Tag: dallas

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Dance

SMU Dance Ranks High on the List of Best BFA in Dance Performance Programs

Photo by Paul Phillips

The blog OnStage ranked SMU Meadows School of the Arts’ division of dance number three in the list of the top 10 B.F.A. dance programs in the United States. Last year, our dance bachelor of fine arts program reached number seven on the same list.

From OnStage’s list:

In addition to campus facilities, students also have opportunities to dance in professional Dallas arts district venues such as the fabulous Winspear Opera House, Annette Strauss Square, Montgomery Arts Theatre at Booker T. Washington HSPVA and the new City Performance Hall. Features a partnership with Texas Ballet Theater, the largest, critically acclaimed, fully professional resident classical ballet company of North Texas, serving more than 100,000 individuals from diverse communities across North Texas.

The Division of Dance offers professional dance training within the context of a comprehensive liberal arts education. The goal is to develop the disciplined, versatile dance artist through a balanced study of ballet, modern dance and jazz dance techniques, complemented and reinforced by a broad range of theoretical studies and performance opportunities. The program provides an atmosphere in which students are nurtured and stimulated in their quest for artistic achievement, technical mastery and scholarly excellence.

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Communications MPrint

A Trip to Uganda Inspired Brittany Merrill Underwood to Change Hundreds of Women’s Lives–And Her Own

At her flagship Akola store near SMU, Brittany Merrill Underwood ’06 showcases jewelry created by women in Uganda through the Akola Project. The sustainable impact program has empowered the lives of hundreds of women.

Story by Leslie Barker

Brittany Merrill Underwood’s life changed – completely, thoroughly, astonishingly – the summer she was 19, an age that now seems head-shakingly young. “I was the most selfish, spoiled SMU sorority girl,” she says on a recent March afternoon, sitting outside Akola, the store in Snider Plaza that fulfills a dream she didn’t know she had. “I was going to parties and trying to show up in class. My heart was empty; now it’s full.”

A dozen years later, she’s long ago lost count of the times she’s crisscrossed the globe. And how could she possibly number the lives of women she’s touched and changed for the better? Yahoo named her “Person of the Year” in 2014; during those same 12 months, she was asked to join the elite mentoring class for the Laura Bush Women’s Initiative. Clothing manufacturer Levi Strauss  honored her as one of 50 women internationally who have changed the political, cultural and spiritual shape of the future. She’s made appearances on Katie Couric’s show as well as on CNN’s Young People Who Rock. She received SMU’s Emerging Leader Award, the Dallas Women’s Foundation Young Leader Award and was a finalist for the 2016 Global Business & Interfaith Peace Award from the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation. Most recently, she received a $75,000 United Way award in Dallas. 

Continue reading “A Trip to Uganda Inspired Brittany Merrill Underwood to Change Hundreds of Women’s Lives–And Her Own”

Categories
Theatre

Watch: The Student-Made Teaser for SMU Theatre’s The Rep

Scene from the 2014 performance in SMU Theatre’s The Rep

Every year in SMU Meadows Division of Theatre, three contemporary American plays are presented in rotation over a two-week period. It’s called “The Rep,” and it’s a staple of the student experience in our theatre program.

To tease the shows, Meadows student Marcus Piñon created a two-minute teaser:

Continue reading “Watch: The Student-Made Teaser for SMU Theatre’s The Rep”
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Ignite Arts Dallas Meadows Prize Photos We Love

15 Can’t Miss Photos from Public Works Dallas’ The Tempest

tempest shakespeare smu
Photographer Kim Leeson captured the groundbreaking, participatory theater project

Dallas Theater Center and SMU Meadows / Ignite Arts Dallas, in association with the AT&T Performing Arts Center, presented a musical theatre production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, a community participation project conceived by Lear deBessonet and directed by Kevin Moriarty, with book, music and lyrics by Todd Almond.

Photographer Kim Leeson was on set to capture the moving moments. These are our favorite shots.

Continue reading “15 Can’t Miss Photos from Public Works Dallas’ The Tempest”
Categories
Music

12 Stunning Photos from SMU Meadows Opera’s Elixir of Love

Photos by Kim Leeson

Cancel your Valentine’s Day plans: We have an opera for you.

This February weekend at SMU, the Meadows Opera Theatre will present a vivid performance of Elixir of Love at the Bob Hope Theatre. There’s love-potion, a snake-oil salesman, irresistible melodies and sparkling wit. This is the Valentine’s Day date you’re looking for in Dallas. The Meadows Opera Orchestra will be along for the ride, as conducted by Paul Phillips.

Get Tickets | Call 214.768.2787

Never underestimate the power of true love and a little cheap Bordeaux.

Here’s a teaser of the show (all photos by Kim Leeson):