|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
[back to faculty list] |  |
 |
|
Nancy Colahan Lecturer w/ Cont. Appt. Teaching Schedule, Office Hours & Location
MWF 1030-1145 (F09) Research A native Californian, Nancy received her early classical training from Dimitri and Francesca Romanoff. After high school, she moved to NYC and trained with Finis Jung, Marjorie Mussman, David Howard and Nadine Revene. She began taking ballet classes with Maggie Black in 1976. Maggie became her artistic mentor and her most demanding technical inspiration. Touring nationally and internationally, Nancy worked with the Alvin Ailey American Repertory Ensemble, the Joyce Trisler Danscompany, and the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company.Nancy performed with Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project from its genesis in 1990 to 1995, performing in the works of Mark Morris, Merce Cunningham, David Gordon, Paul Taylor, Hanya Holm and Lar Lubovitch. From 1996 to 2004, Nancy performed with American Repertory Dance Company, a company that sustained America’s formidable modern dance legacy through research, reconstruction and performances of classic solos created by the great modern dance visionaries. Nancy danced in solos by Ruth St. Denis, Eve Gentry, Sophie Maslow, Jane Dudley, Michio Ito, Doris Humphrey, Agnes de Mille, Peggy Baker, Andrea Woods and Christopher Pilafian. Guest Artist appearances include the Jose Limon Dance Company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Houston Grand Opera, the Manhattan Ballet, Martita Goshen’s Earthworks and the Royal Danish Ballet. Television credits include Alive From Off-Center, Dance in America, and Great Performances for PBS. In her hometown of Santa Barbara, she has been a guest artist with Santa Barbara Dance Theatre, Santa Barbara Dance Alliance, and the State Street Ballet. Nancy was a featured performer in the film Journey – Mythical Travels to Three Ancient Sites, directed by Martita Goshen. The film premiered in New York City at the Dance On Camera Festival 2004. It has been presented on PBS stations nationwide and at film festivals in Hawaii, Ireland, Malta, Spain, France, Greece, and South Africa. The film has also been featured at the Tribeca Short Art Film Series, the Long Island Film Festival and the Jung Institute Film Lecture Series in NY. With updated commentary, it is being submitted to the Toronto Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival in the fall of 2008. In the spring of 2004, she joined the cast of Five Foot Feat, a dance/theater play conceived by Catherine Cole and Christopher Pilafian, her colleagues at UCSB. This work has been presented in Santa Barbara, Vancouver, Stanford, and Minneapolis to great acclaim. With these companies and projects she has toured all over the world and has sustained a performing career of 35 years! Nancy is on faculty at UCSB in the Department of Theater and Dance, where she teaches modern and ballet technique classes and pedagogy courses. Additional teaching credits include summer workshops for American Ballet Theater, Summer Sessions UCSB, State Street Ballet Summer Intensives, and master classes for the Pacific Regional Ballet Festival 2004, American Ballet Intensive, Summerdance Santa Barbara, Cal Arts, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Nancy has been creating dances that have entered the repertories of the University of California Dance Companies, 2004-2008. For BFA Dance major Kyla Farrow, she restaged Jane Dudley’s signature work Harmonica Breakdown (a dance she performed extensively herself) for the UCSB Dance Company 2005 tour of the western USA. She restaged Harmonica Breakdown again in 2007 for BFA Dance major Chelsea Retzloff. That same season, she also restaged Jane Dudley’s 1944 solo Cante Flamenco on BFA Dance major Lynda Gutierrez. She has choreographed several solos and set ensemble dances on students at the Orange County Performing Arts High School, the UNLV Student Dance Company, Santa Barbara Dance Theater, State Street Ballet Young Dancers, as well as the State Street Ballet Summer Intensive advanced students and company members. Her choreography has been presented by Santa Barbara Dance Alliance’s New Works series, 2002 – 2004, and 2006 – 2008. She performed in New Works 2005 in a dance choreographed by her student, BFA Dance major Marcos Duran, entitled Sheet in the Hallway. The State Street Ballet presented Dream Dancing, co-choreographed with UCSB colleague Christopher Pilafian, during their winter season at the Lobero Theater, Santa Barbara, CA, 2008. Nancy restaged and directed the solo Anemone, (choreographed originally for her by Christopher Pilafian) for undergraduate Melissa Ullom, performed on the Spring Dance Concert, 2008, at the Hatlen Theater, UCSB. Nancy recently finished a collaborative film project based on the beautiful solo, Of Time and The Spirit, choreographed by her colleague Professor Tonia Shimin. The film, directed and produced by Tonia, with an exquisite score composed by Karen Tanaka, performed by Karen and cellist Gianna Abondolo, filmed and edited by Kate Johnson, with lighting design by Vickie J. Scott, encompasses the stage performances of the solo at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles, footage from the Ballet Studio Theater, Leadbetter Beach and Alice Keck Park Memorial Park in Santa Barbara. Of Time and the Spirit, featured on the Santa Barbara Experimental Shorts program, premiered January 24th, 2008 at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Currently, the film is being submitted to many film festivals around the world. Nancy served for 10 years on the Advisory Board of Summerdance Santa Barbara. She is currently on the Advisory Board of Santa Barbara Dance Alliance, an informal steering committee for the Lobero Theater, downtown Santa Barbara, and she is a member of the Board of Directors for Iridian Arts, Inc., the non-profit umbrella of the Robin Cox Ensemble. Contact
HSSB 1107 |
|
|
Maintained by the Dept. of Theater and Dance. Photos and content © 2009 University of California. |
|||
