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Fall Appalachian Dance Ensemble Held Nov. 19-22

Nov. 11, 2014. Appalachian State University’ Department of Theatre and Dance presents the Fall Appalachian Dance Ensemble (FADE), the final dance concert this semester. The eclectic and entertaining show runs Wednesday, Nov. 19, through Saturday, Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m. in Valborg Theatre on the Appalachian campus.

Ticket prices start at just $9 for students/faculty and only $16 for adults. For more information visit www.theatre.appstate.edu, contact the box office at the Valborg Theatre or at 828-262-4046, or call the toll-free number 800-841-ARTS (2787). Tickets will also be sold at the door an hour leading up to the show.

imgresFADE boasts a diverse set of seven dances choreographed by faculty and students. Choreographers for the performance are faculty member Laurie Atkins, whose work has been seen in many Appalachian Dance Ensembles, students Taylor Bailey, Keynisha Jackson, Casey Rogers, Lea Vosberg and Lucy Winesett, and guest artist Jan Van Dyke.  Collectively, these choreographers utilize the talents of 40 student performers in seven dances.

Van Dyke, dance professor emeritus at UNC Greensboro, is co-founder and artistic director of the NC Dance Festival.  She will be presenting one of her works titled “Round Dance,” which she has set on select Appalachian dance students. “Van Dyke’s choreography, known for dynamic energy and rhythmic precision, seems to live within its musical form, bringing both the movement and the music to a new plane,” says a member of the Van Dyke Dance Group. “Her dances are highly structured and meticulously crafted while the movement vocabulary is quick, vigorous, and driving.”

Van Dyke has toured widely as a teaching artist, working with a variety of groups ranging from the Washington Ballet to students at the Western Australia Academy for the Performing Arts in Perth. Her work has earned support from agencies including the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, and the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Van Dyke formerly directed a studio and company in Washington, D.C. for eight years, touring nationally with her company and as a solo artist.  In 1989 she joined the UNCG dance faculty where she was department head from 2006-11.

In addition, she is director of the Jan Van Dyke Dance Group, and co-founder and producer of the NC Dance Festival. A 1993 Fulbright Scholar, Van Dyke spent one semester teaching dance in Portugal and in 2000, she taught for term at the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts.   She was awarded a NC Arts Council Choreography Fellowship in 1993, and in 2001 the North Carolina Dance Alliance honored her with its annual award for Contributions to the Development of Dance in this state.   More recently she received the DANCE TEACHER magazine 2008 Dance Teacher Award for Higher Education and the 2011 Betty Cone Medal of Arts from the United Arts Council of Greensboro.  In 2010, UNCG honored her with the Gladys Strawn Bullard Award for leadership and service.

The Valborg Theatre is located on the north side of Chapell Wilson Hall on Howard Street. The door faces the back of the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts on King Street. Parking is available after 5 p.m. on campus in faculty/staff lots and after 5:30 p.m. in the College Street parking deck near Belk Library and Information Commons.