Modern dance pioneers like Martha Graham often retreated in the summer to Bennington and Connecticut College to teach and create new works. Similarly, the retreat at Frostburg allows both students and teaching staff to create and study in a peaceful, rural setting. Set in Maryland's beautiful Allegheny Mountains, the campus of Frostburg State University is known for its relaxing atmosphere. In previous years FSU has hosted summer camps for several internationally known organizations such as the Alvin Ailey Dance Company and the Washington Redskins football team. Taught by master teachers and former dancers from the Martha Graham Dance Company in New York, the focus of the Frostburg Summer Dance Retreat is the intensive training program of approximately 50 intermediate and advanced dance students who audition from throughout the country.
Accepted dancers work for four weeks to connect classroom exercise with theatrical expression.
Through intensive study of modern technique and performance of both new and historic pieces from the modern dance repertoire. Included in the curriculum are classes in ballet, yoga, composition, jazz African dance and dance history. After weeks of intensive training, the retreat culminates with a public performance in which students perform on the same stage as professionals from the modern dance community. The programalso included appearances by guest artists from the Anna Sokolow Player's Project performing excerpts from Rooms , and Claire Porter in The Fundraiser . The 2000 program was especially honored by the presence of the legendary Pearl Lang, who taught daily technique and composition classes in addition to restaging an excerpt from her recent masterpiece, American Dance Panel , set to the music of Aaron Copland.