Get to know your local artists: Wilmington area, part 2

Don’t miss the last performance of the NC Dance Festival’s 21st Season in Wilmington this weekend!  The performances are coordinated by The Dance Cooperative, and will be held at the Community Arts Center on Friday Feb 24 and Saturday Feb 25 at 8:00pm, and Sunday Feb 26 at 3:00pm.

We are continuing to introduce some of the local choreographers who will be presenting work alongside the NCDF touring artists.

Kate Muhlstein has been dancing for a long time. She has been choreographing almost as long. After achieving a BFA in dance from Sam Houston State University in Texas, Kate danced with Rednerrus Feil Dance Company of Houston in their debut season. She then met the love of her life who moved her to North Carolina where she plans to stay. Kate has been dancing with the Dance Cooperative since moving to Wilmington in 2007.

With all the journeys she has taken, Kate is presenting a work about the various travels we all take through life in this year’s NCDF in Wilmington.  Titled “Journey Through Dusk,” this work is set to music by Dan Deacon, and will be featured Saturday, Feb 25 and Sunday, Feb 26.

Sue Meier has been teaching and choreographing with The Dance Cooperative for 8 years. Originally from Midland, MI, she studied Dance at Michigan State University and danced with regional companies in Michigan, New York and Sweden.  Sue studied and taught in NY and NJ before moving to Wilmington.

The piece Sue has choreographed is titled “Mutiny.”  The dance looks at different styles of dance (modern, ballet, musical theatre) with a comical twist. She says, “humor is the key to life and if it can happen without words…even better!”  The story starts off with each style trying to be the focal point and evolves until the dancers morph into one another.  See Sue Meier’s work on Saturday, Feb 25 and Sunday, Feb 26.

The performances will also include work by Linda Larson (Friday and Sunday), Anne Firmender (Saturday and Sunday), and Joanna Mizesko (Saturday).

Did you miss our behind-the-scenes look at the NCDF Touring Artists this fall?  Here are links to our previous posts about this year’s roster of touring artists.

Courtney Greer

Helen Simoneau

Robin Gee

Diego Carrasco Schoch

Lindsey Kelley and Mindy Upin

Jen Guy Metcalf

Natalie Marrone

Caroline Calouche

Hope to see you this weekend in Wilmington!

Get to know your local artists: Wilmington Area

The final stop on the 2011-2012 NC Dance Festival tour is Wilmington, NC.  Enjoy some time on the coast, and catch the Festival Friday February 24 and Saturday, February 25 at 8:00pm, and Sunday February 26 at 3:00pm at the Community Arts Center.  Several local choreographers and performers will be featured alongside the Festival touring artists, including Heather Wells, Alyona Suslova, and Tracey Varga.

Heather Wells has enjoyed dancing since she was three years old.  After training with instructors of various styles in Houston, Huntsville (AL), Atlanta, New York and Paris, Heather was awarded dance scholarships for college, but was unable to pursue that route due to an injury.  That change of course eventually led her to explore yoga and pilates, and the experience fostered a greater appreciation for the gift of dance.  She has been a ballet instructor in Wilmington, North Carolina for 15 years and also enjoys teaching jazz and modern dance.  Heather currently teaches at the Wilmington School of Ballet.  Heather truly appreciates the opportunity to share her love of dance with her students and others.

For this year’s North Carolina Dance Festival, Heather will present a dance titled “Colors,” set  to a song by the same name by April Smith and The Great Picture Show.  It is a trio of high energy, technical work that is simply about the love, fun and camaraderie shared between dear friends. Heather says, “It is wonderful to share the stage with two of my very best pals, Stacia Silvester and Trilby Shier.”  Heather’s piece is on the program Friday, Feb 24.

Alyona Suslova is originally from Krasnoyarsk, Russia (Siberia).  She moved to Wilmington in August 2011 after she won a grant to study dance in American Dance Festival at Duke University in Durham last summer.  She has studied dance in Russia, France, Lithuania, USA, and has participated in several different festivals all over.  In Russia she has her own dance company and dance school where she has been teaching since 2008.  She feels that people of each age can dance and has had a lot of experience teaching adults and children who have never danced before, but have a big desire to dance.  She also teaches advanced level for professional dancers.  She has choreographed since 2007 and prefers to create pieces based on individual personalities.  Alyona is very happy to be a part of the Wilmington dance community.
Alyona describes her dance, “I think we need to talk about?..”, which will be shown on Friday Feb 24 and Sunday, Feb 26: “My piece is about relationships between friends, men, women, all people. It’s about arguing and peace, sadness and joy, it’s about all of us.”

Tracey Varga has been an avid dance participant since the age of 5. Her performance, teaching and choreographic experience includes works with and for a variety of dance companies in Maryland, Washington, Idaho, Illinois and New York. Locally she has presented works at Dance-a-lorus, NC Dance Festival, Thalian Hall, City Stage and the Cameron Art Museum. Tracey teaches modern/jazz and tap dance at the Wilmington School of Ballet and is a licensed Physical Therapist. She serves as program coordinator for Arts Sensation benefit concert and is director of Forward Motion Dance Company.  For more information about Forward Motion Dance Company, including videos and photos, visit their website.

Tracey’s work, “Essence of Being,” can be seen on Friday, Feb 24 and Sunday, Feb 26.  Set to music by Andrew Bird, “Essence of Being” will feature Foward Motion Dance Company members Tracey, Jeneen Cleare, Maggie Moore, and Susan Turner as well as dancer Leslie Nifoussi.

Up next on the blog: meet the other local Wilmington choreographers presenting work, and catch up with the touring Festival artists.

Behind the Scenes: Choosing Festival Artists

This Friday, February 10, is the deadline to apply for the 2012-13 NC Dance Festival roster of touring artists!

Here’s how artists are chosen:

The call to artists goes out in mid-December, and applications are accepted until early February.  Last season, we received 22 applications!  Once all the submissions are in, a panel of judges is selected by the Dance Project Board of Directors.  This year, there are four reviewers, including one college student and three dancers or people interested in dance from the Greensboro community.

The panel considers all the submissions in a blind review—they do not know which choreographer submitted which work. Each reviewer makes recommendations and scores each work; the dances that score the highest overall are generally the ones invited to join the touring roster for that year.  One or two additional invitations may be issued to round out the roster at eight artists.

We are committed to presenting the works of North Carolina dance artists in many forms, and strive to represent the various styles and interests within the NC dance community.  Each year we look at several different elements in choosing artists, and aim for a group that is diverse in terms of racial and ethnic identity, gender, aesthetic point of view, geographic location, and career stage in order to promote both excellence and variety.

The adjudication process is complete by mid-March, and the eight artists are contracted for the upcoming season.

If there are artists working in the state whose choreography you would like to see on the program, encourage them to apply! Application guidelines can be found on our website: http://www.ncdancefestival.com.

Up next on the blog: Meet the local Wilmington artists who will be performing alongside the NC Dance Festival touring artists February 24-26 at the Community Arts Center in Wilmington.

Thanks to the NC Community!

Thanks for helping to make the first NCDF Community Day a success!  We enjoyed excellent classes from Gary Taylor and Helen Simoneau, and had a great crowd for our afternoon performance.

Up next for the NC Dance Festival:

Feb 10 is the deadline for submitting a video of your work to be considered for next year’s Festival.  Full submission guidelines here.

Tune in next week to find out how dances are chosen for the touring roster!

Feb 24-26 the NCDF will be in Wilmington, for our final performance of the 2011-12 season.  Leading up to the show, check out our profiles of the local Wilmington artists who will be performing alongside the touring artists.

Thanks for continuing to make the NC dance community vibrant and active!

Join the NCDF

First of all, NCDF Community Day is this weekend!  Please come out and enjoy a full day of dance!

If you’ve missed our profiles of any of the participating artists, click on their names below for more information.

Community Day Schedule

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Videography
(Cultural Arts Center, Rm 100)
9am-noon  Videographers Jen and Christian Metcalf will be filming dances for interested choreographers. (All time slots taken.)

Master Classes
(Cultural Arts Center, Studio 323)
10:30am-noon Intermediate/Advanced Ballet with Gary Taylor (Winston-Salem Festival Ballet)
12:30-2:00pm Intermediate/Advanced Modern with Helen Simoneau (Helen Simoneau Danse)

Free Performance
(Cultural Arts Center, Rm 100)
3:30-4:45   See work by invited choreographers Renay Aumiller, Elizabeth Lane Christopher, Camerin Allgood McKinnon, Bridget Morris, Justin Tornow, and Sara Tourek.

Check our website for more information: www.ncdancefestival.org.

Hope to see you on Saturday!

___________________________________________________________________________________

Would you like to tour with the NC Dance Festival?

We are now soliciting applications for the 2012-13 Festival tour. The Festival goes to five communities within the state and participating artists are expected to perform the same dance at all sites. Each choreographer is asked to contribute 8-12 minutes of dance. We also expect touring artists to take part in Festival outreach programs when asked, which involves teaching classes or performing in mini-concerts in a variety of settings in association with concert weekends. Additional pay is involved for these programs.

To apply, send a video/DVD of the work you would like to present on the Festival. Please let us know if you have presented this work in North Carolina within the last year, or plan to present it in the state within the next year.

Works are selected by a blind review process, so please be sure that the recorded material does not have your name on it.

Send dvd along with a vitae and a $10 application fee to:

NC Dance Festival
306 Aberdeen Terrace
Greensboro NC 27403

Applications must be received by February 10, 2012.

Artists are not eligible to tour for two years in a row. Additionally, choreographers enrolled in degree granting programs are not eligible. Notifications will go out in mid-March.

Questions? Email ncdancefest@gmail.com or call 336-373-2727.

Meet the Artists: Gary Taylor and Helen Simoneau

We are thrilled to be offering master classes with two exciting teachers during the NCDF Community Day on Jan 28!

From 10:30am-12 noon, Gary Taylor of the Winston-Salem Festival Ballet will teach Intermedediate/Advanced Ballet.

From 12:30-2:00 pm, Helen Simoneau will teach Intermediate/Advanced Modern Dance.

Both classes will be held in Studio 323 at the Greensboro Cultural Arts Center.

Classes are $10 each or $18 for both if you register in advance (instructions here), or $12/$22 drop-in rate.

Here’s a little from the artists themselves about their approach to teaching class.

Gary Taylor says: “I help dancers to reevaluate the way they take class and discover the obvious, but over-looked, logic of movement through ballet as it relates to everyday concepts, while challenging their minds, becoming more insightful, better movers and ultimately happier dancers.”

Gary Taylor, founder and artistic director of the Winston Salem Festival Ballet, is a graduate of the UNC School of the Arts.   Before retiring as a performer in 1997,  he danced throughout the Southeast and he continues to teach widely.   In 1999 he was awarded the Regional Dance America (RDA) Choreographic Award, and in the same year, UNCSA honored him as the outstanding North Carolina Teacher in the Performing Arts.  At S.E.R.B.A. 2004, he was awarded the prestigious Regional Dance America Choreographic Commission Award.  In 2010, Gary was the Director of the RDA National Choreography Intensive held at UNCSA, and was the adjudicator for RDA Northeast and Mid States 2011 Festival in Pittsburg, PA.  He has choreographed original works for a number of ballet companies, including the Gainsesville Ballet, Southern Ballet Theatre, and High Point Ballet.  He is currently on faculty with the Festival Dance Center, the home of the Winston-Salem Festival Ballet.

You can hear more about his choreography and training in this recent interview for Triad Arts Up Close, on WFDD.

 Helen Simoneau is currently full-time guest faculty at the UNC School of the Arts.  A native of Québec, Canada, Helen currently lives in Winston-Salem and creates with a group of dancers based in both NYC and North Carolina. Last Fall, she won The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010: New York City with her solo “the gentleness was in her hands.” Her choreography has been presented in Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Switzerland, and has toured throughout Germany and the United States.  Helen Simoneau is a 2010 North Carolina Arts Council Choreographic Fellow and has created new works for the Bessie Schönberg Residency at The Yard (MA), the University of the North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), the Eisenhower Dance Ensemble (MI) and has restaged her work for The University of Oklahoma, Wake Forest University (NC), and Hollins University (VA). Simoneau earned a BFA from UNCSA and a MFA from Hollins University. She has served as adjunct faculty at the American Dance Festival, UNCSA, and UNCG. This past spring, she was a visiting assistant professor at Hollins University. She has taught as the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain and was an artist-in-residence at Bates Dance Festival in the emerging choreographers program. She is currently full-time guest faculty at UNCSA for the 2011-12 academic year.

Helen’s class for NCDF Community Day will feature a standing warm-up with exercises that develop a strong technical base focusing on efficient anatomical alignment while encouraging a full range of motion in the torso and articulation of the spine. An adagio phrase develops strength and stamina, while a fast and large moving combination explores full use of space, shifts of weight, physicality, momentum as well as a balance between precision and making it your own.

Don’t miss the opportunity to take class with these two talented teachers!  And after taking class, make it a full day of dance by sticking around for the Free Afternoon performance at 3:30.

We hope to see you there!

Meet the Artists: Sara Tourek and Camerin McKinnon

We are getting closer to the NCDF Community Day–don’t forget to register for the master classes!

This week, we feature the last two choreographers presenting work for the free afternoon performance.

Sara Tourek is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Dance at Elon University. She holds an MFA in Dance/Choreography from UNCG and a BFA in Dance Technique from Ohio University.  Before residing in North Carolina, Sara lived and worked in New York City.  She has choreographed and performed in many states including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Texas, West Virginia, and North Carolina.  Sara has a wide range of teaching experience including classical ballet, pointe, contemporary dance, choreography, and dance appreciation. Sara also serves as the Lead Dance Instructor at Governor’s School West and is and active member of the North Carolina Dance Alliance board.

For the Community Day performance, Sara will present a contemporary dance for four women, set to music by Craig Armstrong and the Books.

Charlotte-based Camerin Allgood McKinnon will present her solo work, “wake(v): to become roused from a tranquil or inactive state.”  “wake” tells the story of Camerin’s journey to developing awareness of white privilege through the combination of dance and spoken word. The piece aims to lead others to racial understanding with the compassion of someone who is living this journey.  Camerin graduated from UNCG with a BFA in performance and choreography in 2007, and went on to perform and teach at Dance Place and Mason/Rhynes Productions in Washington, DC. She is currently living in Charlotte, teaching dance, making jewelry, and serving coffee. In 2010, she developed The Wake Project, which addresses racial understanding and reconciliation through movement.  Check out the blog for the project: http://thewakeproject.blogspot.com/

Up next on the blog: meet the teachers of the Community Day master classes, Gary Taylor and Helen Simoneau!  Plus, find out how to submit your work to be considered for next season’s NC Dance Festival tour!

Meet the Artist: Bridget Morris

Happy January!

NCDF Community Day is right around the corner (January 28), and we are continuing our profiles of the artists who will be presenting work in the informal afternoon showing.

Bridget Morris is the director of Echo Contemporary Dance Company, based in Charlotte, NC; she founded the company in the summer of 2010.  She received her training in the Charles Weidman technique under former Weidman dancer, Mary Ann Mee, at Central Piedmont Community College.  In 1998 Bridget graduated from Ohio State University with a B.F.A. in dance.  Since graduating she has been a company member of the Moving Poets Theater of Dance and Alban Elved Dance Company.

Bridget will be presenting “Kinetic Cacophony,” a work for six dancers.  The dance is an experiment in the abstraction of sound from the multiple dynamics inherent in movement.  Using a reverse process, the kinetic soundbites were composed to the finished choreographic work to create a unique audio-visual experience.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Registration is now open for NCDF Community Day master classes!

Master Classes

(Cultural Arts Center, Studio 323)

10:30am-noon Intermediate/Advanced Ballet with Gary Taylor (Winston-Salem Festival Ballet)

12:30-2:00pm Intermediate/Advanced Modern with Helen Simoneau (Helen Simoneau Danse)

Register in advance for the master classes to take advantage of our special pricing: Take one master class for only $10 or both for $18 if your payment is received by January 27!  To register, bring your payment and class selection to the Dance Project office (Cultural Arts Center, City Arts office 101b) Monday-Thursday 9-3, or mail your class selection and a check (made out to Dance Project) to: 200 N. Davie St #7, Greensboro, NC 27401.

Class prices on Community Day are $12 for one class and $22 for both.

Full schedule and information on our website.

Coming up on the blog: meet Sara Tourek and Camerin Allgood McKinnon, both choreographers invited to present work in the informal showing, and learn a little more about teaching artists Gary Taylor and Helen Simoneau!

Meet the Artist: Elizabeth Lane Christopher

We are continuing to profile the NC artists invited to present work during NCDF Community Day, January 28, 2012.  Meet Elizabeth Christopher!

Elizabeth Lane Christopher will present a solo work in the NCDF Community Day showing.  The dance, describes Elizabeth, draws on the ”memories and fleeting images of my beloved late sister and is additionally an exploration of spiritualism.”

Elizabeth holds an MFA in Choreography from UNCG and a BA in dance with a minor in music from Winthrop University. Her professional performance career includes contemporary and commercial work such as John Gamble Dance Theater, Cyrus Art Production, Carnival Cruise Lines lead dancer, Paramount Carowinds Production Performer, CPCC Summer Stock theater company member, and various independent performances. Elizabeth serves as School Director and instructor for Dance Project: the School at City Arts and additionally teaches as adjunct faculty at UNCG and NC A&T University.

Elizabeth talks about her training and choreographic process:

At age 7 (first grade) I became a hobby dancer taking class once a week.  I began studying more seriously at age 11, dancing for multiple hours each week.

During my undergraduate studies I had a wake up call about the differences of assembling a list of technical skills versus creating art.  It was at this point that I became intrigued to study the process of dance making.

My process is constantly evolving, but generally I always start with some point of inspiration or concept that I want to explore.  From there I often build a movement vocabulary, find music and eventually piece all of it together.  The revision process is constant and often continues after a piece has been already been presented.

What else is Elizabeth up to these days, besides choreographing?

EXERCISE!! I am an exercise addict!  Over the past year I have begun running and will run my first half marathon in January.  I hope to do my 1st marathon before the end of 2012.

I am redesigning and running a dance program for youth and adult students.  The school is another facet of Dance Project, we are the School at City Arts.

I am a relatively newly wed and am enjoying establishing life after graduate school in North Carolina.

Tune in next Monday to learn a little more about the lives of our other NCDF Community Day choreographers!  More information about this full day of dance, including master classes, performance, and a chance to get a professional quality DVD made of one of your dances, here or on our website.

Meet the Artist: Justin Tornow

Justin Tornow is a dancer, educator, and choreographer. She received an MFA in Choreography (2010) and BA degrees in Dance- Choreography and Political Science (2001) at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She co-founded and directed the NC nonprofit dance-based artist collaborative [project incite] 2005-2007.  As an independent artist, her choreography has been presented across North Carolina, including a statewide tour of the North Carolina Dance Festival.

After receiving her MFA, Justin relocated to Brooklyn, NY; she presented new and re-formed work in the NYC area, performed for independent choreographers, and embarked on collaborative projects. Most recently, Justin has collaborated with Julia Y. Edwards on a project called MOVEABLE, performed in the DUMBO Dance Festival in NYC, and co-produced a show entitled One Space, Three Dances with colleagues Katherine Kiefer Stark and Marion and Jung Woong for the Philly Fringe Festival in September 2011. In addition to making new independent works and productions– currently in the NC area– Justin is an adjunct instructor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Take a look at www.jctworks.com to see video, photography, and writing on archived works.

For NCDF Community Day, Justin will present a solo created for dancer Audrey Baran, titled No. 7.2.  This solo is part of a larger group of solo projects currently in progress, and has been developed on a trio of lines.  It explores both the simplicity and complexity of variation.

Hear a little from Justin about her introduction to dance and choreography, as well as more info on her current work.

Dance Project: When did you first begin dancing?

Justin Tornow:  My interest in dance and music started when I was really young– my mom was just recently talking about the physicality of my responses to life and music when I was a kid over the Thanksgiving holiday. After staging multiple productions in the backyard to Madonna, Cindi Lauper, Gloria Estefan, and the soundtrack to White Nights, my parents enrolled me in dance classes at the age of 6. I studied ballet, tap and jazz, and then fell in love with modern and contemporary dance in college and beyond.

DP: How did you become interested in choreographing?

JT: I guess I started choreographing almost as soon as I started thinking of myself as a dancer. Some of my favorite memories are creating dance renditions of the movie The Labyrinth, with theatrical breaks for bad acting moments and sections comprised mostly of cartwheel sequences. I did my Senior Exit Project (I’m not sure if they do those anymore, but it was basically a research project with a presentation that you had to complete to graduate high school) on Modern Dance, and that project included choreographing short bits in various styles. I’ve studied and practiced choreography from that point on– I work as an independent choreographer when I’m not going to school to study it.

DP: Can you tell us a little about your choreographic process?

JT: What an ever-evolving thing… I am always trying to “figure out” what my process is, which I consider a habit I’d like to eventually break. But what I’ve learned about it is that no matter how it starts out (an image, some movement– improvised or crafted, or a concept) it always feels like a whittling away at something to try and get at whatever it is. Lately I’ve been improvising a lot, mainly because I’ve been working alone so much, but I’ve really enjoyed the change it brings about in my process of making a work.

DP: What choreographic projects are you working on now?

JT:  I’m actively working on 3 solos right now for specific people, and they’re all considered part of this larger project of No. 7. They’re sort of character studies of each performer, they share some variations of movement vocabulary, and are all concerned with the idea of performing, performativity, and who we are/consider ourselves to be onstage. I don’t know if this work will also include a duet and some larger group pieces, but I hope so. I’ll be performing No. 7.1 in the COOL New York Festival in February 2012.

DP: Besides choreographing, what other activities are you involved in?

JT:  Because it’s cold outside, I’m knitting scarves for friends and family. I’ve recently started cooking in a more serious way (with cookbooks,) and tried my hand at baking a couple of weeks ago– so far I’ve made some cookies, herbed boules, rolls, and crackers. I teach and take as many dance classes as I can.

Justin’s new work, No. 7.2, will be shown in the free NCDF Community Day showing at 3:30 on Jan 28 in the Greensboro Cultural Arts Center.  Stay tuned for profiles of  the other presenting choreographers!