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Margaret Moreno, a senior at Corcoran High School, has attended SU’s Summer Dance Intensive Program for three years. She is so dedicated to her art that at age 15, she cashed in her $1,000 life savings to pay the tuition to attend the program.

This year Moreno, who has been accepted at SUNY Brockport in the fall as a dance major, received a full scholarship from a newly created Jenni-Lyn Watson Memorial Fund established at the Central New York Community Foundation (CNYCF). Jenni-Lyn Watson’s life was tragically cut short last November when she returned home to Clay from college for the Thanksgiving holiday. Watson was a dance major at Mercyhurst College, and a company member of SoMar Dance Works.

The Watson family established the fund to create opportunities for local dance students who have a passion for dance but cannot afford specialized training. “We should all be so lucky to find half the passion for something in our lives like Jenni-Lyn had for dance,” Jenni-Lyn’s mother, Jackie Watson, told the Community Foundation. “We will use this fund to ensure that financial barriers don’t stop other dancers from achieving their dreams.”

“This is my fourth year attending the SU Summer Dance Intensive Program, and I’ve always had to scrounge for money,” says Moreno. “Now more than ever it was crucial that I find the financial support to attend the program in order to prepare for college.”

Moreno has been dancing since she was 11 years old. She says that compared to other dance programs, she has learned and grown the most by far at SU’s. “I feel each year I leave the program with a stronger technique and sense of where I stand as a dancer compared to other dancers around the country, and in some instances, around the world,” says Moreno.

Moreno says that although her initial payment of $1,000 was one of the greatest investments she ever made, she hasn’t been able to recover the money in order to finance this year’s program. “It’s an amazing thing that the Watsons are doing for other young dancers,” she says.

“This is how Jenni-Lyn would have wanted to be remembered—by helping those in our region who have a love for dance, but don’t have the same opportunities she did to attend formal arts schooling,” Jackie Watson says. “This fund will help us carry on her love for people, dance and life.”

Syracuse University’s Dance Intensive Program, administered through University College, prepares aspiring dancers to meet the challenges of today’s dance world. Students take daily technique classes in ballet, modern and jazz in an intense conservatory environment. With its emphasis on technical growth and artistic performance, the training these students receive develops and refines their technique and broadens their understanding of what it means to be a dancer. The program culminates with a free, public performance on Saturday, July 30, at 1 p.m. at Syracuse Stage.

For more information, visit the Summer Dance Intensive web site at http://www.yesu.syr.edu/students/current/courses/ballet/index.htm.

Two dancers from Bulgaria will arrive at Syracuse University in July to study with world-renowned faculty during the three-week Summer Dance Intensive Program, which is administered by University College. 

Greta Georgieva, a 19-year-old classical ballet student, has been studying since she was 11 years old. Georgieva is a graduate of the State Dance Art School in Ruse, Bulgaria, and now works with the State Opera of Ruse. She has participated in performances of “Swan Lake,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Giselle” and “The Nutcracker,” while touring with the Ruse Opera in Spain and Italy. 

Kiril Filipov, also 19, is a native of Sofia, Bulgaria. He recently graduated from the National School of Dance Art, specializing in classical ballet, and took part in national and international ballet competitions in Bulgaria. He has participated in the summer course at Ballet Chicago, along with 14 other students from the Bulgarian National School of Dance. 

Danita Emma, the artistic director of Syracuse University’s Dance Intensive program, was invited to teach last fall at the National Ballet of Bulgaria in Sofia through a recommendation made by her assistant director, Bulgarian native Momchil Mladenov.

Mladenov, a former principal dancer with the National Ballet, is now a principal with the Suzanne Farrell Ballet and is part of the faculty for SU’s dance program. 

During her time in Sofia, Emma established a relationship with the Iliev Foundation, an internationally focused organization dedicated to providing young dancers with special opportunities to train with established professionals in an intense and stimulating environment. Emma has been invited to return to Bulgaria this month to teach company classes for the Cultural Bridges Festival, a collaboration between the National Ballet of Bulgaria and the Suzanne Farrell Ballet of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. 

“The foundation was impressed with the summer dance program at Syracuse University and my teaching, and offered scholarships to two students to attend. Through their generous sponsorship, these two students will be enriched through a cultural and artistic exchange,” says Emma.  

“I want to continue ballet dancing, to practice and improve my skills,” says Georgieva. “I hope that opportunities will open up to dance on international stages and I get to know other ballet schools.” 

Filipov’s ambitions after graduation are to continue his dance training at established dance institutions and to enroll in college to study dance. 

Syracuse University’s Dance Intensive Program prepares aspiring dancers to meet the challenges of today’s dance world.  Students take daily technique classes in ballet, modern and jazz in an intense conservatory environment. With its emphasis on technical growth and artistic performance, the training these students receive develops and refines their technique and broadens their understanding of what it means to be a dancer. The program culminates with a free, public performance on Saturday, July 30, at 1 p.m. at Syracuse Stage. 

For more information, visit the Summer Dance Intensive web site at http://www.yesu.syr.edu/students/current/courses/ballet/index.htm.

The Preservation Association of Central New York (PACNY) awarded the Onondaga Citizens League and the Syracuse Downtown Committee its Tender Loving Care Award in recognition of the outstanding work on the Syracuse Downtown Living Tour. The Onondaga Citizens League is administered and supported by University College of Syracuse University.

The Onondaga Citizens League was instrumental in organizing and executing the first Syracuse Downtown Living Tour, which took place in 2007. The fifth tour is scheduled for this Saturday, May 21, from noon-6 p.m. The Downtown Committee of Syracuse continued the effort and now organizes the annual event.

“This honor is in recognition of the outstanding work on the Syracuse Downtown Living Tour, and exceptional achievement in promoting historic, neighborhood revitalization,” says Michael Flusche, president of the board of directors of PACNY. “As one of the major institutions in the city, the Onondaga Citizens League, by its actions, helps set the tone and the expectations for the community. OCL is demonstrating the wisdom of holding onto and enhancing our architectural patrimony.”

The Onondaga Citizens League (OCL) is designed contribute to community change through civic education. OCL was organized in 1978 as a way to spur communication, connect community resources and influence public policy.

University College’s community programs serve as a bridge between the academic purposes of the University and the interests and needs of the community. For more information, visit: http://www.uc.syr.edu/Community/index.html or http://onondagacitizensleague.org/About/index.html.

Onondaga Citizens League (OCL) will award the 2011 Levi L. Smith Civic Education Award to 40 Below at the OCL annual meeting, to be held at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo on Wednesday, June 8, at noon. 40 Below is an organization created to connect, engage and empower young adults in Central New York.

Kathy Goldfarb-Findling, former executive director of the Gifford Foundation, will also receive special recognition for promoting civic engagement.

The keynote speaker is David Holder, president of the Syracuse Convention and Visitors Bureau. Holder will discuss the need for Syracuse to transform and reinvent itself in order to recognize continued growth and economic development in Syracuse and Onondaga County.

The event is open to the public; however, registration is required. To register by the May 31 deadline, visit http://onondagacitizensleague.org/ or call 443-4846 for more information.

The Onondaga Citizens League, administered and supported by University College of Syracuse University, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization designed to promote citizen education and involvement in public affairs. UC’s community programs serve as a bridge between the academic purposes of the University and the interests and needs of the community. For more information, visit: http://www.uc.syr.edu/Community/index.html.

Thomas Welch, professor and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at SUNY Upstate Medical University, will present “Exploitation, Exploration and Expeditioning: Three Men, Their Mountains and the Birth of the American Wilderness Movement” at the May 19 session of  the Institute for Retired Professionals (IRP).

Welch will discuss the history of the American wilderness movement through three New Yorkers in the Adirondacks—David Henderson, Verplank Colvin and Bob Marshall. Marshall is a graduate of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and the person after whom Marshall Square is named.

Welch received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University, and his medical degree from McGill University in Montreal. He attended the University of Colorado in Denver for his residency in pediatrics and training in pediatric nephrology.

After a few years practicing as a general pediatrician in upstate New York, Welch returned to academia to complete his training in pediatric nephrology at SUNY Upstate in Syracuse. He then moved to Cincinnati to become assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati, and a staff pediatric nephrologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

In 2001, Welch returned to New York to become professor and chair of pediatrics at the SUNY Upstate, where he has grown the department substantially, and led the effort at building the Upstate Golisano Children’s hospital.

Welch also has a “second career” in outdoor education. He is a licensed professional guide, and regularly guides groups on backcountry treks in areas as diverse as the New York Adirondacks, Montana and Alaska. He is on the national advisory board of the Wilderness Education Association, and is a certifying instructor for that organization. He regularly teaches wilderness skills courses through the Denali Education Center, a not-for-profit educational program in Alaska.

IRP, established by University College of Syracuse University, provides opportunities for retired people to stay intellectually active, to expand interests and make new acquaintances. Presentations are made by SU faculty and specialists within the community.

For more information on this program, call University College of Syracuse University at (315) 443-4846, or visit http://www.yesu.syr.edu/IRP.