philadelphia Awards, five total Barrymore nominations with Barrymore Awards for the lighting design of Sweeney Todd at the Arden Theatre and for 9 Parts Desire at the Wilma Theater, a Helen Hayes nomination for Measure for Measure at the Folger Theater in Washington, DC, two “Rockie” Awards for work in the Philadelphia Dance community and a Prix Millennium Award for Capuleti et Montegue at the Opera Company of Philadelphia. In 2006, John was named to the faculty at Temple University‘s theater department. Recently, John designed two world premier ballets for Pennsylvania Ballet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Kennedy Center, had his work shown internationally on PBS (Pennsylvania Ballet at 50) and has been a design consultant for PlayPenn new play festival. www.johnstephenhoey.com

DANCE HISTORY

Kate Carr is a dance educator, teacher and performer based in Glenside, Pennsylvania. Since 2011 she has served as a teaching artist at BalletX, and since 2013 has taught creative movement, modern dance, yoga for dancers and dance history at Metropolitan Ballet Academy. From 2006 to 2011 she was a performing artist with White Box Theatre Research Collective. Ms. Carr earned her BFA in Dance Performance from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 2002, and in 2005 earned her 250 hour certification in vinyasa yoga, as well as certification in yoga for children and teens. Her significant experience as a yoga instructor for children, teens and adults includes five years teaching multi-level vinyasa classes to employees of the Pew Charitable Trust.

INTRO TO TAP

Pamela Hetherington is a dancer, choreographer, educator and the artistic director of Take It Away Dance. A Philadelphia native, she joined Philadelphia tap company, Tap Team Two & Company, at the age of sixteen and was a principle dancer with the company for fifteen years, during which time she performed widely in major theaters and festivals all over Philadelphia and the East Coast. In the past nine years, she has imagined and produced over 20 tap and live music productions in Philadelphia. Her work has been presented by the McGuffey Arts Center and Live Arts (Charlottesville, VA), Small Stakes Philly, Jazz Bridge, and the Philadelphia Jazz Project. She performs locally with jazz musicians and vocalists, including the Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble, and she has also performed modern, contemporary and tap works, both on stage and film, with the Miki Liszt Dance Company, Prospect Dance Group, Keila Cordova Dances, Sound and Movement Collective and Loose Screws Contemporary Tap Ensemble. She is a three-time grant recipient from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and a 2014 grant recipient from Small But Mighty Arts. Pam teaches classes and master workshops to pre-professionals, university students and adults all over the Delaware Valley. For the past two years, she has been a roster artist and performer for the DEA Youth Dance Program. She owns Soundspace 1525, the first dedicated percussive dance space in the Delaware Valley.

DANCE MEDICINE

Angela Santone has been a licensed physical therapist assistant since 1999. She has been a wonderful asset to Aquahab for the past ten years, sharing a wealth of orthopedic knowledge from her eclectic background. While working as a dancer in Las Vegas she also obtained her certification for Pilates teaching, applying that knowledge in the realm of dance medicine, as well as rehabilitation of the spine. After completing a 4 day intensive study in dance medicine at NYU, her special interests within the physical rehab setting lies in core development and maximizing physical outcomes for the seasoned athlete as well as the professional dancer.

Registration now open for Metropolitan’s 2016 Summer Intensive

Metropolitan Ballet Academy, recognized by POINTE magazine (October 2011) as one of the top seven studios in America “cultivating top talent,” continues to provide its acclaimed dance training throughout the summer months. Intermediate and advanced student dancers annually look forward to The Bridge, MBA’s Master Class workshop series, featuring a distinguished roster of guest artists from June 7-14, 2016.

Guest artists from the U.S. and abroad also teach regularly in MBA’s renowned Summer Intensive, which will be held at the MBA studio from July 11 to August 12, 2016. In addition to half and full-day dance programs for beginner, intermediate and advanced boys and girls ages 7-18, the MBA Summer Intensive also offers M3 = Math x Music x Movement©: an exciting summer enrichment program for ages 7-10, featured in Dance Teacher magazine (April 2015). Enroll now, for children entering 2nd, 3rd or 4th grade.

Visit www.metropolitanballetacademy.com to learn more about visiting faculty for summer 2016. For registration and information, contact Lisa Collins Vidnovic at 215-663-1665 or collinsvidnovic@verizon.net.

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Media Contact: Ellen Warren, 215-886-1666 (desk), 215-669-0011 (cell), ellenwarren@comcast.net.

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