News

Danita Emma, artistic director of Syracuse University Summer Dance Intensive, has been invited to work with the National Opera and Ballet Company of Bulgaria in April. She will be assistant choreographer and coach to a new work, “Scriabin Quintet,” performed by a mixed cast of principal dancers from the National Opera and Ballet and Bulgarian dancers based in the United States.

The piece was choreographed by Momchil Mladenov, who works as assistant director to Emma at the SU summer dance program. Also on the program will be Balanchine’s, “La Source,” set by Diana White from the Balanchine Trust, and “Scheherazade,” choreographed by Kathryn Posin, who has also worked at the SU summer dance program. The performances are slated for April at the National Opera House in Sofia. Emma will teach company classes during her visit to Bulgaria.

Emma has also been invited to teach at the National School of Dance Art, established 55 years ago as a first ballet and dance performers school in Bulgaria. The school is the biggest dance center on the Balkan Peninsula.

At the March 15 session of the Institute for Retired People (IRP) Alan Rothschild, patent model collector and president of Rothschild Co., will share how he became a patent collector and discuss his models, which include models from famous inventors such as Eli Whitney, Christian Steinway and B.F. Goodrich. An inventor himself, Rothschild has two patents for labeling technology.

The Rothschild Petersen Patent Model Museum is the largest privately owned viewable collection of United States Patent Models in the world. Containing nearly 4,000 patent models and related documents, the collection spans America’s Industrial Revolution.

The IRP program runs from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., and is free and open to the public. IRP sessions are held at the First Baptist Church of Syracuse, 5833 E. Seneca Turnpike, Jamesville. For more information, visit http://uc.syr.edu/irp, call 315-443-4846, or e-mail cmkarlho@syr.edu.

IRP is a community program established by University College of Syracuse University, dedicated to the principle of lifelong learning.

At the March 1 session of the Institute for Retired People (IRP) Amy Samuels, education and outreach coordinator at the Onondaga Environmental Institute, will discuss the county’s Save the Rain campaign, which aims to raise public awareness and understanding of what can be done to help reduce stormwater runoff and improve the environment through the use of rain barrels and rain gardens.

Samuels has a bachelor of science degree in general agriculture from Cornell University, a master’s degree in education from Syracuse University and a master’s degree in forest biology from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. She has been involved in water resources education in Central New York for 15 years.

The IRP program runs from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., and is free and open to the public. IRP sessions are held at the First Baptist Church of Syracuse, 5833 East Seneca Turnpike, Jamesville. For more information, call 315-443-4846 or e-mail cmkarlho@syr.edu.

The Onondaga Citizens League (OCL) is offering a series of informational seminars focused on the design and development of cities, including a historical perspective on how Syracuse took shape. Participants will learn what led to Syracuse’s street layouts, neighborhood patterns and well known properties and how they have changed over time. The importance of sound urban design practices as a means of fostering a strong, positive community image will also be discussed, with an emphasis on how details—within public space or private buildings—contribute to the collective image of the city.

The five sessions will be conducted by Christine Capella-Peters from the New York State Historic Preservation Office; George Curry, Department of Landscape Architecture, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry; and Dennis Connors, from the Onondaga Historical Association. The seminars will include three Saturday walking tours that will allow participants to examine real-life examples of the discussion topics. The five Thursday sessions take place from 7-8:30 p.m. on March 29, April 12 and 26, and May 10 and 24.

All programs are free but registration is required. Registration deadline is March 15. Class size is limited. For complete details on the seminars and to fill out an application online, visit onondagacitizensleague.org, email ocl@syr.edu, or call 315-443-4846.

Onondaga Citizens League (OCL), in partnership with University College (UC) of Syracuse University, is designed to promote citizen education and involvement in public affairs.

At the Feb. 16 session of the Institute for Retired People (IRP), Carol Faulkner, associate professor and chair of the Department of History at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, will discuss Lucretia Mott and the Seneca Falls Convention.

Mott, a Quaker minister who was dubbed by fellow suffragists as the “moving spirit” of the 1848 women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, may have been one of the most famous, yet little known, figures in the suffragist movement.

Faulkner, whose specialty is 19th-century America, U.S. women, gender, sexuality and social movements, received a Ph.D. from Binghamton University. She is the author of several articles and books including, “Lucretia Mott’s Heresy: Abolition and Women’s Rights in Nineteenth-Century America;” “Women in American History to 1880: A Documentary Reader,” and “Women’s Radical Reconstruction: The Freedmen’s Aid Movement.”

The IRP program runs from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., and is free and open to the public. IRP sessions are held at the First Baptist Church of Syracuse, 5833 East Seneca Turnpike, Jamesville. For more information, call 443-4846 or e-mail cmkarlho@syr.edu.