Welcome to RDA!

[Victoria Leigh]

It is my pleasure to introduce a new forum totally about all things Regional Dance America! Welcome to the YOUDanceAmerica forum! This is the place for dancers to connect with other dancers through the YOUDanceAmerica website. YOUDanceAmerica is a product of Regional Dance America. This forum will be hosted by Gretchen Vogelzang and Kathleen Sinclair, Executives with RDA.

 

 

Gretchen Vogelzang is a seasoned dance instructor, artistic director, choreographer and arts management executive. She has over 25 years experience as an instructor and coach in ballet and contemporary dance forms within universities and a highly successful private dance school. For fourteen years, Ms. Vogelzang was the Founding Artistic/Executive Director of a nationally ranked pre-professional dance company in Northern California. As Artistic Director, she choreographed over thirty ballets including five full-length ballets, one of which she wrote, developed and produced as well as choreographed. Her choreography has been performed locally, regionally and nationally with much acclaim. She also holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in dance education from the University of California, Irvine. Ms. Vogelzang currently resides in Fairfax County, Virginia where she continues to teach and is currently the Executive Director of Regional Dance America.

 

 

Kathleen Sinclair began her training in Michigan City, Indiana, with the Studio Concert Company. She was a member of various regional ballet companies including Ballet Etudes, Arizona Metropolitan Ballet Company, and Theatre Ballet of San Francisco. From 1982-1993, Kathleen and her husband, Jon Cristofori, directed Yuma Ballet Theatre in Yuma, Arizona. In the fall of 1993, the pair opened their own ballet school, Yuma Ballet Academy, and with a group of dedicated supporters organized Ballet Yuma. Ballet Yuma is the only company in Arizona with Honor Company status in Regional Dance America, and is recognized as one of the best preprofessional ballet companies in the country. Kathleen has taught for the past twenty years and has developed a syllabus for the first four years of a child’s ballet studies, as well as one for 3-6 year olds. Kathleen brought ballet to inner-city school children in New Haven, CT, as well as elementary school children here in Yuma. She worked with the Crane Elementary School District in their Project Success program for at-risk 4th graders. Kathleen created the Ballet Bound Project in conjunction with Yuma School District #1. This outreach discovery program has been generously supported by grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts and the City of Yuma Arts and Cultural Commission. Kathleen is on the Executive Board of Directors for Regional Dance America/Pacific, is the Coordinator for the Pacific Region, is on the National Board of Regional Dance America, and has served twice as a grant panellist for the Arizona Commission on the Arts.