"What really drew me to the College was the fact that I knew I would get a lot of ‘real world’ experience. My hands-on experience was invaluable. MCLA supports its students, doing what it takes to get them into new experiences that will later prove to be stepping stones into a career."
Matthew Panuska ’99 Employee Communications Manager, Pepsi-Cola Company
News & Press Releases
Feb. 1, 2008
NORTH ADAMS, MA – Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts’ arts management student Isabelle Holmes ’08 recently was awarded a grant from the Cultural Council of Northern Berkshire, which will allow area dancers and choreographers to develop and perform pieces for each other and for the community.
A resident of North Adams who works with the Williams College’s dance program, Holmes said she developed her project, “The Moving Community: Building Bridges through Dance,” to provide opportunities for the dance community and the general public to make connections across real and imagined borders through monthly performances and workshops.
“As a dedicated dancer, I discovered that there a re few outlets for adult dancers to take classes and perform,” Holmes said. “While adult dancers reside here, there are very few outlets for dance classes and performances. Many of these dancers are not aware of each other because they do not have opportunities to come together in a dance setting.”
“The Moving Community” will invite choreographers from MCLA, Williams College, Berkshire Dance Theater, as well as Berkshire County community members, to participate.
Workshops and performances will take place this month, March, April and June. Venues will include: MCLA’s Gallery 51 and Venable Theatre, the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance at Williams College and Club B-10 at Mass MoCA.
Holmes’ project was part of an MCLA course in grants and fundraising that she took during the fall 2007 semester. It also served as her senior thesis. The Cultural Council of Northern Berkshire – the local, Massachusetts Cultural Council-funded cultural council – awarded Holmes $700 for the project. She will serve as the project’s program coordinator.
Holmes grew up in New York City, where she studied at the School of American Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, Ballet Hispanico, and graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. She has worked with choreographers and teachers such as Arthur Aviles, Sean Curran, David Dorfman, Doug Elkins, José Greco, Bill T. Jones, Stephen Koplowitz, Doug Varone and Igor Youskevitch. She was a member of the Zuzi! Move it Dance Company in Tucson, Ariz., then co-founded Northampton Ballet Arts in Massachusetts. In addition to working with the Williams College Dance Program, she choreographs and dances with Maude Baum & Company Dance Theater, in Albany, NY.
