REGALIA Offers 5 Aspiring Choreographers The Chance To Create Work For RDT

Repertory Dance Theatre celebrates 54 years of revolutionary modern dance with their annual fundraiser and choreographer competition, REGALIA, on March 7, 2020, at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center. The competition brings five talented and aspiring choreographers the chance to win a commission for RDT in the 2020-2021 season.

This year, RDT is thrilled to have Chelsea Ainsworth, Rachel Barker, Justin Bass, Brooklyn Draper, and Stephanie Zaletel competing for votes from audience members to be awarded a chance to create a new commission for RDT's 2020-2021 season.

Chelsea Ainsworth is the Executive Director of Arts on Site and is a graduate of the Dance Department of The Juilliard School. She has worked with Johannes Wieland/StaadtstheaterKassel in Germany, Lorena Egan, Flexicure, Amber Sloan, Bryn Cohn + Artists and was on the modern/ballet dance faculty at Cap21 musical theater school and Chen Dance Center. Currently, she is dancing with The Bang Group, as well as ZviDance. Ainsworth was originally selected during the REGALIA 2019 process but was unable to make it.

Rachel Barker, a native of Salt Lake City, Utah, received an MFA in Dance from The Ohio State University ('15) where she was a three-year Distinguished Fellow, and an MA in Teaching from Westminster College ('08). Barker completed a BFA in Dance at the University of Utah. Her choreographic work has been presented at various venues throughout the country. She has danced for artists Bebe Miller, John Jasperse, Lisa Race, Keith Johnson, and Donna Uchizono, among others. Her current research lies at the intersection of dance and the outside world, manifest through site-specific work, re-imaginings of the traditional stage space, and engagement with community, as she investigates improvisation both as performance and process.

Justin Bass is from East Cleveland, Ohio and attended Kent State University and majored in Dance Education in 2009. In 2011 he transferred to SUNY Brockport and graduated in 2013 with his BFA in Dance. During his time at SUNY Brockport he was a touring and performing intern with Garth Fagan Dance, performing at renowned stages including The Joyce Theater. Justin was a former dancer for five seasons (2013-2018) with Repertory Dance Theatre. He currently resides in Brooklyn, NY where he is continuing his choreography, teaching at 92nd Street Y and working for The Wallace Foundation.

Brooklyn Draper is a performer, choreographer, educator, and researcher currently residing in Missoula, MT. She received her MFA from the University of Utah in 2019 and in 2012 she received a Post-Graduate degree from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance in London, UK. Brooklyn's choreographic work has been shown nationally and internationally. While attending the University of Utah, Brooklyn received a Certification as a Laban Movement Analyst through the Integrated Studies program. Brooklyn was the recipient of the Sally Fitt Award Spring 2018 from the University of Utah and was also awarded the prestigious University Teaching Assistantship to design and teach her own course. Brooklyn is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor in the School of Theatre & Dance at the University of Montana.

Originally from Las Vegas, NV Stephanie Zaletel is a choreographer, dancer, mentor, wife, and educator currently working from Los Angeles, CA. Her choreography has been commissioned for various music videos, short films, colleges, institutions, and collaborations. Zaletel began her career dancing for Barak Marshall, Colin Connor (Artistic Director, Limon), and Danielle Agami (Artistic Director, Ate9) before officially forming Stephanie Zaletel | szalt in 2015. She holds a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography with a minor in Humanities from California Institute of the Arts.

REGALIA ticket holders are invited to arrive at 6:30 pm wearing their finest 1920s garb (not required, but encouraged) to watch these talented choreographers at work. Choreographers begin working at 2:00 pm, so audience members will see the choreographers' final touches. While they wander the studios, audience members will enjoy a lively pre-show cocktail party with heavy hors d'oeuvres and cocktails from Utah Food Services and be invited to bid on extravagant silent auction packages.

Everyone will enter the theatre at 8:00 pm to see each newly completed piece performed. Afterward, audience members will vote using "bidding paddles" in the theatre to raise money for a commission to be completed next season as well as for RDT's celebrated free school outreach that will reach over 50,000 students and teachers in Utah every year.

Afterward, all are invited on to the Jeanne Wagner stage to enjoy delectable desserts from Utah Food Services and dance the night away to the sounds of the Joe Muscolino Band. The commission will be awarded at 10 pm on stage.

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