PAST EVENT - Ballet Master Class with Michael Lowe
Michael Lowe
Born in Oakland and raised in Alameda, Michael Lowe was encouraged at an early age to explore the joy and discipline of classical ballet to augment his coordination and strength in athletics. With his first dance lesson, his love for music found a counterpart with his natural agility, leading to a career path. Michael joined the Oakland Ballet in 1974 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 1976 with his debut as Alias in Billy the Kid. A scholarship student at Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York City, Lowe also performed with Pacific Ballet Company, Gilbert Reed Ballet Company, Los Angeles Chamber Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, North Dakota Ballet and the Old Souls New Shoes Dance Company under Mark Morris. Michael worked with such legendary choreographers as Agnes de Mille, John Butler, Leonide Massine, Frederic Franklin, Anna Sokolow, Betsy Erickson, Willem Christensen and Ronn Guidi. In 1989, he recreated the role of Beau Gosse for Oakland Ballet’s historical reconstruction of Bronislava
Nijinska’s Le Train Bleu.
During and after his performing career, Lowe revealed himself to be a gifted choreographer. He created a number of striking ballets for Oakland Ballet including Table for Two, Witness, The Emperor and the Nightingale, Dim Sum, Double Happiness, and Bamboo, for which he received an Isadora Duncan Award for Best Choreography. Most recently, Mr. Lowe was invited to choreograph a world premiere for Oakland Ballet’s 50th Anniversary celebration. In addition to his choreographic accomplishments, Michael has assumed artistic leadership positions with ballet companies including Oakland Ballet, Peninsula Ballet, Black Diamond Ballet, and he served as Resident Choreographer for
Moving Arts Dance.
As Founding Artistic Director of Menlowe Ballet, Mr. Lowe has given his own company a number of beautiful works to perform including Plague, Chuntian, Cirque, Serei, Surfside, Tribute, Transcendence, Legend of the Seven Suns, Playing Love, After Hours, Facets, The Lady with the Lamp and Kimono Wednesdays, as well as the company’s first full length ballet, It’s a Wonderful Nutcracker.
Photographer: Eric Raeber
Saturday, November 9, 2019 1:00pm-2:30pm
This class is sponsored by Zohar Dance Company in conjunction with:
Master Class is $10 - Tickets available on Eventbrite
Registration/Waiver of Liability Form must be completed before class.
PAST EVENT - Jazz Master Class with Reginald Ray-Savage
Reginald Ray-Savage
Reginald Ray-Savage began dancing at Katherine Dunham's Performing Arts Training Center in East St. Louis, IL, where he studied ballet, tap, jazz, and Dunham technique, with such outstanding Dunham company alumni as Norman Davis, Lenwood Morris, and his mentor Archie Savage. His training with these legendary dancers has informed his teaching style and choreography. Mr. Savage began his professional dance career with the Katherine Dunham Dance Company. He moved to Chicago where he danced in several companies including Joel Hall Dance Company, Ruth Page Ballet Chicago, and Lyric Opera, as well as touring productions of "Music Man" and "A Chorus Line". Mr. Savage came to California and began teaching in the Bay Area in 1989. He founded Savage Jazz Dance Company (SJDC) in 1992, and joined Oakland School for the Arts faculty as Chair of The School of Dance in 2003. Since SJDC’s founding, Mr. Savage has produced more than 100 new worksdriven by his vision and realized by the commitment of his dancers. SJDC’s movement style embodies disciplined, technical dance training, rooted in ballet and modern techniques, the willingness to give into the rich artistic expression of music, in all forms, and, last but not least, ENERGY. And it is these same principles that inform Mr. Savage’s teaching style and daily practice. Students of Mr. Savage have gone on to dance professionally with major companies including Martha Graham Dance Company, Mark Morris Dance Group, Garth Fagan Dance, Philadanco, Dallas Black Dance Company, Oakland Ballet and dance companies in Europe and South America, as well as been accepted to The School of American Ballet, The Paris Opera Ballet School, The Ailey School, and many other dance schools, programs, and Summer Intensives throughout the country.
Mr. Savage brings to his teaching and choreography a wealth of training and professional performing experience in a variety of dance styles and techniques, including but not limited to: Ballet, Dunham, Contemporary, and Musical Theater. He does not take lightly the fact that his was the last generation of dancers to be trained by many of the "old school" teachers whom he feels eternally grateful and fortunate to have learned from and studied under. His respect for them can be found today in every class he teaches and every piece of his choreography.
Fee
$10 class fee
After purchase, you will receive a code for a $10 discount on your ticket for Zohar Performance Series 4: The Summer Festival at 8:00pm in our Studio Theater!
PAST EVENT - Saturday, May 18 - Musical Theater Workshop
Vivian Sam
Frances Devlin
Lauren Mayer
Vivian studied with Hama (Luigi’s protege) in Los Angeles and was his assistant for 5 years. After dancing professionally in Los Angeles, Vivian moved to the Bay Area and started teaching at Zohar. She left to perform on Broadway in Miss Saigon and continued onto the 2nd National Broadway tour as the Dance Captain/Swing/understudy for Gig
Vivian studied with Hama (Luigi’s protege) in Los Angeles and was his assistant for 5 years. After dancing professionally in Los Angeles, Vivian moved to the Bay Area and started teaching at Zohar. She left to perform on Broadway in Miss Saigon and continued onto the 2nd National Broadway tour as the Dance Captain/Swing/understudy for Gigi and Ellen. She currently teaches at Zohar & at The American Conservatory Theater in dance and musical theater. She has performed & choreographed throughout the Bay Area (TheatreWorks, Woodminster, AMTSJ, ACT).
Lauren Mayer
Frances Devlin
Lauren Mayer
Lauren Mayer is a music director, arranger, performer, and vocal coach who is a summa cum laude graduate of Yale and teaches musical theatre at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She has worked with many theaters in the area, including Theatreworks, 42nd Street Moon, Woodminster, Broadway By The Bay, and numerous schools and educational programs.
Frances Devlin
Frances Devlin
Frances Devlin
Frances Epsen-Devlin has been teaching Singing, Musical Theater, Acting and Voice & Speech while directing the Spring Cabarets at American Conservatory Theater since 1997. Frances has toured nationally and performed regionally in musicals and plays with A.C.T., Pasadena Playhouse, Houston Grand Opera, and more. Frances holds a B.S. in The
Frances Epsen-Devlin has been teaching Singing, Musical Theater, Acting and Voice & Speech while directing the Spring Cabarets at American Conservatory Theater since 1997. Frances has toured nationally and performed regionally in musicals and plays with A.C.T., Pasadena Playhouse, Houston Grand Opera, and more. Frances holds a B.S. in Theater/Vocal Performance from Northwestern University and an MFA in Acting from A.C.T.
PAST EVENT - Gaga Workshop with Batsheva Dance Company
Gaga Workshop for All Levels
Batsheva Dance Company is performing at Stanford University on Tuesday, March 12. They will be presenting a FREE Gaga Workshop taught by a company dancer at Zohar. This is open to all levels. Space is limited. Reservations can be made on Eventbrite.
Please note the following:
No observing
No video
No photography
No late arrival (you will be turned away)
Sunday, March 10 6:30pm-7:30pm
The class is FREE. But we need you to sign up because the class size is limited. :)
Stanford Live Presents Batsheva Dance Company
Venezuela
In Venezuela, renowned choreographer Ohad Naharin and his dancers explore the dialogue and conflict between movement and content through two 40-minute sections performed back-to-back. Don't miss your chance to experience one of the foremost contemporary dance companies in the world for one night only.
Tue, Mar 12 at 7:30PM
Memorial Auditorium
PAST EVENT - Mexican Folklorico Master Class with Erik Diaz
Saturday, March 9 at 1:00-2:30pm
This class is in conjunction with:
Dance Around the World
Master Class is $10
Includes a discount code for $10 off one (1) general admission ticket for the evening performance: Zohar Performance Series: 3 Dance Around the World
Registration/Waiver of Liability Form must be completed before class.
The Zohar Performance Series and this class are made possible with the support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Erik Diaz
Zohar Performances is delighted to bring Maestro and Artistic Director of Ballet Folklorico Nube de Oro, Erik Diaz to teach his dynamic and popular Mexican Folklorico class to our Palo Alto Studio. If you have ever wanted a chance to try out a new form of dance, this is a wonderful opportunity.
All levels of dancers are welcome!
All students who sign up for the class will receive a discount code of $10 for our Dance Around the World 8pm evening performance.
About the Instructor:
Erik Noel Diaz was born in Zacatecas, Mexico, where his love for Mexican folklore began as a child. He began training in Mexican folk dance at an early age with a local group, Ballet Folklórico de Zacatecas. Following, he trained with the prestigious Folklorico dance groups Compañía Estatal de Danza Folclórica Zacatecas (under the direction of Maestro Cesar Lara) and Ballet Folclórico Nacional de México Aztlán (under the direction of Silvia Lozano) in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Erik feels this training opened his eyes towards diversity, and the learning of techniques in Folklórico and other dance forms.
Erik moved to California and began his field as an instructor and choreographed for companies and local groups, which include Ballet Folklórico Anáuac, Modesto; Folklorico Aztlan de Sacramento, Sacramento; Ballet Folklórico Netzahualcoyotl, San Rafael; Ballet Folklorico Las Estrellas, Hayward; and Grandeza Mexicana Folk Ballet Company, Los Angeles. In 2011, he visited Mexico and choreographed pieces for Ballet Folklórico Nawezari and El Estado de Zacatecas, and was honored to serve as a judge for the Colegio de Bachilleres contest in Mexico.
He has had the honor of training with top directors and choreographers, such as Jose Vences, Director of Grandeza Mexicana Folk Ballet Company; Zenón Barrón, Director of Instituto Mazatlán de Bellas Artes and Ensambles Ballet Folkórico de San Francisco; César Lara Bañuelos, Director of Compañía Estatal de Danza Folclórica Zacatecas; César Alejandro Orta, Director of Ballet Folklórico Nawezari, Chihuahua, Mexico.
He choreographed dance pieces in 2011 and 2013 for one of the most prestigious festivals in the U.S.-- the San Fransisco Ethnic Dance Festival-- taking the dance troupes onto the stages of San Francisco. He has attended many Danzantes Unidos Festivals, both as a student and as an instructor. In 2014, he began instructing for Danzantes del Alma, UC Davis. In 2015, he began instructing Ballet Folklórico Nube de Oro and choreographed and directed the piece "Una Noche en Chihuahua," which bestowed Nube de Oro with an invitation to perform at the Palace of Fine Arts for the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival in June 2016. Erik accepted to become the Artistic Director of Ballet Folklorico Nube de Oro in 2017.
His passion for and background in Folkórico has earned him recognition and an appreciation by those with whom he works.
For more information visit: https://www.bfndo.com
Luigi Style Master Class with Joey Doucette
Joey is back!
Learn the Luigi Technique
A Special Master Class with Joey Doucette
Saturday, April 19
11:15am-1:15pm
Cost: $30
This class is open to all levels
This is a rare opportunity to experience the pure Luigi Technique from a master teacher! You don't have to fly to New York to take class!
Get a deeper understanding of the Luigi technique.
This is the technique that influenced Daynee's husband and Zohar's co-founder, Ehud Krauss's, technique. And what Vivian's jazz mentor, Hama, teaches.
Joey Doucette
Joey is the founder of the Jazz Dance Legacy LLC. Joey taught at the Luigi jazz centre in NYC. Luigi was a friend and mentor to Joey. His conviction to keeping the Jazz techniques of our founders pure is why he is so driven. Taught by Luigi, Joey continues to keep his Legacy alive.
Joey has trained with the world-famous Luigi of New York City, at Luigi’s Jazz Centre. Joey is currently the program creator for the new innovation of Luigi’s Jazz technique, Jazz Dance Legacy. Joey has created the Luigi jazz technique teacher certification program launched in July 2019. Joey also was on full scholarship at Joffrey Ballet in New York City. Mr. Doucette has taught and choreographed throughout the USA, Mexico, Europe, Italy, France, Romania, Latvia, Ukraine, Korea, Portugal, and more. Joey has been a guest teacher at the University of Mexico, UCSD San Diego and at the Virginia School of the Arts under the direction of Petrus Bosman. Plus, he has taught and choreographed a variety of jazz ballets for the Alabama School of Fine Arts (ASFA). Joey just recently taught at the prestigious American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, where he taught jazz to the pre-professional division students. Known as an energetic and stylized teacher/choreographer, he has enjoyed teaching all levels from 8 yrs of age to professionals.
Thank you!
Thank you everyone who attended the Master Classes and Z Talk with Joey Doucette and Hama this past weekend. It was enlightening to learn more about these amazing artists and their relationship with Luigi and the Luigi technique.