Arizona Dance Coalition – Annual Member Meeting 2023

Sunday, January 8, 2023 | 12:30pm-3:30pm

Light Refreshments | Guest Speakers | Movement Classes

Mark your calendar!

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YOU’RE INVITED!    GET CONNECTED!   
Join us in an inspirational, informative and fun afternoon! 
Bring your dance shoes for the swing dance and Afro-Latin dance classes!

EVENT INFO
In-Person and Virtual via Zoom
Date: Sunday, January 8, 2023 at 12:30pm-3:30pm
Location: BALLET ARIZONA, 2835 E. Washington Street, Phoenix, AZ 85034 
Cost: FREE to ADC Members (in good standing); $10 Non-members
REGISTRATION REQUIRED!
Registration Form: CLICK HERE
Deadline to register is Saturday, January 7, 2023 at 12:00pm.
For Virtual Attendees – Zoom Link will be emailed at least one hour prior to event.

For more info contact: Lisa R. Chow or text 602-740-9616

SCHEDULE
12:30pm Mix & Mingle Reception with light refreshments provided
1:00pm Welcome & Overview of Past Year – Lisa R. Chow, ADC Board President
1:10pm Fundraising in the Dance World – Jami Kozemczak, Ballet Arizona
1:30pm The Transformative Power of Dance – Steve Conrad, Arizona Lindy Hop Society
1:50pm Dance Class: Learn to Swing Dance – Steve Conrad
2:15pm Social Performance: Strategies Towards Cultural Immersion and Interconnectivity – David Olarte, Stilo
2:35pm Dance Class: Rhythmic Narratives in Afro-Latin Dance – David Olarte
3:00pm Wrap Up / What’s Next? / Let’s Get Connected!

SPECIAL THANKS TO BALLET ARIZONA FOR HOSTING THIS EVENT!

GUEST PRESENTERS

Jami Kozemczak, Executive Director of Ballet Arizona

Presentation: Fundraising in the Dance World
Learn how to raise money to keep our dance alive while still navigating through tough times. Jami will share a little bit about herself and share some of the things that were successful and what she learned on the journey to accomplish her fundraising goals.

Bio: As director of development for the ballet since 2015, Kozemczak has a record of consistently meeting and exceeding contributed revenue goals to advance the organization. During her tenure at Ballet Arizona, the organization established a culture of philanthropy that permeates throughout the entire organization. Kozemczak has secured more than $36 million in contributed revenue during her time at Ballet Arizona and led the charge for the Be Our Bridge Recovery and Relief Fund that ensured all staff members and dancers remained fully employed during the Covid-19 crisis. 

Kozemczak’s experience in arts non-profit management includes fundraising, public relations, communications, donor relations, and marketing. Beginning her career as a marketing professional, she quickly transitioned to fundraising after discovering her true vocation was helping connect donors to their passion. Kozemczak holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Arizona State University. She is co-chair for the AFP Professional Mentoring Program and a board member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Steve Conrad, Founder and Director of Arizona Lindy Hop Society

Presentation: The Transformative Power of Dance
Steve Conrad will discuss how dance can be used to help heal trauma and build resilience in children and adults. Beginning with the Lindy Hop which was created and developed by the Black community in Harlem during the jazz age and going though decades of dance that coincided with transformative history through the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s in the United States and around the world. Specifically, Steve will share the story of Wu, a refugee from Vietnam who transformed her own life by learning how to ballroom dance.

Dance Class: Learn to Swing Dance
Join Steve Conrad of the Arizona Lindy Hop Society for a fun swing dance lesson. Swing dancing is a partner dance that originated in Harlem, NY in the late 1920s and spread across the country and the world in the 1930s and 40s. It is enjoyed today all over the world by dancers of all ages and backgrounds. No partner needed.

Bio: Steve Conrad is the founder and director of the Arizona Lindy Hop Society which focuses on preserving and sharing American born dances from the jazz and rock and early roll eras of the 1920s through the early 1960s. He has been teaching Lindy Hop and swing dancing for more than 26 years and has traveled around the world teaching with tours across the US, Europe, and China. His first Lindy Hop teacher was the legendary Frankie Manning and Steve produced the Arizona Swing Jam workshop with Frankie in AZ for 14 years until Frankie’s passing at age 94. Steve was featured on ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” HGTV’s “House Hunters,” Arizona Highways TV, and NBC’s “Little Big Shots: Forever Young.” Steve is also a certified ballroom dance teacher for Dancing Classrooms and was trained in New York by ballroom dance champion, Pierre Dulaine, who has been the subject of several films including “Mad Hot Ballroom,” “Take the Lead,” and “Dancing in Jaffa,” all which address the transformative power of dance. Steve helped lead a pilot program for teaching ballroom dance to people experiencing homelessness at the Human Services Campus in Phoenix and has used dance as a healing modality for children in the foster care system by teaching for Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona. Steve was the director of the Ballroom dance program at Mesa Community College and is often a guest teacher at Scottsdale Community College and Xavier College Prep. 

David Olarte, Founder and Co-director of Stilo Dance 

Presentation: Social Performance: Strategies Towards Cultural Immersion and Interconnectivity 
David’s presentation highlights social dance as a strategy towards cultural immersion and community interconnectivity. As founder and director of Stilo Dance, as well as Clinical Assistant Professor at ASU’s School of Music, Dance, and Theatre, provides his artistic framework and lens towards building sustainable dance communities both in academia and in our local community. As the social fabric continues to be shaped by the participation of inter-generational identities, David shares insight on the short and long term approach towards inclusive programming and re-imagining
both learning and performance spaces. 

Dance Class: Rhythmic Narratives in Afro-Latin Dance 
This workshop will look at Afro-Latin rhythm and musicality, specifically connecting clave with Afro-Latin movement. Connecting key patterns from the ground up provides a framework for engaging the roots and corporeal expressivity in Afro-Latin Social dance.

Bio: David Olarte (MFA, MA) is an Afro-Latinx dancer (salsa, mambo, and contemporary couple dance) with over 20 years of choreography, performance, and instruction. As founder and co-director of Stilo Dance, David has shared Stilo’s aesthetic interpretation of contemporary salsa, which is rooted in Salsa on 2, latin jazz, and David Zambrano’s couple dancing technique. Stilo has graced the stage as finalists at the World Latin Dance Cup, performing at Jacob’s Pillow’s Inside Out series, and continues to perform in various salsa festivals and congresses. As Clinical Associate Professor for ASUs School of Music, Dance, and Theatre, David centers Afro-Latinx context by creating new curriculum and programming, such as Latin Sol Festival, to support student learning, performance, and community engagement opportunities on campus. He’s currently pursuing a PHD in Theatre Performance of the Americas and researching where social dance lives within our communities.