News

Position Announcement for Assistant Professor of the Practice in Ballet

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The first class of the new Dance MFA: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis is here! L/R: Ife M. Presswood, Ayan Felix, Susan Webb, Naomi Washington Roque, Courtney Liu, Alyah Baker, Juliet Irving, Courtney Crumpler. ...

For the first time ever, ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival is proud to present the shortlisted artists of The ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art during the 2019 Festival in Kuopio, Finland, where each shortlisted artist/collective performs their work. Shortlist LIVE! is a completely new and unique entity of events around the prize in which the shortlisted artists are performed live during ANTI Festival, and the winner of the prize is decided by the jury after the performances....

sarah wilbur, Photo credit: Troy Blendell (2018)

Sarah Wilbur recently returned from guest teaching graduate arts curators this summer at Wesleyan University’s Institute for Curatorial Practice and Performance (ICPP), a center for the academic study of the presentation and contextualization of contemporary performance.

Her course introduced students to a variety of creative strategies that artists and curators draw on to successfully navigate the ever-changing conditions of the global cultural economy.

Wilbur and co-...

Employment Opportunity: Program Coordinator for the MFA in Dance

For more information please follow this link: https://careers.duke.edu/job/Durham-PROGRAM-COORD%2C-DANCE-PROGRAM-NC-27710/579811700/

Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Connie Zhou writes about her experience in the Dance for Parkinson's Disease program

Prof. Sarah Wilbur has been advising dance minor Connie Zhou’s distinction project, which has involved field placement and interning in Brooklyn, New York, with the Dance for Parkinson’s Disease program. Connie wrote a blog post for her DukeEngage position and you can read it here: https://dukeengage.duke.edu/out-of-sight-out-of-mind/

The former English major and Woman’s College graduate recalls her experience as a student dancer at a time when campus life looked quite different than it does now. Read the article in Duke Libraries Magazine.

Guest Instructor, Kristin Clotfelter, is scheduled to teach Beginning Ballet and Intermediate Ballet, Fall 2019.

DANCE 120/Beginning Ballet/MW 03:05 PM-04:20 PM/Rubenstein Arts Center 224
DANCE 122/Intermediate Ballet/TuTh 10:05 AM-11:20 AM/Rubenstein Arts Center 224

Kristin Clotfelter is interested in exploring the complexities of the temporal human condition through the metaphysics of dance and performance. She co-directs Studio C Projects, a Durham based...

2019 grads: Onastasia Ebright, Julia Kemper, Emma Crossman

L/R: Onastasia Ebright (dance minor), Julia Kemper (dance major), Emma Crossman (dance minor).

Congratulations to Sarah Wilbur for being awarded a Faculty Book Manuscript Workshops award by the Franklin Humanities Institute! ...

Congratulations Dance Award Winners for 2019!

Julia Wray Memorial Dance Award: Julia Kemper.

Julia Wray Memorial Dance Award celebrates the memory of a much beloved Julia Wray who for many years was the leader and passionate protagonist for dance at Duke and in North Carolina. It is awarded to a senior who has shown outstanding leadership in our program.

Clay Taliaferro Dance Award: Megan Mauro.

Clay Taliaferro Dance Award, instituted in 2006 to honor this...

Wanted: Part-Time Publicist

Please view the official job description here: https://sjobs.brassring.com/TGnewUI/Search/Home/Home?partnerid=25017&siteid=5172#jobDetails=1358263_5172

In addition, and to ensure we know about your application, please email your resume to Christina Price, Business Manager for the Dance Program: christina.price@duke.edu...

A Feb. 15 writing retreat taught scholars how to get their writing moving. The retreat, a collaboration between Duke Arts and the Duke Faculty Write program mixed traditional writing tricks with embodied movement tools. It was co-taught by Jennifer Ahern-Dodson from the Thompson Writing Program and Sarah Wilbur from the Duke Dance program.

Read the full article in Duke Today: https://...

Prof. Thomas F. DeFrantz to present lecture at Ohio State University

Dr. Thomas DeFrantz will deliver the William Hammond Lecture on the American Tradition entitled, "American Traditions in Dance and Its Study."

Tuesday, February 5, 2019 - 5:00pm
Schulz Lecture Hall, Sullivant Hall 220, 1813 N. High Street, Columbus OH, 43210

More information: https://dance.osu.edu/events/william-hammond-...

Professor Thomas F. DeFrantz will be performing twice at New York Live Arts in the next two months.

On Feb 14-17 he will dance in Kathy Rambler’s work RAMBLER Worlds Worlds Apart, a performance with live music by experimental minimalist composer Julius Eastman. https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-off-broadway/...

Spring Writing Retreat

The Duke Faculty Write Program and Duke Arts invite you to a one-day writing retreat, Friday, February 15, 2019 - 9:30am to 5:00pm, to keep (or get) your writing moving this semester. The retreat offers time to write independently in a comfortable, relaxed space. Throughout the day, the retreat facilitators will offer short tips to help you boost productivity, satisfaction, and enjoyment in your writing. The retreat is offered at...

We had the wonderful opportunity to sit with Sarah Wilbur, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Dance, and gain some additional perspective on the new MFA in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis. Sarah discusses with us the uniqueness of the program, coursework that she is developing, and advice for prospective applicants. Read more to hear some of her valuable guidance for applicants looking to craft their research proposals to be a part of the first graduate class, starting Fall...

Professor Sarah Wilbur's essay “Endangered Strangers: Tracking Competition in US Federal Arts Funding” was published last week in the Oxford Handbook of Dance and Competition (NY: Oxford U Press, 2018), edited by Sherril Dodds.

The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Competition asks how competition affects the presentation and experience of dance and, in response, how dancing bodies negotiate, critique, and resist the aesthetic and social structures of the...

With the announcement of Duke University’s new MFA in Dance, there looms a sense of excitement and possibility for what the inaugural class (Fall of 2019) will bring to the growth and development of the program. We took a moment to sit with the director of the MFA in Dance, Michael Klien, to gain some deeper insight into what to expect from this new offering and who should apply.

At the heart of Duke's MFA in Dance is the theme of Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis....

Thomas F DeFrantz. image by Christopher Duggan

Thomas F. DeFrantz enjoyed a busy summer and first part of the fall! DeFrantz led a research group at ImPulsTanz called “afroFUTUREqu##r” that encouraged the group to think about dancemaking in relationship to shifting social identities embedded within an afrofuturistic making. DeFrantz conducted research in a group concerned with Improvisation as a social practice in Denmark and Sweden, and taught in a new “mobile architecture” MFA program at the Centre National de la Danse in Montpellier...

Mary Duke Biddle Foundation Funds Ambitious, 3-year Arts Initiative at Duke

Gift enables Duke to set a new standard in immersive arts education and community engagement using the Rubenstein Arts Center.

Read the article: https://arts.duke.edu/news/mary-duke-biddle-foundation-funds-ambitious-3-year-arts-initiative-at-duke/

equipping the imagination for social transformation

The Duke University Dance Program announces a new MFA in Dance program scheduled to start in Fall 2019, applications for which will be accepted onwards of June 2018 (our new, comprehensive website should be active by May 2018). Please contact our staff, Jennifer Prather, jprather@duke.edu if you wish to join our MFA mailing list. For specific enquiries regarding the MFA,...

Duke Announces Three-Year Partnership with American Ballet Theater

Duke University and American Ballet Theatre have announced a three-year partnership to begin in January 2019.

The wide-ranging, immersive partnership marks a significant new investment in the arts at Duke, said Duke University President Vince Price and ABT Executive Director Kara Medoff Barnett, who announced the partnership at a recent gala opening of Duke’s Rubenstein Arts Center. It was initiated and...

"Paramodernities" at Jacob's Pillow deconstructs dance, by Tresca Weinstein, timesunion.com. Read about the choreographer and the performance, including Prof. DeFrantz's contribution to the work: https://www.timesunion.com/entertainment/article/Paramodernities-at-Jacob-s-Pillow-deconstructs-13124060.php

photo: Paula Lobo

“…these borders that keep me down…”

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AfroFuturism + Performance + Technology Forum photo

SLIPPAGE is hosting two events as part of the 2018 Moogfest.

1. AfroFuturism + Performance +...

April 13, 2018 - This has been quite the week for the arts at Duke! The duARTS Duke Arts Festival this year included more than fifty events, and the first student production in the Ruby’s von der Heyden Studio Theater debuts tonight (Hoof ‘n’ Horn’s Chicago). In the midst of this momentum, I’m pleased to share that The Washington Post published a piece I wrote about the work we all do for the arts at Duke:

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ChoreoLab dance concert honors retiring Professor Barbara Dickinson

The Duke University Dance Program presents its spring dance concert, ChoreoLab 2018, as a...

Prof. Thomas F. DeFrantz discusses The Bullcity Black Theater Festival on WUNC-FM's "The State of Things"

Listen to the podcast here: http://wunc.org/post/bullcity-black-theater-festival-celebrates-black-art-and-black-joy#stream/0

Throughout modern history the work of African-American artists has often been appropriated for the financial and cultural gain of those outside the black community. Black artists bare their souls to create provocative art, but their work is sometimes...

Check out the podcast interview that alum Dr. Rosalind Canizares has on the website, Physiotherapy Performance Perspectives, on "Overuse Injuries in Dancers." Please see the links below and share with whoever you think may benefit from hearing it! There are other good topics on the site, too.

Physiotherapy Performance Perspectives website:...

The third bi-annual conference convened by the Collegium for African Diaspora Dance (CADD) will explore African diasporic dance as a resource of both joy and defiance.

Dance Black Joy: Global Affirmations and Defiance will take place February 16-19, 2018, at Duke University and brings a variety of dance scholars, practitioners, and educators for three days of critical dialogue and...

The Ruby Featured in Local Newspaper

The Durham Herald Sun featured shots of the Advanced Intermediate Ballet class, taught by Assistant Professor Julie Walters, in a video short about the new Rubenstein Arts Center. http://www.heraldsun.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article197490...

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Co-presented by Gibney Dance and Theater magazine (Yale)

Monday, January 15, 2:00 – 3:30pm

Gibney Dance, Studio H, 280 Broadway (Entrance at 53A Chambers Street), Manhattan
Free / RSVP

Is everyone always automatically expected to share the concerns of people of color? Do we all really have to pay attention to race, religion, sexuality, ethnicity? What constitutes “white...

_IN CONVERSATION - Thomas DeFrantz & Philipa Rothfield
DANCING BLACK - SOCIAL AND POLITICAL GESTURES

Date: Saturday, 16 December
Time: 6-8pm
Where: Dancehouse, SKYLAB, 150 Princes Street, North Carlton, Victoria 3054

Thomas DeFrantz and Philipa Rothfield, long time collaborators and friends, will discuss the aesthetics and politics of black dance in DeFrantz' work. Visit the Dancehouse website...

From Duke Today, 12/2/2017: "...the trustees approved a degree in Master of Fine Arts in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis. The program is open to all forms of dance and human movement -- artistic, aesthetic, social and therapeutic. Moreover, it will provide an exclusive collaboration with the American Dance Festival, which is based in Durham.

The new MFA seeks to attract dance artists who recognize the potential of all forms of creativity, be it traditional, contemporary or...

November Dances showcase visually stunning talent, student choreography

Duke’s annual dance showcase, the November Dances, proved to be a visually stunning display of athleticism and art last Friday and Saturday, Nov. 17 and 18. The concert presented by the Duke Dance Program featured ballet, modern, jazz and African dance performances, with many of the performances being...

Duke University Dance Program
September 12, 2017

Position: Assistant or early Associate Professor of the Practice (regular rank)
Qualifications: Ph.D. and/or MFA in Dance required; teaching experience in an undergraduate / graduate dance program preferred.

Position Qualifications: The Duke University Program in Dance seeks an outstanding, ambitious dance researcher and movement practitioner who will contribute to the development of the...

Professor Thomas F. DeFrantz presents award at 2017 Bessies

Choreographer and scholar Thomas F. DeFrantz presented writer Eva Yaa Asantewaa with the 2017 award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance. READ ARTICLE.

2017 Dance Program Newsletter

Featuring recent news about Dance Program students and faculty.

Edited by: Dr. Purnima Shah

Please click the image below to view the Newsletter.

Video: Symposium "Accumulations:Exploring the Legacies of Trisha Brown"

View the montage video of the 2016 symposium "Accumulations: Exploring the Legacies of Trisha Brown "

Baba Chuck Davis, who was the Dance Program's first Professor of African Dance, is being remembered not just for his contributions to dance, but for the many hugs and blessings of peace he bestowed during his decades in Durham.

Please visit our tribute page: https://danceprogram.duke.edu/chuck-davis-memorial. If you would like to contribute comments, please email our publicity director, ...

Duke Forward Campaign

"Dear Friends, Thank you all for working with our development team to bring to life the growth and impact of the arts at Duke. It was lovely to watch you dance, to hear you reflect on the value of arts in the classroom, and inspiring to hear how the arts enrich your lives. I am grateful. Best, Dick Brodhead" Richard Brodhead, President of Duke University’s, thank-you note to Professor Andrea E. Woods Valdés and students, Sara Yuen and Molly Paley, for their...

Thomas F. DeFrantz has won the 2017 Award for Outstanding Scholarly Research in Dance from the Congress on Research in Dance. The award recognizes an exceptional scholar for sustained contributions to dance research. In making the announcement, the awards committee scholarship by DeFrantz has contributed substantially to understanding of aesthetics and race politics and has inspired a reevaluation of race and dance history. DeFrantz will receive the honor at the organization’s annual...

Greetings Colleagues/Friends!

I’m thrilled to invite you to a Feedback Screening that features, (among others), the Duke Sex-Ed squad in scenes they created as part of my Performing Sexual Health course this past fall. The Duke scenes, along with scenes created by students at NCCU and UNC-CH, were shot by documentary director/editor/producer Matt...

Looking for something interesting to do this summer?
Given your dance experience, you might be interested in this research opportunity.

Memory for Movement Lab
--How dancers learn & remember http://people.duke.edu/~ruthday/m4m.html
--How audiences perceive & remember http://americandancefestival.org/...

Indian-American dancer Mythili Prakash residency in Bharatanatyam dance at Duke University launches the Duke India Initiative.

Mythili, a dynamic young Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer, will visit Duke February 1-5 and March 1-5 to offer a residency at the Duke Dance Program. The residency includes workshops and choreographing a piece for Duke student dancers for presentation at the Duke Dance Department’s mainstage concert, ChoreoLab, at 7:30...

Asst. Professor Andrea E. Woods Valdés will present her video installation, "new moon sister" at the Shimmer: The Art of Light festival. Works by various artists will be installed between Carrboro and Chapel Hill. Go to http://shimmerevent.com for more information.

Friday, February 10, 2017 - ...

Diasporic Dance Humanities 2017

The Dance Program and African & African American Studies (AAAS) will convene a series of events that underscore the reach of diasporic dance humanities in Spring 2017.

January 31, visual artist and choreogrpahic collaborator Lamont Hamilton will visit the Duke campus in an artist residency, sharing work he recently showed at...

Prof. Thomas F. DeFrantz featured in article, “Crystal Bridges continues to inspire on fifth anniversary.”

Duke Symposium Explores the Legacy of Dance Innovator Trisha Brown

Durham, N.C. – SLIPPAGE: Performance|Culture|Technology, in association with Duke Performances, announces the one-day symposium, ACCUMULATIONS: Exploring the Legacies of Trisha Brown.

...

Thomas F. DeFrantz Edits New Volume

"Choreography and Corporeality - Relay in Motion", editors: Thomas F. DeFrantz, Philipa Rothfield.

This book renews thinking about the moving body by drawing on dance practice and performance from across the world. Eighteen internationally recognised scholars show how dance can challenge our thoughts and feelings about our own and other...

Featuring recent news about Dance Program students and faculty.

Edited by: Dr. Purnima Shah

Please click the link below to download the Newsletter PDF

Duke New Student Programs

We thought you might be interested in how Duke New Student Programs is preparing our first year students to come to campus. Take a look at their YouTube channel here:...

Job Announcement: Project Manager

A project manager is being sought to join a research team for the 2016-2017 academic year that includes faculty members from Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill and graduate and undergraduate students. The research will be conducted in Chapel Hill/Carrboro City Schools assessing the health of middle-school children as participants in an afterschool yoga program. The research project is funded by the Bass Connections initiative at Duke University.

Duties will include:
-planning, scheduling...

Please welcome Michael Kliën to the Dance Program

Michael Kliën, Ph.D. will join the Duke Dance Program faculty in Spring, 2017. Professor Kliën has worked individually and collaborated extensively all over Europe and the USA in an artistic capacity, as well as an academic educator. He has guest-taught at six MFA programs in European universities. "My teaching offers ...

Duke Dance Program Professor Thomas F. DeFrantz will be one of several Duke professors featured in Moogfest, a three-day celebration of art and technology, which kicks off its first Durham appearance, centered on downtown performance venues, hotels and clubs, May 19-22.

Professor DeFrantz's performance,...

Professor Thomas F. DeFrantz explains the significance of the show "Dance! American Art 1830-1960" on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Click here to read the article in Duke Today.

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Read the article on the Bass Connections website.

Srinivas Aravamudan, professor of English and former dean of the humanities at Duke, died on Wednesday. He was 54....

Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) announces a new fellowship in honor of DanceAfrica founding elder Baba Chuck Davis. This unique opportunity is open to emerging choreographers, offering dance practitioners a chance to travel to Africa and study with one or more experts in African dance, as determined by the awardee’s project proposal. The fellowship offers up to $9,000 in funding for travel, accommodations, and research expenses.

The selection committee is comprised of various members...

“Africa in Circum-Atlantic Perspective: Feminist Performance Routes”

A conversation in movement with four female dance artists of the African diaspora
April 10 – 13, 2016

Convened by: Thomas F. DeFrantz (Chair, AAAS), Dasha Chapman (Postdoc, AAAS),
Mario LaMothe (Postdoc, Women’s Studies), Ava LaVonne Vinesett (Associate Professor, Dance) and Moarabi Kakabalo (Undergraduate, Engineering)

April 10 – 13, 2016, Duke University will host a four-day...

Read the article from the Duke Chronicle, January 21, 2016.

American Ballet Theatre has tapped Duke Alum ('00) and former Dance Program student, Kara Medoff Barnett, as its executive director. ...

It is my sincere pleasure to join you this evening. Thank you so much to Purnima and to everyone in the Dance program for the gracious invitation. I hope that you are anticipating with as much excitement as I am the performances that we will witness.

I must tell you that I am thrilled by what this department, these faculty members, staff members, and students mean to the liberal arts education that we are able to deliver in Trinity. I am inspired by all that my colleagues in this...

Call for Papers! Contemporary Ballet: Exchanges, Connections and Directions

An SDHS Special Topics Conference at the Center for Ballet and the Arts, New York University, and the Department of Dance, Barnard College, Columbia University

May 20-21, 2016

Call for Papers

Contemporary ballet is undoubtedly a recognizable genre for most dancers. It is...

The new Arts Center is expected to be a “game-changer for the arts at Duke” at the corner of Anderson Street and Campus Drive across from the Nasher Museum of Art. Construction is set to begin next month.

Link to Duke Chronicle article, by Amrith Ramkumar, Monday, October 5: http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2015/10/...

The Duke University Program in Dance seeks an outstanding dance researcher and artist practitioner who will contribute significantly to the new MFA in Dance: Live Art and Embodied Practice, in teaching, research, and the advising of MFA thesis projects. We welcome an individual who will both expand and extend the areas of expertise of the current faculty in terms of research, international engagement, and teaching across degree programs (MFA and BA). We value a colleague whose research is...

"Therapeutic Potential of a Drum and Dance Ceremony Based on the African Ngoma Tradition"

The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine has published an article by Prof. Ava LaVonne Vinesett, Miurel Price, and Dr. Kenneth H. Wilson called "Therapeutic Potential of a Drum and Dance Ceremony Based on the African Ngoma Tradition." The research and clinical trial was made possible through the Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation and the Duke Dance Program.

...

CADD hosted our inaugural conference, Dancing the African Diaspora: Theories of Black Performance at Duke University, February 7-9, 2014. The next CADD conference will be held at Duke University, February 19-21, 2016. Click here to go to the CADD website.

ABOUT THE COLLEGIUM FOR AFRICAN DIASPORA DANCE (CADD)
The Collegium for African Diaspora Dance (CADD) is an egalitarian...

Read Prof. Andrea E. Woods Valdés inspirational article published by Duke Magazine.

Featuring recent news about Dance Program students and faculty.

Edited by: Dr. Purnima Shah

Please click the link below to download the Newsletter PDF

Dance teacher, choreographer Jan Van Dyke dies

The Dance Program mourns the loss of this wonderful artist. Please join family and friends of Jan Van Dyke for a memorial gathering on Saturday, August 22 at 3:00pm in the Dance Theater on the UNCG campus. The program will celebrate Jan’s life and career as an artist, scholar, teacher, and friend through selected speakers and video. A reception will follow the program. Please be aware that seating in the theater is extremely limited, and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis...

Dance Program's Natalie Marrone choreographs dance for film coming to Durham in August

The feature film, "Alto," written and directed by Mikki del Monico, is the Women's Feature at the NC Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, August 14-22. Duke Dance Program instructor Natalie Marrone's choreography, using traditional Italian dance, serves as the pivoting point in the film starring Annabella Sciorra, Diana DeGarmo, Billy Wirth, Lin Tucci, and Natalie Knepp.

Shot on location in New York City, Marrone choreographed the Italian Festival scene with dancers from North...

Congratulations to Courtney Kristen Liu on her debut in the New York Broadway cast of the Phantom of the Opera, June 13, 2015! LINK: http://www.thephantomoftheopera.com/new-york-people/cast/courtney-kristen-liu

Dance Across the Diaspora: A Historical Lens on a Black Cultural Movement

Saturday, July 18, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Atlanta, Georgia (July 7, 2015) – To inaugurate its stunning 2015 season, the National Black Arts Festival (NBAF) presents the all-day Symposium “Dance Across the Diaspora: A Historical Lens on a Black Cultural Movement” on Saturday, July 18 at the High Museum of Art. Through discussion, presentation and participatory offerings, local, national and international dance experts, scholars and...

June 27-28, 2015
Duke University // SLIPPAGE: Performance, Culture, Technology

SLIPPAGE: Performance, Culture and Technology at Duke University will host a two-day event on June 27 and 28, 2015 to address how curatorial practice and live arts presenting can engage the particular concerns of audiences and artists of color. Configurations in Motion: Performance Curation and Communities of Color will gather performers, curators, scholars, presenters, and managers from throughout...

Monica Hogan, Duke Grad and Dance Major, is featured in this article published on Bustle. com: http://www.bustle.com/articles/71542-it-marketing-manager-by-day-dancer-by-night-how-monica-hogan-manages-her-double-life

The Duke Dance Program would like to congratulate Ellen Brown (left) and Rebecca "Becky" Holmes (right) for achieving a Distinction with their senior projects!

Ellen Brown, senior in Dance and Psychology, titled her project "The Effects of Emotion in Dance Performance on Observers’ Immediate Emotional State."

Dance major Rebecca Holmes' project was titled "Dance in Elementary Education as a Means to Increase Collaborative and Creative Development of Students" which included an...

Adjunct instructor Natalie Marrone choreographed a crucial dance scene for the film, "Alto," which recently won the Audience Choice Award at the VisionFest film festival at Tribeca Cinemas in New York. Natalie also announced that the film has been accepted into the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco.

Marrone’s choreography, using traditional Italian dance, serves as the pivoting point in the film ALTO starring Annabella Sciorra, Diana DeGarmo, Billy Wirth, Lin Tucci, and Natalie...

Congratulations to Ellen Brown!

Her final project, a few notes of mine, from Dance for the Camera (Dance 306s) has been chosen to be featured in the University of South Florida Dance Shorts: College Film Festival Gala. Her work will be screened on April 18th, 2015 in the Concert Hall at 7:30pm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdvjp_zNiVw

See more Duke Dance for the Camera works -...

Faculty Response to the Recent Racially Charged Events on Campus

Dear members of the Duke community,

The recent racially charged events on campus, including the display of a noose on the Bryan Center plaza, bring to us all a heightened awareness of the persistent effort required to ensure that Duke is experienced by all as a welcoming community that embraces diversity. At yesterday’s event on the Chapel steps, undergraduate students, graduate students, and members of the administration spoke eloquently to affirm of Duke’s commitment to this ideal...

Thomas F. DeFrantz Presents Talk at the International Colloquium

The International Colloquium: The Contemporary African in the Performing Arts - Theoretical, Poetical and Pedagogic Perspectives

The central aim of the colloquium is to increase the dialogues among artists, researchers and educators who are dedicated to the studies of contemporary afro-Brazilian and african diasporic cultures and their insertions with the field of Performing Arts. This international meeting intends to share and compare different approaches and research methodologies,...

Duke Performances Announces Arts Administration Internship

Duke Performances is seeking ambitious, highly-motivated, organized, and detail-oriented individuals at the undergraduate or graduate level with an interest in arts administration to assist the Duke Performances staff for summer (mid-May to mid-August) and academic year (early September to late April) internships. Internships are paid and provide a unique opportunity to learn about and be directly involved in all facets of arts administration from a leading university-based arts presenting...

ChoreoLab 2015 to pay tribute to a departing dean

The Duke University Dance Program will present its spring dance concert, ChoreoLab 2015, at 8 p.m. on March 27-28 in Reynolds Industries Theater at Duke University.

Tickets may be purchased at the door or from the Duke Box Office (tickets.duke.edu or 919-684-4444).

This year’s ChoreoLab will be presented as a tribute to Dr. Laurie Patton, who is stepping down as the Dean of Trinity College Arts and Sciences to accept the position of President at Middlebury College.

Dean...

THE 82ND AMERICAN DANCE FESTIVAL SEASON JUNE 11-JULY 25

From the Raleigh News & Observer: "Duke Dance Program Hosts Series." by Jonathan M. Alexander,
February 28, 2015. http://www.newsobserver.com/2015/02/28/4590338_dance-group-performs-teaches-art.html?rh=1

'HOT WATER – Water, Peace & War' will form a virtual exhibition, made by entries from artists, scientists, activists and youth from around the world.
Deadline 14 March 2015. Detailed info in English, Español & ...

James Strong has 14 years of professional experience performing ballet and modern dance in diverse styles from a broad spectrum of choreographers. James strives to teach students proper classical technique while emphasizing musicality, personal expression and the performance aspect of the art form. His previous performance experience with San Francisco-based Smuin Ballet, Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley, and Koresh Dance Company has given him a rich and rewarding outlook in defining the...

"Odissi Stars at a Dance Festival in Chennai, India" - Read the recent article in the New York Times regarding the Nrityagram company, which will be in residence and performing at Duke, January 20-22. (For more info, go to Events)

Editor's Report on the Duke University Dance Program, Purnima Shah, Editor.

View 2014 Dance Newsletter

Prof. Andrea Woods Valdés writes: "Hi Friends, just passing on the news. I few years ago I did a phone interview with Mary for an article I wrote about her friend and fellow Graham dancer, Matt Turney. Seeing Mary Hinkson (also from Philly) dance in "A Dancer's World" was a turning point in my life."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFTNmGBKC2Y

http://en....

New Modern, African, Ballet, and Jazz works by dance faculty: Andrea E. Woods Valdés, Ava LaVonne Vinesett, Tyler Walters, Nina Wheeler and advanced student choreographers: Ellen Brown, Stephanie Joe, Haylee Levin, and Anne Talkington.

Friday, November 21
Saturday, November 22
8 p.m. | Reynolds Industries Theater

Read all about it in the Duke...

Fall 2014 Dance For The Camera

See our blog for new works by:
Katalina Bock, Ellen Brown, Cindy Li, Claire Tucker, Julie Bellantoni, AJ Laudenslager, Haylee Levin, Natalie Lubin, Claire Tucker, Lauren Rosen. Featuring dancers: Sarah Atkinson, Casey Black, Cosette Glodstien, Stephanie Jo, Kendall Covington, Melissa Lee, Jennifer Margano, Anika Richter, Kaley Thornton.

http://dukedanceftc.wordpress.com/current-projects/...

Read all about Christina Lan's experience in the Experiential Anatomy Workshop led by visiting artists Kate Trammel and Sharon Babcock. http://www.dukechronicle.com/blogs/playground/posts/2014/10/02/namely-muscles-first-spine

Ava LaVonne Vinesett, Director of Undergraduate Studies & Associate Professor of the Practice of Dance and Faculty Director of the Baldwin Scholars Program, writes about being in Brazil not for the World Cup. http://sites.fhi.duke.edu/globalbrazil/category/news/blog/

Richard Vinesett to teach West African Drumming workshop

On Friday, September 5, 11:45AM-1:00PM, Richard Vinesett, Director of Music for African Dance within the Dance Program, will conduct a class on West African drumming in the Ark Dance Studio.

This class will be in conjunction with Dance 375-Music for Dancers. Students will learn about the musical instruments used to perform this music, basic rhythms, how to hear a break, and more. No prior experience necessary.

There are a limited number of spaces available for Duke students,...

Conceived and Performed by Thomas F. DeFrantz, DUKE Professor of African and African American Studies, Dance, and Theater Studies, with Kenneth David Stewart.

SLIPPAGE: Performance|Culture|Technology announces the premiere of where did i think i was going? [moving into signal], a dance technology interface work, to be performed at the PSI Theater at Durham Arts Council, 120 Morris Street, Durham, NC, on August 28 and 29, 2014.

Performances are at 7pm Thursday and Friday,...

John Hanks, Staff Associate with the Duke Dance Program, provides live accompaniment for American Dance Festival classes at Duke University, whether the dancers need a slow warm-up piece, a waltz, or a "full-tilt boogie." He's an improvisational one-man band!" View Youtube video: http://youtu.be/OSDT1nty6oY

Duke Office of Civic Engagement - Civic Lives: Keval Khalsa

Keval Kaur Khalsa, a Faculty Advisory Board member of the Duke Office of Civic Engagement, discusses how Duke helps her engage in the community, why universities are an important incubator for artists, and why yoga and movement are essential de-stressors for her students.

Here some photos of the new dance floor in the Ark, as well as snapshots of the new locker rooms located in the lower level.

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Read this Duke Chronicle article featuring Duke Dance Program Professors, Thomas H. DeFrantz and Keval Khalsa.

Andrea Woods Valdés, Associate Professor of the Practice of Dance at Duke, is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer. Her academic focus is on women in the arts, Afro-Cuban dance and music, and the history and culture of the African diaspora. She is also a video artist and musician. .... CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY

Price is a Program II major studying artistic holistic therapies and their contribution to healthcare, with a specific focus on dance therapy. Holistic therapies are forms of alternative medicine that focus on healing the whole person—including their psychological, physical and social needs—rather than a specific disease or issue.

The Fayetteville, North Carolina native began working with Grace Healthcare of Durham, a local nursing home, to fulfill a service-learning requirement for a...

Keval 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...

SOULOWORKS celebrates turning 20 with multimedia production

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. ...

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 .

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.

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."

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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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

Duke Students Bring Summer Dance Camp to China

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...

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...

Dance Luminary Judith Jamison to be Honored at Commencement 2013

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....

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equipping the imagination for social transformation

SLIPPAGE is hosting two events as part of the 2018 Moogfest.

1. AfroFuturism + Performance +...

Looking for something interesting to do this summer? Given your dance experience, you might be interested in this research opportunity.

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Looking for something interesting to do this summer?
Given your dance experience, you might be interested in this research opportunity.