“We are thrilled to welcome Nile to ADF and Durham as our very first full-time Director of Education,” ADF Executive Director Jodee Nimerichter said. “Nile brings a wealth of experience as an educator and artist and we are very impressed by his vision for the future. He is a great fit to lead this new chapter of the ADF School.”

“To work at ADF is truly a dream come true,” says Nile. “I look forward to working closely with faculty, staff, and students in efforts to devise a curriculum that will lead us into the festival’s 90th year and beyond.”

Nile is originally from Baltimore, MD. At the age of fifteen, his dance teacher, Ilona Kessell, gave him his first chance to choreograph and teach. This opportunity opened his eyes to the creative mindset and communal impact of arts education. He received a BA in Dance from Connecticut College, where he had the guidance of wonderful dancers and professors, including Dan Wagoner, Lan-Lan Wang, Jeff M. Rebudal, Robyne Watkin, David Dorfman, Eddie Taketa, and Jeremy Nelson.

In 2002, Nile traveled to Mysore, India, to pursue Temple and Architecture studies and Bharatanatyam dance at the University of Mysore and was able to teach modern dance classes to women and youth in the community. He moved to New York in 2004, co-founding CaN Dance with Charly Wenzel and dancing and teaching with Silver-Brown Dance, University Settlement, LeeSaar The Company, Luis Lara Malvacias, Stefanie Nelson Dance Group, and Naganuma Dance. During his time in New York, he also taught classes in Santo Domingo, DR, and New Orleans, LA.

In 2009, Nile joined Pilobolus Dance Theater and later became Dance Captain, also taking on duties as Education Coordinator, scheduling and communicating with participating schools, institutions, and individuals, training new teachers, and developing new educational practices. He also helped to implement the company’s policy of dual teachers for each workshop with two teachers creating and instructing each class together so students could see a real-time example of a collaborative process. Nile moved to Denver, CO, in 2014 and has been a movement consultant for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and a choreographer for the Arvada Center and Neighborhood Music Theater as well as an educator at multiple schools and studios across the state, such as Denver School of the Arts, Parker Dance Academy, and Colorado Conservatory of Dance.

While based in Denver, he has performed with Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre and collaborated on and directed commissions for Crystal Bridges American Art Museum, the Momentary, the Clayton Members Club & Hotel, and multiple music videos. He has also been the creative director on community projects for educational and nonprofit organizations, taught movement workshops for California State University, and continued his work with Pilobolus as a Teaching Artist. He is a founding member of Flow Kakou, an educational nonprofit in Hawaii focused on community outreach and the creator of TWYLI, a movement-based initiative for enhancing virtual meeting engagement.

Nile has performed and taught in over 20 countries, 49 states, and four continents and has experienced a wide and wonderful range of people and cultures. He thanks his mother, Sharon Russell-Pinchback, husband, Isaac, and longtime mentor, Ilona for their constant love and support. Nile and Isaac are very excited to move to Durham and join the ADF community. Welcome, Nile and Isaac!

Photos by Chris Cherry

PRESS CONTACT
Sarah Tondu
tondu@americandancefestival.org
919-684-6402

The post ADF Names Nile H. Russell New Director of Education appeared first on American Dance Festival.

We are seeking a diverse group of 20 advanced dancers between the ages of 20 and up to participate in rehearsals and performances of BIG BEATS by New York-based, “Bessie” award-winning choreographer and dancer, Joanna Kotze. Joanna will be in Durham for 2 weeks this October/November to set BIG BEATS in preparation for performances in Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill.

Danced to a driving sonic rhythm, BIG BEATS is the force of 20 performers doing complex, synchronized movement. These free performances will be open to the public and viewed in the round. Each performance takes place either outside or in an inside public area and is an invitation for viewers to stop and watch a group of people working together, dancing together, and being together.

This is rigorous unison movement that uses a lot of repetition and changes of direction. Please watch this video below. You will be learning this exact material: https://vimeo.com/621950517

Applications are due on September 10.

Selected dancers will receive $1000 per person total for rehearsals and performances, issued following the final performance.

Performers are responsible for their own housing and transportation. Applicants must be at least 20 years old and be fully vaccinated (booster included if eligible).

Important Dates

September 10
Deadline to submit audition materials

September 19
Dancers notified about the selection process

October 19-23 and October 30-November 2
Rehearsals at ADF’s Samuel H. Scripps Studio, Durham, NC

Various rehearsal periods will be available during each block of time to accommodate dancers’ schedules. However, dancers must be available for approximately 15-20 hours during each time block in order to learn all of the performance material.

November 3
Must be available from 3 PM through last performance
6 PM & 7 PM – 2 performances at the Nasher Museum of Art in Durham

November 4
Rehearsal at Southern Village in Chapel Hill

November 5
Must be available from 9 AM through last performance
12 PM performance in Raleigh (Location TBD)
4:30 PM & 5:30 PM performances Southern Village in Chapel Hill

November 6
Rain date for performances

Dancers must be able to participate in all tech rehearsals and performances on November 3 and 5 and hold November 6 as possible rain date.

Photo credit: Maria Baranova

The post Audition for “BIG BEATS” by Joanna Kotze appeared first on American Dance Festival.

The post What is the Parkinson’s Movement Initiative at ADF? appeared first on American Dance Festival.

Durham, NC, April 20, 2022— The American Dance Festival (ADF) will posthumously award the 2022
 Balasaraswati/Joy Anne Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching to Dr. Kariamu Welsh. A ceremony honoring her and her contributions to the dance field will take place on Sunday, June 19, 2022, at 3:00 pm in Duke University’s Page Auditorium.

“Honoring Dr. Kariamu Welsh this year is bittersweet. We began planning for a summer 2020 celebration of her in the fall of 2019. When the pandemic shut everything down, she and I decided to wait until ADF could be in-person again, as the essence of her work is rooted in community, in dancing together. Her passing in fall 2021 has left us without her presence, but the ceremony will reflect her wishes, and it will reveal the beautiful legacy that survives her,” said ADF School Dean, Leah Cox.

Dr. C. Kemal Nance will accept the award on Dr. Welsh’s behalf. He met Welsh as a student at Swarthmore College and continued to work with her as a principal dancer in her professional company, as her Assistant Artistic Director, and as her “dance son.” He reflected on her vast contributions, “Dr. Welsh created a theoretical scaffolding that empowered American Black artists to articulate our movement traditions on our terms. Both her artistic and academic scholarship centralized aesthetic values that have emerged from the African aesthetic. She helped dismantle the notion that any single movement system, regardless of its cultural origin, is foundational. With reliance on ‘essence,’ Dr. Welsh made her students feel ‘seen’ and valued in her movement practice.”

Kariamu Welsh was born in Thomasville, North Carolina, and moved to Brooklyn, New York, when she was young. As a child, she played Double Dutch jump rope and later connected it to her studies of African dance and traditional African culture. She created the Umfundalai dance technique, based on African artistic practices and African diasporic dance vocabulary. Dr. Welsh trained others in the technique, which was utilized by her company, Kariamu & Company: Traditions.

Photograph by Aaron Davis

Her teaching touched many dance students at both community centers and at universities. She was a professor of dance at Temple University for 30 years before retiring in 2019. Many of her students continued on to pursue their own dance careers. Welsh was also the author and editor of numerous books, including Zimbabwe Dance: Rhythmic Forces, Ancestral Voices—An Aesthetic Analysis, and Umfundalai: An African Dance Technique.

Dr. Nance continued on Dr. Welsh’s legacy and technique, “Dr. Welsh’s legacy is most evident in the growing number of professional artists who are learning to share Umfundalai with recreational and professional dance communities across the country and abroad. Her legacy is most vivid in the choreographies that feature vocabularies and motifs she inspired by current Umfundalai artists. The National Association of American African Dance Teachers (NAAADT) serves as a warehouse for resources and training opportunities that Dr. Welsh inspired with Umfundalai.”

Dr. Welsh has also been honored with numerous awards, fellowships, and grants including the National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Fellowship, the Creative Public Service Award of NY, a 1997 Pew Fellowship, a 1997 Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a 1998 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant, and three Senior Fulbright Scholar Awards.

Past recipients of the Balasaraswati/Joy Anne Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching include Pearl Primus, Daniel Nagrin, Betty Jones, Bella Lewitzky, Ethel Butler, Anna Halprin, Donald McKayle, Bessie Schönberg, Matt Mattox, Pauline Koner, Viola Farber, Mary Anthony, Walter Nicks, Jane Dudley, Sophie Maslow, Pearl Lang, Martha Myers, Carmen De Lavallade, Gus Solomons jr, Gerri Houlihan, Dr. Charles “Chuck” Davis, Linda Tarnay, Douglas Nielsen, Dianne McIntyre, Carolyn Adams, Sharon Kinney, Ruth Andrien, Yang Meiqi, Donna Faye Burchfield, Ana Marie Forsythe, Phyllis Lamhut, Irene Dowd, Zvi Gotheiner, James Sutton, Jaclynn Villamil, Anne Green Gilbert, Liz Lerman, Gabriel “Kwikstep” Dionisio, Ana “Rokafella” Garcia, and Bettie de Jong.

Indoor and outdoor performances during ADF’s 89th season will be presented June, July, and September in venues in and around the Raleigh-Durham area. Tickets will be on sale starting April 26th at americandancefestival.org.

PHOTOGRAPHY AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.

PRESS CONTACT
Amy Hoppe
amy@americandancefestival.org
919-684-6402

About ADF:
Since 1934, ADF has been a recognized leader in America’s homegrown art form, modern dance. ADF is committed to serving the needs of dance, dancers, choreographers, and professionals in dance-related fields.

The best companies in the world premiere work as part of the festival held each year in Durham, North Carolina. The festival has commissioned 453 works and premiered over 700 pieces including dances by Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, and Paul Taylor.

ADF trains dancers both with its summer intensive programs for pre-professional and professional dance artists and year-round classes for movers of all levels and ages. Choreographic residencies provide artists with the necessary space and time to create. ADF shares the benefits of dance with free workshops like ADF Project Dance, in-school and after-school outreach programs, and the Parkinson’s Movement Initiative, movement classes for people with Parkinson’s and their care partners. 

The post Dr. Kariamu Welsh to be Honored with the 2022 American Dance Festival Distinguished Teaching Award appeared first on American Dance Festival.

Shen Wei will be in residence at ADF during the 2022 season working on his latest ADF commission set on ADF students through the Footprints program. ADF Director Emeritus Charles L. Reinhart will present the $50,000 award in a brief ceremony on Saturday, July 16th at 7:30pm, prior to the Footprints performance in Reynolds Industries Theater.

“Shen Wei is one of the most innovative choreographers of the 21st century. His original movement, fusing eastern and western traditions combined with his exquisite costume and set designs, create life-size visual feasts that transport and thrill audiences. We are so pleased to present him with this award and to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the founding of his company, Shen Wei Dance Arts, at ADF,” stated ADF Executive Director Jodee Nimerichter.

Hailed as “one of the most expansive, creative minds in the arts” (The New York Sun), choreographer, director, and painter Shen Wei is internationally renowned for the breadth and scope of his artistic vision.

Admiration for his talent has earned Shen Wei numerous awards, including a 2007 MacArthur Genius Grant Award, the US Artists Fellow Award, and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. Other accolades include Australia’s Helpmann Award, the Nijinsky Emerging Choreographer Award, the Algur H. Meadows Prize, Les Étoiles de Ballet Award, Audi-China 2012 Artist of the Year Award, GQ-China 2013 Artist of the Year Award, the 2013 Chinese Innovator Award from The Wall Street Journal-China, and the Asian Cultural Council’s 2017 John D. Rockefeller 3rd Award.

Born in China’s Hunan province in 1968, the son of Chinese opera professionals, Shen Wei was trained from youth in the rigorous practice of Chinese opera performance and traditional Chinese ink painting and calligraphy and was a performer with the Hunan State Xian Opera Company from 1984 to 1989. During his student years, he studied western visual art, which propelled an interest in modern dance.

In 1989, he began modern dance training at the American Dance Festival’s program at the Guangdong Dance Academy in China. In 1991 he became a founding member of the Guangdong Modern Dance Company, the first such company in China. Upon receipt of a fellowship, he moved to New York City in 1995 to study with the Nikolais/Louis Dance Lab and, in the same year, was invited to create work on ADF students at the American Dance Festival. In July 2000, he founded Shen Wei Dance Arts (SWDA) with his ADF students, and his company quickly entered the international touring circuit.

His company has toured in over 30 countries in 140 cities. He formed his own dance technique “Natural Body Development,” and it has been taught in universities and dance centers as well as at the American Dance Festival, where it will be taught again in 2022.

Shen Wei has received over 23 commissions from major presenting institutions to support his creative work, including sixteen commissions from the American Dance Festival and commissions from Het Muziektheater, Lincoln Center Festival, and the Kennedy Center, as well as from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Park Avenue Armory, Hong Kong’s New Vision Arts Festival, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, Edinburgh International Festival, and, most recently, BAM and the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College.

The lead choreographer for the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Shen Wei has also created dances for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal and Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo and choreographed the Rome Opera’s production of Rossini’s Moise et Pharaon, conducted by Ricardo Muti. In 2013, Shen Wei was commissioned to create a new work for the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam, a new version of Rite of Spring with live orchestra performance, and he choreographed, directed, and designed a new production of Carmina Burana for the chorus, orchestra, and ballet of Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Italy, with his company performing in leading roles.

Recently, his work as a visual artist and choreographer has entered into a new dialogue in a series of performative installations and site-specific works that have been presented at a number of museums and galleries including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, North Carolina Museum of Art, Collezione Maramotti in Italy, the Forum at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Rockbund Museum of Art in Shanghai, MDC Museum of Art + Design in Miami, Guggenheim Museum, Asia Society Hong Kong Center, and the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum.

As a painter, Shen Wei has had solo exhibitions in leading galleries and museums: Chambers Fine Art Gallery (New York), Crow Collection of Asian Art (Dallas), Hong Kong Cultural Center, and Tucson Museum of Art. MDC Museum of Art + Design in Miami, Asian Society Hong Kong Center and the Power Station of Art Museum Shanghai. Recently his large solo exhibition SHEN WEI: Painting In Motion included his painting, film, and dance on video exhibit at the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum in Boston December 02, 2020–June 20, 2021. In the fall of 2015, he participated in a group show at London’s Fine Art Society: Performance & Remnant. Shen Wei’s recent large-scale painting series have received significant acclaim in the art world.

Previously the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award has been presented to Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Hanya Holm, Alwin Nikolais, Katherine Dunham, Alvin Ailey, Erick Hawkins, Twyla Tharp, Anna Sokolow, Donald McKayle, Talley Beatty, Trisha Brown, Meredith Monk, Anna Halprin, Fayard and Harold Nicholas, Pina Bausch, Pilobolus, Garth Fagan, Maguy Marin, Eiko and Koma, Bill T. Jones, Murray Louis, Mark Morris, Laura Dean, Ohad Naharin, Martha Clarke, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, William Forsythe, Lin Hwai-min, Anjelin Preljocaj, Lar Lubovitch, Lucinda Childs, Ronald K. Brown, and posthumously in honor of Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, José Limón, Pearl Primus, and Helen Tamiris.

Indoor and outdoor performances during ADF’s 89th season will be presented June, July, and September in venues in and around the Raleigh-Durham area. The full schedule can be found here.

Tickets to ADF performances will go on sale to the general public on April 26, 2022. Tickets will be available for purchase online at americandancefestival.org or through the Duke University Box Office at 919-684-4444 Tuesday & Thursday, 11am–5pm.

PHOTOGRAPHY AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.

PRESS CONTACT
Amy Hoppe
amy@americandancefestival.org
919-684-6402

About ADF:
Since 1934, ADF has been a recognized leader in America’s homegrown art form, modern dance. ADF is committed to serving the needs of dance, dancers, choreographers, and professionals in dance-related fields.

The best companies in the world premiere work as part of the festival held each year in Durham, North Carolina. The festival has commissioned 453 works and premiered over 700 pieces including dances by Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, and Paul Taylor.

ADF trains dancers both with its summer intensive programs for pre-professional and professional dance artists and year-round classes for movers of all levels and ages. Choreographic residencies provide artists with the necessary space and time to create. ADF shares the benefits of dance with free workshops like ADF Project Dance, in-school and after-school outreach programs, and the Parkinson’s Movement Initiative, movement classes for people with Parkinson’s and their care partners. 

The post 2022 Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award to be Presented to Shen Wei appeared first on American Dance Festival.

ADF brings the best of modern dance to the Triangle for its 89th season

April 5, 2022 (DURHAM, NC) — The American Dance Festival (ADF) is thrilled to announce the full schedule for its 89th season. The season includes performances by both emerging and established companies, highlighting the breadth and excellence of modern dance. 

ADF performances will be in multiple venues across Durham June 3–July 20 and will return to Raleigh and the Joseph M. Bryan Jr. Theater in the Museum Park September 8–11 as ADF presents a series of outdoor performances in association with the North Carolina Museum of Art.

“ADF is coming back strong with our first full season in three years. We couldn’t be more excited to welcome audiences back with over 25 dance companies performing both indoors and outdoors in 2022,” said Executive Director Jodee Nimerichter.

“Over the past two years, ADF has provided dancers, choreographers, and companies with much-needed opportunities to perform virtually, in site-specific locations, and outdoors. We could not have found these amazing stages and connected these artists to audiences without the steadfast support of the community, and we can’t wait to bring everyone together again safely to be immersed in a full season of live performances,” Nimerichter continued.

ADF will present the 2022 Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award for lifetime achievement to acclaimed choreographer and visual artist Shen Wei. Shen Wei, whose company is celebrating its 22nd year since its founding at ADF, will be in residence this summer as a part of the Footprints program, where he will set a new ADF-commissioned work on students. The award will be presented at the Footprints program on July 16. 

ADF 2022 will honor longtime supporter Giorgios Bakatsias, a visionary North Carolina restaurateur, with a dedication ceremony before the performance from Rennie Harris Puremovement on June 17. Also, ADF Fête, a season-opening celebration honoring Bakatsias, will be held at one of his restaurants, Parizade, following the performance. 

The 2022 Balasaraswati/Joy Anne Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching will be awarded posthumously to noted author and scholar of cultural studies Dr. Kariamu Welsh in a ceremony on June 19. 

ADF fan-favorite Pilobolus (June 24–25) returns with an ADF-commissioned world premiere, and Monica Bill Barnes & Company (July 9-10) is back with The Running Show, documenting the life of a dancer through movement, interviews, and stories. The show features a large cast of local performers and ADF students. 

The program Made in North Carolina (June 21) will present four ADF-commissioned world premieres by five North Carolina choreographers inside Reynolds Industries Theater and outdoors in front of Duke Chapel. Works will be presented by Chris Yon & Taryn Griggs, Ramya Sundaresan Kapadia, Justin Tornow, and Jose Velasquez.

Following a crowd-pleasing fall 2021 performance, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham (June 28–29) is back for their fourth year with the ADF-commissioned An Untitled Love, an evening-length work that celebrates culture, family, and community. 

After rave reviews at ADF in 2019, Rennie Harris Puremovement (June 17–18) returns with RENNIE HARRIS LIFTED: A Gospel House Musical, an evening-length gospel House work including local singers and dancers. 

Also returning is Sara Juli (July 12–15) with her one-woman show Burnt-Out Wife, a solo that takes on topics such as intimacy, loneliness, monogamy, and other marital taboos. Janis Brenner (July 12–15) will explore the myriad ways a daughter “became” her late parents in Inheritance: A Litany.  

Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy’s South Indian Bharatanatyam ensemble Ragamala (July 6–7) last performed at ADF in 2012 and will return 10 years later with their latest evening-length piece and ADF commission, Fires of Varanasi: Dance of the Eternal Pilgrim. Israel’s highly regarded Vertigo Dance Company (July 19–20) will also perform One, One & One.

Building on the success from last fall’s series at the NCMA, ADF will present a wide spectrum of dance styles from September 8-11 outdoors at the North Carolina Museum of Art’s Joseph M. Bryan Jr. Amphitheater. Micaela Taylor’s The TL Collective will make their ADF debut, while Limón Dance Company will present an ADF commission by ADF alumni Chafin Seymour. PHILADANCO!, an explosive company from Philadelphia, is sure to get audiences moving, and Chapel Hill native Luke Hickey will bring an exciting evening of tap dancing and live music. 

The 2022 festival performances will take place at Duke University’s Reynolds Industries Theater, Page Auditorium, and the von der Heyden Studio Theater in the Rubenstein Arts Center, as well as the Fruit (Durham) and the North Carolina Museum of Art’s Joseph M. Bryan Jr. Amphitheater (Raleigh). 

Single tickets go on sale Tuesday, April 26th, and prices range from $15 to $60 with many special offers and discounts available. Tickets can be purchased through the ADF website at americandancefestival.org.

More detailed information about ticket prices and performing companies, including photos, videos, and press reviews, is also available here on the ADF website. 

2022 Performance Schedule

ShaLeigh Dance Works
June 3 at 7:30 pm and June 4–5 at 2 pm & 7:30 pm, The Fruit, Durham
World Premiere ADF Commission!
enVISION: Sensory Beyond Sight is an immersive interdisciplinary performance that does not solicit the viewer’s sight but rather all their other senses. Specifically conceived with and for individuals who are low-vision and blind, the work proposes a new sensorial experience of dance and theater. The work will be presented to a live audience who can choose to experience the show blindfolded and invites six audience members to join the experience onstage.

Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre
June 16 at 7:30 pm and June 17 at 8:30 pm, Reynolds Industries Theater, Durham
World Premiere ADF Commission!
The third in a trilogy following Carne Viva (2016) and Make Believe (2018), Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre continues its investigation of religious iconography to explore themes of love and romance with the ADF-commissioned world premiere of Devotion (2022).

Rennie Harris Puremovement
June 17 at 7:00 pm and June 18 at 1 pm (Children’s Matinee) & 7:30 pm, Page Auditorium, Durham
Rennie Harris Puremovement American Street Dance Theater, who wowed ADF audiences in 2019 with their joyous performance of Rennie Harris FUNKEDIFIED, returns to ADF with RENNIE HARRIS LIFTED: A Gospel House Musical, an evening-length gospel House work featuring a live choir. Harris addresses the topics of morality, spirituality, and community through his newest work. It is based on the organic spiritual tapestry of House music and dance which is often referred to as going to “church.” Evening performances will include local dancers and gospel singers.

Made in North Carolina: 4 commissions by NC choreographers
June 21 at 7:30 pm, Reynolds Industries Theater, Durham
World Premieres! ADF Commissions!
An evening of new ADF-commissioned dance works by five North Carolina artists celebrating dance being created right here, at home. The artists chosen include ADF veterans Chris Yon and Taryn Griggs presenting a darkly humorous ensemble piece, interdisciplinary movement artist Justin Tornow with a collaborative work, Bharatanatyam dancer, choreographer, instructor, and Carnatic vocalist Ramya Sundaresan Kapadia, and hip-hop and street dance performer Jose Velasquez. 

Helen Simoneau Danse and Stephen Petronio & Johnnie Cruise Mercer
June 23 at 7:30 pm, Reynolds Industries Theater, Durham
World Premieres! ADF Commissions! Two Companies!
Delicate Power is a new work for Helen Simoneau Danse that examines how individuals hold and exert power through voice and body. The work will feature an original score by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and musician Caroline Shaw, with dramaturgy by Melanie George and costume design by Quinn Czejkowski.

Stephen Petronio and Johnnie Cruise Mercer bring their specific embodied histories to a dance of intentional and unconscious connections. The result is a new duet generated from movement and space-based improvisational scores, with original music by Monstah Black, a collaborator who has worked closely with both artists. Together, they embark on a choreographic experiment, a generational conversation between bodies fueled by their similar/different queer-radical pasts.

Pilobolus
June 24 at 7:30 pm and June 25 at 1 pm (Children’s Matinee) and 7:30 pm, Page Auditorium, Durham
World Premiere ADF Commission! Company Celebrating its 50th Anniversary!
The internationally renowned movement company Pilobolus brings a world premiere ADF-commissioned piece to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The children’s matinee will entertain the imagination of the whole family with a program that includes Behind the Shadows, a shadow performance revealing the technique behind their innovative process.

A.I.M by Kyle Abraham
June 28 & 29 at 7:30 pm, Reynolds Industries Theater, Durham
ADF Commission!
An Untitled Love is MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Kyle Abraham’s newest evening-length work. With music from the catalog of Grammy Award-winning R&B legend D’Angelo, this creative exaltation serves as a thumping mixtape celebrating culture, family, and community.

Abby Z and the New Utility
June 30 at 7:30 pm, July 1 at 8:30 pm, and July 2 at 3 pm & 8:30 pm, Rubenstein Arts Center, von der Heyden Studio Theater, Durham
ADF Commission!
Choreographer Abby Zbikowski and crew have created a genre-bending work that brings together a mosaic group of dancers to redefine purpose for themselves as they labor their way through complex, demanding, and often perplexing physicality as a means to confront expectations and dive into the unknown head on. Utilizing the skills they have honed through their practices in movement traditions including (but not limited to) street dance, post-modern dance, contemporary African forms, tap, synchronized swimming, soccer, and martial arts, the cast draws from an arsenal of physical possibility to shatter assumptions of established forms and test the group’s own physical and mental limits. Working with Senegalese dance artist Momar Ndiaye as dramaturge, this work embodies the amalgam of contemporary living, chock full of cultural collisions, unlikely relationships, minor to major misunderstandings, and a desire for logic, and being hard-wired to survive.

Paul Taylor Dance Company
July 1 at 7:30 pm and July 2 at 1:00 pm (Children’s Matinee) and 7:30 pm, Page Auditorium, Durham
One of modern dance’s most esteemed companies returns to ADF with the classic Taylor works, Cloven Kingdom and Syzygy. The company will also perform choreographer Michelle Manzanales ’s new work Hope is the thing with Feathers.

Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy’s Ragamala Dance Company
July 6 & July 7 at 7:30 pm, Reynolds Industries Theater, Durham
ADF Commission!
Rooted in the expansive South Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam, Ragamala Dance Company manifests a kindred relationship between the ancient and the contemporary. In their latest evening-length performance, Fires of Varanasi: Dance of the Eternal Pilgrim, eleven dancers conjure a realm where time is suspended and humans merge with the divine. Award-winning creators Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy imagine a metaphorical crossing place that enters into a ritualistic world of immortality, evoking the birth-death-rebirth continuum in Hindu thought to honor immigrant experiences of life and death in the diaspora.

Monica Bill Barnes & Company
July 9 at 7:30 pm and July 10 at 5 pm, Reynolds Industries Theater, Durham
A 7-year-old falls in love with dance at her first recital. 40 years later, she works every day to stay in the game. At 70 she keeps moving. Co-created by Monica Bill Barnes and Robbie Saenz de Viteri, The Running Show documents the life of a dancer through movement, interviews, and stories. Local dancers join Monica Bill Barnes on stage, learning their parts over one week. Robbie Saenz de Viteri interviews each cast member, incorporating their voices and stories into the show, giving the audience an unprecedented look into the life of a dancer as a new kind of sports hero who keeps moving against all odds.

Sara Juli
July 12 & 14 at 7:00 pm and July 13 & 15 at 9:00 pm, Rubenstein Arts Center, von der Heyden Studio Theater, Durham
ADF Commission!
Sara Juli’s Burnt-Out Wife takes on topics such as intimacy, loneliness, monogamy, and other marital taboos. Juli employs her comedic text-driven dance style to explore the decay and detritus of marriage with equal parts wit and vulnerability. Taking place in a Pepto-Bismol pink bathroom, this evening-length dance-theater-comedy will spark intimate conversations while blowing up the institution with humor, reflection, and a complete reimagining.

Janis Brenner
July 12 & 14 at 9:00 pm and July 13 & 15 at 7:00 pm, Rubenstein Arts Center, von der Heyden Studio Theater, Durham
ADF Debut!
Inheritance: A Litany is a journey into the myriad ways a daughter “became” her late parents. She inherited her father’s nose, her mother’s singing voice, her father’s sarcasm, mother’s fragile bones… as well as a lifetime of objects, lessons, and even thoughts and ways of being in the world. This poetic narrative, dance-opera-play, and comic drama by internationally acclaimed artist Janis Brenner reveals aspects of a family’s story as well as the nature of how we become who we are and uncovers what makes us each unique, complicated, and fragile human beings. 

Footprints
July 16 at 7:30 pm* and July 17 at 5:00 pm, Reynolds Industries Theater, Durham
World Premiere ADF Commissions!
The Footprints program, which bridges ADF’s performance series and education programs, delivers an outstanding presentation of three ADF-commissioned world premieres, performed with impeccable technique and infectious energy by ADF students. This season’s choreographers are Charles O. Anderson, Artistic Director of Dance Theatre X, an Afro-contemporary dance theater company, and head of the dance program at UT Austin, Kimberly Bartosik, founder of Kimberly Bartosik/daela, choreographer, performer, educator, and a 2019 Guggenheim Fellow, and Shen Wei, choreographer, visual artist, Artistic Director of Shen Wei Dance Arts, MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, and the 2022 recipient of Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award for lifetime achievement.
*Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award presentation to Shen Wei

Vertigo Dance Company
July 19 & 20 at 7:30 pm, Reynold Industries Theater, Durham
Israel’s highly regarded Vertigo Dance Company performs One, One & One, choreographed by Noa Wertheim and set to a powerful score by Avi Belleli. Performed on a dirt-covered stage, the work creates an arresting sensory experience as it explores the individual’s desire for wholeness and spiritual connection to the natural world.

Micaela Taylor’s The TL Collective
September 8 at 7:30 pm, North Carolina Museum of Art’s Joseph M. Bryan Jr. Amphitheater, Raleigh
ADF Company Debut!
In the five years since Micaela Taylor formed The TL Collective (“To Love”), the group has become one of the most celebrated in the United States, and their appearances across the country have drawn critical praise. Audiences have been enraptured by Taylor’s choreography work as seen during recent presentations of BODYTRAFFIC and Cleo Parker Robinson Dance at the American Dance Festival. It is with great excitement that we present her own company with the ADF debut of The TL Collective. 

Limón Dance Company
September 9 at 7:30 pm, North Carolina Museum of Art’s Joseph M. Bryan Jr. Amphitheater, Raleigh
ADF Commission! Company Celebrating its 75th Anniversary!
In performances of musicality, athleticism, and drama, the contemporary emerges out of the classics with the Limón Dance Company. With the company’s classic works and collaborations with contemporary choreographers, we see how powerful dance of the past and present can invigorate each other and us. The company, celebrating its 75th anniversary, will perform Limón’s classics Psalm, Air for the G String by Doris Humphrey, and a co-commission by ADF and the Limón Dance Company, Suite Donuts by ADF alumni Chafin Seymour.

PHILADANCO!
September 10 at 7:30 pm, North Carolina Museum of Art’s Joseph M. Bryan Jr. Amphitheater, Raleigh
The award-winning Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO!) is celebrating 51 years of providing exceptional dance performances and training to dancers and audiences throughout the US and around the world. The innovative and energetic company will perform Between the Lines inspired by the architectural drawings of Frank Lloyd Wright, This Place motivated by the idea and feeling of community, and Conglomerate paying homage to the rich history of Black Dance in Philadelphia.

Luke Hickey
September 11 at 7:30 pm, North Carolina Museum of Art’s Joseph M. Bryan Jr. Amphitheater, Raleigh
Chapel Hill native Luke Hickey presents the percussive revue A Little Old, A Little New.  Directed and choreographed by Hickey, the work accentuates the powerful synergy created when tap dancers and jazz musicians are in conversation while offering an exciting array of historical and contemporary musical explorations. This high-energy and virtuosic evening of world-class dance and live music offers something for everyone, leaving the audience feeling further connected to the treasured American art form of tap dance. 

Special Offers & Ticket Information

ADF offers a variety of ways to save on tickets. Performance package discounts offer the best way to save big. Enjoy more dance when you buy tickets to multiple performances at once.

The ADF Go program is designed to make modern dance more accessible and affordable for young art enthusiasts in our community. Audience members between the ages of 18 to 30 have the opportunity to purchase a $15 ticket to most ADF performances. Tickets may be purchased on the day of performance either online or at the box office. Patrons must present a valid ID when picking up tickets. 

Single tickets and group tickets to ADF performances will go on sale to the general public on April 26, 2022. Tickets range in price from $15 to $60. 

Tickets will be available for purchase online at americandancefestival.org or through the Duke University Box Office. If you need further assistance you can contact the Duke University Box Office at 919-684-4444“>919-684-4444 on Tuesdays & Thursdays from 12–3pm.

Additional performances and events 

Join the stellar musicians from the ADF School as they share their remarkable talent with the entire community at the ADF Musicians Concert on Saturday, June 25 at 5 pm in Reynolds Industries Theater. 

Each year, the remarkable and talented ADF faculty present a concert of their own choreography, performed by ADF students and faculty. The ADF Faculty Concert will take place on Sunday, July 3 at 5 pm in Reynolds Industries Theater at Duke University. 

ADF’s Movies by Movers will screen films at the Downtown Durham Public Library on June 25, July 2, July 9, and July 16. All screenings begin at 2 pm. ADF’s Movies by Movers is an annual festival dedicated to the celebration of the conversation between the body and the camera. All screenings are FREE! 

Kids’ Activities 

The Children’s Saturday Matinee series presents performances by three of the acclaimed professional dance companies that perform during the season. These one-hour performances are specially curated to ignite and inspire the imaginations of children, and each one is followed by a FREE Kids’ Party in the Landing of the Bryan Center, complete with live music, face-painting, and more. Tickets for the Children’s Saturday Matinee series are $12 each. 

The 2022 Children’s Matinees at Page Auditorium include Rennie Harris Puremovement (June 18, 1 pm), Pilobolus (June 25, 1 pm), and Paul Taylor Dance Company (July 2, 1 pm). ADF will also continue its Kids’ Night Out program, where all youth ages 6 to 17 receive one complimentary ticket to any evening performance with the purchase of an adult single ticket or subscription. 

Dedication to Education 

Each year, over 300 dance students and artists from around the world arrive on the campus of Duke University to discover a world of dance through intensive training taught at the ADF School. Under the direction of Dean Leah Cox, the school hosts the Summer Dance Intensive (June 16–July 17), the Pre-Professional Dance Intensive for dancers ages 13–17 (July 3–July 17), and the Dance Professional Workshops (various dates available). 

ADF’s Samuel H. Scripps Studios

ADF will offer twelve dance camps this summer for young dancers aged 6-17 years including Dance Adventures, Summer Dance Days, Teen Dance Camp, and Shadow Camps with Pilobolus. 

Promotional photographs and press reviews of performing companies available upon request.

This season is made possible through the generous contributions of the SHS Foundation and Duke University.

Thank you to all our major sponsors!

PRESS CONTACT
Amy Hoppe
amy@americandancefestival.org
919-684-6402

The post American Dance Festival Announces its 2022 Performances appeared first on American Dance Festival.

Beginning in March 2021, each exchange began with a video interview that is now archived online. The discussion was followed by sharing 1 minute or less of movement, as a relay, from one dancer to the next, linking us together through the making, learning, and documenting of dance. Each relay of movement is also archived and shared online in its intentionally raw, unpolished form.

Learn More and Watch All the Interviews

This project is commissioned in part by the American Dance Festival.

“As I was learning Alexandra’s movement over the last few weeks, I was struck again by how much we learn from people through their body and movement. How the passing of this knowledge and information is so vital to me with regards to feeling empathy and understanding across cultures, geographic location, dance background, and so much more.” -Joanna Kotze

About Joanna Kotze:

Photo: Maria Baranova

The post Long Distance Dance Dialogues with Joanna Kotze appeared first on American Dance Festival.

In her new role as the Managing Director, Sarah will take over day-to-day administrative management after the retirement of Cynthia Wyse, Director of Finance and Administration, last month. She will also oversee ADF’s summer intern program, which provides hands-on experience to those interested in arts management.

Sarah holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Mills College.

PRESS CONTACT
Amy Hoppe
amy@americandancefestival.org
919-684-6402

The post ADF Names Sarah Tondu New Managing Director appeared first on American Dance Festival.