HISTORY

Pentacle began developing programs for New York City public schools in 1988, expanding its services to the performing arts community to include its youngest members, those just beginning to discover their love for dance and to think about the role of the arts in their lives. Through Educational Programming, Pentacle builds on its experience and expertise working with professionals to teach young dancers about the business skills needed for success in the field and to help them understand the possibilities for careers that incorporate their passions. Our commitment to these students has been to inform and prepare them for the role dance can play in their lives moving forward, and to teach them the entrepreneurial skills they can apply in the dance world, or in any field.

Behind the Scenes has been in successful partnerships with New York City schools since 2003. 2009-2010 marks the seventh year of Pentacle’s Behind the Scenes partnership with Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Long Island City, Queens and fifth year with Gramercy Arts High School in Union Square, Manhattan.

The Hunter College Dance Program has partnered with Pentacle since 2005 to offer Exploring Opportunities to its dance program and college students and recent alumni throughout New York City.

The New York City Department of Education recognized Pentacle as a leading cultural partner through an invitation to design the career exploration curriculum for its Summer Arts Institute (SAI) in 2005. Pentacle created A Life in the Arts a multi-disciplinary look at careers in the arts.

Pentacle is a member of the New York City Arts in Education Roundtable, the New York State Alliance for Arts Education, Americans for the Arts, and Arts Education Partnership.

PEOPLE

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING ADVISORY BOARD

Felicia Rosenfeld

Chair

Arts Consultant

Amy Cassello

Director of Institutional Support

Dance Theater Workshop

Jennifer Dore Russo
Managing Director,
Sonenshine Partners

Joseph Giardina
Director of Education,
The New Victory Theater

Aebra Hochman
Media & Marketing Consultant

Harriet Taub
Director,
Materials for the Arts

Shanti Wargo
Booking Coordinator,
Live Nation Latin America

D I R E C T O R O F E D U C A T I O N A L P R O G R A M M I N G

Sahar Javedani joined Pentacle as the Director of Educational Programming in Fall 2010. She is also a New York City based choreographer, teacher and arts administrator. Javedani has a Master of Fine Arts in Choreography and Integrated Media from California Institute of the Arts and a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and Theater from Hollins University. Javedani has served as Membership and Finance Manager at The Field and as Lead Teaching Artist with Learning thru an Expanded Arts Program specializing in World Music/Dance and Yoga residencies. Javedani is Artistic Director of compani javedani and has completed several artistic residencies including two years as Artist-in-Residence at Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Voice & Vision Envision Retreat and Lab, Dance Theater Workshop’s Fresh Tracks Performance and Residency Program and most recently Dance Theater Workshop’s Studio Series. As part of the Pentacle team, Javedani will contribute her numerous talents and vast experience to strengthen educational programming for dance’s future generations of performers, technicians, administrators and enthusiasts.

C A R E E R M E N T O R S

Mary Suk Educator, choreographer and modern dancer, Mary Suk holds a MA in Dance and Dance Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and a BA in English from Dartmouth College. She has created and performed her work in New York at venues including Joe’s Pub, the DanceNOW NYC Festival, the 92nd St. Y, the Joyce SoHo, Merce Cunningham Studio and Aaron Davis Hall. As a dancer, she has performed with Claire Porter and jill sigman/thinkdance. She spends the rest of her time as a Teaching Artist for New York City Ballet, Center for Kinesthetic Education, and Lotus Music & Dance.

C H O R E O G R A P H Y M E N T O R S

Anne-Sophie Rodriguez was born in France and started her studies there before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area. She spent most of her training at the San Francisco Ballet School with such renowned teachers as Larisa Sklyanskaya, Irina Jacobson, and Jorge Esquivel. She later graduated from Boston Ballet School having studied with Madame Tatiana Legat, and joined BBII where she performed in Boston Ballet’s expansive repertoire. She has also performed with such companies as Tulsa Ballet, The Norwegian National Ballet, The Metropolitan Opera Ballet, and Ballet Internationale.

Wendell Tyler Cooper is an interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Originally from Pittsburgh, he is a graduate of the George Washington University where he focused on the synthesis of contemporary dance, urban dance, new media, and religious studies. He has been in residence at Northeast Normal University in Chang Chun, China for the First International Modern Dance Master Class, Djerassi Resident Artists Program in California, at the GoDown Center in Nairobi, Kenya as a Cultural Envoy of the U.S. State Department, and at the Isadora Festival in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. He has worked with nicholasleichterdance, the Maida Withers Dance Construction Company, Erick Hawkins Dance Company, Grisha Coleman, and the Magpie Music Dance Company. Wendell performs solo as Specimen, as an interdisciplinary band, Sea Glass, and with Yozmit at The Box.