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 »