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Fall Appalachian Dance Ensemble Presented Nov. 21 through 23 at the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts

Nov. 18, 2013. The Appalachian State University Department of Theatre and Dance presents the Fall Appalachian Dance Ensemble (FADE) in the newly renovated Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 21-23. This popular event features artistic works by both undergraduate students and dance faculty. 

Ticket prices start at just $8 for Appalachian students and are $13 for faculty, staff and seniors, and $15 for adults. 

This is the first time the Department of Theatre and Dance will perform in the newly renovated Farthing Auditorium, which opened last summer as the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts after extensive improvements. 

This year’s dance ensemble consists of five pieces by student choreographers and three pieces by faculty choreographers. There will be 51 student performers who were chosen among dozens who auditioned during a campus-wide tryout early this semester.

“What makes FADE so unique is the opportunity it gives our students,” explained dance faculty member Sherone Price. 

“This production allows our student and faculty choreographers to share the stage.”

Price continued, “the choreographers are focusing on what the music says to them. Both the music and dance should be able to stand alone, apart from each other.”

The following faculty dance pieces will be performed:

“Stolen Goods” is a collaboration between faculty member Laurie Atkins and guest artist/composer Mark Olivieri, known for pairing composers and choreographers. He is founder and artistic director of the Vision of Sound New Music and Dance Concert Festival and a faculty member at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. The dance quintet will be accompanied by live music performed by Appalachian percussion students Chris Mayhew and Tyler Stark.   

Regina Gulick-James’ “Mercury” is named after the rare Earth element, the only metal that is liquid at its standard form, resistant to external forces and exhibits buoyancy. “Mercury” reflects the transitional energy and strong and gentle power possessed by women. In describing her piece, Gulick-James said, “Women around the world are heeding a call to reclaim the feminine, that which expresses understanding, compassion, creativity, nurturing, healing, and love. In so doing, we awaken our authentic power to influence the future of our lives and shape the future of our world.” 

“Embrace,” choreographed by adjunct faculty member G. Alex Smith, is an expression of ways in which people care for each other and for themselves. The dance explores how they may choose to respond to each moment, whether it is a significant event or a moment of solitude in a grassy field. Can people find it within to embrace the difficulties and the delights that they may encounter?    

The following student pieces will be performed:

“Creatures,” choreographed by Emily Smart, is about the lifespan of six creatures. The work explores their development, relationships, and strivings in their short time of being alive.

Natasha Small’s “They Still Call Me by Your Name” exhibits the strong connections people make throughout their lifetime and the inevitable changes they undergo.  It includes movement that represents joy, distress, ignorance and attitude.

“Trio by Change,” choreographed by Hadiya Wharton, is about people who care for others and those who don’t but still want attention. The dance shows bullying and the battle of the good trying to stay happy and the bad trying to bring down the good while fighting themselves at the same time. 

Senior Bethany Gillett choreographed “Rescue” with the premise, “To watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak.  For many dancers, movement is their means of release and their outlet from whatever may be burdening their hearts.”

“Revive,” choreographed by Reshea Mackey, is about reinventing movement and was inspired by a quote from rapper Grandmaster Caz: “Hip-hop didn’t invent anything… hip-hop re-invented everything.”

The Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts is located at 733 Rivers St. Parking is available after 5 p.m. in any campus parking lot and the Rivers Street Parking Deck on weekdays and at all times on weekends, with the exception of home football games. The Raley and Edwin Duncan parking lots are located across Rivers Street from the Schaefer Center, and the stadium parking lot is located behind the Center. Covered parking is available at both the Rivers Street Parking Deck and the College Street Parking Deck.

The Department of Theatre and Dance is housed in the College of Fine and Applied Arts. Its mission is to provide liberal arts educations for the B.S. degree in teaching theatre arts and the B.A. degrees in dance studies or theatre arts. The department also values the opportunity to offer coursework for integrated learning through the arts to the general university student population. Vital to the support of this mission is a dynamic co-curricular production program that provides exemplary theatre and dance experiences to departmental students, the university community and the region. The departmental philosophy is to support the university’s liberal arts environment through a balanced and integrated emphasis on teaching, creative activity, scholarship, and service.