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Get Excited! DragonFly Dance Experiment is performing this coming Thursday!  We are honored to have been asked to perform in the Severn School Dance Company’s Spring Dance Concert.  Severn School’s dance company is a student run company in its fourth year.  Severn students create choreography, direct rehearsals, manage show production and perform.  This season the company’s nine members (their largest group to date) have put together a collaborative concert including performances by the Severn Dance Company, the Severn Step Club and Severn dance classes.  They have invited guests including DragonFly Dance Experiment, Essenza, Maryland Performing Arts Company, Severna Park High School, SPARK, Rohanna Dance Productions and American Dance and Fitness.  This is sure to be an evening celebrating dance in many forms and we hope you can join us.

If you missed the Rhapsody show or simply loved our performance of “Like a Peach”, this is a great opportunity to see us perform.
Severn School's Price Auditorium
201 Water Street
Severna Park, MD 21146

Thursday, April 29, 2010
7:00pm, $5 general admission
Coming soon, new photos of the Dragonflies!!  This past Saturday DDE was photographed by the talented Mandy Sroka.  We had a great time during the photo-shoot as you can tell from our super fun group picture.
 
 
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BARE travels abroad to Oxford, England to present an evening-length work of duets and solos at the Burton Taylor Studio 31st March - 3rd April, 2010, 18:30-19:30.  Joining Stephanie Yezek across the pond will be Renee Brozic-Barger and Megan Morse Jans.  Presenting original and collaborative choreography, Between Me and You examines closely the ups and downs of relationships in an intimate black-box setting.  Link.

The first week of April, DDE’s very own artistic director performed at the Oxford Fringe Festival, oxfringe 2010, with BAREdance.  Dragonfly guest choreographer, Stephanie Yezek, is an original choreographer of BARE, a collaborative contemporary dance project that was originally commissioned by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Under the direction of Yezek, BARE performed an evening length work, Between You and Me, choreographed collaboratively by the performers including Yezek herself, DDE's Megan Morse Jans and HCC Dance Coordinator, Renee Brozic Barger.  The work was inspired by individuals struggling to maintain their identity in and out of reletionships.  The work was extremely well received by audiences and critics.

 
Fringe Review writes of Megan Morse Jans:

A breath of fresh air in the now increasingly disturbing evening is ‘Like a Peach’. The music from Alison Krauss and Robert Plant lifted the mood as the technically powerful Megan Morse Jans, blessed with a wonderfully expressive face, connected strongly with the audience. So close were we to the performance in this intimate venue, we could feel her every emotion and sense her every breath. Link.
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David Bellan of the Oxford Times:

Barger’s After Dinner is danced by Jans and Yezek, the former an innocent, the latter a sophisticate. Is this the beginning of a seduction or a slowly developing estrangement? It’s ambiguous and quite dark, intriguing and satisfying. Link.

oxfringe 2010 was a wonderful experience for all of the BARE performers.  A great trip oversees, wonderfully received performances and a good time had by all.
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“Dance is so universal—it helps us enjoy being alive.”

Charlene Gentles has been dancing with Dragonfly Dance Experiment since April 2009.  Charlene achieved a Bachelor’s degree in Dance from UMBC and has performed with many dance companies in the area.  She has danced with Eleanor Roosevelt Dance Company, Ek Dil One Soul Indian Fusion Dance Company, Clancyworks Dance Company, Jessica Marchant Moves, Baltimore Dance Project and Deviated Theatre.  Charlene has danced almost every style of dance including, Hip-Hop, Classical Indian, Bhangra, Merengue, Salsa, African, Modern, Ballet, Liturgical, Jazz, Musical Theatre, Lyrical and Interpretive Dance with American Sign Language.  Charlene doesn’t limit herself to just performing.  She also has taught dance workshops with Baltimore Dance Project for Project REACH and taught Hip-Hop Dance through the D.A.R.E Dance program.

When asked if there was a specific performance that really impacted Charlene, she described a performance by Clancyworks Dance Company, Back to the Wall, in 2001.  “I was very new to the modern dance world and seeing the physical, athletic, yet fluid movements of the dancers really helped understand more of what modern dance could encompass. I also enjoyed the metaphoric nature of her work. I love that dance can be a medium to express ideas and social interactions with one another as people.”

Charlene is a true blue Maryland girl.  She grew up in Hyattsville, attended high school at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt and is currently a kindergarten teacher in Prince George’s County.  She is currently pursuing a Master Degree in Elementary Education from Bowie State University.

When Charlene isn’t dancing with Dragonfly or teaching Maryland youth she is reading and writing down her thoughts. She loves to imagine and reflect and keep learning new things.   And since she does work with 5 year olds everyday, she is constantly coloring, drawing or cleaning up something.  Charlene currently lives with her family and her beautiful German Sheppard, Roxie, who helps her laugh and play everyday.  Although she loves what she does both with work and dance, she would like to design and build her own house one day, equipped with an awesome playground in the backyard.


Charlene would like to thank:

“God for giving me the gift of dance in the first place. Without Him I would have been lost and rhythmless for sure.  My Mom and Sister for supporting me for the past 15 years, they STILL come to all my shows.  Megan for being an awesome Director who respects and values all of her dancers.  Thank you to everyone who is passionate about what they do. Passion is key to embracing this world and living the life you’ve always wanted.”