Meet Against the Odds Artist, Janelle Gilchrist!

Ms. Gilchrist is a leader in the art of dance, holding many roles in her professional career, including those of dancer, teacher, choreographer, and community organizer. Originally from Stoneham, MA, Janelle developed her skills and expertise through studies at Harriet Hoctor Ballet School, Boston Ballet School, Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre, Broadway Theater Project, Concord Academy, and Dance Theater of Harlem, and earned her BFA in Dance at the University of Hartford, CT. 

Highlights of Ms. Gilchrist's professional career include company dancer in the following companies: Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre, BalletRox, Island Moving Company, and Hartford Ballet. In addition, Janelle has performed with Legends in Concert, Celebrity Cruises, Anna Myer, and David Parker. She has also held small roles in several major movie productions, including ‘27 Dresses’, produced by 20th Century Fox in 2008 and ‘What’s your Number’ produced by Contrafilms in 2011. 

Constantly striving to take her skills and vision to new creative applications, Janelle has recently served as choreographer and casting director of two flash mob performances for Media Direct Productions, in Boston and Las Vegas. When in season, Janelle works as company manager for Balletrox and currently coordinates the BalletRox dance programs in Boston Public Schools. She also teaches dance at Tony Williams Dance Center, Step by Step in Waltham MA, and Angel Dance Troupe in Watham MA.

In March 2012, Janelle went with BalletRox to Riga, Latvia to perform and teach the Urban Nutcracker to Dzirnas Dance Troup. 

In addition to her professional pursuits, Janelle is a champion for the local dance community, working tirelessly to elevate dance appreciation and support for the arts

Meet Against the Odds Artist, Audra Carabetta!

Audra Carabetta holds an MFA in dance from Smith College and a BFA in dance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She has been on faculty at Amherst College, Smith College, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Bridgewater State College, Holy Cross College, Ballet Arts Center of Winchester and Acton School of Ballet. Audra has performed with choreographers and companies such as: Lorraine Chapman The Company, Caitlin Corbett Dance Company, Brian Crabtree, Daniel McCusker, Marcus Schulkind, Weber Dance and the Ken Pierce Baroque Dance Company. Her dancing has taken her to places such as Holland, London, Canada and New York City. Choreographically, Audra has received attention via awards and grants, and her work has been presented at various venues, some of which include: Green Street Studios, The Dance Complex, The Dance Place of Newburyport, Bowdoin College, The College of the Holy Cross, Smith College, Tufts University, The American College Dance Festival, the Massachusetts Dance Festival, The Virginia Beach Performing Arts Center, The Massachusetts Dance Festival and The Hatch Performing Arts Series in New York City.

Meet Against the Odds Artist, Ryan Casey!

RYAN P. CASEY, the recipient of a Young Arts award from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, is currently an undergraduate student at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Inspired by Savion Glover’s appearances on Sesame Street, he began studying tap and jazz at the age of five at The Dance Inn in Lexington, Massachusetts. He spent seven seasons under the tutelage of Thelma Goldberg and Kelly Kaleta with the Legacy Dance Company, where he is now on faculty, and also served as Dance Captain of the New England Tap Ensemble, directed by Aaron Tolson. In addition to a burgeoning solo career, Ryan is a founding member of Michelle Dorrance’s company, “Dorrance Dance,” in NYC. You may have seen him on So You Think You Can Dance or read one of his articles for Dance Spirit. In 2011, he was a guest choreographer for Boston’s Urbanity Dance. Ryan is also a proud alumnus of The School at Jacob's Pillow. www.ryanpcasey.com

Against the Odds Moment of the Week

by Sarah Friswell

Monkeyhouse has been very busy preparing for Against the Odds. One thing that has kept us challenged and excited is working with large exercise balls. What do we do with them, you ask? Well, any number of things; rolling, flipping, balancing, carrying, bouncing.  It took me a while to get the ball to behave, but as you can see, we are now the best of friends!

Epoch Tales with Mariah Steele/Quicksilver Dance

by Nicole Sao Pedro-Welch

This was my first time working with Quicksilver Dance and it was such a great experience! It was challenging, interesting, and most of all, fun!

Mariah Steele, artistic director of Quicksliver Dance was granted a studio dance residency at the Boston Center For The Arts for the months of October and November of 2012. During this time she created a new work for the Showcase along with revisiting other works she created from past years.

I was fortunate enough to be involved in the creation of hernew work titled: "Epoch Tales."  This piece followed the development of life on earth, imagining how the world may have moved in different evolutionary epochs. 

With this concept in mind, Mariah started rehearsals with structured improvisations using specific animals for inspiration.  Myself and other dancers in the group including, Naoko Brown, Amy Caine, Wayne Ong, and Mariah Steele first studied animals by watching films of comb jelly, jellyfish, crabs, frogs/lizards/amphibians, spiders, and primates to then improvising dance movement from what we watched. Mariah filmed our improvisations for the first few weeks before setting the actual work.

This process was extremely interesting and challenging. It was hard at times to embody the different animals but having to take on these specific animals definitely brought forth unique movement. There were a few moments while watching videos of ourselves improvising we sometimes found it difficult to recreate what we had once did as if the dancers in the video were somebody else, which was funny!

One portion of the process that stood out to me most was that one of the dancers, named Naoko Brown had been injured prior to rehearsals and could not put any weight on her left leg for the entire process or show. Mariah could have chosen not to use her in the piece, but instead she created movement sequences and a solo for her that used her limitation beautifully!

I thoroughly enjoyed the learning and creation process of this piece because it was a collaborative effort and Mariah was extremely encouraging and supportive as well as organized and clear about what she wanted.

I am looking forward to performing this piece again at MIT in April of 2013.

Two Slightly Late (But Still Fabulous) Palindromes

by Nicole Harris

Barry shared these two palindromes with me in the middle of December.  Even though they are a bit late for their topics, I want to take a minute to share them with you.  I hope you enjoy!

On 12/21/12:

When I hear people talk about the upcoming Mayan apocalypse, my childhood flashes before my eyes. I'm not thinking that the end is near, I'm just remembering the regionally distinctive utterances of my South Jersey playmates: "Give me back that baseball. It's Mayan!"

Well, if the world does end on the 21st, two days before my 56th birthday, I'll always be a palindromic age, which isn't such a bad deal. After all, an apocalyptic event can't be reversed. Or can it?

THE LONG COUNT

Time: RIP. 

Oh, shall a man? 

It's '12, no? 

Evil, all. 

It's Mayan, huh? 

Nay, am still alive on 21st, in a mall. 

Ah, shop! 

I remit.

Copyright (c) 2012 by Barry Duncan

On Santa:

FOUR CLAUSAL VIEWS 

SANTA AS TRAVELER, VISITOR, EMPLOYER, AND LOVER

Oh. Oh. Oh, a hero (N, S, W, E) freed. 

I wonder: It's an eve. One. 

Nod, NORAD? A radar on. 

Done? No.

Even as tired now (I, deer), few snore. Ha! 

Ho ho ho!

Pace room, can I? 

Saw a T. Nast Santa. 

Was in a C. Moore cap.

Tense yet 

Safe boss. 

It's a Claus, 

Usual cast. 

Is so, be fast: 

Eyes net.

Harem? Missus. 

I tire. Her? 

It is us. Simmer. Ah.

Copyright (c) 2012 by Barry Duncan

Do You Know Aisha?

by Courtney Wagner 

  

2012 brought some new faces to Monkeyhouse joining us for musings and as guest artists, among them Aisha Cruse. Aisha is originally from Northport, Long Island but now resides in Cambridge.  She moved to Boston the day she graduated from Bennington College, and works at an accounting form and is an art model, while sometimes stage managing productions at local colleges and theaters.  As a French and Theater major she says she "generally finds [herself] involved in theater" while maintaining a link to dance, by taking as many classes as possible in college and now joining us for lots of musings and events this past year.  She says there are a lot of memorable Monkeyhouse moments from the last year but the one that sticks out is our group photo shoot at JK Photo's Photo Booth from Your Just Desserts.  Thanks Aisha! Here's to many more exciting events in this new year!