Art Chowder January | February, Issue 25 | Page 38

Mark Morris Dance Group
Scenes from “Grand Duo,” which will be presented at the ACDA Conference.
photo: Nan Melville Photography
H
e founded the group in New York
in 1980, which has been described by
the New York Times as, “...the most
transportingly natural performers in the
world. They feel like your friends, or
indeed, like aspects of yourself. As you
watch them, a part of you dances, too.”
Known for “live music and community
engagement,” the Mark Morris Dance
Group has toured with its own Music
Ensemble since 1996.
David Leventhal, a founding teacher
and program director of Dance for
PD ® , joins Morris as guest artist.
The Mark Morris Dance Group
initiated the Dance for PD ® program
in 2001 to offer specialized dance
classes throughout New York City to
people with Parkinson’s disease, their
families, friends, and care partners.
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ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
Leventhal,who previously performed
as a dancer with the Mark Morris
Dance Group (1997-2010), has trained
over 1500 teachers around the world
in pedagogy developed specifically
to improve motor skills, balance, and
coordination for those affected with
Parkinson’s. The program now fosters
classes in over 300 communities in 25
countries.
Likewise, Dance for PD ® has been a
catalyst for some of Gonzaga’s most
important community dance outreach
programs. In fact, there is a large trend
for dance companies to partner with
nonprofit public service organizations.
For that reason, it seems logical that
“Dance as Service” was chosen as the
operating theme of ACDA’s regional
conference this year.
“With our theme, we want
to look at all the ways
dance can serve: ideas,
stories, themes, other fields,
and the greater good,” says
Ostersmith. She developed Gonzaga’s
major dance outreach programs:
ZagDance, which provides free
after school dance classes to local
fifth graders, partnering with four
different low-income elementary
schools every year, and Dance for
Parkinson’s, which partners with the
Northwest Parkinson’s Foundation
and makes classes available to the
community every Saturday during
the academic year. Both programs
support concentrations in pedagogy,
and participating faculty and dance
students train in methods developed by
the Mark Morris Dance Group.