Saturday, August 19, 2017

POPULAR PERFORMERS INSTRUCT MEDIA THEATRE DANCE MACHINE CLASS THIS FALL

The Media Theatre has a new dance class to add to its curriculum for ages 10 and up. It's "The Media Theatre Dance Machine", which begins Sunday September 17 at 10am. It will meet for a total of eight weeks during the fall semester. The instructors are popular Philadelphia performers Ronnie Keller and Kimberly Maxson, both who frequently appear on The Media Theatre stage.

Ronnie Keller says, "We are thrilled to be working together as a team to create a fun, safe, and informative environment where students will learn while having a great time."
Ronnie Keller and Kimberly Maxson, who will instruct the new Media Theatre Dance Machine
"The class will focus on learning the importance of strength, rhythm, musicality, and acting through dance," Kimberly Maxson added. "We will focus on body strengthening through proper warm-ups, while introducing students to core ballet techniques, expanding their musical theatre dance repertoire, and learning to sing as an ensemble while retaining this new information."

The semester is $400 per student, which is the same cost as The Media Theatre's acting classes, and each Sunday the Dance Machine class will meet for 90 minutes. Appropriate attire for the students is active-wear with jazz shoes or tennis shoes.

"The class will culminate to a showcase in which family and friends will be able to see what the students have been learning," Maxson stated. 

Keller summed it up by looking forward to the experience. "We will do our best to teach the class at an appropriate pace based on student experience level and age. We want the students to grow every week with their happiness, development, and progress in mind!"

Ronnie Keller is from Conshohocken and has been involved in musical theatre since the age of 10. He's been in The Media Theatre productions of "Side Show" and "West Side Story".  He started dancing at age 14, continuing his training at Temple University's musical theatre program under Maggie Anderson and numerous other Philadelphia educators. He has also appeared in multiple professional productions at the Walnut Street Theatre, Candlelight Theatre, Broadway Theatre of Pitman, City Theatre Company, Mazeppa Productions, and numerous collegiate productions. Receiving his B.A. in musical theatre in 2016, Ronnie has been consistently performing in the Philadelphia area and is excited to teach what he has the pleasure of doing every day.

Kimberly Maxson is originally from Long Island, New York, and started dancing at the young age of five at the Mulvihill-Lynch School of Irish Dance.  She competed as an Irish Step Dancer for 12 years and was ranked 26th in North America.  She moved to Philadelphia to attend Temple University. It was here under the instruction of her teacher and mentor Maggie Anderson, and many other professors and guest teachers, where Kimberly was introduced to and studied countless styles of dance from Ballet, to Musical Theater Jazz, to African and Polish Folk dancing. Since graduating from Temple, manga cum laude in 2014, with a degree in Musical Theater and minor in Dance, she has been lucky enough to be consistently working in the Philadelphia Theater Community, and at times as a dance captain, in places like the Walnut Street Theatre, the Eagle Theatre, Candlelight Theater, Mazeppa Productions, The Media Theatre, where she was seen in "Gypsy", "A Christmas Story", "Side Show", and "Billy Elliot". She looks forward to sharing her knowledge and to create a safe place where people are free to ask questions and to try new things.

Registrations are currently being accepted for The Media Theatre Dance Machine. To register, call 610-891-0100 or visit mediatheatre.org.







No comments:

Post a Comment

MEDIA THEATRE GALA MARCH 28 FEATURES KEVIN REILLY, RAY DIDINGER, ENTERTAINMENT, AND MORE

Eagles tackle-turned-inspirational speaker will emcee Media Theatre’s star-studded Gala March 28! Auction items feature ‘Dinner with Play...