Apr. 21, 2002
Vibrant dance week takes teaching into account
By Mary Ellen Hunt
TIMES CORRESPONDENT

Free classes and performances, open rehearsals, lecture-demos and open houses highlight the diverse local dance community at the fourth annual Bay Area Celebrates National Dance Week. The 10-day celebration is the largest event of its kind in the country, offering dance enthusiasts a choice of 150 free events at theaters, arts centers and studios throughout the Bay Area, with 80 of them in the East Bay alone. This year, artists, studios and dance companies will join forces, presenting and teaching dance styles that range from ballet to hip-hop, from modern to hula.

Bay Area Celebrates National Dance Week kicks off Friday with a ceremony at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, shortly before the curtain rises on San Francisco Ballet's evening performance. Joe Goode, the 2002 Bay Area dance week spokesman, will officially open the festivities and Dance Magazine's Barbara Kaplan will present a certificate of honor to San Francisco Ballet's artistic director Helgi Tomasson. One of the Bay Area's modern dance stalwarts, Anna Halprin, conducts the closing event, her participatory Planetary Dance ritual dedicated to world healing, from sunrise to sunset on top of Mount Tam.

"We do need National Dance Week to shine a spotlight on these treasures that make life in San Francisco and the Bay Area so deliciously unpredictable," says Goode, whose company, the Joe Goode Performance Group, will offer a free mini-performance of works-in-progress at the Marsh in San Francisco on April 30.

Whether you're a doer or a watcher, the week's events offer a wide range of opportunities. Check out the world-renowned San Francisco Ballet taking company class on the Opera House stage, slip into an open rehearsal for Axis Dance Company or grab a lunch and catch the Spinning Yarns Dance Collective performing in front of Oakland's City Hall. Elsewhere, studios from Marin to Hayward to San Jose will be offering free open classes, for various ages and skill levels, in ballet, modern, flamenco, belly dance, jazz, Indian classical dance and more.

For more information and a listing of all events, log onto www.VoiceofDance.com.

Here are some highlights from National Dance Week:

• Opening event at the San Francisco Ballet -- National Dance Week opens with a pre-curtain ceremony at the San Francisco Ballet with spokesman Joe Goode. S.F. Ballet's artistic director Helgi Tomasson will receive a certificate of honor from Dance Magazine. 8 p.m. Friday, $12-$120. On Saturday morning, the ballet invites the public to observe company class onstage at the Opera House. Noon, Saturday, free. Both events at the War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness (at Grove), S.F., 415-865-2000, www.sfballet.org.

• Shawl-Anderson Dance Center -- The Shawl-Anderson Dance Center offers an open house all week long. Observe ballet, modern and jazz classes and rehearsals with the studio's resident choreographers. Call for times. Saturday through May 5, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, 2704 Alcatraz Ave. (at College Avenue), Berkeley, 510-654-5921, www.shawl-anderson.org.

• Jim Beatty's "Ha Ha This A-Way" -- "Ha Ha This A-Way" offers creative movement/theater and yoga stories, games and activities for parents and children from ages 2 to 10. 10-11:30 a.m. Saturday. Beatty also offers an adults-only introductory workshop in teaching creative movement for teachers and parents May 5, 10-11:30 a.m. Eighth Street Studio, 2525 Eighth St. (at Dwight), Berkeley, 510-644-1788.

• Mahea Uchiyama Center for International Dance -- The center offers a performance of world dance featuring the Chhandam School of Kathak Dance, Fat Chance Belly Dance and the Ka Ua Tuahine Polynesian Dance Company as well as free beginner-level classes in hula, Tahitian ori, tribal belly dance and Indian classical kathak. World Dance Salon, 8 p.m. Saturday, Introduction to Hawaiian Hula, 7 p.m. April 29. Introduction to Tahitian Ori, 8 p.m. April 29. Introduction to Tribal Belly Dance, 7 p.m. April 30. Chitresh Das teaches Introductory Indian Classical Kathak, 11 a.m. May 5. Mahea Uchiyama Center for International Dance, 729 Heinz Ave. (at 7th), Berkeley, 510-845-2605, www.mahea.com.

• CitiCentre Dance Theater -- The CitiCentre Dance Theater will hold an open community dance day at the Alice Arts Center. 10 a.m., April 28, CitiCentre Dance Theater, Alice Arts Center, 1428 Alice St. (at 14th), Oakland, 510-451-1230.

• Black Dance Artists in the Bay Area -- The Black Performing Artists Network, co-directed by Kendra Kimbrough and Shereel Washington, leads a two-part forum on black professional and emerging dance artists in the Bay Area, discussing performance opportunities, presenting work, employment, funding and other challenges. 7 p.m. April 29, 7 p.m. May 5, Alice Arts Center Theater, 1428 Alice St. (at 14th), 510-801-4523, www.kkde.org.

• Axis Dance Company -- The 15-year-old Axis Dance Company offers "Dance Access/KIDS!" an after-school program of free dance classes for children ages 5-12 with and without physical disabilities. 3:30-5:15 p.m. April 30. Axis also offers an open rehearsal of pieces from its repertoire with commentary and Q&A interspersed, featuring company choreographers as well as Stephen Petronio, Sonya Delwaide and Bill T. Jones. 6:30-9:30 p.m. May 1. In addition, Axis holds an open "Dance Access" creative movement class for adults with and without physical disabilities, 12:30-2 p.m. May 2. Axis Dance Company, Eighth Street Studio, 2525 Eighth St. (at Dwight), Berkeley, 510-625-0110, www.axisdance.org.

• Cal State Hayward -- Cal State Hayward's Touring Company hosts open modern, hip-hop and jazz dance classes for adult dancers. Modern Dance class (open to all levels), 2 to 3 p.m. April 30; Intermediate Jazz Technique class (for those with previous dance experience), 10:40 to 11:30 a.m.; Hip-Hop class (open to all levels), noon to 12:50 p.m. May 1; Beginning Jazz Technique class, 9:20 to 10:10 a.m. May 1. All classes are at Cal State Hayward, PE Building, Room 140, Carlos Bee Boulevard at West Loop Drive, Hayward, 510-885-4641, www.csuhayward.edu.

• Modern Dance at Frank Ogawa Plaza -- FUT and Spinning Yarns Dance Collective present works-in-progress choreographed by Marisa Pugliano and Susan Donham in an outdoor lunchtime performance in front of Oakland's City Hall. 12:30 p.m. April 30. Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of Oakland City Hall, 14th Street between Broadway and Clay, Oakland.

• How to Get Your Kids Involved in Dance --- VoiceofDance.com hosts an online chat with San Francisco Ballet's education director Charles McNeal about involving your child in a dance education program. 5 p.m. April 30; log onto www.VoiceofDance.com.

• Closing event: "Planetary Dance" -- Octogenarian and modern dance icon Anna Halprin and the Planetary Dance community invite people of all ages to take part in the annual sunrise to sunset Planetary Dance ritual, dedicated to the healing of the world. May 5, sunrise to sunset, Mount Tamalpais State Park, Muir Woods Road, approximately 1/2 mile east of Highway 1 near Mill Valley, 415-461-5362.

DANCE PREVIEW
• WHAT: Bay Area Celebrates National Dance Week
• WHERE: Locations throughout the Bay Area
• WHEN: Friday through May 5
• HOW MUCH: All events are free unless otherwise noted
• CONTACT: National Dance Week hotline, 510-918-2057, or log on to www.VoiceofDance.com for a complete schedule of events

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This review initially appeared on April 21, 2002 in the Contra Costa Times.

For questions or comments, please contact maryellenhunt@yahoo.com.