Rebecca Rice Dance

RECENT NEWS

August 2011 - Boston choreographer Rebecca Rice was recently chosen to be a "Cultural Envoy" by the United States State Department and will be traveling to Almaty, Kazakhstan in August to set a original piece of choreography on the Samruk Dance Company. This collaborative project was developed as a cultural partnership between the United States Embassy in Kazakhstan, the US State Department in Washington and the Ballet Russes Foundation in Boston. Rice will be not only developing new choreography for the company but will be working on cultural outreach in a number of schools and performing arts communities. In Almaty, she will be giving presentations and master classes to the dance students of the Choreography College and Arts Academy, as well as a talk at the American Corner, a group of USA Alumni and young professionals interested in dance and art.

REBECCA RICE, choreographer
Artistic Director REBECCA RICE DANCE
With a solid base in classical ballet and experience in many modern styles, Rebecca Rice's choreography contributes a unique blend of modernism and musicality. From the beginnings of her professional career when she co-founded and performed in Pittsburgh's Dance Alloy company, through her work with Bill Evans, Jose Limon, the Laban method, ballet and more, Rebecca Rice has been a sought-after and highly respected modern dance choreographer, teacher and performer. She has created numerous works on Boston Ballet II, her company, Rebecca Rice Dance, and organized Boston Ballet Company's first choreography workshops and performances, as well as created original choreography on the professional-track students at the Boston Ballet School and Summer Dance Programs for ten years. She performed her own dance work in France, Scotland and throughout the United States, receiving many awards and grants including a recent grant in 2007 from the MIT Office of the Arts. In August 2004, Rebecca's group was invited to perform at the Inside Out Series of the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and in May 2006 her group premiered in the “Bank of America Celebrity Series” a new work composed by John Harbison especially for Rebecca Rice Dance. In 2009 Rebecca Rice Dance was invited to perform with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pop's at Symphony Hall as part of the Ballet Russes Celebration. She has collaborated with other major artists as such as Martin Cooper, Vice-President Burberry's NYC and London (Altis Ballet), Grayson Hugh (Crosscurrents), Emmanuel Feldman (Terra Mystique), Elena Ruehr (Echoes), Andrew List (En Closures) and John Harbison (Stratas, Shortstories). Rebecca Rice Dance debuted in NYC in 2006 being the “editors picks” in both the Village Voice and the New York Times and recently presented her work at the the Merce Cunningham STudio Theater, premiering three works. Gus Solomans, Jr. of "GUS SOLOMANS SAYS" wrote" Rebecca Rice is "__one of Boston's esteemed dance makers" with "_solid choreographic craft". In August 2011, Rebecca Rice will be traveling to Kazakhstan as an"Cultural Envoy" invited by the United States State Department and the US Embassy. She will set new choreography on the contemporary dance company in Almaty and do cultural outreach with Anna Winestein and the Ballet Russes Foundation of Boston, MA.

ANN-MARIE COFIELD (dancer) is from Virginia Beach, Virginia, where she trained with Tomi Short and Lea Ponessa, Virginia Ballet Theatre, and the Virginia Governor's School for the Arts. She apprenticed with Virginia Ballet Theatre, performing prominent roles in productions such as Dracula and the Nutcracker. Ann-Marie then moved to Boston where she continued her training at Boston Ballet and Jose Mateo's Ballet Theatre, performed with Margot Parsons' DanceVisions and Rebecca Rice Dance, and graduated summa cum laude from Boston University. She has been a member of the company since 2003 and now lives in New York City.

ADRINA DEVITRE grew up in Cohasset, MA and has performed with Rebecca Rice since she was 12 years old.
She received her training at the Boston Ballet School on merit scholarship and continued on to dance professionally with the company. Adrina also performed two seasons with Dance Theatre of Harlem and Ballet Metropolitan. At 21 years old, she continued on with her academic career graduating this past spring with a bachelor's degree in French and Francophone studies from Columbia University. Currently, she pursues her D.M.D. at Tufts Dental School, with the hope that her dance career can flourish alongside her intended healthcare profession.

MARIAH STEELE (dancer) is currently, Mariah is pursuing a master's degree at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, concentrating in conflict resolution and non-profit management. Mariah Steele grew up dancing at the Steffi Nossen School of Dance in White Plains, NY. She graduated from Princeton University with a major in Anthropology and a minor in dance. She then went onto to perform in New York City in the companies of Beth Soll, James Martin and Kelley Donovan among others. Now living in Boston, she is a member of the Sokolow Now!, Anna Sokolow Archival Company and dances for Rebecca Rice Dance. Her choreography has been presented throughout the NY metropolitan area, including White Wave's John Ryan Theater, and all around Boston, including Green Street Studios Emerging Artist Program, the Massachusetts Dance Festival and the Boston Center for the Arts.

ULA GADEA (dancer)Ula Gadea received her early training from North Carolina School of the Arts and later earned a BFA from the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance- Since graduation, she has worked with numerous choreographers including Murray Spalding, Kathryn Alter and Riedel Dance Theater- She currently dances for Contrapose Dance Company and Rebecca Rice Dance in Boston.

CARRIE KERSTEIN (dancer) Carrie Kerstein is from Holliston, MA, where she trained in modern and classical ballet at the Dancing Arts Center. She graduated summa cum laude from The George Washington University, where she was a Presidential Arts Scholar in Dance, with a BA in Dance and Psychology. There, she studied with Dana Tai Soon Burgess, Maida Withers, and Tiffany Haughn, and was a founding member of Balance: the GW Ballet Group. She trained additionally at Middlesex University in London, and has attended summer programs at the Kirov Academy of Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Boston Conservatory, and the Ailey School. She currently works in the Psychology Department of Harvard University. In addition to performing with Rebecca Rice, Carrie is also a member of Urbanity Dance Project.

GUEST ARTISTS

NIC CEYNOWA was raised in Luverne, Minnesota. He moved to Minneapolis in 1998 to study at the University of Minnesota where he discovered dance, receiving a B.F.A. in Dance in 2003. While there he performed the works of Jerome Robbins, Carl Flink, Tere O’Connor, and Paul Taylor. In 2003 he moved to New York and began training at The Paul Taylor School. During his time in New York Nic has danced for the Amy Marshall Dance Company, Corbindances, Rebecca Rice Dance, and Janusphere. He became a member of Taylor 2 in January 2008.

IAN GROSH (dancer) is from Greencastle, Pa.; he joined the Milwaukee Ballet Company in 2003 and started dancing at age 12. He was a performer with the Boston Ballet and guests with Rebecca Rice Dance.

JACQUI GUIMOND s a dancer with Cirque du Soleil, "LOVE" in Las Vegas, Nevada. Guimond received her training with the Charlotte Klein Dance Centers in Worcester, MA and in 2001 was accepted by scholarship to the University of Arizona to study dance. In September of 2004, she covered the front of Dance Spirit Magazine with a feature article mentioning her intensive training with the Boston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Parsons Dance Company and regional conventions such as New York City Dance Alliance and Pacific Coast Dance Fest. In 2005, Guimond graduated with honors with her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and danced with the David Taylor Dance Theater in Denver for one year. She has toured professionally throughout the southwest and west coast with Fusion Dance. Guimond has performed works by Mia Michaels, George Balanchine, Paul Taylor, Sherry Zunker, James Canfield, Bella Lewitzky, and Tom Ruud and is performing now with Rebecca Rice Dance in Boston, MA. Jacqui was instrumental to the creation of Rebecca Rice's "Overtones", a modern/contemporary work which premiered at the Boston Ballet Summer Dance Program in 2003 to the music of John Adams "Shaker Loops".

BRAD SCHLAGHECK is from Orlando, Florida and began his dance training at the age of seven at The School Of Performing Arts in Maitland, FL, under the direction of Russell Sultzbach. In 2004, he was awarded the Pao Scholarship from the Boston Ballet School and began his training with Franco Devita. He also studied modern with Rebecca Rice and premiered her choreography of "Echoes" in 2004. Bradley joined Boston Ballet II in 2005 under the direction of Raymond Lukens, and began performing extensively with the company. This is Bradley’s third season as a member of the Corps de Ballet. Some of his repertory with the company includes: Jorma Elo’s World Premiere “Brake The Eyes”, George Balanchine’s “Jewels”, James Kudelka’s “Cinderella” (Prince’s Officer), George Balanchine’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Divertissement), Jiri Kylian’s “Petit Mort” and “No More Play”, and Twyla Tharp’s “In The Upper Room” (Stomper).

JOSHUA SCHULTEIS (dancer) is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory with a BFA in Dance Performance. He has had the opportunity to perform works by Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, Jose Limon, and work with today's leading choreographers. Josh would like to thank his family and friends for their love and support, especially his mom.

LUKE WILEY was born in Missoula, Montana, grew up in the Western U.S., the Caribbean and Florida, and is a 2005 graduate of the Juilliard School. He has performed with Misnomer Dance Theatre, The Equus Projects, Dixie Fun Dance Theatre, Good Rid/Dance Performances, Mary Alice Dances, Christopher Williams,Trajal Harell, Rebecca Rice, and in Noemie Lafrance’s site- specific work ‘Agora’. He has choreographed and collaborated on numerous works with composer Malina Rauschenfels, pianist Melody Fader and organist Cameron Carpenter. He is currently working with filmmaker Christopher Atamian on two dance films. Luke Wiley danced with The Equus Projects from 2005-early 2007.

SARA KNIGHT (lead dancer) iSara Knight is a principal dancer, choreographer, master teacher and founder and artistic director of SLKBallet and Greenwich Ballet Academy. She is a graduate of England's Royal Ballet School and the school’s Teachers' Training Course under the direction of Valerie Adams as well as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Dance. She is a recipient of the Royal Ballet Special Award for Excellence, personally awarded by Dame Ninette de Valois, founder of the Royal Ballet. Sara was the first British graduate of Russia's Vaganova (Kirov) Ballet Academy. She is also qualified in Benesh Notation. Previous experience includes being a member of the Eifman Ballet Theatre, and Soloist with both the Leningrad State Ballet Theatre and The Russian Ballet of St. Petersburg. In the West, Knight has danced with England's Northern Ballet Theatre and was Principal Dancer with European Ballet of London and Configuration Dance USA. She has been with the Rebecca Rice Dance Company since 2001.

JANINE RONAYNE (dancer) grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts. She trained at the Boston Ballet School as a scholarship student until June 2004 and began her modern training with Rebecca Rice at the age of 10. Janine performed with the company in such roles as Clara in The Nutcracker, and Cupid in Don Quixote. Janine was a corps de ballet member with the Sarasota Ballet of Florida for two seasons. She performed such roles as Porcelain Doll in La Boutique Fantasque and Cygnet in Swan Lake. Janine just graduated from Northeastern University with her Bachelor of Science in Health Science. In August she will begin her education as a Physician Assistant at Northeastern University. She is a certified Pilates, Aerobics, and Yoga instructor who teaches in and around the Boston.

JESSIE STINNETT (dancer)

graduated from The Boston Conservatory in 2009. She had previously attended Berklee College of Music as a vocal major and The University of Hartford where she majored in dance while pursuing a double academic minor. As a student, Jessie performed works by Martha Graham, Alwin Nikolais, Sean Curran, and Tommy Neblett. Upon graduating she moved to Paris, France where she danced for the Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Chile, Gigi Caciuleanu and Ruxandra Racovitza. In the summer of 2010 she acted as the International Liason for Kazuko Hirabayashi’s Dance New York International where she worked with Wilfried Romoli, former star of The Paris Opera, and Koji Minato of The Cunningham Company. She then joined Dansgroep Amsterdam, home to choreographers Krisztina de Chatel and Itzik Galili for one season. Since returning to the US Jessie has had the pleasure of working with Marjorie Folkman, formerly of the Mark Morris Dance Co. as a part of the Boston Baroque's production of Les Indes Galantes at NE Conservatory's Jordan Hall to be presented in May 2011.

ARIANE GEORG (dancer) is from Richmond, Virginia. She began her training in Herndon, VA with Cynthia Rudorfer, before joining Boston Ballet School under the instruction of Tatyana Legat and modern with Rebecca Rice. She was then accepted into Boston Ballet II where she performed with the company and had the privilege of working with choreographers such as Christopher Wheeldon and Stanton Welch. She is currently at the Medical College of Virginia pursuing a degree in Radiation Sciences and performing with Rebecca Rice Dance.
Currently, Mariah is pursuing a master's degree at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, concentrating in conflict resolution and non-profit management. Mariah Steele grew up dancing at the Steffi Nossen School of Dance in White Plains, NY. She graduated from Princeton University with a major in Anthropology and a minor in dance. She then went onto to perform in New York City in the companies of Beth Soll, James Martin and Kelley Donovan among others. Now living in Boston, she is a member of the Sokolow Now!, Anna Sokolow Archival Company and dances for Rebecca Rice Dance. Her choreography has been presented throughout the NY metropolitan area, including White Wave's John Ryan Theater, and all around Boston, including Green Street Studios Emerging Artist Program, the Massachusetts Dance Festival and the Boston Center for the Arts.

COMPOSERS

John Harbison
Christos Koulendrous
Demetrius Spaneas
Martin Case
Andrew List
Emmanuel Feldman

COSTUME DESIGNER Amanda Mujica
Amanda Mujica (Costume Design) has been designing and constructing costumes in Greater Boston for more than ten years. She most recently designed Theatre Offensive's Surviving the Nian and SpeakEasy Stage’s productions of Elegies and Anna in the Tropics. She has worked for the American Repertory Theatre, North Shore Music Theatre, MIT, and PetBrick Productions. Her costumes have been seen at First Night, in independent films and (barely) covering local skaters and dancers. Amanda has studied at Rhode Island School of Design, Mass. College of Art and the School of Fashion Design, and is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon. For this production, she was inspired by a quote from one of Ballet Russes’ preeminent costume designers, Bakst, who described his designs as having "moving sculptural unity." Amanda believes there is, at once, a vibrancy and simplicity to many of the early Ballet Russes' designs, especially in how the sets were integrated into the costumes; it was a real joy to incorporate the beautiful Symphony Hall colors into this design work. Amanda is also inspired by her daughter, Allegra Frances, and husband, Kim.

COMPANY DESIGNER Ashley Flanagan
Ashley Pierce Flanagan received her B.F.A with honors in Communications Design from Syracuse University where she received both an Art Directors Award and an Outstanding Senior Award. She received art scholarships to attend Pont Aven School of Art (RISD) in Pont Aven France and the Skidmore College Gifted and Talented program in the USA, where she focused on oil painting. Her work experience includes working for three years as a designer for Catapult Strategic Design in Phoenix, Arizona, where she worked with clients such as MGM Mirage in Las Vegas and Shamrock Farms in Phoenix, where her work received an award from the American Dairy Association. While in Phoenix she also worked as a free-lance designer with Campbell Fisher Design. Now in Burlington Vermont, Ashley worked as an Art Director for Kelliher Samets Volk Advertising and is now employed as a Senior Designer with SELECT DESIGN, Inc.; working with clients ranging from PepsiCola, Whole Foods, and the U.S. Ski team. Originally from Acton, Massachusetts, Ashley has thrived in the arts ever since she was two. With a diverse background in graphic design, piano, painting, photography, and the performing arts, she has dedicated her career to pursuing and maintaining the highest level of inspiration and creativity in her life. Her free-lance business is called INDUSTRY SIX ( www.industrysix.com).

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
With a solid base in classical ballet and experience in many modern styles, Rebecca Rice's choreography contributes a unique blend of modernism and musicality. From the beginnings of her professional career when she co-founded and performed in Pittsburgh's influential Dance Alloy company, through her work with Bill Evans, Jose Limon, the Laban method, ballet and more, Rebecca Rice has been a sought-after and highly respected modern dance choreographer, teacher and performer. She has created numerous works on Boston Ballet II, her company, Rebecca Rice Dance, and organized Boston Ballet Company's first choreography workshops and performances, as well as created original choreography on the professional-track students at the Boston Ballet School and Summer Dance Programs for ten years. She performed her own dance work in France and throughout the United States, receiving many awards and grants including a recent grant in 2007 from the MIT Office of the Arts. In August 2004, Rebecca's group was invited to perform at the Inside Out Series of the internationally re-owned Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and in May 2006 her group premiered in the “Bank of America Celebrity Series” a new work composed by John Harbison especially for Rebecca Rice Dance. In 2009 Rebecca Rice Dance was invited to perform with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pop's at Symphony Hall as part of the Ballet Russes Celebration. She has collaborated with other major artists as such as Martin Cooper, Vice-President Burberry's NYC and London (Altis Ballet), Grayson Hugh (Crosscurrents), Emmanuel Feldman (Terra Mystique), Elena Ruehr (Echoes), Andrew List (En Closures) and John Harbison (Stratas, Shortstories). Rebecca Rice Dance debuted in NYC in 2006 being the “editors picks” in both the Village Voice and the New York Times. Rebecca Rice taught at the Winsor School, MIT and the Moving Arts Studio in Harvard and was the 2007 Artist-in-Residence at Green Street Studios in Cambridge. In August 2011, Rebecca Rice will be traveling to Kazakhstan as an"Cultural Envoy" invited by the United States State Department and the US Embassy. She will set new choreography on the contemporary dance company in Almaty and do cultural outreach with Anna Winestein and the Ballet Russes Foundation of Boston, MA.