Every Body Dance Now! Community Dance Event
Saturday, August 28
1:00-4:00pm
Don’t miss this afternoon of dance inside and out at 33 Hawley! Our FREE community dance event will feature resident company Lisa Leizman Dance Company, along with Center favorites Hayley Spizz (Shake Your Soul), Sherine Khatoun (Bellydance), Sharon MacDonald (Ballet), NCFA Youth Dance alums, and Been Around, Still Around! Join us for performances and mini-classes throughout the building and outdoor areas from 1-4pm!
This event is made possible by a generous gift to NCFA in honor of Kathy Goos, for her 70th birthday.
Schedule and other information:
Sample classes and performances listed below are 15-20 minutes long each to allow for transition time to other spaces, and are being held at the Front of the building and in the Courtyard on the side of the building. (Exception: Sharon MacDonald’s ballet class will be offered for an hour and a half as usual; students are welcome to take the entire class, and audience members may come in and out quietly to watch.) Bathrooms will be available throughout the afternoon. Masks are required inside the building, and strongly encouraged outside when distancing is not possible.
1:00
Shake Your Soul Sampler with Hayley Spizz, Courtyard
Warm-up for the day with Kelly Silliman and NCFA Youth Dance Alums, Front of 33 Hawley
Int./Adv. Adult Ballet with Sharon MacDonald, Carole’s Dance Studio (inside)
1:30
Shake Your Soul Sampler with Hayley Spizz, in the Courtyard
Warm-up for the day with Kelly Silliman and NCFA Youth Dance Alums, Front of 33 Hawley
Int./Adv. Adult Ballet with Sharon MacDonald, Carole’s Dance Studio (inside)
2:00
Bellydance Demo Class with Sherine, Courtyard
Int./Adv. Adult Ballet with Sharon MacDonald, Carole’s Dance Studio (inside)
2:30
Bellydance Demo Class with Sherine, Courtyard
Lisa Leizman Dance Company Performance, Front of 33 Hawley
3:00
Let’s Move! Sample Class with Kelly Silliman and NCFA Dance Alums, Courtyard
Lisa Leizman Dance Company Performance, Front of 33 Hawley
3:30
Been Around, Still Around Performance, Courtyard
Lisa Leizman Dance Company Performance, Front of 33 Hawley
About the participants:
Shake Your Soul Sampler with Hayley Spizz
Shake Your Soul is a fluid and fun movement practice! This mini-session is an opportunity to experience the joy of dance, release tension, nurture your body and soul, and play. All ages, levels of movement/dance experience, and fitness welcome.
Bellydance with Sherine
Join Sherine for a class demo of Egyptian inspired Raqs Sharqi, commonly known in the U.S. as Bellydance, an improvisational social and theatrical dance form rooted in North Africa and the Middle East. We will also get stomping to the highly energetic Lebanese/Levantine folk dance called Dabke. Hip scarves and silk veils are available to borrow. Swing by to be introduced to foundational shimmies, twists, waves, figure 8’s and hip drops! (All ages and genders are welcome to participate.)
Been Around, Still Around
Been Around, Still Around is a group of dancers, mostly in their 60-80’s, (and all over 50), that take the Friday Community Class taught by Susan Waltner. Any student in the class who is interested in performing, can come to rehearsals before or after class. The group has done mostly unannounced pop up dance flash mobs in parks, parking lots, farmers markets, malls, at birthday celebrations, and occasionally on a real stage. Mourning 1 is the first choreographed dance to emerge from the group, and a second, Mourning 2, is in progress.
Let’s Move! Sample Class
Let’s Move! is NCFA’s youth dance class, offering fundamental dance training in a welcoming, highly creative environment. Young dancers are introduced to common dance class vocabulary and movement, as well as alignment and strength that will serve them in future dance and movement activities. All of this happens through fun, upbeat dances, improvisation and games, and student choreography! Come join Kelly Silliman and longtime NCFA dance students for this fun sample class!
Lisa Leizman Dance Company (NCFA’s resident company)
Truth: A brand-new piece, Truth was choreographed in early 2021 and rehearsed in the Zoom Studio. The music, composed by Kamasi Washington (from Harmony of Difference), is arranged and performed on piano by company musical director Elizabeth Haymaker.
the secret that bamboo guards: With music by company composer-in-residence Andrea Kwapien and performed by Kwapien on percussion and Elizabeth Haymaker on piano, the secret that bamboo guards was first presented in 2007. Kathy Goos was a member of the original cast!
Int/Adv Ballet Open Class with Sharon MacDonald — 1-2:30pm
An adult mixed-level ballet class for experienced dancers ages 16 and up (students may take the class in full or stop in to watch part of the class—$20 fee to take class, observers welcome for free)
Founder/Director of the American Dance Institute and Co-Founder of Northampton’s Northeast American School of Dance, MacDonald has had an extensive career as a performer, teacher, choreographer, and arts administrator. She holds a B.A. from Skidmore College and a M.A. in Theatre from Smith College. She was Administrator and a faculty member of Hartford Ballet in Connecticut and also has served on the faculties of Smith College, Williams College, Trinity College, Springfield College and Hartford Conservatory. She has had a life-long association with Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival as a scholarship student, performer, faculty and staff member and member of the Board of Directors. Her choreography has been showcased in venues throughout the Northeast.