Renaissance Center adds dance classes, workshops to fall offerings

Release Date: 7/28/2005. Expired: 8/22/2005

The Renaissance Center is adding dance classes and workshops to its offerings this fall and bringing in instructors with Broadway and major dance company experience.

Tap, jazz, ballet, modern, creative and ballroom dance instruction will be offered in semester-long classes as well as one-day workshops in a brand new dance studio being installed at the center this summer.

“Dance instruction is the last piece of the puzzle to complete The Renaissance Center’s evolution into a true fine arts education center,” said Bob Kucher, senior director of Visual Arts and Theatre. “Our art, music and theatre departments have continued to grow and thrive through our first six years, but dance is something we have previously only been able to offer on a limited basis.”

The fall semester, which begins Aug. 22, will include 15-week classes in tap, jazz and creative dance as well as introductory classes in basic ballet, tap and creative dance. One-day workshops include ballroom dancing and master classes in ballet, jazz and hip-hop.

“Since the day we opened the doors we have received request after request for dance instruction,” said Pacer Harp, coordinator of the center’s dance program. “We are now launching a dance program that will rival anything in Middle Tennessee, with instructors from award-winning Broadway shows and dance companies in major cities across the country. Instruction levels will range from introductory and beginning classes to intermediate to master level.”

The semester dance classes will be taught by Brian J. Marcum and Marci Murphree.

Marcum has been in the original casts of four Broadway musicals while living and working in New York City over the last 11 years. His Broadway credits include roles in the Tony Award-winning 2001 revival of 42nd Street (for which he was assistant dance captain), The Boy From Oz (which earned a Best Actor in a Musical Tony for Hugh Jackman), Saturday Night Fever and The Gershwins’ Fascinating Rhythm (dance captain). He toured with national companies of State Fair (dance captain) and Annie Get Your Gun, and toured Brazil with a production of The Who’s Tommy (dance captain).

On opening night of The Boy From Oz, Marcum became part of a Broadway tradition when he was presented with the Gypsy Robe for the 2003-04 Broadway season. A tradition begun in the 1940s, the Gypsy Robe is presented to the chorus member with the most chorus credits on the opening night of each musical. The robe has been passed on from year to year and embellished with mementoes from each show. It is named the Gypsy Robe in honor of chorus members who are referred to as “gypsies.”

A native of Lexington, Tenn., Marcum and his wife Jennifer recently relocated to Nashville. He received a Bachelor of Performing Arts in Dance Performance from Oklahoma City University and has taught dance across the country.

Marcum will teach Intermediate/Advanced Tap and Jazz classes on Friday nights.

Murphree has been teaching dance since 1974. She holds teaching certification from the Chicago National Association of Dance Masters and the Southern Association of Dance Masters. Her experience includes instruction in ballet, modern, voice and theatre, including instruction at Teaching Artists, Wolf Trap Early Learning Institute and the Leonard Bernstein Center.

Since 1995, she has been the artistic director for LifeWork Productions, where she has produced nearly 100 shows each year in schools across Middle Tennessee. For the past 12 years she has been an instructor with the University School of Nashville and the Metro Parks Department’s dance program.

Murphree danced professionally with the acclaimed Tennessee Dance Theatre for 13 years and is a veteran teaching artist with ArtSmart, the Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s education program.

At The Renaissance Center, Murphree will teach Beginning Creative Dance, Level One and Level Two Dance (to include basic ballet, tap and creative dance) and Introduction to Dance, a class for girls ages 12-15 that helps develop posture, confidence, body acceptance and coordination, on Tuesdays.

Fall dance workshops will include a classical ballet master class with Thomas Shoemaker, contemporary master classes in jazz and hip hop with Sarah Pride Shoemaker and ballroom dancing with Davileen McNeely.

Thomas Shoemaker began studying dance at the age of 10. He studied under scholarship with the Boston Ballet and has danced with the companies of the Miami Ballet, Louisville Ballet and Robert Barnett’s Atlanta Ballet before spending the last five years as the ballet master and principal dance with the Augusta Ballet. His devotion and dance precision have inspired several major choreographers to create roles specifically for him.

He has performed as a guest artist and/or instructor for ballet companies in California, Alabama, Cleveland, Charleston and the Philippines.

Shoemaker will present a classical ballet master class on Saturday, Nov. 5, with sessions for intermediate and advanced dancers.

Sarah Pride-Shoemaker has studied jazz and hip-hop dance from some of the top jazz instructors in the country, including Wade Robson, Jermaine Brown and master jazz teacher Joe Lanteri. She has performed as principal dancer and soloist with the Charleston Ballet Theatre and performed with the Opus Dance Company and the Nashville Ballet.

She is currently the director of dance at Ensworth High School in Nashville.

Shoemaker-Pride will present contemporary master dance classes on Saturday, Nov. 19, with sessions in jazz and hip-hop.

The schedule also includes a Ballroom Dance workshop with Davileen McNeely on Saturday, Oct. 1.

The workshop is an introduction to four of the most versatile ballroom dances: Waltz, Rumba, Foxtrot and Swing.

“We are very thrilled to be able to bring in instructors with credentials like these,” Harp said. “We believe this will be something exciting for everyone interested in dance instruction and we hope that our dance offerings will continue to expand in future semesters.”

For more information on The Renaissance Center’s dance offerings this fall, contact Harp at (615) 740-5550 or .

Registration for the center’s fall semester is Aug. 8-19. To register for any of The Renaissance Center’s new dance offerings, as well as a full lineup of art, music and theatre classes, call (615)740-5533.

The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

Visit the Dance page for more about dance at The Renaissance Center.

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