Mannakin Theater and Dance launches a Young Dancer program in March of 2019. Geared for students ages 4-6, students learn basic ballet steps in a fun atmosphere. Games and creative movement help them explore the exciting world of dance and make new and lasting friends.
The first day of class brought two completely new students to the school, and gave a home to Lupe (below) whose two older sisters also study with En Avant Dance. Her love of dance is easy to see:
L’Anniversaire, a staple of Mannakin Theater and Dance repertoire, was choreographed by Douglas Nielsen after a Chagall painting of the same name. In order to commemorate his 35th birthday, Doug fashioned 35 unique lifts that, if caught in mid-air, seem to form a collection of companion slides to the airborne figures in Chagall’s work. This piece requires strong partnering technique from both dancers as well as the comic theatricality Mannakin Theater and Dance employs in many of its productions.
Mannakin Theater and Dance is excited to announce Traci Finch as Assistant Director. Traci performed in the 2018 productions of The Nushell! in both San Francisco and Salt Lake City, as well as the October Performance and Fundraiser. Traci has danced for The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Les Grands Ballet Canadiens, New Chamber Ballet, and CelloPointe. Recent projects have included dancing Merce Cunningham’s Cross Currents, Inventions, Locale, and Fractions and in Marco Pelle’s T+I at Lake Tahoe Dance Festival. Originally from Utah, Traci graduated from Brigham Young University with a BA in Dance.
Traci has taught in schools in NYC including The School at Steps on Broadway, Long Island City School of Ballet, and Breaking Ground Dance Center. She is a resident teacher at Lake Tahoe Youth Ballet, and a guest teacher in Utah, Connecticut, and Montana.
Traci has presented her choreography in NYC at The Secret Theater and at LeFrak Concert Hall in Queens and at South Oxford Space in Brooklyn with Artists by Any Other Name. She also received a choreographic residency in 2016 with Marie Chouinard Dance in Montreal, QC and looks forward to choreographing for Mannakin Theater and Dance.
