Caroga Arts Ensemble with Utica Dance

Utica Dance joins Caroga Arts Ensemble for a groundbreaking collaborative performance of music and dance! This marks Caroga Arts Ensemble’s first dance collaboration and we are looking forward to bringing this dynamic concert dance to The Glove Theatre. Original choreography by Utica Dance’s Artistic Director Nancy Long and Casey Loomis. 

Caroga Arts Ensemble with Utica Dance
Thursday, August 15, 2019 at 7:00 PM
The Glove Theatre
40 N Main St, Gloversville, NY 12078

Concert Presenter: James & Genia Meinhold

This concert is made possible by the generous support of James & Genia Meinhold

This project is made possible with funds from the NYS DanceForce, a partnership program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Utica Dance

Utica Dance is independently owned and operated and was formerly known as the Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute Dance Program. We are proud of our long tradition of over forty years providing the highest quality dance instruction in ballet, jazz, tap and modern dance.

For the last ten years the dance program has presented its own Nutcracker production in the Mohawk Valley Community College Theater. Hundreds of student dancers and guest professionals from New York City have appeared in this cherished classic ballet. Our Annual Spring Dance Concert features dancers in the Pre-Professional Division in performances of reconstructed classics and inspiring new dances by Kathy Ryan, Nancy Long, Lynn Bollana, and Sharon Warncke.

Since 2014 Nancy Long has been the Artistic Director & President of Utica Dance, where she teaches of all levels of ballet in the Children’s, Pre-professional and Adult Divisions. In addition to choreographing original works, ranging from contemporary dances to children’s story ballets, Nancy prepares students auditioning for college, conservatory or summer dance programs.

Students have gone on to study or perform with New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, School of American Ballet (Official School of the New York City Ballet), Juilliard, Martha Graham, Dance Theater of Harlem, North Carolina School of the Arts, SUNY Purchase, NYSSSA, Metropolitan Opera, Chautauqua Institution, Ballet Black (London), Doug Varone and Giordano Dance (Chicago) among many others.

Previously, for thirty-one years Nancy was Professor of Dance and Dance Program Coordinator of the Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute. In 1984 Nancy co-founded and ran the Utica Dance Works, which she directed until 1989. This modern dance troupe provided professional opportunities for regional dancers, choreographers and musicians. Since 1982, Nancy has been a guest choreographer and visiting guest lecturer at Hamilton College, and she continues to collaborated with Hamilton College Choir in choreographing their musicals for seven years. She has also been commissioned by the Utica Symphony Orchestra to choreograph dances that have been performed at the Stanley Center for the Arts in Utica, NY.

Before retiring from a performing career, Nancy danced throughout the U.S. and Europe with the New York City-based Joyce Trisler Dance Company, and appeared as a guest with the Washington Opera Ballet, Alvin Ailey and Jose Limon dance companies. She attended California Institute of the Arts and holds a bachelor’s degree from Pace University.

Casey Loomis is a performer, visual artist, designer, and teacher/facilitator. She spent a 10-year stretch dancing professionally in NYC during which she was a company member with Doug Varone and Dancers, a dancer with the Metropolitan Opera and a longtime member of Jenny Rocha & Her Painted Ladies. She has also performed with Gibney Dance Company, Netta Yerushalmy, Faye Driscoll, ChristinaNoel & the Creature, Compagnie Julie Bour, KEIGWIN + Company, Buglisi Dance Theatre, The Feath3r Theory and The Dreamland Follies, among others. The New York Times wrote of her: “Ms. Loomis…lends a luminous presence to the stage”. She has performed and toured around the country and internationally (France, Peru, Hungary, Turkey) and teaches dance, Pilates and other somatic-based practices. She is currently living and creating in Haydenville, Massachusetts.

Professional choreographer and teaching artist Jeff Bliss has been developing community-based arts experiences for children, professional artists and older adults from diverse communities for many years. He co-authored Generating Community with Susan Perlstein of Elders Share the Arts. For six years Jeff was artist-in-residence at the Children’s Hospital National Medical Center and for nine years he was a national training artist for the Wolftrap Institute for Early Learning through Development.

Jeff was on the summer faculty of Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado for six years and served as the senior program manager at the Lincoln Center Institute in New York City for 9 years. Also while residing in New York City, Mr. Bliss served as a training artist for NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs’ Arts Partners Program and at Movement Research in New York City. Jeff traveled to offer trainings at the Nashville Institute for the Arts, the Bates Dance Festival, Mt. Holyoke College, and the Albany Center for Arts in Education.

Jeff began performing with Betty Jones in Hawaii and then joined Liz Lerman/Dance Exchange for 9 years. He performed and taught internationally and served as the Director of Community Programs with the Dance Exchange. As a member of Group 6 (w/ Chris Aiken, Nancy Stark Smith, Ray Chung, Julie Carr, Peter Bingham) Jeff explored composition and performance issues in improvisation. He has performed as a guest artist at St. Marks Church in NYC, at the Walker Art Center’s Improvisation Summit in Minneapolis, and at The Kitchen with Hank Smith as part of the NY Improvisation Festival.

Teaching the Families Dance Together class at the Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival is perhaps the favorite dance experience of his life.

https://uticadance.com/