Collin College dance professor receives endowed chair

by PegNews wire

Lesley Snelson

Lesley Snelson, Professor of Dance at Collin County Community College was recently awarded The Lebrecht Endowed Chair for Scholarly and Civic Engagement. This Endowed Chair was established to recognize Mr. Lebrecht’s commitment to education and the community. The Chair is to engage the college and local community in their particular field of study and create scholarly learning in the process. Mr. Lebrecht supported a number of charitable and civic organizations and believed that education creates opportunity. The Lebrecht Endowed Chair is a two-year renewable appointment.

Mrs. Snelson has taught and performed across the DFW metropolis, as well as the California Bay Area. Before coming to Collin College she served as adjunct dance faculty for Texas Woman's University, Tarrant County College, and University of North Texas and was faculty & choreographer for Denton Dance Conservatory. Currently, Lesley is a Co-Artistic Director of Muscle Memory Dance Theatre, a North Texas Modern Dance Collective. Her love for movement lead her to become a Certified Pilates Trainer through Colleen Glenn's Peak Pilates System and she continues her education through the Traditional Pilates community. Mrs. Snelson completed her MFA studies in choreography and dance performance at Texas Woman's University where she taught Modern, Jazz, Pilates classes and designed Hip Hop course examining it as an art from popular, visual culture. From 1998-2001, Mrs. Snelson served as co-choreographer, assistant to the artistic director and a performer for The Butterfly Project, a bay-area performance group whose mission is promoting the empowerment of Women. The Butterfly Project formed at Mills College of Oakland, California where she completed her undergraduate degrees, a BA in Dance and a BA in Business Economics.

The research project "Collin, You Think You Dance" is funded by the Collin College Foundation through the The Lebrecht Endowed Chair for Scholarly and Civic Engagement. The activities and events of Collin, You Think You Dance, engages participants in a rigorous performance process: they learn complex choreography in condensed rehearsal time periods in the format of So, You Think You Can Dance. There is a culminating event formatted in style of SYTYCD to be performed December 12th, 2009 in the John Anthony Theatre located at the Spring Creek Campus. The CYTYD dancers will perform choreography and receive verbal feedback, criticism and praise from working artists in the field of dance. Student participants are given opportunities to perform a dance style in which they are proficient as well as styles which is new to them, thus creating an opportunity for substantial growth and a need to develop fortitude. This process develops important performance and rehearsal skills applicable to any professional dancer in any career situation.

Collin College students involved in this project also perform the dance works learned during the semester for a local Collin County high school as a lecture demonstration. Collin Dancers will teach a short portion of their dance to high school dance students. This interactive event allows the community participants to experience the movement as performers, encouraging more inquiry and meaning-making in the arts. In the process, the Collin Dancers develop teaching and communication skills by working with the community.

Source: Collin County Community College