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Chet Walker has
performed on Broadway
since the age of 16,
appearing in the revival
of
On the Town. His
other Broadway credits
include
Lorelei,
The Ambassadors,
and four Bob Fosse
musicals:
The Pajama Game,
Pippin,
Dancin' and
Sweet Charity.
As
director/choreographer,
his professional stage
credits include
Dory! A Musical Portrait
at the Will Geer Theater
in Los Angeles, the 10th
Anniversary tour of
La Cage aux Folles,
Sweet Charity in
the United States,
Holland, Japan, Mexico,
Norway and London's West
End. Other productions
include
Chicago, 42nd Street, A
Chorus Line, Follies, A
Funny Thing Happened on
the Way to the Forum,
Working, and
Kiss of the Spider Woman.
For television, Mr.
Walker assisted on the
NBC special
Loretta Lynne Country in
the Big Apple,
and is a contributing
choreographer on
Just Dance for
Japan's CTV.
Mr. Walker
originally conceived the
1999 Tony-Award-winning
musical
Fosse which also
garnered an Outer
Critics' Circle Award
and the Toronto Theater
Alliance Award for
Choreography. Other
award nominations for
Fosse include the
L.A. Critics' Award and
the Outer Critics'
Circle Award, both for
choreography and the
Olivier Award for
Conceiver of Best
Musical.
Mr. Walker's
other awards include the
L.A. Dramalogue Award
for Choreography for
Best Little Whorehouse
in Texas,
Sweden's equivalent of
the Tony Award for
Choreography for
Annie Get Your Gun,
and Chicago's Joseph
Jefferson Award for his
co-choreography of
Pal Joey at the
Goodman Theatre. Mr.
Walker is currently
working on a new musical
tentatively entitled
Valentino.
Mr. Walker is the
Director/Choreographer
and Artistic Director of
8&ah1 Productions Inc.,
a nonprofit Musical
Theatre Dance Company.
8&ah1 premiered an
original Dance/Opera
entitled
Seduction in New
York, and this year,
performed at the Doris
Duke Theater/Jacob's
Pillow Dance Festival in
Confessions of Love.
With Robert La Fosse, he
co-choreographed the
world premiere of
The Seven Deadly Sins
at Jacob's Pillow; the
production starred La
Fosse, Helène
Alexopoulos, and Desmond
Richardson to name a
few.
For the past three years
he has been the director
of the Jazz Workshop at
Jacob's Pillow. This
year finds him traveling
to Greece, Norway,
Argentina and England to
award scholarships to
The School at Jacob's
Pillow. |
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Frank
Hatchett
Master Teacher & Choreographer |
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Entertainers, students, and
dance teachers from all over the world come to study with Frank Hatchett at the famed Broadway Dance Center in New
York City. Frank continuously tours the country giving master
classes, and making special guest appearances. In addition, Frank is one of the master teachers
for the annual Jazz Dance World Congress.
The Hatchett style is a blend of
strength, funk, and individual interpretation, with an emphasis on
selling your performance. Associated exclusively to Frank Hatchett
is his unique energy and spirit that have come to be called
VOP.
Aside from teaching, Frank
Hatchett has choreographed for all aspects of the entertainment
industry. ABC's "Good Morning America" show dubbed "The
Doctor of Jazz." CNBC's television documentary, "Real
Stories" featured a series on Frank Hatchett, which later won an
Emmy Award. Mr. Hatchett has also been featured on
MTV's "The Real World" and VH1's "Driven." In 2000, Frank
Hatchett and Nancy Myers Gitlin co-authored the popular book titled "Frank Hatchett's Jazz Dance." Frank was also
honored as one of the recipients of the Fred Astaire Awards
in 2002. Mr. Frank Hatchett was recently named the Educational
Spokesperson for the National Dance Week observed April
22nd through May 1st, 2005.
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Joe Orlando
Master Teacher & Choreographer |
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Joe
Orlando
travels widely to choreograph and conduct workshops
during summers: seven years for Bat-Dor Dance Company of
Israel, American Dance Festival in North Carolina,
and fourteen seasons in Alaska. Mr. Orlando has also been a
regional director of Jazz Dance World Congress since its
founding.
In New York City, Joe Orlando studied with and became a
demonstrator for Luigi. Summers found him also studying
with Ana Made Forsythe and Milton Myers at the Alvin
Ailey school, as well as with Thelma Hill, Lynn
Simonson, and David Howard. Articles in Dance Magazine
drew Orlando to Raul Gelabert's view of and books on
kinesiology. He synthesized it all.
With warm enthusiasm and sparkling black eyes, Orlando
makes a remarkable impression on his students and the
dancers for whom he choreographs. He has achieved the
skill of making every move in exactly the right
proportion for his compact body--as if each choreography
were set for him. It is an achievement that perhaps
cannot be taught, but he demonstrates that it is a
possibility to each of his students. And he makes them
think about it.
"What was always missing for me in dance training," says
Orlando, "was mental challenge. I was fascinated with
philosophy and the nature of man." At the New School of
Social Research, Orlando designed his own major in
philosophy of man's creation of art, completing his M.A.
degree with a written thesis and dance concert.
"Everything comes from the music," says Orlando, who
remembers the first time he heard Count Basie play.
Dancers he looks for must be "very, very attuned to
music to have the rhythm in the steps. Jazz is driven by
the pulses of the earth and the body.... What dancers
should be about is having the ability to reach right out
into people's souls." |
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Marcus
Alford
Master Teacher & Choreographer |
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Marcus R. Alford was born in Tripoli,
Libya, and found his way to several continents as an Air
Force brat. He eventually landed at the University of
Alabama, where he earned a B.A. degree. Inspired by his
dance teachers, he headed to Chicago where he
choreographed, taught, danced, and toured with Gus
Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago for a decade. Mr. Alford has
been on the faculty of every major dance association
including D.M.A., D.E.A., Internationale Tanz Werkstatt,
Southeastern Regional Ballet Association, Boston Dance
Teachers Club, Chicago National Association of Dance
Masters, and many others. Marcus' high energy jazz
classes have also inspired students at the Festival of
the World in Hungary, The American College Dance
Festival, The International Ballet Competition, Jackson,
Mississippi, Hubbard Street Dance Studio, Chicago, and
the North Carolina School of the Arts. In 1986 Mr.
Alford founded "JAZZ ON TAP" (the Metro Atlanta Jazz and
Tap Dance Festival) which has grown to be one of the
largest dance events of its kind in the U.S. In 1991 he
authored Jazz Danceology, now a standard in the
libraries of jazz dancers and teachers everywhere.
Alford's company, Jazz Dance Theatre South, has
entertained audiences throughout the US, presenting the
highest calibre of concert jazz and tap since 1986. Mr.
Alford has perfomed in and/or choreographed many award
winning industrials and TV/video projects. His "Customer
is King" (for Media Mix, London, England/Atlanta, GA)
won a Telly Award for outstanding television and video
production and "Alcatel is here!" (for the Networld/Interop
Communications Show) won the best show award. With Gus
Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, Marcus danced "The
Rehearsal", an Emmy Award winner. His industrial works
include Kohler Corporation, Sprint, I.B.M., NFL
Commissioners, and Milliken Carpets. His concert
choreography is used by companies throughout the dance
world. Along with his wife Annie Day, Mr. Alford serves
as Owner/Artistic Director of Dancentre South in metro
Atlanta. Marcus loves to share the wonderful art and
excitement of dance with others! |
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