The dancers are known for their dynamic energy and rhythmic precision. Van Dyke's choreography seems to live within its musical form, bringing both the movement and the music to a new plane. Her dances are highly structured and meticulously crafted while the movement vocabulary is quick, vigorous and driving. THE WASHINGTON POST described her use of form as "...immaculate. Thematic variation and recapitulation, counterpoint and consonance occur so naturally that one is hardly aware of the strict structure until the end." DANCE MAGAZINE has written "Van Dyke builds intense anticipation and escalating climax through interwoven designs of rhythmic movement and variations in timing, ending each work powerfully on a single image of finality."
Jan Van Dyke has been making dances for over 30 years and has shown choreography widely throughout the United States and in Europe. Most recently, she spent October and November 2000 teaching at the Western Australia Academy of the Performing Arts in Perth. She has set dances on a variety of groups ranging from the Washington Ballet to students at Baltimore's Carver Center for Arts and Technology. She is on the dance faculty at UNC Greensboro, a recipient of a NC Choreography Fellowship, and a 1993 Fulbright Scholar. In 2001, she was honored with the North Carolina Dance Alliance Annual Award for contributions to the development of dance in the state.
Performances include either formal or informal dance programs which can feature discussion intermingled with the dances or before the show. School lecture-demonstrations are also available. Other activities include classes in modern dance and ballet, composition and improvisation, and repertory, as well as discussions about careers in dance.
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