For the past 30 years Pinto Ferreira has been intensely involved in the develop-ment of modern jazz dance, first as a professional dancer and choreographer and then, after a rewarding international career, as a teacher and lecturer.
With exceptional training by dance specialists such as Ken Yeatman, Sonje Mayo, Debbie Rakusin and Andre van der Nest and invaluable exposure to international masters, he has recently taken a lifetime of dance experience and transformed it into a curriculum so that young dancers can be trained to become skilled professional performers.
In collaboration with other specialists in dance he developed a 10-level examination system starting with an introductory entry level (age 6/7) and concluding at an advanced level with the possibility of completing three teacher examinations.
He says it is not another modern syllabus. It has a progressive technical approach and stresses both technical proficiency and performance. Jazz and modern dance are worlds apart. Jazz has a unique vibrancy and showmanship as focus points, with a multitude of exciting stylistic variations.
“It prepares a dancer for a career in showbusiness. Dancers who have completed a modern syllabus are more prone to join contemporary companies as aspirant dancers. Proper jazz training Is, however, definitely a prerequisite for a successful career in show-dance entertainment.”
The syllabus has a stringent technical core, based on ballet and contemporary technique (such as Graham and Horton), with a rigorous application of the fundamentals of jazz dance that prepare the dancer for a professional career in musical theatre and showbusiness.
If you are a modern teacher (in a system such as AIDT or Sadta) or you are a professionally trained dancer who wants to teach, you are invited to join Jazz-Ed.
Starting the first weekend next month, Jazz-Ed offers a five-weekend workshop (Saturday mornings) in which those who want to teach will be trained to teach the first four introductory levels.
On completion they will be issued with an Introductory Teacher’s Certificate.
Follow-up workshops will be held during the course of the year.
The course will be presented at Hoërskool Centurion’s dance studio in Pretoria. It will start on March 2 and will run for five consecutive Saturdays between 9am and noon.
• Contact Teri at 076 434 0544 or at [email protected] for more details and an application form. To speak to Pinto, you can contact him at 074 358 9613 or at the same e-mail address.