VCU Dance Live

VCU Dance will present CALM, the Fall 2009 Senior Project Dance Concert on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, November 19, 20, and 21 at 8:00 pm at the Grace Street Theater, 934 West Grace Street. Tickets are $10 for the general public, $5 for students with a valid VCU I.D. and can be reserved beginning November 9 by calling the Grace Street Theater box office at (804)-828-2020.

Four senior dance majors explore the many meanings of "calm" in four diverse works. In each piece the choreographers find through spatial, tactile, internal, musical, social, or forced relationships the meaning of calm within their work. Some create an environment that displays their definition of calm: by either using a stressful and restricted space in which the characters must find a sense of calm; or by illustrating the calming interaction that occurs between the Tuscan landscape and classic Italian architecture. While others find calm in the familiar: whether that be familiarity of touch and sensation; or of memory and nostalgia, and the reminiscence of an idealistic era. Through this process of kinesthetic exploration these four women have constantly been growing and evolving through their works. By finding acceptance of their quickly changing lives and relishing in the comfort of the unknown, the presentation of these works serves as a stepping stone into these artists long careers to come.

Through the serendipitous encounter, Between Floors, Corrine Bates investigates one of humanity's immense fears: getting stuck in an elevator. Through her percussive and gestural movement, five strangers are forced to endure emotions they never dreamed of experiencing. Lasting relationships are molded; sometimes the most unexpected situations yield the most remarkable outcomes.

Alyssa Crump's Technicolor Romance blends movement from Modern Dance, Ballet, and Jazz to bring the era of 1950's Hollywood to the stage. This colorful escapade takes her 12 dancers back in time with the energetic rises and falls of big band swing. Taking inspiration from legends such as Gene Kelly, Anne Miller, and Frank Sinatra, Crump explores through loose and lively movement the unquestionable connection between music and movement, and the relationships that people experience while dancing.

In scutura degli spazi, Lauren Stafford investigates different ways of utilizing space through the inspiration of classic Italian architecture. Stafford's eleven dancers construct and reconstruct kinetic shapes that form throughout the space, while light creates shadows and pathways highlighting and accenting the three dimensional space.

In A Day Apart, Melodie Fais pulls from the primitive and intellectual sides of the psyche to reveal the inner workings of the familiar sensation of being touched. Through circular spatial relationships and dynamics nine individual souls hold, brush, caress, tap, and manipulate each other through space eliciting a broad spectrum of emotions.

CALM is the fourth event of the VCU Dance 2009-2010 Season, a thrilling year of concerts, film screenings, master classes and more. The VCU Dance 2009-2010 Season is made possible in part by funding graciously provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation; the Virginia Commission for the Arts; the New England Foundation for the Arts, and VCUarts.

VCU Dance presents the Salon on Tuesday, October 27th at 8 p.m. in the VCU Dance Center, Studio 203 located at 10 North Brunswick Street. The informal showing of new student works in a range of disciplines will be facilitated by VCU Dance Professor Martha Curtis, who will invite audience members to react to the work presented and share observations with the artists. Says Curtis, "Our goal is to give students an opportunity to show works or works-in-progress with feedback sessions designed to encourage dialogue and further investigation of creative ideas."

Admission is free and open to the public. For additional information, contact VCU Dance at 804-828-1711.

Film Screening: Selections from New York Dance on Camera Festival

Virginia Commonwealth University's Department of Dance & Choreography presents Dance on Camera, a screening of four short dance films selected from the New York Dance Films Association, Dance on Camera Festival, 2009. These films, never before screened in Richmond, will be presented at VCU's Grace Street Theatre on Tuesday, October 13 at 8:00 PM. Tickets are $5 and are available at the door. For more information, call the Grace Street Theatre Box Office at (804) 828-2020.

Curated by VCU Dance Professor Martha Curtis, Dance on Camera promises an exciting glimpse into the innovative genre of video dance. According to Prof. Curtis, "This promises to be an exciting screening with films from several corners of the globe. We start with a disorienting play on space and gravity, move to an unexpected accident, then to the enigmatic, finishing with a richly moving biography told with the hybrid artfrom of videodance."

The screening will feature PROPIEDAD HORIZONTAL, a film directed by David Fariás, Carla Schillagi and Maria Fernanda Vallejos of Argentina and nominated for a Jury Prize at the 2009 Dance on Camera Film Festival. Dancers explore a narrow passageway to create and elegant, abstract and lively piece of pure movement and form.

Directed by Didzis Eglitis of Latvia, VEITING NORBA describes an accidental encounter on a sidewalk that spins a group waiting for the garbage collector into a chain reaction likely to provoke a smile.

MYSTERIES OF NATURE, was the winner of the Dance Films Association 2009 Jury Prize. Created by Dahci Ma, South Korea, in 2008, the film is simply described as "torn into bits and gone with the wind."

Audience Favorite at the 2009 Dance on Camera Film Festival, NORA was directed by Alla Kovgan and David Hinton, choreographed by Nora Chipaumire, with a soundscore by Thomas Mapfumo, and produced by Joan Frosch (USA, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, UK, respectively). Nora is a dense and swiftly moving poem of sound and image that tells the story of a dancer growing up in Zimbabwe.

Dance on Camera is the second event of the VCU Dance 2009-2010 Season, a thrilling year of concerts, film screenings, master classes and more. The VCU Dance 2009-2010 Season is made possible in part by funding graciously provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation; the Virginia Commission for the Arts; the New England Foundation for the Arts, and VCUarts.

Professional Development Seminar for Teachers
Facilitated by Judy Steel and Martha Curtis, VCU Dance Faculty
Thursday and Friday, October 1-2, 2009
Certificate of Completion Provided for Participants

Intent

• To provide dance teachers with opportunity for professional development


• To build stronger connections between VCU Dance and local studio and performing arts high school teachers


• To provide formal opportunities for observation of and participation in VCU Dance curriculum


• To encourage idea exchange


• To provide opportunities for networking

Content
All workshops are designed with the intent that participants would adapt the content to their particular student population.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
VCU Dance major classes are open for participants to observe and/or participate
Participants may select from the courses listed below (subject to change):

• 8:30AM-12:30PM Check-in Dance Center Lobby prior to participation/ observation


• 9:10-10:40AM Ballet levels 1, 2 or 3


• 10:50 AM -12:20 PM Modern Technique, levels 2, 3 or 4


• 12:30-1:50 PM Modern Technique level 1 or Repertory*


• 2:00-3:20PM Improvisation, or Contact Improvisation


• 3:30-5:20 PM Choreography*

• 9:00-9:45 AM Check in, meet and greet (Coffee, Tea and light breakfast snack)


• 10:00-11:30 AM Participation in or observation of VCU Dance Master Class in Modern Technique


• 11:30-12:30 PM Break, light lunch, opportunities for networking and discussion.


• 12:30-3:00 PM Body based Alignment Workshop for participants with a focus on teaching dance technique. (Short break 2:00-2:10). Purpose is to introduce and build upon basic principles of body organization and movement integration: Core Strength; Articulation of Spine, Pelvis and Hip Joint. Strategies for teaching these principles will be explored with the goal of movement efficiency and a balanced approach to training.


• 3:00-3:15 PM BREAK


• 3:15-5:15 PM Workshop: Using improvisation to teach composition and to develop performance skills (movement session for participants)


• 5:15-6:15 PM Discussion, ideas for application, and closure

Seminar Location
VCU Dance Center, 10 North Brunswick (at the corner of Floyd Ave) Parking information will be distributed after participant registration deadline of Sept. 17, 2009.

Seminar Fee
Before September 17, 2009
$250 All-day Friday plus open house Thursday
$200 Friday only
After September 17, 2009
$275 All-day Friday plus open house Thursday
$225 Friday only

Registration Form and Instructions: click here.

VCU Department of Dance and Choreography announces its 2009-2010 performance season, made possible in part by funding graciously provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation; the New England Foundation for the Arts; the Virginia Commission for the Arts; and VCUarts. In addition to the award-winning work of VCU Dance students and faculty presented in Senior Project and Student Concerts as well as VCU Dance NOW, special events this season include a tribute to beloved Richmond artist Richard Carlyon; and a public performance by the critically acclaimed, New York-based Stephen Petronio Company, which will kick off VCU Dance's hosting of the 2010 Mid Atlantic Region American College Dance Festival in March.

2009-2010 Season

Move: A Tribute
Richard Carlyon Retrospective
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Grace Street Theater, 8:00 PM Free, but reservations required. Call 804-828-2020.

Dance on Camera Film Screening
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Grace Street Theater, 8:00 PM $5
This evening of dance films created by international artists represents an intriguing range of approaches to the hybrid art form of videodance.

Salon
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
VCU Dance Center, 10 North Brunswick Street, 8:00 PM Free
An informal showing of new student works in a range of disciplines, with post-performance discussion facilitated by VCU Dance faculty member Martha Curtis.

Fall Senior Project
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, November 19, 20, 21, 2009
Grace Street Theater, 8:00 PM $10
Graduating seniors produce a concert of their own work in this capstone experience in the Dance & Choreography BFA.

Student Concert
Friday & Saturday, January 29-30, 2010
Grace Street Theater, 8:00 PM $10
This student-run and curated production showcases the choreography of VCU Dance majors.

VCU Dance NOW
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, February 18, 19, 20, 2010
Grace Street Theater, 8:00 PM $15
New and repertory works by VCU Dance faculty members and guest artists.

Stephen Petronio Company
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
W. E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts, 8:00 PM $20
The New York Times extols Stephen Petronio Company's dancing as having "an instantly recognizable style [that is] fresh and unpredictable... infused with emotional texture and wit... jarring and just right."

Mid Atlantic Region American College Dance Festival, Hosted by VCU Dance
March 17-21, 2010

Spring Senior Project
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, April 29, 30, May 1, 2010
Grace Street Theater, 8:00 PM $10
Graduating seniors produce a concert of their own work in this capstone experience in the Dance & Choreography BFA.

For ticket and theater rental information, contact Jill B. Ware at Grace Street Theater:
934 West Grace Street
Richmond, Virginia
Phone: 804-828-2020 Fax: 804-827-0154
Email: jbware@vcu.edu

For full season press release, click here.

For VCU Dance, 2008-2009 shimmered with creativity and excitement: concerts packed with new work by students and faculty; film screenings; festival recognitions; and presentations of nationally and internationally known guest artists.

Antares Danza lit up Richmond
A National Endowment for the Arts grant provided crucial support to a one-week residency by Antares Danza Contemporanea, based in Hermosillo, Mexico, at VCU Dance. The residency encompassed company director Miguel Mancillas teaching modern dance technique to VCU Dance majors from October 20-24, 2008, as well as teaching a master class at the Richmond Ballet on October 20. Additionally, Mancillas and the members of Antares presented a lecture-demonstration at the Latin Ballet of Virginia on Saturday, October 25 for an audience of community members, and students and members of the Latin Ballet and Henrico Center for the Arts.

At the Grace Street Theater on October 24 & 25, 2008, Antares performed Tu Hombro ("Your Shoulder"), the latest work by Artistic Director Miguel Mancillas, in which the metaphor of the shoulder, with three true joints and two false, translates to human behavior as portrayed through demanding physicality and intense expressiveness. The Antares dancers seared the stage with their honesty and gorgeously passionate performances, when none of them left the stage and none of them flagged. Such dedicated intensity kept the audience riveted during the entire work.

VCU Dance majors triumphed at Mid-Atlantic American College Dance Festival
VCU Dance participated in the Mid-Atlantic Region American College Dance Festival (ACDF), March 18-21, 2009, held at Hollins University. Fourteen students and two faculty members traveled to Roanoke, VA , where the students performed and took classes and the faculty (Christian Von Howard and Lea Marshall) taught classes. The Department presented two works, De Materie, choreographed by Christian Von Howard, and Two-Sided, choreographed by senior Danielle Currica, for adjudication during the festival.

Out of five adjudication concerts containing approximately 50 dances choreographed by students, faculty and guest artists from universities around the region (Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, Washington, D.C.), both works presented by VCU Dance were chosen by a process of blind adjudication for inclusion in the festival's culminating gala performance, consisting of 12 works in total. In addition to selection for the gala, both works received enthusiastic, insightful feedback from the three festival adjudicators--acknowledged professionals in the dance field.

From strength to strength
In addition to Antares Danza and the excitement at ACDF, the Department staged two blockbuster senior project concerts, a student concert, and VCU Dance NOW, a concert of new and recent work by VCU Dance faculty and guest artist Gerri Houlihan. On April 3 & 4, New York-based Monica Bill Barnes & Company illuminated the Grace Street Theater stage with Suddenly Summer Somewhere, a critically-acclaimed work created by Barnes in part during her spring, 2007 residency at VCU.

And coming up...
Check back soon for the Department's exciting 2009-2010 season announcement, and look for new guest artist presentations and information on the 2010 Mid Atlantic American College Dance Festival, to be hosted by VCU Dance! Audition dates for admission in the 2010-2011 year will also be announced shortly.

Have a great summer!