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Press Release |
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Friday 06 February 2004 INTRODUCING BAD COMPANY [Bay Area Dance Company] at an informational gathering with wine and appetizers on Monday, March 8, 2004, 6pm to 9pm, at Tiffany’s Dance Academy’s East Avenue, Livermore studios. Tiffany’s Dance Academy is pleased to announce that it has been chosen as the new “home” to BAD COMPANY – the Bay Area’s newest and most exciting Dance Company. According to Steffon Long, Co-Founding Director with Tiffany Henderson, “Dance is for the dancer and the audience member the physical/kinesthetic link between education and entertainment. BAD COMPANY will work on as many levels as possible to strengthen those links and enhance the bond that the experience of dance can bring to all members of the community that we strive to serve.” Bad Company’s mission is to promote the advantages that young people enjoy by supervised participation in a well structured dance program….especially a dance program affiliated with a professional or semi-professional dance company based at a school that provides comprehensive training in the disciplines of classical ballet, jazz, tap, modern dance and the related disciplines of music, painting, sculpture, photography, set, lighting and costume design and film making. BAD COMPANY will bring rich cultural rewards to our community and the entire Bay Area. The primary goal of BAD COMPANY is to provide affordable tuition to young people in the aforementioned disciplines while simultaneously providing the communities that BAD COMPANY serves with low cost performances, lecture demonstrations, open rehearsals, informational workshops and performances in all public community events. HOST FAMILIES NEEDED One of BAD COMPANY’S first goals will be to engage eight or ten international pre-professional dancers who have completed their high school educations and will come to BAD COMPANY as trainees to complete their formal dance education and form the corps of dancers responsible for our extensive community outreach programs that will bring dance to the community agencies that we aim to serve: schools; community centers; senior centers; hospitals etc. If you’d like information on being a host family for one of these dancers please contact Steffon Long at (925) 447 – 5299. RECEPTION Tiffany’s Dance Academy is hosting an informational gathering at the 4046 East Avenue, Livermore dance studios on March 8th from 6pm – 9pm for community members who want to learn more and who are interested in serving on BAD COMPANY’S Board of Directors. You are invited to come observe classes and open rehearsals, enjoy wine and appetizers, and an informative discussion with Tiffany Henderson and Steffon Long. We are looking forward to sharing BAD COMPANY’S goals and dreams with you. ABOUT THE FOUNDING DIRECTORS Tiffany Henderson, born in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1973, has had a rich and exciting career as a professional Jazz Dancer. In 1992 she was awarded a one-year scholarship to the renowned Tremaine Dance Center in Hollywood. At the completion of her scholarship she performed as the Tremaine Scholarship Show Featured Dancer. She continued her professional studies at the prestigious School of Dance at the University of Arizona, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.F.A. in Dance in 1997. Tiffany’s career highlights include: performances with Quinn/Williams Jazz at the 1995 Jazz Dance World Congress in Nagoya, Japan; the 1996 Jazz World Congress at Washington’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; the opening of the International Theatre School in Amsterdam, Holland in 1997 and at Symphony Hall in Phoenix, Arizona. She was also a member of Zohar Dance Company, has performed in many industrial shows, including the Microsoft Global Summit and American Greeting Cards, and was a soloist with La Jazdanz of Louisiana, a company she was instrumental in bringing to the Amador Theatre in Pleasanton for a concert in 2002. As the owner/director of Tiffany’s Dance Academy, home to more than 600 students in Livermore, Pleasanton, Walnut Creek and Fremont, Tiffany’s newest project, the co-founding of BAD COMPANY, further demonstrates her dedication to sharing her passion for dance with the San Francisco Bay Area community. Steffon Long received his professional training with a full Ford Foundation scholarship to San Francisco Ballet where he was an apprentice to the company under the direction of Lew Christensen for two years. Upon leaving San Francisco Ballet Steffon was awarded a full scholarship to Harkness House of Ballet Arts, under the direction of Maria T. Vegh and David Howard. In 1995 he became a member of the National Ballet of Iran in Tehran, Iran and from the went on to dance as a soloist and principal dancer with the following companies: Marin Ballet; Classic Ballet of New Jersey; Irish National Ballet; Ballet Classique de Paris; Sanda Dance London; Schindowski Ballets and Dortmund Stadt Theatre Ballet in Germany. At the end of his performing career he became co-director of Divertissement Dance Company of San Francisco and was also the founding director of Pacifica [Youth] dance Company. In 1990 he returned to London to study at the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance and upon returning to the U.S. has served as artistic director for Yuma Ballet Theatre, Redwood Empire Ballet and Worcester Youth Ballet. Most recently he was teaching at Dance Works in London and the director of dance at the School for Music and Culture on the island of Stord, Norway. A frequent guest teacher and choreographer for schools and companies in London, Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland and in the United States, Steffon is delighted to once again be calling the San Francisco Bay Area his dance home. |