Dance ProgramKeval Kaur Khalsa, Associate Professor of the Practice of Dance & Theater Studies at Duke University, and Michele Berger, Associate Professor in the Department of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, have received a Bass Connections grant from Duke University for their research project Mindfulness In Education & Human Development. Launched by a $50 million gift from Anne and Robert Bass, Bass Connections supports interdisciplinary teams of faculty, students and… read more about Bass Connections Project Funds Yoga Research »
Apr. 30, 2014 @ 01:14 PM. By Susan Broili; special to The Herald-Sun. If a theater production could be compared to a bagel, Andrea E. Woods’ new show would be of the everything variety. That’s because, for the first time, she’s been able to concoct an evening-length work that has everything she’s always wanted to include. Her new work, “The Amazing Adventures of Grace May B. Brown,” features dance, music, singing, narration, folk art and photographic images. Continue reading the full… read more about SOULOWORKS celebrates turning 20 with multimedia production »
Professor DeFrantz and SLIPPAGE played a contributing roll in a recent Dance Theater of Harlem performance of “past-carry-forward.” Read the New York Times review here: http://nyti.ms/1tMBVvw . read more about Thomas F. DeFrantz in the New York Times »
Monica Hogan Danceworks held a contemporary masterclass at Duke University on Saturday, April 19th in the Ark Studio. The class was led by Duke Dance alumnae Monica Hogan (T'12) and Courtney Liu (T'13). Beginning with a warmup and some improvisation exercises, they finished off with some repertory movement from recent performances in NYC. Location: Ark Dance Studio. This masterclass was sponsored by the Duke Dance Program Backstage Events. read more about Monica Hogan Danceworks Masterclass »
Black Performance Theory, edited by Thomas F. DeFrantz and Anita Gonzalez Published by Duke University Press "Black performance theory is a rich interdisciplinary area of study and critical method. In this collection of new essays, some of its pioneering thinkers demonstrate the breadth and depth, innovation, and critical value of black performance theory." Read the intro HERE read more about Read the intro to "Black Performance Theory," edited by DeFrantz & Gonzalez, free on @Scribd. »
Since Duke University began allowing distinction projects for seniors outside their majors, the Dance Program has seen an explosion of students combining their academic disciplines with their love of dance. Trinity College approved the possibility of students graduating with distinction in a field outside their major about four years ago to recognize the fact that a number of students do develop a secondary interest sufficiently to be able to do distinguished work in that area, said Norman C. Keul, associate dean of… read more about Senior Distinction Dance Projects Show Range of Academic Disciplines »
Ballet forward: (re)thinking and (re)forming western classicism in dance, a new Duke University Dance Program initiative, presented the Elizabeth Corbett Residency – April 3-5. Titled "Forsythe Improvisation Technologies Workshop Series", Ms. Corbett led students in an introduction to the methods pioneered by choreographer William Forsythe. Forsythe Phrases and Improvisation Technologies - William… read more about Elizabeth Corbett Residency »
After what seems like the longest winter, this spring’s dance concert by the Duke Dance Program, “ChoreoLab 2014,” offers to “reset your clock” as well as pay tribute to a Duke graduate who passed away in 2007. ChoreoLab 2014 will be performed Friday and Saturday, March 28 – 29, at 8 p.m. in the Reynolds Industries Theater in the Bryan Center on Duke’s West Campus. Barbara Dickinson, Professor of the Practice of Dance, has choreographed a modern piece for 11 student dancers, “Liquid Prisoner/Remembrance,”… read more about Spring Dance Concert Pays Tribute to Duke Graduate’s Musical Legacy »
The Dance Program was honored to have members of the Urban Bush Women dance company participate in a two-week residency from January 26 to February 8. Founder Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Paloma McGregor and Bennalldra Williams conducted two masterclasses for Duke Dance majors and minors in the Ark. They also invited students from Durham's Hillside High School to two Dance for Every Body workshops. Jawole was a guest artist in the dance composition class, Beyond Technique: Art of Performance, taught by Barbara Dickinson and… read more about Urban Bush Women Residency, 1/26-2/8, 2014 »
Dance.Film.Revolution in association with The University of South Florida is excited to announce an opportunity for students to share their dance films in the 1st Annual Dance Shorts Student Film Festival. Dance Shorts Student Film Festival will spotlight today's generation of up and coming "techno-choreographers." The film festival will feature short dance films that are between two and six minutes in length. These dance films can be narrative, experimental, or abstract… read more about Dance Shorts Student Film Festival; Deadline March 3 »
On Friday, Feb. 21 and Monday, Feb. 24, students in the "Beyond Technique: Art of Performance" classes had the opportunity to work with Emeritus Professor Clay Taliaferro. Also an award-winning performer and choreographer, Clay generously spent time with Dance Program students. "My studio work (technique) or, as I prefer to call it, exploration of movement, continues to stress the use of the whole body as organism, and, in this, focus on the endless duet that it has with space. Emphases are on: functional… read more about Clay Taliaferro visits Art of Performance classes »
Along with the creation of a new soulowork, Feeling Orange Again, Andrea E. Woods Valdés continues to write for Attitude: The Dancers Magazine. In February, she was a guest artist at Hollins University, teaching modern dance and providing a dance for the camera lecture demonstration based on her new and previous video works. She is also currently collaborating with UNC Fellow/African Diaspora Historian/visual artist Tammy L. Brown on Back Water Graffiti. Woods will perform the choreopoem for a video project of Brown’s… read more about Woods Valdes: Soulowork, Feeling Orange Again, Attitude »
Tyler Walters continues to lead the Carolina Ballet Summer Intensive as Director. This year’s five-week program hosted 140 students from as far away as Paris, France, and Hawaii. These students were selected from more than 400 who auditioned during a 13-city national audition tour. Guest faculty for the program included dance luminaries Susan Jaffe and Michael Vernon, as well as Duke’s own Andrea E. Woods Valdés. The culminating performances at the Fletcher Opera Theater in Raleigh’s Progress Energy Center for the… read more about Walters: directs Carolina Ballet Summer Intensive »
Julie Janus Walters staged excerpts from the Gerald Arpino ballet Reflections for the spring mainstage concert, ChoreoLab, danced by the Duke Ballet Repertory Ensemble. Acting as répétiteur for the Gerald Arpino and Robert Joffrey Foundation, she created an educational opportunity for Duke Dance Program students to learn and perform this classic Arpino work. Julie was pleased to have this opportunity to work with the foundation in preserving Arpino’s repertory. 2013 also marked the 100th anniversary of Vaslav Nijinsky’s… read more about Janus Walters: Reflections ballet, Carolina Performing Arts, audition tour »
Ava Vinesett was the Volunteer/Signage chair for the 2013 Across the Threshold Conference Planning Committee. At the conference, she presented a workshop titled, “Embodied Offerings.” For November Dances 2012, she choreographed a new piece, “Reaching Into the Before Time,” developed in collaboration with sculptural installation artist, Cici Stevens, with support from the Collaborative Arts Grant, administered by the Vice Provost for the Arts and the Council for the Arts. In April 2013, Ava choreographed Isicathulo presented… read more about Vinesett: Embodied Offerings & commissioned choreography »
In April 2013, Duke University conferred the Richard K. Lublin Distinguished Teaching Award on Purnima Shah. She is the third faculty member within the Dance Program to receive the award, after Profs. Clay Taliaferro and Ava Vinesett. The award recognizes truly outstanding teaching in the Trinity College. Purnima published two essays, “Performing Migrations: the Journeys of Indian Dance in America” in Attendance: the Dance Annual of India, 2013; and “Physio-Spiritual Transcendence through the Practice of Devotional Dance-… read more about Shah: Teaching Award, Indian Dance Essays & video »
As the Regional Coordinator for the non-profit organization Y.O.G.A. for Youth, Keval Kaur Khalsa coordinated and served as a lead teacher for an 8-week pilot program in Orange County, N.C. Y.O.G.A. for Youth, which delivered yoga classes to 187 students in the Communities in Schools After 3 afterschool programs in all seven middle schools in Orange County. After 3 enrichment programming serves underachieving students in grades 6-8. The pilot program was overwhelmingly successful, and Communities in Schools and N.C. Y.O.G.A… read more about Khalsa: Y.O.G.A, university course, Trillium Fellow »
Duke Dance musician John Hanks returned in August 2012 from a three-week stay in Henan Province, China, where he worked with American Dance Festival to begin teaching the bi-yearly Music for Dancers course offered by the Dance Program. In addition to playing for classes, maintaining the website for the Dance Program and the 2013 Across the Threshold Conference, and other campus activities, he has had an active musical life off-campus. He played drums for the month long run of Playmakers Repertory Theater’s (UNC-CH)… read more about Hanks: China with ADF »
Thomas F. DeFrantz received a Bass Connections Information Society and Culture Theme for the project “Live Processing and Live Art.” The project will be undertaken by DeFrantz with Tyler Walters (Dance) and Martin Brooke (Electrical and Computer Engineering). DeFrantz also received funding from the Mellon-funded Duke Humanities Writ Large for an arts initiative project “Performing Culture: Performance Studies, Live Arts, and African and African American Studies” that will involve the convening of a large academic conference… read more about DeFrantz: Bass Connections, SLIPPAGE residencies, and professional works »
Barbara Dickinson continues her research on “age and the dance artist.” She argues that in the ballet and modern dance tradition, only few mature and aging artists continue an ongoing process of discovery, transition and transformation, a process that continues to build on their embodied wisdom. Such aging artists are fully immersed in their careers as creators, performers and teachers by constantly reinvestigating and reinterpreting new possibilities in dance. Along these lines, Barbara interviewed the Canadian artist… read more about Dickinson Studies Age and the Dance Artist »
Five Duke dance students spent this past summer in China, introducing into the country a new concept: summer dance camp. Their trip is the latest episode in a remarkable history of engagement between dancers from Duke and China. It’s a story that says a great deal about the passion, commitment, and entrepreneurial spirit of Duke’s dance community. Hsiao-mei Ku The incubator is the DukeEngage program in Zhuhai and its guiding spirit, Hsiao-mei Ku. For the past four years, she has shepherded groups of students… read more about Duke Students Bring Summer Dance Camp to China »
This year, Dance faculty Keval Kaur Khalsa and four dance students spent five days of their precious spring break at the ACDFA Southeast Regional Conference at the University of South Florida in Tampa, March 16-17, 2013. Keval introduced Kundalini Yoga & Meditation to approximately 75 students and faculty attendees in two workshops during the Conference. Some of the personal highlights for Prof. Khalsa were: participating in a Yin Yoga class with former Duke visiting faculty member Leonard Cruz; attending a talk Dance… read more about Duke at the ACDFA Conference in 2013 »
Friday-Sunday, February 7-9 Need volunteer hours? The Dancing the African Diaspora: Theories of Black Performance conference needs student volunteers for a variety of roles throughout the 3-day conference. Students may attend the events of the conference for free (except the Urban Bush Women performance) and earn crew hours for volunteering. See the conference schedule and contact Prof. Thomas DeFrantz directly if you are available to volunteer. read more about Volunteers Needed for Dancing the African Diaspora »
The Urban Bush Women will have an open rehearsal (open to students and the broader public) on Tuesday, February 4 from 2PM-4PM at Reynolds Industries Theater. Feel free to spread the word. No RSVP required. Attendees should enter the theater through the Reynolds lobby. For information about their performances, go to the Duke Performances website. read more about Urban Bush Women, Open Rehearsal »
Amidst the highly choreographed pomp and ceremony of Duke University's Commencement this year, an honorary doctorate will be awarded to a true pioneer in choreography, Judith Jamison. For Duke's flourishing Dance Program, it will be an occasion to savor. Barbara Dickinson, the program's Director of Undergraduate Studies, will present Jamison at the May 12 ceremony in Wallace Wade Stadium. "Judith Jamison is my inspiration and my hero," said Andrea Woods Valdes, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Dance. "This is a very… read more about Dance Luminary Judith Jamison to be Honored at Commencement 2013 »
Central to Duke’s new MFA in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis is the integration of intensive dance and movement research with study across disciplines. Applications are currently being accepted through February 10, 2020, for the Fall 2020 class. Learn more about the program and application process. The students are just as unique—and inspiring—as the areas of intersectional research they are undertaking. “As the director of the MFA in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis, I am… read more about Meet the Inaugural Cohort of Duke’s MFA in Dance »