Feb. 12, 1998 -- College students will perform public concerts and have their work critiqued at the Northwest Regional Festival of the American College Dance Festival Association (ACDFA), scheduled at the University of Wyoming Feb. 25-28.
About 30 student and faculty choreographers will present original pieces for adjudication, says Marsha Knight, UW associate professor and festival coordinator.
"Performances will have every aspect of dance you can imagine, from jazz to modern
to ballet," Knight says. "The festival is an example of excellence in college dance.
Rather than a competition, it is an opportunity to showcase choreography."
Regional adjudicators at UW are Cleo Parker Robinson, educator, founder and director
of the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble in Denver; John Mead, internationally-known
choreographer, educator and director of New York University's Washington Square Repertory
Dance Company; and New York-based choreographer Diane Coburn Bruning, who has choreographed
works for the Boston Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet.
They will select three pieces for performance at the national festival at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., May 17-19.
About 300 students and teachers from 25 colleges and high schools plan to attend the regional festival. Besides choreographic adjudication sessions, participants can attend 50 master classes ranging from modern dance to belly dancing, from jazz to ballet floor barre techniques. Cleo Parker Robinson and members of her dance ensemble are among teachers of master classes daily from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
The first of four public concerts at the festival, with the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, opens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, in the College of Arts and Sciences auditorium. Admission is $11 adults and $8 for seniors and children.
Because of the large number of pieces presented at the festival, choreography in the adjudication process will be performed at two concerts, Feb. 26 and Feb. 27, both at 7:30 p.m. on the Fine Arts Center main stage.
A final Gala Concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, in the College of Arts and Sciences
auditorium, will feature pieces that adjudicators rate as best in the festival. Admission
is $6 adults and $4 for seniors and children under age.
The Northwest Regional Festival is sponsored by the UW College of Arts and Sciences,
UW Cultural Programs and Department of Theatre and Dance. For more information, call
Knight at (307) 766-6122 or student coordinator Katrina Svendsen at the Department
of Theatre and Dance office, (307) 766-2198. For concert ticket information, call
the Fine Arts Center box office at (307) 766-6666 or the Wyoming Union ticket office
at (307) 766-3327.
Posted on Thursday, February 12, 1998