Katonah Art Center to Offer Dance in Space Vacated by Arts Caravan

Young dancers will have another local option come September. Following the this spring Loren Anderson seized the opportunity to offer dance through the which she founded and now directs.

“I have always wanted to offer dance at the Katonah Art Center and for the Center to be a true multi-arts space for the community. We are aligning classes, so that families with children who take both art and dance will have easier schedules now," she said in a press release.

Anderson plans to refurbish the studio and host a September grand opening. In the meantime, she's working on creating materials, due out later this month, detailing the new dance classes and art offerings for the fall.

Classes to be offered include ballet, point, point prep, hip hop, jazz, tap, lyrical, modern, yoga, tai chi, barre fitness, cardio dance, zumba and exotic chair dancing. A 'multi-arts' option will be available for children who want to spend half of their time in dance and the other in the art studios.

Many of the Arts Caravan instructors will join KAC including Jeri Kansas, dance director. Kansas started her dancing career as a Rockette at the age of nineteen, dancing on the stage of Radio City Music Hall. She has also danced in the original Broadway production of Sugar Babies with Ann Miller and Mickey Rooney, as well as in David Merrick’s hit show 42nd Street.
 
Also from Arts Caravan is hip-hop instructor Jennifer Castle, who has danced for MTV, and VH1, and studied under Janet Jackson’s choreographer and with dancers from the Joffrey Ballet.

“Students become very attached to their teachers—we're glad that so many will be staying at the KAC,” said Anderson. “We have an incredible roster of teachers.”

A new ballet teacher, Lauren Lee Hamilton, will fulfill the role held by Kristen Prescott, according to Anderson. Recommended by Prescott, Hamilton was the soloist for the Northwest Florida Ballet and the Montgomery Ballet Company and now dances as a company member with the Connecticut Ballet.

Anderson plans to offer students credit for deposts they may have already made for lessons elsewhere if they would now prefer to return to their former instructors and dance studio space.

“The Arts Caravan’s closing left a void and left a lot of teachers and students without a home," Anderson said. "I think it’s important to keep continuity for teachers and students.”

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