Dancer and choreographer Darwin Prioleau, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Dance at the State University of New York at Brockport, will present a “Movement Lab for Teachers” from 1:30-3 p.m. April 16 in the Annelise Mertz Dance Studio in Mallinckrodt Student Center.
The movement lab will integrate teaching techniques based on the work of noted modern choreographer Lester Horton with a variety of body-friendly concepts. These range from the incorporation of breath and movement to ways Horton technique can be adopted to different body types and skill levels.
Prioleau trained at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Centre in New York and the International Center de Danse in Cannes, France. She has danced with numerous New York-based companies and was a soloist with The Nat Horne Company, Contemporary Dance Spectrum and Ed Kresley Dance Company, as well as a featured dancer in several off-Broadway musicals.
In addition to Ailey, she has worked with such major choreographers as Jimmy Truitte, Joyce Trisler and Matt Mattox.
Before joining SUNY, Prioleau was assistant dean of the College of Fine and Professional Arts at Kent State University.
Involved in arts education advocacy, she has presented papers on “Leadership of the Arts in Higher Education” at several national conferences and published articles in the Journal of Dance Education and Arts Education Policy Review. She has served on the board of trustees of the National Dance Education Organization, Northeast Ohio Dance Company, American Dance Guild and Ohio Dance.
Prioleau will be in residence in the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences’ Dance Program April 13-16. In addition to the movement lab, she will teach master’s classes in jazz dance and Horton-based modern technique.
Cost is $15 for teachers, $5 for students and free for members of the Missouri Dance Education Organization.
For more information, call 935-5858.