By Dan Nonte, University Relations
Posted: 9-23-08
The Sidelong Dance Company performs Oct. 16, the second night of the N.C. Dance Festival at UNCG. Photo by Robert C. Coghill
The Department of Dance presents the opening of the 18th annual N.C. Dance Festival at 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 15 and 16, in the newly refurbished Aycock Auditorium on the corner of Tate and Spring Garden streets.
Free parking is available in the lot behind the Weatherspoon Art Gallery, which is across Spring Garden Street. Tickets cost $15 for general admission, $12 for students and seniors, and $9 for UNCG students. A special rate of $6 per person is available for groups of 10 or more. For reservations and further information call the UNCG Box Office at (336) 334-4849.
The N.C. Dance Festival is organized and directed by the North Carolina Dance Project under the direction of Jan Van Dyke, chair of the UNCG Department of Dance. In addition to dance performances, the festival offers outreach classes in every community it visits.
The festival seeks to strengthen dance in the state by cultivating audiences, nurturing leadership in the field, and providing opportunities for performance and education. After opening in Greensboro, it will travel to Boone, Asheville, Raleigh, Charlotte and Wilmington.
kdp was founded by Lauren Winslow Kearns, assistant professor of dance and coordinator of the Dance Program at Elon University.
The following groups will perform Wednesday, Oct. 15:
FREEDOM DANCES is directed by Nicole C. Laliberté. She has performed with Sidelong Dance Co., Boston Dance Co., and Honolulu Dance Theatre. Her work has appeared in Old Dominion University’s Regional Showcase, the Greensboro Fringe Festival, N.C. Dance Alliance’s Annual Event, NC Dance Project’s Saturday Series, James Madison University, UNCG and ADF’s Acts to Follow. She earned an MFA from UNCG and a BFA from Boston Conservatory, and has taught at UNCG, JMU, Meredith College, Darton College and the Greensboro Ballet.
VALERIE DiSCIULLO MIDGETT is a dancer, choreographer and yoga teacher based in Boone. She is co-founder and artistic director of X Factor, a contemporary dance company now celebrating 14 years of creating work. The company has performed in NYC, North Carolina, Georgia, West Virginia, Florida, California, Colorado, Guatemala, Austria and Lithuania. Through her company, Valerie has received numerous grants from the North Carolina Arts Council and the Watauga Arts Council, as well as the N.C. Choreographer’s Fellowship.
Durham’s NOSI DANCE THEATER is a multi-faceted company that prides itself on its diversity of dancers, of audiences and of dance techniques. Artistic director Allison R. Daniels attended the Alvin Ailey School, the American Dance Festival and the Limon Institute on talent-based scholarships. She has performed with Laura Dean Musicians and Dancers.
The JOHN GAMBLE DANCE THEATER is directed by John Gamble, a dancer, choreographer, and designer. In addition to his formal choreography, he teaches and performs contact and other improvisational forms. He is a recipient of an N.C. Arts Council Choreographic Fellowship, the 2006 UNC Board of Governor’s Teaching Excellence Award and the 2007 N.C. Dance Alliance Award for Contributions to Dance in North Carolina.
The VAN DYKE DANCE GROUP, directed by Jan Van Dyke, has been active in Greensboro since 1989. Chair of the UNCG Department of Dance, she has been making dances for more than 30 years and has shown choreography widely throughout the United States and in Europe. She is a recipient of a N.C. Choreography Fellowship, and a 1993 Fulbright Scholar. In 2001, she was honored with the N.C. Dance Alliance Annual Award for contributions to the development of dance in the state. In August she received the 2008 Dance Teacher Award for Higher Education from Dance Teacher Magazine.
On Thursday, Oct. 16, the performers will be:
AUTUMN MIST BELK earned her BA in dance and studio art from the University of Alabama and her MFA in dance choreography from the University of Maryland. She is now as the assistant director of the Dance Program at N.C. State. Autumn’s choreography and visual artwork has been presented throughout the southeast United States. She serves as artistic director of the recently formed Code f.a.d. Company, a dance group dedicated to combining film, visual arts and dance into traditional and nontraditional performances.
Since its founding in 2006, EEMOTION has performed in Charlotte and throughout the state. Previously, director E.E. Balcos presented his work in such venues as Walker Art Center and Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis, Joyce/Soho and St. Mark’s Church in New York City. As a performer Balcos toured as a member of Shapiro & Smith Dance, Demetrius Klein Dance Company and Zenon Dance Company. He is assistant professor of dance at UNC-Charlotte teaching modern technique, choreography and improvisation.
LAUREN WINSLOW KEARNS (choreographer/artistic director of kdp) has received 24 grants to support her artistic and scholarly projects; most recently she was awarded the 2008 N.C. Dance Alliance Choreography Fellowship. Before forming kdp, Kearns was the artistic director of bodytalk dance (1999-2005) a Los Angeles-based professional repertory dance company. Kearns is assistant professor of dance and coordinator of the Dance Program at Elon University.
Based in Winston-Salem since 1999, SIDELONG DANCE COMPANY uses movement to look at life from an unusual perspective. Artistic Director Karla Finger Coghill blends modern dance with elements of contemporary ballet to create a repertory of emotionally diverse works. Coghill received her MA in dance from American University and has been a guest artist at Wake Forest University, Salem College, and Forsyth and Davie County Schools. She currently teaches ballet and modern dance at UNCG. Sidelong Dance Co. draws on the talents of professional dancers across the Piedmont Triad.
AMY LOVE BEASLEY is an artist whose investigations explore visual and moving mediums. She received a BA in visual arts, with a minor in dance, from the College of Charleston in South Carolina, where she also danced with The Robert Ivey Ballet. Beasley has had the good fortune to perform in works choreographed by Gerri Houlihan, Niki Juralewicz, B.J. Sullivan, Sean Sullivan, Talani Torres, Christina Tsoules Soriano and Van Dyke, and she is currently a member of the John Gamble Dance Theater. In the spring of 2007, she received her MFA in choreography from UNCG. She currently teaches as an adjunct faculty member at UNCG and at Elon University.
