Oct. 21, 2013. The 2013 North Carolina Dance Festival, an annual showcase that features a wide variety of North Carolina dance artists, will be presented by the Appalachian State University Department of Theatre and Dance Oct. 24-26. A different program will be featured each night. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. in the state-of-the-art Valborg Theatre.
Tickets are available at the Valborg Theatre box office Monday through Friday, from 1-5 p.m., by phone at 262-3060 and online at www.theatre.appstate.edu. Prices are $8 for students, $13 for faculty and staff and seniors and adults for $15.
The North Carolina Dance Festival (NCDF) travels to five communities throughout the state each year. NCDF partners professional choreographers alongside local artists, creating an expansive range of dance artistry. Founded in 1991 to raise awareness of the wide variety of dance artistry in the state, NCDF seeks to provide an opportunity for choreographers and companies to show their work, while providing emerging choreographers the exposure they need to demonstrate their vision and keep their works alive.
The festival creates a strong sense of community among North Carolina dance artists by enabling them to see each other’s work and perform together.
This year, an original piece by Appalachian Associate Professor of Dance Emily Daughtridge has been selected as a featured work on the program, meaning that her choreography will be presented at each of the five locations throughout the festival’s 2013 tour.
Appalachian Students have the competitive opportunity to choreograph pieces to be presented during the festival’s program in Boone. Christine Counts, Megan Windsor and Arianna Steffen have been selected as the student choreographers for this season.
Dance faculty member Sherone Price, who has been involved with NCDF since it began, said, “It is an incredible opportunity for Appalachian dance students to participate in the North Carolina Dance Festival. They get to perform alongside professional dancers and are able to network with professional companies-many of which our students are interested in pursuing after their college career.
The line-up of featured artists, companies and the nights on which they are appearing are as follows:
- Thursday, Oct. 24 – Jen Guy Metcalf/TERRANOVA Dance Theatre of Greensboro, Ron West/BLACK IRISH of Raleigh, and Eleanor Smith of Raleigh
- Friday, Oct. 25 – ShaLeigh Comerford/ShaLeigh Dance Works of Durham, Jessi Knight Walker of Chapel Hill, and Karola Luttringhaus/Alban Elved Dance Company of Wilmington
- Saturday, Oct. 26 – Renay Aumiller/Renay Aumiller Dances of Durham, and Emily Daughtridge of Boone.
Student pieces will be performed each night. They include “Staying Grounded,” choreographed by senior Christine Counts of Charlotte, consisting almost entirely of floor work. While dancers do come off the floor, they quickly return in this lighthearted piece. Counts trained with Resurrection Dance Ministry and CPCC Dance Theatre. She is a geology, secondary education major and dance minor. She has performed in the 2013 Spring Appalachian Dance Ensemble and will premier her choreography in the 2013 North Carolina Dance Festival. After graduating she hopes to teach science, while continuing to pursue dance in her spare time.
“Solitude” choreographed by Megan Windsor of Mebane explores getting caught up in life and wanting to do everything but needing to focus more on ourselves. Windsor trained under Robyn Shields with the Elite Feet Cloggers. She is currently a senior dance studies student and has performed in nine dance productions while at Appalachian. The 2013 North Carolina Dance Festival will be her first time choreographing for a showcase at Appalachian. After she graduates, she plans to start a dancing career before hopefully opening up a studio.
“1,3,2,4,5” choreographed by Arianna Steffen of Apex, explores the different stages that take place through the grieving process. The dance emphasizes the idea that people are constantly grieving over a multitude of things, whether they realize it or not, and everyone handles the grieving process in their own way. Steffen trained under Tamara Manukovskaya at the Triangle Academy of Dance. She is currently a junior exercise science student. She has performed in 11 dance productions while at Appalachian. The 2013 North Carolina Dance Festival will be her first time choreographing for a showcase at Appalachian. After she graduates, she plans to start her dancing career before continuing her education in graduate school.
Valborg Theatre is located on the north side of Chapell Wilson Hall on Howard Street. The door faces the back of the Turchin Arts Center on King Street.
Parking is available in faculty lots after 5 p.m. and in the College Street parking deck near Belk Library and Information Commons after 5:30 p.m. Parking is also available in the Rivers Street Parking Deck and the Howard Street parking area adjacent to the Miles Annas Building.
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.