BayDance.com A Ballet and Modern Dance Information Resource
Who's dancing what, when and where around
San Francisco BayPress Release from LINES Ballet
Alonzo King's LINES Ballet announces appointment of
Barry C. Hessenius as new Executive Director12 April 2005 -- San Francisco, CA: Alonzo King's LINES Ballet announces the appointment of Barry C. Hessenius as LINES Ballet's new Executive Director. Mr. Hessenius assumed his new role beginning on Monday, March 21, 2005.
"Barry Hessenius is a dynamic and experienced leader who is passionate, creative and practical in his support of the arts. I am looking forward to working with him to continue the extraordinary growth of our company, school and dance center," says Alonzo King.
"One rarely gets the chance to work with an artist that is widely regarded as a true master. Alonzo stands with Alvin Ailey, Twyla Tharp and other modern dance masters, and I am thrilled to be a part of helping to take this company forward as it expands its international reputation," says Barry Hessenius.
LINES Ballet Executive Director Barry Hessenius
Barry Hessenius has served as Director of the California Arts Council, appointed by Governor Gray Davis in March 2000. Mr. Hessenius was previously the CEO of the California Assembly of Local Arts Agencies, a statewide service provider organization for 250 local arts councils. He has been an advisor to the National Policy Committee of Americans for the Arts and the President's Committee for the Arts & Humanities, during the Clinton administration. He has been a board member of the California Arts Advocates, the National Association of State Arts Agencies, California Alliance for Arts Educators, the Marin Community Playhouse, and a member of the State Superintendent's Task Force on Arts Education. He has authored several studies including the California Arts Advocacy Handbook, the Local Arts Agency Funding Study for the Aspen Institute, and the City Arts Agency Tool Kit. He has recently completed a book on Nonprofit Advocacy for publication in 2005.Mr. Hessenius received his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and his J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law. He represented clients in the music and television industries from 1971 to 1983, was President of a private sector company brokering satellite time from 1983 to 1992. In 1993 he won the oxymoronic Funniest Lawyer in San Francisco competition.
Alonzo King's LINES Ballet / San Francisco Dance Center
Founded in San Francisco in 1982, Alonzo King's LINES Ballet has received international recognition for choreographic innovation, unusual collaborations, and brilliant dancers. In May 1994 LINES became one of the resident companies at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. In the same year, the Company launched a major initiative to expand the involvement of world-renowned artists in the creation of new work. In addition to the Company's home seasons in San Francisco, LINES Ballet tours throughout the United States and abroad. In December 2004, LINES Ballet performed eight sold-out shows during the 25th anniversary season of the Maison de la Danse in Lyon, France, as well as at the International Tanzwochen in Neuss, Germany.In February 1989, LINES founded the San Francisco Dance Center under the direction of Alonzo King. The Center, located at 26 Seventh Street (at Market Street), serves as a resource for the broad Bay Area dance community, and has become the largest public dance space on the West Coast. San Francisco Dance Center offers over 100 classes per week in six spacious studios to over 2,000 adult students of all technical levels. San Francisco Dance Center hosts a variety of classes and workshops in a diverse range of dance disciplines (ballet, modern, jazz, flamenco, samba, yoga, Feldenkrais and body alignment), in addition to providing facilities for many San Francisco-based dance companies, choreographers, and instructors.
In 2001 LINES founded the LINES Ballet School. The cornerstone that shapes the training philosophy at LINES Ballet School is that art is within the artist. We believe that each individual has a singularly unique voice. Our aim is to strengthen and hone that interior voice in each student, while establishing in them a deep-seated dance foundation. LBS teaches movement as a science that extracts the best attributes of all dance forms with ballet (western classical dance) as our mainstay.
- For more information, visit www.linesballet.org -
January February March April May June July
August September October November December
Background photo © 1999 Michael W. Phelan
Michael
W. Phelan,