All State Dance Ensemble
This year the All State Dance Ensemble will be done virtually and include the creation of a screen dance film in Southern Utah. Rehearsals will be virtual on Saturdays. Dancers will be put into multi-school groups combining dancers from several schools in the same region. Our choreographer, Brooklyn Draper (see more below) is currently working on the rehearsal schedule.
The screendance will be filmed on the days previously set for the All-State event. Rather than rehearsing together Brooklyn and the videographer will be working with dancers to capture the choreographer for the screen.
This is a great opportunity for students to continue to dance, create, perform, and make connections with professional artists and their peers from across the state. We are excited to have Brooklyn and a videographer partnering with UDEO this year in support of our secondary school dance artists.
How does it work?
Dance Company directors will hold a small audition from their dance company seniors using footage of a phrase provided by the choreographer. From there, they will choose between 5-10 dancers (depending on the size of your dance company, it can be less than 5), to attend rehearsals for the All-State Dance Ensemble.
Please try to send the National Honor Society for Dance Arts members or at least those who will have their NHSDA points within the academic year.
What does it cost?
Dancers will need to pay $60 to attend and their director will register them through the UDEO website. It will be a similar process to registering and paying for Utah High School Dance Festival.
When/Where/What is the schedule?
Rehearsals
Rehearsal pods of a few schools (depending on location and number) will meet in-person for 2-3 Saturdays for rehearsal. Dancers must come prepared having learned the choreography given by the choreographer beforehand.
Filming
Northern Utah Schools November 19-20 (Location TBA), Southern Utah Schools November 21 (Location TBA)
Screening
The digital performance will be made available, more details to come.
Our 2020 Choreographer Brooklyn Draper
Brooklyn Draper is a performer, choreographer, educator, and researcher currently residing in Missoula, MT. She received her MFA from the University of Utah in 2019. In 2012 she received a Post-Graduate degree from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance in London, UK and in 2011 she received her BA with a minor in Anthropology. Brooklyn has had the honor to perform In the U.S., China, and the UK and to work with over 20 choreographers including Hagit Yakira, Gary Lambert, Eric Handman, Pamela Geber Handman, and most recently Anouk van Dijk. Companies that Brooklyn has performed with include Wasatch Contemporary Dance Company, Co.da, Porridge for Goldilocks, Triptych Figures, and various project-based works.
Brooklyn’s choreographic work has been shown nationally and internationally through Mudson, WCDC, Artist Interrupted, Beijing Dance Academy (China), Bonnie Bird Theater (U.K.), Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center (UT), Flatlands Dance Theater (TX), Utah Metropolitan Ballet, Utah Valley University, and University of Montana. Her most recent works “All Thorns and No Flowers" and "Void and Withered" premiered in Missoula, Montana Fall 2019. In November of 2018, "The Wallflowers" premiered at the Hayes-Christensen Theater (UT). "The Wallflowers" was recently chosen to be shown at the ACDA Northwest Conference in 2019.
Brooklyn was co-director and founder of Salt Lake City-based dance company, Triptych Figures, from 2014-2016, where she regularly choreographed, performed, and taught workshops for the company. Triptych Figures was dedicated to collaboration and activism within the Salt Lake Community. She also co-directed Speakers’ Corner SLC 2015-2017, to provide a space dedicated to the dialogue of the present by bringing citizens, politicians, scientists, activists, and artists together to work on solutions.
While attending the University of Utah, Brooklyn received a Certification as a Laban Movement Analyst through the Integrated Studies program under the mentorship of Peggy Hackney and Janice Meaden. Brooklyn’s most recent research was a study under the mentorship of Tom Welsh, to determine the percentage of modern dance majors who have detectable Leg Length Discrepancies and correlations of self-reported orthopedic complications. Brooklyn was also the recipient of the Sally Fitt Award Spring 2018 from the University of Utah and was also awarded the prestigious University Teaching Assistantship to design and teach her own course, "Collision Theory: The Essence of Collaboration" for Spring 2019. Brooklyn is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor in the School of Theatre & Dance at the University of Montana.
