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Posted 11-22-99
New York City may be the Mecca of modern dance, but this fall New York City comes to Case Western Reserve University this fall as Karen Potter and Gary Galbraith, two professional dancers, join the Department of Theater Arts' faculty.
This is a return engagement for the two CWRU alumni, who received the M.F.A. in dance and fell in love while partnered for a work choreographed by Kelly Holt, associate professor in theater arts.
Potter takes charge of the Mather Dance Center program as its new director. Galbraith, a principal dancer in the Martha Graham Dance Company, has arranged an active teaching schedule around the Graham performance season that will take him on a national tour next spring and off to Washington, D.C., this fall to film dance works for the Library of Congress archives.
Mather Dance Center and its programs have undergone a few changes since the duo officially arrived September 2. Instead of having taped music in the background, Matt Kiroff, a piano accompanist, plays for the upper-level classes. The green room has been renovated, and plans are under way to create a costume workshop and a student lounge in the basement. A wish list includes new guest seating for concerts and new sound and video systems for all studios.
Armed with professional vitae that boast connections with major dance companies and international dance experiences, Galbraith and Potter brim with ideas to enhance the performance and choreographic tracks with new international teaching and dance experiences, as well as capitalize on their New York connections to aid in recruiting and enhancing educational offerings.
After a two-year search to find a new director after Kathryn Karipides retired in 1998 from her 40-year career as founder and director of the dance program, the two were selected from 80 candidates for the position.
"I think the combination of their leadership and performance abilities will continue to place CWRU as a major player in the dance scene," says Sam Savin, associate dean of the College of Arts and Science
He adds that CWRU's dance program under their leadership will gain a national and international presence.
"We've made a circle with our lives," says Potter, who graduated from CWRU in 1989. The Texas native did her undergraduate work at Sam Houston State University, where she also earned her M.A. in dance and physical education.
Potter left Cleveland for New York to teach in academic settings at New York University and as an associate professor and chair of dance at Long Island University. Her associations as a teacher with the professional dance and studio community in New York include DanceSpace Inc., Jose Limon Dance Institute, 92nd Street Y, USDAN Performing Arts Center, Nyack New Age Center, Crosby Street Studio, and Erick Hawkins School of Dance.
Galbraith finds his appointment like a third homecoming. As an infant, he toddled around the Case Quad as his father, Jack, earned his B.S. in engineering from Case in 1965. He followed in his father's footsteps to receive his B.S. from CWRU in biomedical engineering in 1986, with an interest in dance medicine as well as dance. (He says he took every undergraduate dance class offered.) He continued for his M.F.A. in 1988.
Within three years from graduation, he made a stellar climb in New York's dance world, from dancing with the smaller companies of Mark Taylor and Friends, the Ballet Dance Theater of Westchester, and Labyrinth Dance Theater into the big leagues of the Jose Limon Company, Pascal Rioult Dance Theater, Pearl Lang Dance Theater, and eventually Martha Graham Dance Company in 1991.
The two also have important links to the dance world abroad, which they say will become an important part in how they hope to build the dance program.
Potter, through a 1992 United States Information Agency grant for cultural exchanges with Turkey, built alliances with the Turkish dance community during numerous visits to the country.
Galbraith has held residencies and master classes in Turkey, Italy, Switzerland, France, Brazil, and Spain.
They helped launch Modern Danse Toplulugu, Turkey's new state modern dance company, through their teaching and Galbraith's assistance on the company's first international tour in 1993.
With Turkey's new modern dance company in place, and the first undergraduate university degree program at Yildiz University in Istanbul in its second year, Galbraith says, "This is raw, virgin territory to foster a new collaboration."
Turkey's dance program is in a Catch-22 situation. Dancers cannot teach without a degree, Potter notes, but they do not have students with degrees yet and so must find teachers elsewhere. Her vision is to send M.F.A. students on a cultural exchange to gain the international experience of teaching and dancing in another cultural setting.
She also sees Yildiz graduates coming to CWRU for graduate work. "Other departments throughout the University have an international face to their department, and this would give the dance program one, too," she says.
"The model we establish with Turkey can be used to foster collaborations with India, Taiwan, and other foreign countries," adds Potter. She envisions this aspect of the dance program coming under a new international teaching track.
As Galbraith tours with the Graham Company, he will be able to use his down time to recruit dance students for CWRU. The upcoming national tour will provide opportunities to talk about CWRU's program and meet dance faculty around the country.
Potter wants to augment course offerings with workshops, seminars, and residencies with professional dance contacts to fill areas where CWRU does not have faculty to teach. She names Jerry Wirsing as one contact. He is the costume designer for Potter and Galbraith, as well as for New York City's Metropolitan Opera Company. He also is a former designer for Halston and Martha Graham.
Another area they would like to build on is body mechanics. Potter has established the Dance Wellness Program, a biomechanical assessment of a dancer's strengths and weaknesses, with a prescribed protocol for cross-training to strengthen the dancer. Galbraith sees reestablishing links with the biomedical engineers at Case School of Engineering as a potential area to benefit the dance world.
"I've always been interested in how the body works," cites Galbraith as a reason he originally went into engineering.
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