2005 And 2006
March - Amy performed as a soloist representing the Anna Sokolow Archive Company in Dancefusion's Spring Home Season in Philadelphia, PA.
May - Buffalo Contemporary Dance and Friends presented New Works and Works-in-Progress by Melanie Aceto, Michelle Gigante, Kerry Ring, Liz Schreier, and Lindsay Blodgett and an improvisation jam between dancers Amy, Ingrid, Anne Burnidge and local favorite musician David Kane at the BCD studio.
June - Amy, Liz, and Ingrid donated their talents to three benefit performances for local organizations. They were: The Elmwood Festival of the Arts Fundraiser, Music is Art (which gave this year's proceeds to Hospice) and the ArtVoice Street Festival. ON JUNE 24 KERRY AND JOSH RING BECAME PROUD PARENTS TO BABY CLARE DEVLIN RING. CONGRATULATIONS!
July - Amy was a featured soloist in Second Wind Dance Company's performance of Sokolow's masterpiece Dreams. Susan VanHecke from the Virginian Pilot wrote "the fragile Amy Taravella's wobbling walk across the shoulders of a cadre of men moving as a military-esque unit, poignantly invoked the Holocaust victims' eternal hope of escape". Leslie Wexler was a guest artist at The Yard, founded in 1973 with the mission to enable choreographers to create and perform new works in Martha's Vineyard, MA. She taught the David Parsons' and the Sophie Maslow (or Village) Etudes in daily classes open to the community.
August - Leslie's work Dark Wood (to be seen at our May, 2006 concert) was selected for performance at the Dancing Rebels Gala Concert in Saratoga Springs, NY sponsoredby the American Dance Legacy Institute. Muriel Mannings, a former member of the New Dance Group, among those honored at this conference, called the dance "fabulous and beautifully crafted!" Performers included Amy, Liz, and guest artist Chanon Judson. Chanon is currently a member of Urban Bush Women. She is a graduate of the University of Buffalo, the Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts where Leslie and Amy were her teachers, and a former member of BCD. Amy also performed "The End" a solo from Sokolow's Rooms. She received not only a favorable review with photo in the New York Times, but the seal of approval from dance legend and Sokolow's dear friend Mary Anthony! Leslie, Kerry and BCD Board member Jeanne Fornarola taught for Dance Masters of America's Student Honors and Teachers Training Schools at UB.
October - Thank you to Tressa Crehan for inviting the company to present at the National Dance Education Organization Concert on U.B.'s Mainstage. At a recent showing of Leslie's new work Mendelssohnia it was said that "Wexler brilliantly infuses the work with both playful, child-like sensibilities and the lushness and beauty that the music (Mendelssohn's Sextet in D Major, Op. 110) evokes". The audience response at NDEO was excellent. If you missed it then, you will get another chance at our May concert.
December - Amy and Leslie had the privilege to be coached intensively in the Limon Etude, choreographed by Carla Maxwell, by Jose Limon Dance Company member Brenna Monroe-Cook. In June, Amy will travel to NYC for fine tuning in order to be able to include the dance in her July, 2006 solo concert at The Church.
So far this year
January - The company performed Mendelssohnia at the Bush Mango Studio in Rochester as part of the adjudication process for the Contemporary Dance Collective performance series.
March - Amy, Ingrid, Deborah Segura and BCD Board member Pat Hall performed with the William Parker Buffalo Orchestra at Hallwalls at The Church. The unique show was developed during a week of intensive rehearsals between a massive collective of musicians and dancers.
Upcoming EventsSummer - M&T outdoor noontime Plaza series performance on July 25th. Amy's solo concert at The Church July 27-30 which will include ASH, a dance and cinematic work in progress created by Gerry Trentham, choreographer and director of the Toronto-based company lbs/sq". An original musical score is being created by collaborator and composer Kevin McFadden. On July 7 the company will perform Leslie's Brandenburg Conchairto at the National Dance Education Organization conference hosted by SUNY Brockport. The theme of the conference is Dancing with the Whole Child. Leslie, Melanie, Anne and Board member Jeanne have been invited to teach.