I. Shirley Wynne Scholarship, Dancer Ann Pidcock recipient
A new scholarship has been established in the name of Dr. Shirley Wynne (1928-2013). She was a dance historian, teacher, choreographer and stage director who pioneered recreations and reconstructions of Baroque dance in the United States as well as bringing these works to the stage. Her first production of Jean Philippe Rameau’s Pygmalion in 1969 with conductor, Alan Curtis, may have been the first staging in America.
Ann Pidcock in her own words: 
“I am a professional dancer and yoga teacher based in London. At dance school I was lucky enough to study baroque with Chris Tudor and this began my love for historical dance.
My first job out of dance school was a Baroque Minuet filmed for the Kelvingrove museum in Glasgow. We rehearsed with Philippa Waite and I continued on with Baroque classes to deepen my knowledge. More recently I have danced for the Alan Rickman feature Film, ‘A Little Chaos’.
I now attend Quadrilles Club with Chris and Ellis Rogers at Cecil Sharp house. I find their wealth of knowledge of the dances so inspiring. My hope is to continue to expand my knowledge of the different eras in as most thorough way possible.
Since 2014 I have been in partnership with The Wallace Collection and the Geffrye Museum performing and teaching historical dance.
It has been a wonderful experience as its meant we are able to share some of this wonderful history with younger generations and those interested in other aspects of the era. The enthusiasm I’ve experienced from people’s response is so heartening and leads me to want to spread these dances further and in more detail.
The authentic portrayal of and preservation of technique in these dances is really important and I would love to deepen my knowledge so that I could contribute information of this for future projects.
I feel that there is so much more for me to learn and I am excited at the prospect of having the connections already set up to make sharing this a reality.”
In addition to all of her wonderful qualities, Ann is a British Wheel of Yoga teacher and she will be conducting our sessions of Yoga on the Beach!
The Santa Barbara Historical Dance Workshop is grateful to Robin Woodard and Catherine Turocy, both students of Shirley Wynne, for making this scholarship possible.
II. Scholarship given in the name of Edith Rosenblatt, Dancer/Actress Francesca Bridge-Cicic recipient
From Catherine Turocy: Edith Rosenblatt (1925-2014) was a wonderful elementary school teacher , mother and mother-in-law. I will always be grateful to my father-in-law, Edward Richman, for bringing Edie into our lives. Lila Richman had died in 1999 and my own mother had passed away in 1997 and I had no mother of experience to talk to when facing questions of raising two boys. I will always be indebted to Edie for her love, kindness, compassion and common sense. She passed away in August of 2014 and this scholarship is given in her honor to mark this anniversary.
Francesca Bridge-Cicic
Francesca originally trained as a dancer at the Paris Conservatoire and continued her training at Drama Centre London and The Vahktangov Institute Moscow in classical acting. She works as a dancer, choreographer, movement director, director and actor worldwide. Theatre credits include: Company Member / Movement Director, Cannibal Valour Rep Season, Owle Schreame Theatre Company; Rosalind, As You Like It, RADA Studios & Stratford-Upon-Avon summer Shakespeare festival; Juliet, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s Globe; Sonya, Uncle Vanya, Vahktangov Studio Theatre, Moscow and Woman#1, Beckett’s, Play, The White Box Project; Film credits: Anastasia, Caviar II and Amanda, Essays in Love. Other credits include: Venus and Choreographer, Venus & Adonis, Kings Place, London; Solo Dancer, The Significance of Costumed-Bodies – A Study of Tanztheater Wuppertal, Dance Film, Principle Dancer, FlatPack an Opera in Ikea; Katherine, Running Spies, Talk Radio and Director, Hunting Cantata 208, by J.S. Bach, Stockholm Bach Festival. Francesca currently teaches movement for The Court Theatre Training Company.
III. Work/Study Scholarship, Dancer Althea Fultz, recipient
Althea will be the “on- location administrative assistant” when she is not busy taking classes at the workshop. A former student of Regine Astier, she is fluent in French and easily reads Feuillet notation. She is also a multi-era dancer with a wide range of interests. In her own words: ” Over the course of my life I have been involved in a variety dance genres, whether it be swing dancing, Baroque dance, Ballet, etc. I have developed a great appreciation for the historical aspect of dance; or maybe a better way to express it, is that I have found that the experience and understanding that develops for one type of dance, greatly informs the way one might approach another. One of the greatest intellectual (and physical) gifts anyone ever gave me was my experience with Baroque dance: I was taught not only technique and practicalities, but the notation and history behind the dances. Recently, I was able to decipher the Baroque notation for a dance called Ballo Secondo, as well as learn to dance it. The privilege of looking at and understanding a piece of art that no one has seen for centuries is inexpressibly rewarding. This joy of dance and interest in the intellectual aspect –for lack of a better word— sticks with me, and greatly increases the vim and physical control I have in other forms of dance. Therefore, I would like to take this workshop because, other than simple curiosity (the class on gestures particularly interests me), I feel that experiencing and thinking about a variety of dance forms exponentially increases the quality and enjoyment I find in dancing.”
