Wilton Dance Studio Hosts Prestigious Joffrey Summer Program Auditions

 

Wilton Dance Studio played host to three teachers from the world renowned Joffrey Ballet Co. on Sunday, January 30th. The teachers were at the studio as part of the Joffrey’s Summer Intensive Audition Tour.

Brenda Froehlich, Wilton native and artistic director of the Wilton Dance Studio said,  “We have had several dancers in the past attend their various summer intensives and found them very valuable. This past August they contacted me to see if we would be willing to host an audition as part of their Summer Intensive audition tour.”

More than 30 area dancers participated in the ballet auditions and 14 participated in the Jazz/Contemporary auditions. Students and their parents traveled as far as way as Vermont, Massachusetts and New Jersey as well as from our neighboring communities.

The audition experience itself is considered a dance masterclass, with experienced teachers offering students both instruction and evaluation. Era Jouravlev, Artistic Director of the Ballet Trainee Program and her husband Andriei of New York City, a pre-professional instructor from The Joffrey Ballet School, conducted he ballet auditions. JoiLynn Hopkins, Jazz and Contemporary trainee Instructor from the Joffrey school, gave the masterclass for the Jazz/Contemporary audition. Froehlich said, “Her enthusiasm was contagious and the students in attendance received a tremendous amount of attention and corrections.”

Era Jouravlev studied at the famed Perm State Choreography Academy in Russia under directorship of such notable mentors as L. Sakharova and L. Ulanova. While dancing as a Principal with the Perm State Opera and Ballet Theatre, she toured internationally with the Stars of the Kirov and Bolshoi Ballet. During a summer tour in China, she danced with the “Stars of American Ballet”.

Mrs. Jouravlev taught for the New Jersey Ballet for fourteen years, and started teaching at the Joffrey Ballet School in 1997. With an incredible career, over thirty years of teaching experience, and a fierce passion for shaping dancers into artists, Era Jouravlev is delighted to share her expertise as the Ballet Trainee Program Director.

JoiLynn Hopkins is a multidimensional dance artist. She began her professional dance training at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington D.C., Boston Conservatory, and The Ailey School before studying Haitian folklore with Ase Dance Theatre Collective and hip hop styles in the underground dance scene of New York City. She has been a featured dancer is numerous stage, film and TV projects.

Hopkins is a sought after teaching artist who has taught workshops in Barbados and throughout the US at schools such as New Jersey Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet School. As a choreographer she creates with a variety of techniques and music from punk rock and classical to hip hop but is known for showcasing her unique signature style that fuses athletic modern dance and jazz movement with hip hop.

Those interested in learning more about dance instruction options from the Wilton Dance Studio may contact the studio at (203) 544-9007 or visit http://www.wiltondance.com/ 

 

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Submitted by Wilton, CT

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