Codanj.com
Title
Company of Dance Arts
Description
The Company of Dance Arts (CODA), a 501 (C) (3) nonprofit corporation, was founded in 1985 under the direction of Jennifer Church, A.I.S.T.D., Adv., making its debut and performing Octoberfest at the Citicorp Building in New York City. Ms. Church cultivated the first small group of 12 dancers to its present size of over 150 company dancers. As Artistic Director, her aim has been to expose pre-professional dancers to "the real life rigors of a professional dancer! ... it’s not just tutus and diamonds," says Ms. Church. CODA continues this tradition as exemplified through our mission statement: "The Company serves first and foremost to provide young dancers with performance opportunities that meet professional standards of artistic development, performance values and production qualities."
Dancers for each production are normally chosen from open auditions. They range in age from 6 to 18 years with the average age of the corps de ballet dancers being 14. Daily training is essential for the corps dancers to be technically prepared and all rehearsal time, approximately 12 hours each week, is strictly in addition to class time. At the corps de ballet level, the dancer is at the studio perhaps 15 to 22 hours each week for class; at the junior corps de ballet level, the student is training an average of 10 hours weekly. Most of our young children study classical ballet at least 2 hours weekly, with many studying much more.
CODA dancers have rehearsed and performed alongside guest dancers from New York City Ballet, American Repertory Ballet, New Jersey’s Garden State Ballet, Alvin Ailey, Catanach Ballet Theater, and the Joffrey Ballet. Working with such renowned choreographers as Peter Anastos, Frank Ohman, Yvonne Lamb Scudiery and Daniel Catanach give the young dancers the experience they can put to full use later in their careers.
Languages
English
