RECENT NEWS
Technique Placement Class
Our next placement class for students interested in taking technique classes and who are not placed at a level will be on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 5pm in studio 322. Registration is not required.
Undergraduate Dance Audition:
Our next audition for prospective dance majors will be on April 3, 2010. Registration for the audition is required and interested students should submit a completed Audition Request Form to the Department. The registration deadline for the April 3, 2010 audition is Friday, March 26, 2010.
Department of Dance
UNCG Dance Alumni - 2006
UNDERGRADUATE
Jessica Arnold, BS
Shannon Brooks, BA
Lindsey Brown, BS
Stephanie Byrnes, BFA
updated 7/09
In August, 2009, Stephanie will be working as a production intern at the Dance Theatre Workshop in NYC. Alongside two other interns, Stephanie will be switching between light/sound board op and deck crew. She says, "I get to work with a ton of different companies that come through the theatre, and meet a lot of people working in technical production for dance shows. This is an amazing start to a dream job for me, and I'm super excited."
Danielle DeBisschop, BS
Carlita Ector, BA
Megan Jolliffe, BA
Stephanie Leathers, BA
Kristen Osborne Lucas, BA
updated 7/09
Kristen is currently teaching the 6th and 10th grade dance students at the Charleston County School of the Arts in SC. She is privileged to dance and create works for Anonymity, a Charleston modern dance company under the direction of Jennifer Strelkasukas. As this is her last year in Charleston, she is scheming about what will come next for her. Graduate school might be on the horizon.
Teresa Nicole Plainte, BS
Allison Purcell, BS
Christina Roberts, BA
Jennifer Sherman, BFA
updated 8/09
Jen is currently serving as dance department chair for Northwest School of the Arts in Charlotte, NC. She has been teaching there for 3 years now and has loved all that it brings! She is also in her third year with Martha Connerton/Kinetic Works Dance Company. Jen is expecting to begin graduate school next summer. She will be getting married to Scott Bowens in April, 2010.
Amber Starr Peeden, BS
updated 11/09
Amber Starr Peeden is a full-time dance instructor and professional dancer from North Carolina. This is currently her third season performing as a member of the John Gamble Dance Theater. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in the area of Dance Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2006. Amber is employed by the Alamance Burlington School System, where she teaches multiple levels and styles of dance at Graham High School. Amber choreographs and teaches in the discipline areas of Modern, Contemporary, Jazz, Hip Hop, and Ballet. She has also performed in the Greensboro Fringe Festival and the North Carolina Dance Festival.
alstarrp@yahoo.com
amber_peeden@abss.k12.nc.us
Jessica Stephens, BA
updated 8/08
Jessica teaches dance and theater at Clarkton School of Discovery and Bladenboro Middle School in Bladen County, NC. She commutes daily between the two schools. Jessica is the only public school dance teacher in the county and the first dancer teacher at Bladenboro Middle. She is also the ballet, lyrical, and technique instructor at Amy's Academy of Dance Arts.
Jessica's Contact Information:
PO Box 382
Bladenboro, NC 28320
jmstephens@bladen.k12.nc.us
Ashley West Roberts, BFA
updated 9/08
Ashley lives in Oakland, CA with her husband, Adam. She says, "Oakland and San Francisco are amazing and I love life on the west coast. I am making my living teaching yoga and dancing with my dream company, Laura Arrington Dance!" Ashley can be emailed at ashnwest@gmail.com.
GRADUATE
Erin Butcheck, MFA
updated 5/07
Erin is an Assistant Professor at USM. Erin says the department is growing, especially dance ed, and the faculty consists of a nice blend of veteran and new faculty.
Roy Clayton Daniel, III, MFA
updated 2/07
Clay Daniel, MFA 2006, is currently on faculty at West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, WV, where he is director of the Dance minor within the Theatre and Dance Departments. At Wesleyan, he has continued to reconstruct works of American Dance pioneer Charles Weidman, presenting a lecture demonstration on the techniques of Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman, as well as excerpts of Weidman’s Christmas Oratorio in the fall of 2006. Most recently, he has assisted Deborah Carr on a presentation of Mr. Weidman’s life and work scheduled for November 2007 in Paris, France. Clay’s duties at Wesleyan have included choreography for Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party, directing three scenes from Robert Harling’s Steel Magnolias, and currently he is choreographing Chicago for the Wesleyan production scheduled to open April 11, 2007.
rcd29@hotmail.com
daniel_c@wvwc.edu
(910) 234 - 1932
Alice Delaney, MA
Sarah Downs, MA
updated 8/08
Sarah will be teaching this fall at Eastern Kentucky University and living in Lexington.
Dionne Griffiths, MA
updated 9/09
I graduated from UNCG in May, 2006 with my M.A. in Choreography. I received my undergraduate degree, a B.A. in Comparative Women's Studies, in 2001 from Spelman College. I have recently completed a year in Trinidad, courtesy of the Fulbright Fellowship.
Most recently, Dionne is working in Louisville, KY at the Governor's School for the Arts. She attended the Urban Bush Women Summer Leadership Institute in New Orleans, LA, and is involved in the mentoring youth in the arts in Louisville. In addition, she has a few directing and dance projects coming up this year.
Alexandra Houston, MFA
updated 11/07
Alexandra Joye Houston is a native of the Washington, D.C. Metro area. She began her intense training as a dance major at Suitland High School for Visual and Performing Arts. She received her BA degree in Drama, with a concentration in Dance/Pre-Medicine from Spelman College in 2003 and in 2006 received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Upon graduation from UNCG, Alexandra relocated to Brooklyn, NY, and was offered an apprenticeship with Urban Bush Women. She has since found a home with Christal Brown's INSPIRIT dance company. Alexandra has been fortunate to work with Bill T. Jones on the Fela Kuti Project and as a teaching artist with the Brooklyn Arts Council. Alexandra is also an emerging dance filmmaker, and her first film short was shown in the Urban Literature Film Festival in 2006 and at the University of Chicago's Eyes on Mosaic conference in 2007. Alexandra is also a freelance writer of dance and urban culture, with articles published in Greensboro's Go Triad and Urban Literature Magazine. In the summer of 2007, Alexandra participated in the Africa and the Diaspora dance intensive workshop in Senegal at the company home of Jant-Bi, under the leadership of Germaine Acogny and other guest artists. This is Alexandra's second season with INSPIRIT and is grateful to be working with such amazing women. Alexandra has also been commissioned this season to set a new work on INSPIRIT and this piece will premier at Tribeca Performing Arts Center as part of the Work and Show Festival in March, 2008.
Talani Torres, MFA
updated 4/07
I think of my UNCG community often!
I am presently a full-time faculty dance instructor at Meredith College in Raleigh, where I will be fulfilling a second One-Year Appointment in 2007-08. Students and faculty have been welcoming and I am learning so much. My dog Gracie volunteers at Meredith as a goose chaser. It's true. She trots behind the head groundskeeper's golf cart and chases geese when called upon to do so. What more could a dog want? We are happy.
Liz Waring, MA
updated 11/06
I am teaching dance at Menchville High School in Newport News, VA. I am getting married Dec. 28, 2006 to Chris McCracken. I can be reached at eamccracken@gmail.com or waring02@sbc.edu. I received my MA in Dance Education in 2006.