Welcome to the SoTD Dance Program's first Blog! As the Dance Area Coordinator, I'm very excited to enter a new stage of communication and transparency in how we work together as a dance family. I'll be working closely this year with ECDA Secretary, Danie Johnson, to make this your one stop shop for all the news that's fit to print about ECU DANCE!
I'm hoping that this blog will allow all of us to share information much more fluidly so that we can put our focus where it belongs - on our dancing and creating together! Please let me know if you have any questions about the blog. And don't forget to send me and Danie notices about your successes both in and out of the program. We are proud of our incredibly talented students and can't wait to brag about you!
Let the blogging begin!!!
Here are a few notes about the various sections that will be included in the blogs including some very special CONGRATS to two of our fabulous student choreographers.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
This is where you will find general news on what's happening both in the program and with our fabulous alumni dance artists.
PROFESSIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
This is the section where we will post links to auditions, workshops, job opportunities and so forth.
UPCOMING EVENTS
You guessed it - a listing of events including guest artist classes, performances, etc.
Like the upcoming Dance 2015 Auditions, to be held from 11:30-2:30pm with callbacks from 3-5pm this Saturday, August 30th. Can't wait to see you all dancing!
But your weekend is just getting started, given that Assistant Professor Teal Darkenwald is kicking off a major alignment research project in collaboration with Leah Webster from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire in England. Teal's work will serve each and every one of our majors in helping them to more fully understand their own alignment while implementing best practices in dance training to achieve greater ease, efficiency and control in movement. Thank you to Teal and her super support staff - Amy Parrish, Noel Smith, and Matt Becker from Biomechanics - for bringing the power of science to serve our goal of excellence in dance training!
And don't forget (yeah, right), JOE-JOE "Grooves" Smith will be holding auditions for his new hip-hop work on Sunday night at 7pm. But you better be warmed up and ready to rock cause Joe-Joe is known for going 100 miles per hour when he starts laying it down. I know I'm with all of you in feeling incredibly excited to have one of our most successful graduates back with us as a guest artist this fall. Welcome back, Joe-Joe!!!
CONGRATS!!!
This is where we get to pat each other on the back for the amazing things we accomplish during the year. Of course this will always be packed with fabulous achievements!
FOR EXAMPLE...
Congratulations to senior Performance major, Megan Rhodes, and junior Performance major, Kanon Sapp, for their incredible choreographic successes this summer.
Megan won the annual choreography competition hosted by contemporary choreography's cult icon, Kate Jablonski in Chicago this summer. But you probably already knew this because the video of Megan's winning solo, Left Hand Man, has already received close to 7,000 views on Youtube! Way to go, Megan!!!
Kanon also had amazing success with a solo she choreographed on fellow performance major, the virtuosic Kristalyn Gill, as part of her final project for Improvisation II last spring. When the Bough Breaks, will be performed on December 5th at the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater as a part of the American Dance Guild Festival in New York city!!! How's that for a junior dance major taking a bite out of the big apple in true Pirate style?!
There's also a little trip I took with nine gorgeous dance artists to Washington D.C. to perform at the Kennedy Center as a part of the national ACDFA festival in Washington, D. C. The dancers brought the audiences to their feet with raw, honest and powerful performances of my work, Consumption. I have to say that the real honor for me was working with such gracious and beautiful young artists. Congratulations and THANK YOU to Kirsten Genovese, Danie Johnson, Sarah Kleinke, Ryann Lievens, Terry Mathis, Lauren Pittman, Katie Quick, Jayy Raney, and Megan Rhodes!
I know that there are many, many more achievements by our students and faculty to list here, which is why I am now asking you to EMAIL ME! Let's take the opportunity to use this blog as a way of not only congratulating each other, but of creating a venue for communication that helps us achieve our goals as we spend our lives dedicated to this great art form we so joyfully share: DANCE!!!
I look forward to this year of sharing it with you.
John Dixon
Dance Area Coordinator
