March 8, 2007

Dancers Attack Higher Elevations with High Energy

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Local dancers from Coconino Community College’s new dance company, Encore, are practicing up to four hours a day getting ready for their annual high energy spring performance. Higher Elevations is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday, March 9 and 10 in the Clifford E. White Theater at Northern Arizona University.

Encore Director Flower Darby says the CCC dance program is one of Flagstaff’s best kept secrets. “It’s a wonderful program with talented faculty and students. A lot of people in Flagstaff don’t know our company exists so I love the opportunity of the concert for the community to enjoy the performance and support our students.”

Higher Elevations will include about a dozen dances created by six different CCC choreographers incorporating ballet, jazz, modern dance and contemporary work. In addition, guest artist Anna Woolf of New York’s Company XIV will lend her talent to the performance. “It definitely will be a mood lifter and a quality production with a good mix of dance forms and style,” said Darby.

CCC faculty members and students have been offering Higher Elevations for the past five years; however, last year was the first time it was performed as a dance company.

Tickets are $6 for students and $12 for general admission, available through NAU Central Ticketing and ticketmaster.com. Proceeds support the CCC dance program helping with such expenses as theater rental costs, costumes and travel to regional dance festivals. Major sponsors of Higher Elevations are Native Art Images and First State Bank.

March 26, 2007

CCC Sets another Growth Record

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Coconino Community College is seeing more of the very youngest and the very oldest students this spring and reporting a new record in enrollment. 

The official numbers reveal 4,699 students taking CCC classes, up 3.6 percent from last spring at this time.  “We take this as a positive sign that we are providing what students in Coconino County need as they prepare for their future,” said CCC President Dr. Thomas Jordan.

CCC officials say there is a 54 percent increase in students under the age of 20 and a 22 percent increase for students who are 60 years old or older.  The college also is reporting significant increases in its minority populations.  There are 15 percent more black students, 12 percent more Hispanic students and 20 percent more Native American students than last year.

“Our ongoing growth is a tribute to the students’ vision of what education can mean for them and the ability of faculty members and staff to deliver.  We want students to believe in the ‘endless future’ of our motto and reach for it,” said Vice President for Student Affairs David Minger. 

These figures do not include the hundreds of students in adult education courses offered throughout the county or students in noncredit personal enrichment classes.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Four and Twenty Blackbirds add up to a Signature Piece of Pie

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- A three-dimensional ceramic interpretation of the popular children’s song, Sing a Song of Sixpence, will represent Palette to Palate this year as the signature piece. 

Palette to Palate is CCC’s largest annual fundraising event featuring student and local artwork up for bid and artistic delectable creations from local chefs.  It is scheduled for 5 to 8 p.m., Friday, April 27 at the Lone Tree Campus. 

Artists Suzanne Botello and Sondra Francis created the playful “Four and Twenty Blackbirds” artwork with stoneware cherries and raku black birds popping out of a huge pie. “The separate parts of the work are interactive, inviting the viewer to move and place them at whim,” said Botello.

Botello is a CCC career counselor, artist and student whose medium of choice is clay. She makes Italian Majolica utilitarian pottery and currently is making very large platters and bowls decorated with carving, drawing and color.

Francis is a student, a patron of the arts and an artist. She creates wearable jewelry from the earth, using natural gem materials, precious metal and cultured pearls. Her ceramic work is primarily sculptural and she is known for her primitive and expressive raku animals.

The ceramic pie will be among the original artwork up for auction. Tickets are $25, $15 for students, and may be purchased through the CCC Fine Arts Department or CCC Foundation Office.  Proceeds from the fundraiser will benefit fine arts students with scholarships, travel, supplies and studio equipment. For more information, log onto www.coconino.edu.