About NC Dance Festival

The NC Dance Festival is an activity of the NC Dance Project, a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. Contributions are tax deductible and are most gratefully accepted [donation form].

BOARD OF DIRECTORS (2011-2012)

• Terrie Reeves - President
• Mark Gabriel - Treasurer
• Jennifer Kegerise - Secretary
• Jan Van Dyke
• Tina Yarborough-Liggins
• Sarah Vincent
• Nina Lucas
• Tracie Foster

The Festival is an annual showcase of North Carolina dance artists that travels to five communities statewide. Unique in the country and now a North Carolina institution, the event began in 1991 as a weekend of concerts in the UNC/Greensboro Dance Theater showcasing dance artists from across the state. The 2011-2012 Festival will stop in Boone, Greensboro, Raleigh, Wilmington, and Charlotte. Eight different companies will tour, performing alongside artists local to the host communities, making the actual concerts a mix of local and statewide artists.

In 1991, we started at the UNC/Greensboro Dance Theater with a one weekend showcase for some of the state's dance artists. The idea developed as the UNCG dance faculty puzzled out a number of questions: how to expose students to the region's dance artists, how to develop an active dance community in the area, and how to convince more students to stay and work in North Carolina upon graduation.  This state has been noted for its outstanding training programs at the UNC School of the Arts and other state universities including UNCG, and in addition, the American Dance Festival draws hundreds of students to Durham each summer.  

In an effort to begin on an infrastructure for career-building, the first showcase concert of NC dance artists was presented in the UNCG Dance Theater. That first weekend was such a success, we decided to invite a different group of companies for the following year. The next year we added a concert for Greensboro artists. And so it has gone, year after year, gradually growing and expanding into this season's five-site tour.

HOW IT WORKS
Festival coordinators share the vision of a statewide arts network that enlivens and enriches local communities, expanding the possibilities for both audiences and dance artists. We have built a network of presenters through cooperation with both university dance departments and community-based dance organizations across the state, with all venues handicap accessible, offering special prices for students and seniors. Coordinators at all five sites are experienced presenters, and all are committed to producing the Festival on a long-term basis.

Jan Van Dyke is overall Festival coordinator and coordinator for the Greensboro concerts at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the center of the state.

Susan Lutz coordinates performances at Appalachian State University in Boone, a mountain community in northwest NC.

Carol Finley manages the Festival at Meredith College in Raleigh, the state's capitol.

Nancy Carson and the Dance Cooperative produce shows at Kenan Theater in Wilmington, in the state's coastal region.

The UNC Charlotte Dance Department hosts the NCDF, coordinated by E.E. Balcos, Associate Professor.

Festival concerts are always curated. Every year, through a process of consultation among the coordinators and other interested observers, eight NC dance artists/companies are selected to participate in the tour. An effort is made to show a variety of aesthetic points of view and to involve work from many areas of the state. Although the emphasis is on modern dance, we also present ballet and ethnically based works with success.

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