Dance Level 3 and Projects Panel Report

Memorandum

The Dance Grant Panel Meeting was held via teleconference on April 6, 2010 to recommend grant awards to organizations for General Program Support and Specific Cultural Projects.

The panel reviewed three (3) eligible General Program Support Level 3 applications and six (6) eligible Specific Cultural Project applications and all were recommended for funding.

A complete list of all reviewed applications, their request amounts, and final scores is provided on the following pages. 

Panel comment was as follows:

There were no panelist comments.

Public comment was as follows:

There was no public comment.

Panel Biographies

Bobby Ball

Denver, Colorado
Bobby Ball is the executive director of the Colorado Ballet.  Prior to this he served as artistic director and then Interim Director at the Pensacola Ballet. Bobby was first introduced to classical ballet while pursuing a degree in journalism at the University of Georgia. His talent later earned him the opportunity to continue his classical ballet training while on full scholarship with the Atlanta Ballet. After two seasons of dancing with the Atlanta Ballet, Bobby was promoted to the rank of principal dancer. In 1989, he pursued his career in Europe where he danced in Germany with the Theater Dortmund and Ballet der Oper Bonn. Mr. Ball returned to the United States in 1992, where he then joined the Milwaukee Ballet as principal dancer. He served as director of the Milwaukee Ballet School for seven years. As a Guest Artist, he appeared throughout Europe and the United States. Bobby’s extensive repertoire included roles such as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, the Nutcracker Prince in The Nutcracker and the Moor in Moors Pavane.

Carol Erkes

Polk County
Carol Erkes is the Executive Director of Florida Dance Theatre in Lakeland. She began her professional career at the age of 15 performing with the Ohio Chamber Ballet/Ohio Ballet in Akron. She was a soloist with Cincinnati Ballet and Augusta Ballet and taught and danced with Southern Ballet Theatre (now Orlando Ballet) and Texas Ballet. Carol has been featured as a Guest Artist with numerous ballet companies including New Mexico Ballet, Ballet Orlando, San Diego Metropolitan Ballet, Houston Civic Ballet, and Vero Beach Ballet. She has also been a faculty member at Augusta Ballet, Florida Southern College, John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School, James Dance Center, University of Houston-Clear Lake, and guest instructor at the School of Performing Arts, Harrison Arts, Rochelle School of the Arts, Dr. Phillips High School, University of South Carolina, Osceola School of the Arts, and All Saints Academy. Carol also served on the board of the Florida Dance Association. She is a member of the Polk Arts Alliance, Downtown Lakeland Partnership, and the Cultural Arts Board, and she is permanent guest faculty at the Masters of Dance Workshop in Connecticut at the Earl Mosley Institute of the Arts.

Michael Foley

Pinellas County
Michael Foley has been involved in the world of professional dance nationally and internationally for over 20 years. He started dancing at Bates College under Marcy Plavin, where he earned a BA in English and Spanish.  Michael has performed internationally in the companies of over two dozen choreographers, including Doug Elkins, Kevin Wynn, Seán Curran and Eun Me Ahn.  He has taught workshops and master classes throughout the United States, Europe, Central America, The Caribbean and Mexico, and has taught on the faculties of New World School of the Arts, Bates College, Florida Dance Festival, and Dance Space Center in NYC. He also teaches technique and has set choreography for the Cirque du Soleil organization. Michael has maintained choreographic residencies at the University of Texas, University of Florida, Cornish College of the Arts and Harvard University, among many others. His choreography can be found in the repertories of dance companies throughout the U.S., as well as in Cuba, Panama, Mexico, Ireland and Italy. He formed his own company, “Michael Foley Dance”, in 1994 touring The United States and Europe.  Michael has a 26-year affiliation with the Bates Dance Festival where he has been a student, emerging choreographer, faculty, and co-director of the Young Dancers Workshop from 1996 - 2007. He holds an MFA in Dance from the University of Washington and is currently an Associate Professor of Dance at the University of South Florida.  He also directs an annual study abroad program in Paris.  Michael was a Fulbright Scholar in Mexico in 2009 working with Delfos Danza.

Josee Garant

Miami-Dade County
Josée Garant is known for her creative choreography and the desire to pass on her expertise and skills to young artists. Upon receiving a BFA (honors) degree in Dance from York University, and graduating from the National Ballet School of Canada Teacher Training Program, she began her teaching career with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. During this long association, she created the modern dance and choreographic programs and was the director of the postgraduate Aspirant program.

Karen Peterson

Miami-Dade County
Karen Peterson is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory. She received Choreographic Fellowship Awards from the Division of Cultural Affairs, in 1995 and 2005, and Miami Dade Department of Cultural Affairs Dance Fellowship Awards in 2006 and 2010. She has been a leader and capacity builder for “mixed-ability” dance since 1990 and under her artistic direction, Karen Peterson and Dancers (KPD) has represented the State of Florida in New York City, Atlanta, Cleveland, Brazil, Italy, Scotland, Spain and Montenegro. Her company reconstructed Doris Humphrey’s 1935 New Dance and completed a 2007 Florida tour at universities in Tampa, Key West, Boca Raton and West Palm Beach. KPD has partnered with VSA Arts, Arts for Learning and The Children’s Trust and works with special needs students to research movement towards performance. KPD will perform for the VSA Arts International Conference in Washington D.C. in June 2010 and in Dubrovnik, Croatia in May 2010.

Panel Results

The scores in this document are the recommendation of the application review panel. These scores represent the second step in a four step review process. These are not a final funding recommendation.

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