JOIN DECADANCETHEATRE MEMBER
NADIA LUMLEY
AS OUR SPECIAL GUEST FOR A
BBOY/BGIRL FUNDAMENTALS WORKSHOP

“The best Bgirl (female breakdancer) I know.” Rodney Hills, Company Manager/Director of Rennie Harris Puremovement (RHPM), Philadelphia, 2011

SATURDAY, JANUARY 14^TH
2:00 PM – 3:15 PM – AGES 10+
3:30 PM -4:45 PM AGES 12+
$30 per Workshop (Pre-registration Required)

DEAR BERKSHIRE PULSE FRIENDS,

We are on the verge of a new year! Hooray!

I am deeply grateful for the inspiration that greets me each time I enter our studios . . . so many enthusiastic students learning, creating . . . and my colleagues, teachers and staff, so dedicated and present in every way. It takes this kind of a community to give life and meaning to a place like Berkshire Pulse, to sustain the work and allow it to grow.

So much energy and effort, good work and play happens at Berkshire Pulse every day,  it is hard to imagine a week or two of quiet and rest. Yet this is just what we all need . . . a time for reflection on what has been accomplished and preparation for all that is to come.

Without you all, Berkshire Pulse would not be.

In the following attached Berkshire Record article you will read about our plans to move into a new home. Many of you have been with Berkshire Pulse long enough to know, how important a stable and larger home will be for this organization. But whether you are an old or new member of our Pulse community, I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you for giving us reason to grow, and reason to forge ahead with this exciting and necessary venture. Your participation, interest and support of our mission, is what breathes life into Berkshire Pulse, and sustains the energy of our service to the greater Berkshire community.

I wish you all the best, and look forward to sharing this journey towards our new home with you all in the new year.

Warmly, Bettina

Bettina Montano

Founder/Artistic Director, Berkshire Pulse

Friends and family, prospective students, and interested members are welcome
to visit Berkshire Pulse, and observe any of the Youth Performing Arts Programs classes listed below:

Open December 5-10

Advanced Beginner II, Intermediate, Advanced Intermediate, and Advanced Ballet and Modern classes, Hip Hop Workshop, Intermediate/Advanced Pointe and Beginners Pointe.

Open December 12-17

Advanced Beginner I & II Ballet & Modern, Advanced Ballet, Modern/Jazz Foundations, Modern/Ballet Foundations, Creative Dance, World Music Percussion classes, Tap,
Dance for Boys, Intro to Dance, and Flamenco

And for Adults . . .
Call today to reserve your FREE TRIAL CLASS PASS Valid December 5-17, 2011!
Afro-Caribbean Dance & Drumming, Bellydance, Zumba, Flamenco, Latin Dance, Scottish Dance, Yoga, Tai Chi, Feldenkrais, and more . . .

Spring 2012 Pre-registration for returning Performing Arts Program students only December 5 – December 17 – Closed Sunday.
Pre-registration is strongly recommended, as many classes are full and enrollment for returning students can only be guaranteed prior to Open Registration on January 3.

Registration for new Performing Arts Program students
January 3 thru 14. Closed Sunday.

New Session begins January 23, 2012!

Watch your email inbox for more Spring 2012 program descriptions, Spring 2012 calendars, & Spring 2012 registration information/applications & forms, or please visit Berkshire Pulse and/or the Berkshire Pulse website at  berkshirepulse.org or call us at 413-274-6624.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

View the Rehearsal Slideshow Here!

Great Barrington youth perform Great Russian Nutcracker with 40 Russian pros Nov 10, 7:30 and Nov 11, 7:30pm at Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center

Moscow Ballet Student Program makes impression on 50,000+ dancers over 19 years
For high-resolution images: http://www.nutcracker.com/promo

Contact: Sally Michael Keyes sally@nutcracker.com (413) 499-1733 x21
Justine Murphy justine@nutcracker.com (413) 499-1733 x14

(Berkshires, Mass.) Oct 25, 2011 – Local Great Barrington youth have been selected to perform alongside the Russian professionals in Moscow

Ballet‘s Great Russian Nutcracker at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center Thursday, November 10 at 7:30pm and Friday November 11 at 7:30pm. Berkshire Pulse is the host studio for Moscow Ballet’s Student Program. Nataliya Miroshnyk is Moscow Ballet Audition and Rehearsal Director, and Ruby Aver is Berkshire Pulse Director of Ballet. Selected youth dancers performing as Party Guests are Ella Carlson, Shannon Lee, Dorree Ndooki, Madeleine Redpath, Hunter Harvey-Montano, Sophia Joffe, Sonora Malik, and Juniper Shalles. Performing as Mice are Eliza Abrams, Mae Denner-Kenny, Isabella Kent, Adelaide McFarland, Aspen Sawyer and Ruby Trabka. Performing as Angels are Sophie Banks, Ella Carlson, Lucy Ginsberg, Katherine Humes, Quincy Maynard, Sierra Posey, Cecilia Redpath, Marcella Tenuta, Annika Wainwright, and Lydia Wu-Davis. Dancers in Act II’s variations performing in the Spanish Variation are Hunter Harvey-Montano and Shannon Lee and in the Russian Variation are Lindsey Jacquier and Mary McGrath.

In addition to the performance opportunity, Berkshire Pulse scholarship students and their siblings will have the chance to learn about staying healthy, active and creative via New Horizons – A Children’s Program for Life. Moscow Ballet is partnering with Berkshire Pulse, a non-profit organization, to bring the new program to Pulse students. Berkshire Bank has graciously underwritten the program. Developed to support children in living healthy lives; it addresses diet, exercise, creativity, and the arts and will be led by a Moscow Ballet dancer. Participating students will also see the Friday, Nov. 11 performance of Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington. Berkshire Pulse, a 501 C (3) not-for-profit organization, founded by dance educator and choreographer Bettina Montano, is dedicated to building and strengthening community life through diverse and accessible programming in performing, movement and creative arts. Moscow Ballet’s Student Performance Program is underwritten by Moscow Ballet. It includes administration of the traveling soloists, transportation to and from Russia and in the US and Canada, soloists’ salary for audition and rehearsal work and some daily living expenses when not provided by a local host family.

Partnerships with local dance studios are carefully developed by Mary Gianonne Talmi, co-founder and co-producer of Moscow Ballet. Talmi holds a BFA in Dance from Julliard, received two Choreography Fellowships from the NEA, an Achievement Award in Choreography from the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and was selected for the American Ballet Theatre’s Choreography Workshop under Baryshnikov. She founded Connecticut Dance Theatre and was a pioneering member of the National Association for Regional Ballet (now Regional Dance America).Early in the company’s history,Moscow Ballet founders Akiva and Mary Talmideveloped a continuity of programming in arts and education for American children that provides cross cultural enrichment, expert classical ballet instruction, and professional performance opportunities.

Audition Director Svetlana Todinova completed formal training in 1997 at the Ufa Choreography School, of which the legendary Rudolf Nureyev was also a student. While dancing with the State Opera Ballet of Krasnodar, Todinova danced under the legendary Yuri Gregorovich, who is famous for his virtuosic productions at the Bolshoi Theatre. Todinova toured with the Russian Academy of Ballet Art and has performed in Holland, China, Spain, Italy, England, and the USA. Her repertory includes Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty, Paganini, La Bayadere, Carmen, Swan Lake, and The Nutcracker. She has danced as a soloist with Moscow Ballet since 2006.

Audition Director Nataliya Miroshnyk is an expertly trained ballerina having graduated in 1988 from the Kiev Academic Choreographic School in Ukraine where she trained under A.G. Kalchenko.  Nataliya enjoyed a tremendous amount of post-graduate experience, touring throughout the world during her time with the Odessa State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater.  Nataliya’s soloist repertoire includes Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadere, Don Quixote and The Nutcracker. Audition Director Mariia Skoruk was born in Kiev, Ukraine and at just ten years old she was invited to attend the famous ballet school of the Kiev State Opera and Ballet Theater. She graduated with a “Diploma of Distinction” and, seen as a talented ballerina, was invited to join the company of the Kiev State Opera and Ballet Theater. Her repertoire is comprised of the entire range of classical characters: Romeo and Juliet, Great Russian Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Giselle, Cinderella, La Bayadere, and Carmen. Maria was awarded “Honorable Mention” at the Fifth Serge Lifar International Ballet Competition in Kiev. In 2009 she graduated with a Choreographic Teaching Degree from the National Dragomanova Pedagogical University. She has performed internationally in the following countries USA, Canada, Holland, England, Switzerland, Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador.

Tickets are now on sale. To purchase by phone call Ticketmaster 800-745-3000, buy online at www.nutcracker.com or www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets start at $27.50. Group rates are available for ten or more tickets, call 800 320 1733.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Berkshire Pulse ballet students to audition for Moscow Ballet soloist Nataliya Miroshynk Tuesday, October 4

Twelve students to perform side-by-side with cast of 40 in Great Russian Nutcracker tour premiere

For high-resolution images:
http://www.nutcracker.com/promo

Contact:
Sally Michael Keyes sally@nutcracker.com  (413) 499-1733 x21

(Berkshires, MA) Aug 31, 2011 – Moscow Ballet and Berkshire Pulse Center for the Creative Arts announce auditions for 7 to 16 year old ballet students to perform side-by-side with the 40 Russian professionals in the premiere performances of the 2011, 60 city tour. The Tuesday, October 4 audition is exclusive to Berkshire Pulse students and only 12 will be selected to perform the children’s roles. Moscow Ballet soloist Nataliya Miroshynk will conduct the auditions and rehearse with the young dancers for several days. Students will then attend weekly rehearsals with Ballet Director Ruby Aver. Aver comments, “It is an honor to have the opportunity for our students to work alongside the Moscow Ballet in performance and to have the artists training in the studios with our students, only compounds this already rich experience.”  The twelve selected dancers will perform in the Great Russian Nutcracker at Great Barrington’s Mahaiwe Theatre Thursday and Friday, November 10 and 11, 7:30pm. Secure tickets via www.nutcracker.com/buy-tickets. Contact Berkshire Pulse 413-274-6624 for audition and enrollment information on becoming a student.

Nataliya Miroshynk charms audiences each year with her dancing of the athletic Chinese variation in Act II of the Great Russian Nutcracker.  She graduated in 1988 from the Kiev Academic Choreographic School in Ukraine and is an expertly trained ballerina.  Immediately on graduation Nataliya was invited to join the company  of the Odessa State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater  of the Ukraine and gained a tremendous amount of experience touring the world.  Nataliya’s repertoire includes  classic ballets such as Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadere, Don Quixote and, of course, The Great Russian Nutcracker.  She has danced as a soloist with Moscow Ballet for over 5 years. She is also an Audition Director traveling across North America auditioning and training young dancers to perform with the professionals in the great Russian Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet. In 2011 she was the Moscow Ballet Summer Intensive teacher giving Vaganova method training for advanced and pre-professional American ballet students.

Berkshire Pulse, a 501 C (3) not-for-profit organization, is dedicated to building community life through programming in performing, movement and creative arts, scholarships are available. Dance educator, founder and choreographer Bettina Montano says, “Beginnings are always exciting, but the beginning of a national tour of the Moscow Ballet is an extraordinary event. We are thrilled that Berkshire Pulse students will be a part of these dynamic performances which will be historic for our region.” Berkshire Pulse, a not-for-profit organization in Housatonic, MA, is a dance and creative arts education center dedicated to building and strengthening community life through diverse and accessible programming in performing, movement and creative arts.

Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker tells the beloved Christmas story of the girl who falls in love with a Nutcracker Prince – with Russian flair. Praised by the NY Times Chief Dance Critic as “thrilling and expansive” and “elegant…brimful with feeling” the 40 impeccably trained Russian dancers leap, spin and lunge bringing the traditional story to life. The Act I Christmas party enchants with its magical toys, evil Mouse King and a journey through the glittering Snow Forrest. Unique to the Great Russian Nutcracker, Russian folk characters Father Christmas and the Snow Maiden escort Masha (aka Clara) to the Land of Peace and Harmony in Act II where she and the Nutcracker Prince are honored by emissaries from heritages the world over; African, Russian, Asian, European and Hispanic. Set to Pytor Tchaikovsky’s famous score, Moscow Ballet’s production features lavish costumes, nine hand-painted backdrops with 3-D ornamentation and fanciful, larger-than-life puppets designed by Russian puppet master Valentin Federov. A must see show for everyone in the family this holiday season! Group rates are available for ten or more, call 800 320 1733. For single tickets go to www.nutcracker.com or call 800-745-3000.

Moscow Ballet – History
Moscow Ballet is known for its annual, touring Great Russian Nutcracker and full-length productions of the classic story-ballets; Swan Lake, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and others. Created by award-winning Juilliard alumnus, composer/conductor and theatrical producer, Akiva Talmi, the organization evolved out of Talmi’s all-star Russian “Glasnost Festival Tour” (1986-92). Moscow Ballet made its debut in 1993 with the Great Russian Nutcracker which was directed and choreographed by soloist Stanislav Vlasov of the famous Russian Bolshoi Theatre. In 1994, Moscow Ballet invited the Moscow State Theatre of Natalia Sats, and the theatre’s full orchestra, to expand the company to an 88-artist tour which was billed as the “19th Century Classical Nutcracker.” In 2003, Moscow Ballet announced the appointment of Anatoly Emelianov, winner of the Diagelev award, and Vladimir Troshchenko, director of Odessa State Ballet and a pivotal figure in the ballet world, as co-artistic directors. Moscow Ballet continues to feature top graduates of Perm, Vaganova, Moscow State Academic Choreographic and Kiev schools in its productions.

*Follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/Moscow Ballet) & Twitter (@MoscowBallet)

East and West Tours as of 6-2-11

one potato, two potato

When: September 2-3, 2011
Where: Doris Duke Theatre, Jacob’s Pillow

In cooperation with Jacob’s Pillow Community Dance Programs and Community Access to the Arts, choreographer Dawn Lane presents one potato, two potato a movement event that will premier at the Doris Duke Theatre at Jacob’s Pillow on September 2nd at 8PM and September 3rd at 2pm and 8pm.

one potato, two potato draws on aspects of Irish culture & history (i.e. knitting, the famine and Irish dance) as a metaphor for examining perceptions of excess, wastefulness, having enough, or nothing. The cast includes Lorimer Burns, Jane Goodrich, Dawn Lane, Bettina Montano, Leslie Nelson, and Diane Prusha, as well as dancers of mixed abilities from CATA’s Moving Company.

The work also includes still photography of Ireland by Great Barrington photographer, Elaine Radiss, and special effects video of The Famine Road in County Clare, Ireland shot by Lane and digitally composited by John Whalan of Black Ice Entertainment.

Donations to the project are welcome and can be made by calling or stopping by the CATA office.

Tickets are $25 (Plus a $2 handling fee per ticket for online purchases)
Tickets are also available at our office located at:
40 Railroad Street, Suite 6, Great Barrington, MA .

For more information visit www.communityaccesstothearts.org
or to purchase tickets by phone, call (413) 528-5485.

Photo by Richard Migot.

July 27, 2011

For immediate release

For more information, contact:

David R. Guenette,

aHa! Art Walk Organizer

P. O. Box 676

Housatonic, MA 01236

413-854-1118

info@housatonicartists.org/

http://housatonicartists.org/

Housatonic Galleries and Artists Art Walk and Group Show: Back and Better than Ever, August 20-21, 2011

What:              aHa! Art Walk

Where:            Village of Housatonic, Great Barrington, MA

When: Saturday, August 20 and Sunday, August 21, 11:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

Seven galleries, a number of open studios, and Berkshire Pulse are inviting all to drop on by Saturday, August 20 and Sunday, August 21, from 11:00-6:00. This year’s aHa! Art Walk also includes be several special shows and events, including a group show of a dozen local artists being presented at Berkshire Pulse, at 410 Park Street.

Housatonic, a village of Great Barrington, MA, has long been the home of galleries and artists’ studios. Art Walk, by aHa!—the Association of Housatonic Artists—has been produced for dozens of years to celebrate the galleries and artists of Housatonic.

New with this year’s aHa! Art Walk is a group show highlighting Housatonic artists whose studios are too far flung to be part of a convenient open studios route, and these and other artists will exhibit at Berkshire Pulse during the Art Walk.

Other shows are being presented at the Housatonic galleries, including an ad hoc gallery space at the corner of Main Street and Front Street, include watercolors of the Berkshires, by Bob Taylor; sculpture, by Peter Barrett; and furniture, by Chris Hogan. Also being shown in this space is work by Dan Mead and Sally Eagle, widely published travel and nature photographers, whose stunning work has gained wide recognition, including, most recently, as a finalist in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010 category, from the Natural History Museum, London, England. Local artists featured in the aHa! Group Show at Berkshire Pulse include Sandra Muss, Sherry Steiner, Dan Karp, Gabrielle Senza, Jeff Kramer, Karen Dolmanisth, David R. Guenette, and others.

Special and ongoing shows from Housatonic galleries and studios, including Lauren Clark Fine Arts; Deb Koffman Artspace; Kate Knapp’s Front St Gallery and Studio; Lorimer Burns Ceramics/ Borealis Studio; and Mimi Hassett’s Porch 204, are also featured destinations.

Additional announcements for opening receptions, talks, Art Walk Map, artist information, and show updates can be found at http://housatonicartists.org

Decadancetheatre at Jacob’s Pillow
Friday, July 29 • 6:15pm • FREE

Berkshire Pulse Instructors, Artistic Director, Jen Weber, and The all female hip-hop troupe Decadancetheatre returns with a rousing program featuring Sky Breaks (2011 Remix), depicting dancers in an urban, abstract world of b-boying, popping, and house dance.
This season’s Inside/Out performances will take place on the new and improved stage! The new Henry J. Leir Stage re-opened on June 22 with a community-wide ribbon cutting event; click here to see the new stage.
Expand your Jacob’s Pillow experience: see a performance in the theatres, observe The School, enjoy free talks, tours, and exhibits, explore the Archives, or dine at the Pillow.