Melanie Bales
Melanie Bales first studied Laban Movement Analysis with Bill Evans and Gregg Lizenberry in the early 80s. In 1993, she organized an extension certification program at OSU, receiving her CMA from the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in 1994. She co-taught for several years with OSU Professor Emerita Vera Maletic, and has presented with Maletic at conferences. She currently teaches two courses in the area in the Department: Dance Dynamics, an overview of Laban's Effort theory with a studio emphasis for choreographers and performers; and Laban Movement Analysis, a course which introduces Body, Effort and Space as a framework for applying to creative activity and research. Bales has used LMA as a mode of inquiry in writing, particularly as it applies to style analysis and in dance training, including ballet. Her articles have appeared in the CORD proceedings and in the Journal of Dance Education, and have been presented at dance organizations including CORD, ICKL, NDEO and several interdisciplinary conferences. Her book, "The Body Eclectic: Evolving Practices in Dance Training," co-edited by Rebecca Nettl-Fiol, features several articles using the LMA perspective and will be available Autumn 2007 through the University of Illinois Press.
John Giffin
Professor Giffin teaches ballet, composition, notation and repertory for the Department of Dance at OSU. He has danced with Les Grands Ballets Canadians in Montreal and has toured with the Heritage Dance Theater. He co-produced AN EVENING WITH IGOR, choreographic works set to music of Stravinsky. He created LAST SONGS for the 1991 Cleveland Performance Art Festival and was commissioned by the Wexner Center for the Arts to create THE FALL RIVER FOLLIES. Professor Giffin has received grants from the Ohio Arts Council, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and the OSU Office of Research, as well as Choreographic Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Greater Columbus Arts Council.
Sheila Marion, PhD (Extension Director)
Professor Marion serves as director of the Dance Notation Bureau Extension for Education and Research at OSU. Her curent research is in the application of computer technology for dance notation. Professor Marion is an elected fellow of the International Council of Kinetography Laban, and was selected by Ann Hutchinson Guest as a consultant for her Advanced Labanotation textbook. She currently serves on the ICKL Research Panel. Professor Marion has notated Daniel Nagrin's JAZZ THREE WAYS and JAZZ DANCE STYLES, Marion Scott's SEVENFOLD, and TAP DANCE: A DICTIONARY OF TAP STEPS IN LABANOTATION. Her directing credits include works by Ruth Currier, Doris Humphrey, Sophie Maslow, buzz Miller, Marion Scott, Anna Sokolow, and Helen Tamiris.
Valarie Mockabee
The work of Professor Mockabee has centered on the kinesthetic and recorded realization of movement in the body. This involves working with the Labanotation system and includes directing dance works from scores, performing works from score, and recording works in Labanotation. Professor Mockabee has toured with Lincoln Center Tour Programs, has set works from score and choreographed ballets for the national ballet companies of Peru and Ecuador, Jakarta International School of Indonesia, and the Arts Magnet High School in Dallas, Texas. She has notated works by Beverly Blossom, William Forsythe, Bebe Miller, and John Mead.
Odette Blum (Emerita)
Odette Blum received her early dance training in Scotland with Margaret Morris and was a member of the Celtic Ballet. In New York City she studied at the New Dance Group Studios (on scholarship), Metropolitan Opera Ballet School, the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, the Nona Schurman Studio, and the Dance Notation Bureau. As a professional notator, she has notated a number of dance scores including Massine's Three Cornered Hat and served as notation consultant for the staging of Gower Champion's dances for Carnival at the New York City Center. She has directed works by Bettis, Jooss, Humphrey, Lampert, Limon, Maslow, Sokolow, and Tamiris. She has taught at the Dance Notation Bureau, the High School of Performing Arts in New York City, the Juilliard School, and the University of Ghana.Her publications include dance scores of Scottish Dances, Doris Humphrey's Water Study, and a Dance Perspectives Monograph #56 Dance in Ghana. She is a fellow of the International Council of Kinetography Laban (ICKL) and has served as Secretary of the organization for a number of years. She has taught and directed the Labanotation Teacher Certification Course at OSU. She was Director of the Dance Notation Bureau Extension from 1981 until her retirement in 1995.
Vera Maletic (Emerita)
Vera Maletic, professor emerita, has been teaching and conducting research at OSU from 1977 until 2000. She introduced several new courses, including three based on Laban's framework: Foundation of Labananalysis, Space Harmony, and Dance Dynamics. With John Giffin, she also co-taught Analysis of Choreographic Style. She prepared the "Workbook for Dance Dynamics: Effort and Phrasing" with a DVD companion that illustrates the concepts for the course in Dance Dynamics. Discussions with colleagues Odette Blum and Lucy Venable about phrasing annotations of Labanotation scores greatly contributed to elaborations off the above text. In addition she presented various applications of Phrasing annotations of scores at ICKL Conferences published in the l983, l987, 1989,1991 and 2001 Proceedings.
Lucy Venable (Emerita)
After graduating with a B.A. from Wellesley College as a Spanish major, Lucy Venable spent twenty years in New York City where she studied dance, primarily with José Limón, Doris Humphrey, Margaret Craske, and Alfredo Corvino. She became certified by the Dance Notation Bureau as a Labanotation teacher and Labanotator and taught Labanotation and Limón technique at the Juilliard School and Connecticut College Summer School of Dance. Venable performed with the José Limón Company (1957–1963), touring in the United States, Europe, Central and South America, and the Far East. For five years, she was the rehearsal director for the Merry-Go-Rounders, a dance company which performed for children. From 1961–1967 she directed the Dance Notation Bureau (DNB) in New York City. In 1968, she came to The Ohio State University where she taught dance fundamentals, Labanotation, repertory, and Alexander Technique. She founded the Dance Notation Bureau Extension for Education and Research, and was its Director for 12 years. Venable collaborated with Scott Sutherland on the development of the software program LabanWriter, a project she continues with David Ralley since her retirement in 1992. She is Vice President of the International Council of Kinetography Laban (ICKL), serves on the Board of Directors and Board of Examiners of the Dance Notation Bureau, and is treasurer of Alexander Technique International (A.T.I.)