Voices of NCDF: Natalie Marrone

Natalie Marrone is a fusion artist combining modern dance, vernacular jazz dance and Italian folk rituals to create a unique performance aesthetic.

Marrone showcased her choreographic fusion through her performance company called The Dance Cure. Her choreographic research and scholarship have been featured in national commercials, live television events and presented throughout the USA, Italy and Taiwan through the National Dance Education Organization, The Congress on Research in Dance, The National Italian American Folk Art Federation, the American Italian Historical Association, The North Carolina Dance Festival, Ohio Dance, The North Carolina Dance Association as well as others. Ms. Marrone’s work has been awarded numerous city and state grants, choreographic fellowships, foundational and university level research support, and honored twice in the Columbus Dispatch “top ten” performances of the year. Most recently Ms. Marrone’s choreographic work has been featured at the American Dance Festival and the film Alto starring Annabella Sciorra and Diana DeGarmo. She has been a part of the faculty at many Universities such as Ohio State University, Western Michigan University, Ohio Wesleyan University, Meredith College, Duke University and Elon University.

Voices of NCDF: Kerrie King

Today we welcome Kerrie-Jean King to the Voices of NCDF series. Kerrie teaches dance at Northern Guilford High School.

Originally from Massachusetts, Kerrie moved to NC in 2005 to pursue her graduate studies. She holds a B.F.A. in dance from Florida State University, an M.F.A. in choreography from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a NC K-12 dance education teaching license. Since starting at Northern she has been a Teacher Art Grant Recipient from the United Arts Council of Greensboro on three different occasions for projects with the Northern dance students and community. Throughout her dance career, Kerrie has had the opportunity to work with many world-renowned dance teachers and choreographers and has performed professionally with a number of modern dance companies in multiple places including Boston, NYC, Providence and Winston-Salem. Prior to coming to Northern, she taught adjunct in the dance departments at UNCG and Elon University. Ms. King is a member of the National Dance Educators Organization and a former board member for the North Carolina Dance Alliance.

NC Dance Festival Archives: 2011-2016

• 2011: “Variety and Vitality Mark the 21st Annual NC Dance Festival”
• 2012: “NC Dance Festival’s 22nd Annual Tour Opens in Raleigh”
• 2012: “Dance Festival Comes to UNCG”
• 2012: “N.C. Dance Festival Comes to UNCG”
• 2015: Announcing the 25th Anniversary Season of the North Carolina Dance Festival! Click here to learn more!

Want to see the whole timeline and learn more about the history of the NC Dance Festival? Check out our timeline here for an interactive experience!

Voices of NCDF: Alyson Colwell-Waber

We’re hearing today from Alyson Colwell-Waber, one of the hosts of the NC Dance Festival.

Alyson Colwell-Waber is a dance professor at Meredith College, Raleigh, who founded the Meredith Dance Theatre performing ensemble. As well as her talent in dance, she is also trained in Embodied Yoga and is a registered yoga teacher. Alyson was a board member and board president of the North Carolina Dance Alliance and Even Exchange Dance Theatre, she was also a board member for the Raleigh Dance Theatre. North Carolina Dance Alliance awarded her with its Annual Award for lifetime contribution to dance in the state of NC in 2012. Alyson studied at The Pennsylvania State University where she received her BS degree in Health and Physical Education with an emphasis in Dance Education. She then continued with her studies to receive an MFA in dance at Arizona State University.

For more information on the NC Dance Festival schedule, click here.

Voices of NCDF: Anna Barker

Durham artist Anna Barker brings excerpts of her dance “it’s not me it’s you” to the NCDF Tour this year. She discusses some of the themes in the work, as well as why she loves living and dancing in Durham. Anna will be teaching a master class at Meredith College on September 19, called Technique and Creative Dancemaking. Open to the public, ages 12+. Find more info here.

Anna Barker is the artistic director of real.live.people.durham. She strives to create work that reaches a diverse audience. Anna hails from Durham, North Carolina by way of South Africa by way of London. She attended Durham School of the Arts high school and spent many summers at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the American Dance Festival. After completing degrees in Dance and Psychology at Temple University, Anna lived and worked in New York City. In November 2013 she was awarded an artist residency at Elsewhere Collaborative, a living-museum and artist collective in Greensboro, NC, where she created and performed a site-specific work, “booted & spurred”. She is a founding member of the Triangle Dance Alliance, a group which seeks to connect, support and facilitate a community of dancers within the Durham/ Raleigh/ Chapel Hill area. Anna has shown work as part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, WAXworks at Triskelion Arts (Brooklyn), at Dance New Amsterdam (Manhattan), the New York Film School, and locally at the Carrboro ArtsCenter, PROMPTS at the Carrack Art Gallery, and the American Dance Festival’s Local Look & Listen (Durham). 

For full NCDF Schedule, click here.

Voices of NCDF: Amy Beasley

NCDF Touring Artist Amy Beasley joins us today, to talk about her dance, “This Place is the Place.” Amy and some of her dancers will also participate in our “Get to Know the NC Dance Festival” event on September 26. Join us to see some of these ideas in action!

Amy Love Beasley is currently on the faculty of Wake Forest University as a Teaching Fellow in Dance. An independent performer, choreographer, and visual artist, she received a BA in Studio Art from the College of Charleston where she studied printmaking, painting, and photography. She received an MFA in Choreography from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where her visual background merged with her choreographic interests. Amy has been a guest artist and/or presented work at various colleges, art galleries, and festivals including Appalachian State University, State University of Florida at Jacksonville, the North Carolina Dance Festival, Greensboro Fringe Festival, Art-o-Matic in Washington, DC, and WAXworks in Brooklyn, NY. She recently presented work at the Center for Performance Research, also in Brooklyn, and in Seattle. She has had the good fortune of performing for many artists who inspire her, including Gerri Houlihan, Niki Juralawicz, Christina Tsoules Soriano, BJ Sullivan, Sean Sullivan, and Talani Torres. She is further influenced by the companies she has had the pleasure of dancing with including John Gamble Dance Theatre and Jan Van Dyke Dance Group in Greensboro, NC, The Naked Stark in Philadelphia, PA, G.Alex and the Movement in Boone, NC, and Madeleine Reber/Salty Lark Dance in Chicago, IL.

For full NC Dance Festival schedule, click here.