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Fall 2002 |
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Milestones in Morgan WV native wins Tony Award ORBI Arts Network From the director Arts Action! resource kit A steelworker goes to the ball Arts Mongahela workshop Dancing with two left feet Arts conference inspires new ideas Fellowship winner profile
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Dancing with two left feetThat was the name of a dance workshop presented by Webster County High School’s Jeff Hudkins at the West Virginia State Thespian Festival in 1999. Since then, those two left feet have taken him across the U.S. for three consecutive years to present workshops at the International Thespian Festival held at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, NE. In June, he conducted eight workshops for the 2002 international festival. Hudkins has been teaching in Webster County for 24 years, and serves the high school as the band director, choral director and dance instructor. He also assists with the WCHS Center-Stage Players and thespian productions. During his tenure in Webster County, Hudkins acquired needed choreography skills by taking classes from Greta Oxley at the Summersville Dance School. He also attended any and all dance workshops he could locate. Jeff uses his dance and choreography skills in every area of his teaching: marching band/dance line and flag corps; show choir; dance class; and theater activities. He also works with Fred Channell and the Magnolia Blue Eagle Marching Band as the choreographer and show designer and is very active in the Landmark Players of Sutton as actor, director and choreographer. During his visits to the International Thespian Festival, Hudkins developed and instructed workshops for “non-dancers,” especially teachers, like himself, who found a need to be able to move and to teach or motivate others to move. His “Dance For Those Who Can’t” and “Budget Choreography” workshops have provided many teachers and students with a basic background in movement. Through connections he made last summer at the International Festival, Hudkins was invited to take his workshops on the road again, and in January of 2002 he found himself in Dallas/Fort Worth teaching educators and students at the Texas Educational Theatre Association’s TheatreFest 2002. Think you have two left feet? So did Jeff — and look where they have taken him. Keep dancing and long live the arts in West Virginia! To contact Hudkins, write to him c/o Webster County High School, #1 Highlander Drive, Upper Glade, WV 26266. Telephone Jeff at 304-226-5772 or e-mail jhudkins@wirefire.com. |