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Jeff Szuhay
Last updated at 12:02 pm UTC on 16 January 2006
E-mail: jeff@szuhay.org
Home page (such as it is): http://www.szuhay.org
Location: Oakmont, Penna. 40°31'16"N 79°49'32"W


My Mission

In the "third phase of my life," I entered the computering field with BS in Computer Science from the Univ. of Pittsburgh in 1988. Since that time I have been acting in a wide variety of roles within the field. My favorites have been explaining technology to the uninitiated; programming and using Macintosh computers; and large systems analysis/optimization.

In the "second phase," I studied classical dance from 1977 to 1983 in New York City under John Barker. In 1983 I completed Mr. Barker's Pedagogical Training Course where the graduated 8-year program was detailed; I had been living them out in my daily ballet lessons under Mr. Barker's direction. In 1981 and 1985 I traveled to the then Soviet Union to see the IV and V International Ballet Competition in Moscow. This phase ended rather abruptly but did include a few performances for a small Colorado regional ballet company.

In the "first phase," I grew up (learned how little I knew about life).

So combining the latter two phases of my life, my mission is to create a virtual world with music and dancers to illustrate the language of classical dance and the highly developed method for teaching it.

The aim of this project is to present one or two dancers being rendered in real time "driven" both by a musical score and by the language of classical dance. It would thus bridge the gap between the verbal expression of classical dance and its actual performance in a way that has not before been easily accessible.

Squeak seems to be the best environment to develop this as it has nearly all of the basic piece either in place or nearly so.


About Classical Dance

Classical dance is the language of the classical ballets: Swan Lake, Giselle, La Sylphide, Sleeping Beauty, etc. For a better definition, see http://www.classicaldance.com

The School of Classical Dance was originally developed by Vaganova and was brought to maturity by Kostrovitskaya, Pisarev, and many, many others. Classical dance has transcended its national roots and has become truly international, embracing and extending the "ballet periods" of the French School, the Italian School, and the Russian School. It is the highest and most developed expression of all of these. Sadly, it is largely unknown and unavailable in this country.

The structure and methodical development found in the school of classical dance is often startling to most dancers and dance instructors. Yet, this method has been developed, tested, and proven over the last 80 or so years – a very short time in the history of art!

8-)