Encore : a second round of success

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NATIONAL COLLEGE CHOREOGRAPHY INITIATIVE

BY SUZANNE CALLAHAN
WITH BROOKE BELOTT

i r w it-

A Second Round of Success

NATIONAL
ENDOWMENT
FOR THE ARTS

The Impact of NCCI Projects
An Oasis of Opportunity for Artists
NCCI Tours to Washington
Snapshots of NCCI Projects
Artists Funded by NCCI
Schools Funded by NCCI

From the Executive Director

Dance/USA is pleased to once again highlight
the National College Choreography Initiative
and offer a sampling of its impact. Initiated in
2001 by Dance/USA and the National Endowment
for the Arts, the program provides funding for guest
choreographers to either restage an existing dance or
create a new work for students at colleges in all 50
states and the District of Columbia.

Colleges, universities and conservatories have played
a vital role in the transmission of dance traditions, par-
ticularly in the second half of the 20th century. Never-
theless, a renaissance of activity in university dance
departments in the late '60s to late '70s was followed
bv a noticeable decline, which in turn limited the next
dance generation's opportunities to experience the
work of its predecessors. As Doug Sonntag, Director of
Dance at the National Endowment for the Arts,
observed in the 2002 report on the National College
Choreographv Initiative, "It is particularlv troubling
that as dance students sharpen their technical perform-
ance skills, they have little direct knowledge of the
artistry and artistic works that underpin the profession
thev seek to enter."

More recent years have witnessed a renewed appreci-
ation for the symbiosis between academe and the profes-
sional dance world; choreographers are working in
closer conjunction with colleges for the benefit not onlv
of students and teachers, but also of artists and audi-
ences. With its commitment to serving all areas of the
professional dance field, Dance/USA realizes that
direct contact with artistic leadership is the kev to
inspiring the next generation of dancers and artists. Col-

lege and university dance departments can again become
primary sites for the field's development. Sparked by
NCCI, Dance/USA has begun to create a forum for
active dialogue between colleges and choreographers.
We applaud the universities' leadership, the artists'
vision, and the young dancers' commitment to our field.

This publication illustrates some of the ways in
which the program was transformative for participating
artists, students, administrators, and dance audiences.
For dancers, there is nothing more valuable than learn-
ing choreography directly from its artistic source, and
no substitute for the personal influence of those artists
who created or previously performed the work. The
program has far surpassed the expectations with which
the NEA and Dance/USA began. It has been a win-
win situation — students learn from talented profession-
als, communities have access to the creative process and
product, choreographers and their dancers get work
and create relationships with college administration,
faculty and students, and more.

Suzanne Callahan has been managing this project
since its inception in 2001. During that time, she has
produced a wonderful, important range of valuable
tools and created numerous forums related to artists'
residencies on college campuses, curriculum issues, and
training students for careers in dance. This publication
is the next exciting link in the chain.

Andrea Snyder

Executive Director, Dance/USA

JANE JERARDI, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
ON THE COVER: A University of
Mississippi student performs in Dwight
Rhoden's Before Now and After Then.
Photo by Robert Jordan.

© DANCE/USA 2005 All RIGHTS RESERVED

ANTING DATE: APRIL 2005
ISBN: 1-931683-12-3

PUBLISHER: DANCE/USA

1 156 15TH STREET. NW; SUITE 820

- NGTON. DC 20005
202-833-1717
WWW.DANCEUSA ORG

The National College Choreographv Initiative is a Leadership Initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, with
additional support from the Dana Foundation. The National Endowment for the Arts, an independent federal agency,
was established by an Act of Congress in 1965. The National Endowment for the Arts enriches our Nation and its
diverse cultural heritage bv supporting works of artistic excellence, advancing learning in the arts, and strengthening
the arts in communities throughout the country.

The National College Choreography Initiative is administered by Dance/USA, the national service organization that
supports professional dance. For more information about NCCI, please contact consultant Suzanne Callahan, who
manages NCCI, at 202-955-8325 or callahangForTheArts.org. For more information about Dance/USA, please contact
the organization at 202-833-1717 or at danceusa S danceusa.org, or check the website at wwwdanceusa.org.

National College Choreography Initiative

Encore: A Second
Round of Success

In 2003, Dance/USA awarded the second
round of awards for the National College
Choreography Initiative (NCCI).

Building on its first round, NCCI continues to experi-
ence unprecedented success, as evidenced by the thou-
sands of artists, students and audience members it
serves across the country. When colleges are awarded
national funding to bring prestigious choreographers to
their campuses, the presence of these dance artists gen-
erates waves of activity on the local level. And, their
effects on students have been profound.

Designed to foster appreciation for American dance
creativity, NCCI once again brought classic American
dances and newly commissioned works to students and
audiences across the nation. Colleges and universities
engaged artists, students and communities in one of two
ways. Masterworks of the 20th Century provided sup-
port to reconstruct or restage existing works by master
artists. Dances by contemporary artists supported the
creation or restaging of works by choreographers work-
ing today. Outreach was a component of all projects,
and colleges opened their doors to the general public
beyond the performance of the dance work itself. A
wide range of activities, such as panel discussions, lec-
tures, open rehearsals and school performances, allowed
students and general audiences access to dance history
and the creative process. Having professional artists in
residence inspired involvement on the part of musical
ensembles, studios, service organizations, schools, art
galleries, and presenting institutions.

THE STRENGTH IN THE NUMBERS:
NCCI REACHES ARTISTS, COLLEGES,
AND COMMUNITIES

NCCI has reached far and wide into communities across
the country, as evidenced by the total numbers of
artists, colleges, partners, students, and audiences who
participated in the 35 communities.

In the past year, 30 artists and ensembles worked in
28 states to create or restage dances of the highest
caliber with students. Many of these guest choreogra-
phers brought in additional professional artists from their

own companies to assist with teaching
and reconstruction.

A total of 28 dances have been
restaged or reconstructed and
another 25 new works have been
created. Colleges have opted to capi-
talize on this rare funding opportunity
by commissioning multiple works.

Almost 6,000 college dance students
benefited. Students were intensely
involved in the creative process through
one-on-one experiences with profes-
sional artists. An additional 12,000 col-
lege students in other areas of study and
13,000 young people who attend ele-
mentary or high school participated in
events that reached far beyond cam-
puses, such as school performances,
workshops and lecture/demonstrations.

Audiences that totaled almost 64,000
people were able to experience the artistry of cho-
reographers, most of whom would not otherwise
have appeared in their state. Audience members par-
ticipated in almost 600 events, including close to 250
performances as well as master classes, lectures, per-
formances, and a wide range of community-based
activities.

Almost 600 local artists took part. Local artists work-
ing in various disciplines participated in collaborations
and professional development activities such as master
classes with guest choreographers.

NCCI leveraged almost $750,000 in additional sup-
port through cash and in-kind contributions. This
was almost triple the amount of funding that was dis-
tributed. Multiple funding sources from colleges them-
selves included set-aside funds, visiting artist funds,
and endowment support. In addition, direct support
was generated from over 20 sources, such as private
foundations, state arts agencies, local arts councils, arts
patrons, corporations and local businesses. In-kind sup-
port in the amount of almost $250,000 was provided by
university departments and other sources.

Cuban Pete's Latin Magic
at the University of the
Arts

Encore: A Year of Success

Sean Curran's
(Another) Metal
Garden at Keene
State College

Fees of over $360,000 were paid to artists and
ensembles. That is almost half again the total of funds
given by Dance/USA.

NCCI encouraged collaboration on campus. With
NCCI support, 19 colleges formed collaborations with
other universities in their areas or other departments
within their schools, to spread the resources of NCCI
among a greater number of students and faculty.

NCCI encouraged touring. NCCI provided opportunities
for 28 artists to travel from their home states to other regions.

THE TRUE IMPACT: FROM CAMPUS
TO COMMUNITY

While the numbers indicate the breadth of NCCI's
reach, the extent of its impact is more evident in the
experiences that it has fostered for students, artists,
faculty and audiences. The array of ways in which
communities participated with professional artists
illustrates the many points of entry and the depth of
experience that these 35 residencies brought to the
younger generation of dancers, as well as to profes-
sional artists and local residents.

1 THE LEGACY OF AAASTER ARTISTS

As students had rare opportunities to reconstruct and
perform work of great artists such as Merce Cunning-
ham, Trisha Brown, Meredith Monk, Jose Limon and
Paul Taylor, they learned the roots of their own dance
history. Sixteen colleges restaged master choreogra-

phers' works. When University of California-Irvine stu-
dents performed the historic "Steps in the Street,"
excerpted from Martha Graham's Chronicle (1936), they
brought this icon of modern dance to local audiences
for the first time in 30 years. University of Georgia's res-
idency with ballet master Stanley Zompakos compelled
many former students, who are now teachers, to travel
from Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, and South Carolina
to learn from him. In other cities, students not only
learned the choreography, but were exposed to all
aspects of the collaborative process. When Shelly Senter
visited the University of Colorado to restage Trisha
Brown's Set and Reset, design students recreated the
elaborate sets. At Purchase College, where Merce Cun-
ningham's Septet was restaged, music students learned
and performed the score by Erik Satie.

2 A DIVERSE REPERTORY OF NEW DANCE

National College Choreography Initiative

opportunity to learn from these experts in Latin dance
and local master classes attracted as many as 80 stu-
dents. University of Idaho students connected the new
with the old in a residency with dance master Frankie
Manning (89 years young!) who staged two new works
and conducted a weekend swing/jazz dance workshop,
which sold out and attracted dancers from as far away
as Seattle and Portland. When Doug Elkins - known
for his fusion of hip-hop, club dance and martial arts —
arrived on the scene at the University of Minnesota in
Minneapolis to create a new work that referenced Bol-
lywood musicals, prominent hip-hop artists joined in to
bring vernacular culture to the concert stage.

3 A WEB OF COLLABORATION

The momentum that built on campuses and in commu-
nities was dramatic as NCCI residencies progressed.
Dance departments took risks that involved complex
logistics in order to engage choreographers with the
broader campus. Outside the dance departments, cul-
tural participation took place on many levels in the sur-
rounding communities on and off campus: scholars pro-
vided information and context about cultures, histories,
trends and traditions. Projects created camaraderie and
forged professional connections between students and
faculty in these different departments and even from
different schools. When Montclair State University
brought choreographer Alexandra Beller to create a
work on the damaging effects of negative body images,
it became the focal point for a campus-wide initiative
called "The Body Talks." Duke University's residency
with Ronald K. Brown brought together 44 students
from Duke as well as four other area colleges through
master classes, repertory sessions, and communal meals.
The general public was enlightened about the value
and diversity of artists' creative processes and perform-
ances. The amount of residency activity increased expo-
nentially as individuals and organizations joined in.
When the University of Nebraska-Lincoln brought Bill
Hastings for a month to restage Bob Fosse's pioneering
Broadway choreography, the reach was staggering: Hast-
ings conducted more than 60 outreach activities,
including 28 master classes on campus and at 18 area
dance studios. A final performance drew 1,200, which

Audience members at a
children's show of Paul
Taylor's Esplanade

was double the attendance of the university's NCCI
project performance the previous year. When The Uni-
versity of Mississippi brought Dwight Rhoden into the
Oxford/Lafayette area, the college had no idea how
deeply the experience would resonate for its commu-
nity. Rhoden worked with difficult, deeply ingrained
racial issues that run through the complex history of
the university, emphasizing the spirit of racial healing
and artistic growth. Town hall meetings and lunchtime
discussions in churches, libraries and the black student
union fed into the students' creative process. Efforts are
underway to bring Rhoden back, demonstrating how
dance and the creative process can catalyze change and
foster long-term relationships with communities.

4 NEW AUDIENCES FOR DANCE

Community outreach helped build new audiences for
dance through partnerships with local presenters.
With 18 months of preparation, Tulane University and
its partner, the New Orleans Ballet Association,
arranged an exciting array of programs for local
dancers, public schools and community centers,
exposing over 4,000 children and adults to Paul Tay-
lor's work. Building on the support of NCCI funding
for the Taylor 2 residency, the New Orleans Ballet
Association produced the Paul Taylor Dance Company
as a culminating event for the community.

5 NEW FUNDING SOURCES

With the endorsement of prestigious NEA support, col-
leges leveraged funding through university budgets,
private and government sources, and dance patrons.
Faculty generated support not only to match funds for
NCCI projects, but to heighten visibility for long-term
plans that would benefit their dance programs. Susan
Marshall's year-long residency with her company at the
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee enhanced the
department's programs by developing strong connec-
tions with students as well as expanded donor interest.

Encore: A Second Round of Success

.u

-"

Students at the
University of Cincinnati
work on Paul Taylor's

Esplanade

One community member was so moved bv the Marshall
Company's performance in October that she donated
S5,000 toward the cost of the project.

6 PRESS COVERAGE OF DANCE

Largely due to the prestige of having national artists
touring their communities, local and even national press
focused on campuses, resulting in coverage that ranged
from college newsletters to citvwide papers to regional
and national outlets, some of which garnered significant
visibility for university departments. The climactic per-
formance of Jose Limon's Missa Brevis, restaged by the
University of Kansas, received multiple previews and
reviews and a five-minute university television spot. A
local cable television program featuring an interview
with Sarah Stackhouse and excerpts of the piece aired
for a week preceding the performance. Doug Elkin's res-
idency at the University of Texas, Pan American was

J J

featured on a local television show, UTPA Today Metro-
politan and national press outlets covered the Univer-
sity of the Arts' presentation of Cuban Pete, including a
spot on Philadelphia's ABC affiliate television station.
And, the Orange County Register's major feature on
Bonnie Oda Homsey and her residency at the Univer-
sity of California, Irvine, brought to light her restaging
of master choreographer Martha Graham's work in the
Orange County community.

7 DANCE TOURING

When NCCI brought artists to local communities, it
meant that nearby presenters could work with artists
who might have otherwise been unaffordable. The end
result was increased touring. The University of Alaska,
Anchorage organized a performance for dance and
video artist Marianne Kim at the Bunnell Street Gallery
in Homer, about 200 miles away from Anchorage. Seven
other dance departments either presented or assisted
with the presentation of companies that participated in
residencies, including Susan Marshall Dance Company
Complexions (Dwight Rhoden's company), Pearson and
Widrig, Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Sean Curran,
Cuban Pete and Barbara Craddock, as well as the Paul
Taylor Dance Company.

With this support, not only could colleges in more
rural states bring in artists from urban centers, but
artists also toured from one region to another: Bill Hast-
ings traveled from New Jersey to Nebraska; Sara Pear-
son and Patrik Widrig went from New York to Mon-
tana; Alonzo King went from San Francisco to Ann
Arbor, Michigan; Doug Elkins went from New York to
Texas; and Cuban Pete went from Florida to Pennsylva-
nia. Residencies and touring performances gave stu-
dents the unique opportunity to either share the stage
with professionals or observe masters in the profession.

8 STUDENTS' GLIMPSE INTO THE
PROFESSIONAL DANCE WORLD

As they developed close relationships with professional
artists, voung dancers were inspired to reexamine the
role that dance plays in their own lives and in the
broader world, and to pursue professional training,
sometimes with the NCCI artists who had mentored
them. Marian Kim's residency provided an unexpected
professional opportunity for one University of Alaska
student, who will join her in Germany to create a new
work in collaboration with an Austrian theatre artist.
Students from the University of Cincinnati were exposed
to professional opportunities following their residency
with Connie Dinapoli, who restaged Paul Taylor's
Esplanade. Several attended a Taylor workshop in New
York over winter break and one student was offered an

National College Choreography Initiative

apprenticeship with a regional dance company after per-
forming Esplanade as part of his audition process.

8 SERVICE TO THE DANCE PROFESSION

The Dance Center at Columbia College's groundbreaking
residency with the Cunningham company created the
first-ever student-performed Cunningham MinEvent
and connected students with professionals to celebrate
Cunningham's work. One of the highlights of the resi-
dency happened during "Conversations on Cunning-
ham," a three-day symposium that featured a visit by
Merce himself, who surprised students by attending
their rehearsal and offering feedback. The NCCI resi-
dency was part of this larger celebration that brought
experts on Cunningham, contemporary choreographers
such as Elizabeth Streb and Ralph Lemon, as well as
four generations of dancers, critics, administrators, and
teachers to Chicago to reflect on his body of work.

8 NCCI FORUMS: A NATIONAL
NE^VORK FOR DIALOGUE

The broad array of activity supported throughout the
two rounds of NCCI has provided an ideal context in
which to raise questions about collaboration between

artists and colleges, including successes,
challenges and lessons learned. In
response, Dance/USA facilitated this dia-
logue by establishing National Forums,
which gathered professional artists and
college faculty to address issues related to
curriculum, residencies, and employment,
and producing publications based on these
gatherings. The Forums engaged almost
40 artists and faculty around the same
table. Out of these meetings, NCCI has
begun to foster a national network of
relationships among artists and faculty, who have been
instrumental in developing recommendations for the
broader field. The Forums are greatly needed in not
only shaping a more cohesive community of those who
strive to serve postsecondary students, but in moving
the professional field forward.

Throughout the past two years, Dance/USA has
reaffirmed the impact of NCCI as a sustained national
program that supports colleges and artists. Dance/USA
is delighted to have facilitated the passing on of lega-
cies, and the creation of new work, and to have pro-
vided service to professional artists, faculty and stu-
dents. The resonance of NCCI has been felt deeply by
colleges across the country. Lisa Fusillo from University
of Nebraska at Lincoln talks about the value of NCCI
and the ways in which it has encouraged collaboration:
I have personally witnessed the profound impact that a
NCCI project can have on students and a community. . .
I have sung the praises of the opportunities, outcomes
and impact of the NCCI program to many of my col-
leagues, and assisted in two other applications, one of
which was submitted from a school which had not
applied previously. I am an artist-educator, and now, for
me the two roles are inextricably linked. My role does
not begin and end at any one institution, and I find that
one of the most enjoyable facets to my role is finding,
assisting and providing opportunities for students and
faculty — wherever they may be. . . The NCCI project is
the single most significant opportunity available to col-
lege and university programs to make connections with
professional artists AND to take that into our commu-
nities. You will never be able to count how many lives
have been touched, and changed, by this experience.

Above, students per form
Merce Cunningham's
Trio at Purchase College.

Lower left, Latin Magic
in Philadelphia.

Encore: A Second Round of Success

An Oasis of Opportunity

This page, right: Bill

Evans in Ritmos

Calientes

Below: Lar Lubovitch's

Men's Stories

Artists Speak about the NCCI's Contribution
to their Creative Process

Though NCCI was designed to benefit students, resi-
dencies evolved to become an "oasis of opportunity"
for artists involved, according to choreographer Ann
Carlson. Given the shortage of creative opportunities
available to choreographers, an important by-product
of being in college settings is the sheer value of time
and space to develop new ideas and focus on the cre-
ative process. Carlson felt strongly that NCCI residen-
cies offered artists the "chance to develop ideas, to
bring alternative ways of working with movement,
voice, and performance into this context, and also to
be inspired by the students."

According to artists, much of the inspiration came
from students who took seriously the opportunity to
work with choreographers of such high caliber. The
interchange with students provided an environment
that was ripe for experimentation. At UCLA, this envi-
ronment created a lasting impact for Joe Goode, who
described his NCCI experience as, "a year of total learn-
ing. I felt like a student again." Bill Evans explained
that "students feel honored to be participating and that
is reflected in everything they do." Working with stu-
dents on restaging dances was no less inspiring; when

Shelly Senter reconstructed Trisha Brown's choreogra-
phy, she said of the young dancers, "It was poignant to
watch the students allowing themselves to remain in
'process,' and realize that the dance requires approach-
ing each movement as if it were [being done for] the
first time." For this reason, the residencies ultimately
provide "a bridge of work possibilities for students
preparing to leave the university and get work," says
Ann Carlson, who has maintained her relationship with
students from her NCCI residencies.

Some found the NCCI
environment to be a wel-
come relief from the fre-
quently product-oriented
demands of working
against the clock with
professional dancers in
rented rehearsal space.
There was a continuum
to their creative process,
as many used ideas gen-
erated with NCCI stu-
dents as source material
for their own professional
repertory. Choreographer
Alexandra Beller spoke
about this through-line
in the creative process,
which came from having
a rehearsal period that
spanned an entire semester: "This had never happened
before, as there is usually such a short period that the
piece does not yield work . . .that is truly of a profes-
sional caliber." The time and experience that the resi-
dency afforded her "was unprecedented... exponentially
deeper and richer and more thoughtful." David Dorf-
man calls NCCI "a yenta," or a matchmaker in Yiddish,
for powerfully connecting choreographers with new
opportunities that influenced their own processes for
staging community-based work in college settings. The
dance department became the company's "steward,"
taking on a greater role in connecting community mem-
bers and rehearsing the piece. The extensive outreach
of the Limon Company's residency in Virginia also
spurred increased interest in community engagement;

National College Choreography Initiative

collaboration among institutions "was a model that the
Limon Company would really like to replicate in other
communities," according to Ann Vachon.

The long-term effect of NCCI, artists thought, was
the value that it has placed on the creative process. As
Beller stated, "In this culture, which does not regard art
as a necessity and which does not support artists for
their efforts, we are often given the choice between the
'experience' of creating art (for arts' sake) or making
money by disregarding our aesthetics and ideas and
making work that we don't stand by. The opportunity
to combine the rich process we crave with the financial
respect we deserve is remarkable." Marlies Yearby con-
tinued, "The only way we can grow as an industry is to
value artists so that they are sustained by their chosen
field of endeavor." For her, NCCI residencies have pro-
vided the most vital forms of support: "There's nothing
like being able to be in an environment in which you
are supported both artistically — with the hunger to
explore creativity — and through resources, knowing
that you can eat when you come back home."

CREATIVE ROAD TRIPS

MARLIES YEARBY DISCOVERS NEW
POSSIBILITIES OFFERED BY U.S
COMMUNITIES

Some NCCI residencies afforded artists rare opportuni-
ties to connect with new communities, sometimes in
parts of the country where they had never traveled.
Being in these new places not only built audiences for
their work, but created opportunities for artists to

experience new cultures. Although Marlies Yearby has
toured abroad, both of her NCCI residencies enlight-
ened her about the depth of cultural difference that
coexists within the U.S. Her first residency in 2001 at
Henderson State in Arkadelphia, Arkansas was as new
for her as it was for the students and audiences she
reached. She was on a campus 45 minutes away from
the nearest movie house and
where favorite restaurant fare
is fried fish. This made her
realize she doesn't have to
venture so far to, as she put
it, "open [my] eyes up to
learn about a different cul-
ture." Yearby 's more recent
residency at Arizona State
University reintroduced her
to the pleasures of working
with youth. While she had
seen residencies primarily as
a teaching experience, it was
through her time with ASU
and their long-term commu-
nity partner, the Silvestre S. Herrara School, that she
realized investigating the challenges of her artistic craft
through working with kids could be "very empower-
ing." Since then, she has formed a relationship with a
school in her hometown of Montclair, New Jersey and
is invested in working more with youth.

This page, clockwise
from top: Joe Goode
Performance Group;
Pearson/ Widrig and
Company; Sean Curran
Company.

Encore: A Second Round of Success

NCCI Tours to Washington

Eight Colleges Perform at The John F. Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts

Among the most successful outcomes of NCCI was a
national collaboration that continued with The John F.
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Impressed
with the intent and quality of XCCI projects, staff at
The Kennedy Center again dedicated two nights of per-
formances on their Millennium Stage to NCCI projects.
About 75 students presented the works of eight master
artists for audiences that totaled almost 1,000. Students
were thrilled to perform in this world-renowned venue;
it again served as a mark of achievement to be selected
to be part of an event at such a prestigious site.

The Kennedy Center found this performance oppor-
tunity a perfect match for its Millennium Stage, a non-
traditional venue that presents daily performances.
With NCCI participation, The Millennium Stage could
offer free performances of historically significant master
works as well as creations by contemporary artists to
audiences of hundreds every day that included stu-
dents, local artists and teachers. Audiences had the rare
chance to view dances by Merce Cunningham and Jose
Limon as well as new works bv contemporary artists

such as Alonzo King and Ron Brown.

"We were thrilled to feature this year's NCCI proj-
ects, which included a wealth of classic restagings as
well as prominent contemporary choreographers. Hav-
ing such a range, coupled with the geographic diver-
sity of the participating schools, allowed us to create
two enlightening programs for audiences of both dance
enthusiasts and novices," said Kristen Brogdon, man-
ager of dance programming administration for The
Kennedy Center.

The culminating Kennedy Center events provided a
perfect capstone for NCCI, offering powerful recogni-
tion and \dsibility for choreographers, giving the works
produced a longer performance life, and bringing stu-
dents an unparalleled educational experience. The
young dancers had the opportunity to be part of pro-
fessional repertory performances and of everything
needed to make them happen. They were energized by
meeting a variety of student dancers from other col-
leges, encountering artists whom they only had heard
about, and seeing works they had only read about. Sev-
eral colleges used the opportunity in Washington to
visit their Congressional offices and report on the value
of NCCI and the NE A.

Students from Virginia
Commonwealth
University perform Jose
Limon's Suite from
Choreographic Offering

National College Choreography Initiative

COLLEGES PERFORMING AT
THE KENNEDY CENTER

Tuesday, June 1, 2004, 6:00 -7:00 pm

Suite from Choreographic Offering (1956)
By Jose Limon

Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, Virginia

Septet (1953)
By Merce Cunningham
State University of New York
Purchase, New York

Bach Suite (1956)
By Murray Louis
Tensile Involvement (1953)
By Alwin Nikolais
Ohio University
Athens, Ohio

Steam Heat, The Aloof (from The Rich Man's Frug),
and Dancin' Man (1954-1978)
By Bob Fosse
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska

Wednesday, June 2, 2004, 6:00-7:00 pm

Together Through Time (2003)
By Bill Evans

University of Central Oklahoma
Edmond, Oklahoma

Shostakovich String Quartet (1999)
by Alonzo King
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Before Now and After Then (2004)
by Dwight Rhoden
University of Mississippi,
University, Mississippi

Common Ground (2004)
by Ronald K. Brown
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina

Top and middle: Dwight
Rhoden s Before Now
and After Then. Left:
Merce Cunningham's
Septet.

Encore: A Second Round of Success

Snapshots of NCCI Projects
Around the Country

Artists, Students and Community
Partners Connect through 35
Projects in 28 States

STATE: Alaska

school: University of Alaska-Anchorage

artist: Marianne Kim

community partners: Bunnell Street Gallery

Dance and video artist Marianne Kim created a
multi-media, evening-length physical theater
production at University of Alaska-Anchorage
during an extensive two-month residency. The-
ater and dance faculty members Brian Jeffrey
and Brent Glenn collaborated with Kim on The
Image After, which looked at photography as a
captured image of an experience, rather than
an interpretive portrait of a subject. The piece
challenged the audience with an array of visual,
verbal and physical information — beautiful
images, suggestive lighting, provocative state-
ments, and ten dancer/actors who revealed the
mechanics of the production by playing them-
selves onstage. The themes of nostalgia and death
that ran throughout the piece were made visible
through the framework of photography.

The luxury of a two-month residency allowed
students to participate in a Butoh workshop
taught by Kim, and the experience culminated
with a free public showing and a performance
as part of the campus-wide International Day
Festival. Kim explains, "Our rehearsals were
intensive and the faculty provided a wonder-
ful infrastructure to allow for me to work with
the students." The residency resulted in an unex-
pected professional opportunity for one UAA
student who joined Kim in Germany to create a
new work in collaboration with an Austrian the-
ater/video artist. Additional teaching included
master classes in the Theatre and Dance Depart-
ments in advanced level technique and dance
appreciation, as well as lectures in performance
theory in the English Department and in art
appreciation in the Art Department. Through

partnership with Bunnell Street Gallery, more
than 200 miles away in Homer, Alaska, Kim cre-
ated an installation, presented a live perform-
ance and taught a Butoh workshop for the pub-
he in the gallery.

Through the residency, Marianne Kim
explored photographic imagery in new ways,
both visually and in performance, and shared the
form of Butoh with students and audiences in
Anchorage and Homer. Kim explains the import
of the residency not only for her, but also for stu-
dents at the University of Alaska: "Working
with young artists is always inspiring to my cre-
ative process. I have to champion the impor-
tance of arts education not only for my own
survival as an artist, but the alternative it pro-
vides university students — future elite citizens
and leaders of the U.S. — to value culture and
art. I think the people who champion the cause
for arts are the ones who have had direct expe-
rience with it."

state: Arizona

school: Arizona State University

artist Marlies Yearby

community partners: Silvestre S. Herrara

School, Boys and Girls Club of Tempe

NCCI funds supported a three-week residency
with Marlies Yearby at Arizona State Univer-
sity where she worked intensively with Dance
Arizona Repertory Theater (DART), the dance
department's outreach-oriented company. The
company consists of 18 undergraduate and grad-
uate dance students with distinctive technical
and performance backgrounds, and seventh and
eighth grade students from DART's long-term
community partner, the Silvestre S. Herrara
School, which serves underprivileged youth
from the Nuestro Barrio neighborhood of
Phoenix. In daily rehearsals, Yearby conducted
experiential movement workshops for the DART
and Herrera students. The creative process cen-
tered on the relationships between breath,
rhythm and emotion, and was challenging for

both DART and Herrara students, who paired
together to work on choreographic composi-
tions. The relationship between the groups
extended beyond rehearsal through online dis-
cussions and emails initiated by DART students.
Yearby discovered that she "helped the DART
Company to see a different way" of creating
dance. While before, the Herrara kids had looked
up to DART Company members, Yearby says
that by "creating some oral history [we helped
reveal] who they were as individuals" and
formed a more intimate environment. Yearby
reveled in the process-oriented residency, par-
ticularly because her company's projects are fre-
quently more product-focused. As she says, "It
was rich for [the students] and for me."

The cast experienced the working artistic
relationship between Yearby and composer Eric
Schultz, who attended rehearsals and created
an original sound score inspired by the dancers'
creative process. The resulting work, A pulse, a
moment, a state of being, a breath, and emotion,
beat, premiered to a full house at "Community
Pulse," DART's annual free community show-
case, which drew a diverse audience of ASU
administrators; College of Education faculty;
Department of Dance faculty and students;
friends and family of performers from DART
and Herrera; and high school students from the
Boys and Girls Club of Tempe. The work also
had a five-night run at the interactive Dance
Studio Theater at ASU, attracting audience mem-
bers from the department, ASU, and greater
Tempe and Phoenix. Area videographer Heidi
Shikles documented the entire process and the
footage was compiled into a short documentary
to be used as a reference and archive.

Yearby also shared her vision and craft with
the larger campus and metropolitan area in a
variety of community activities. In coordination
with faculty of the ASU Women's Studies Pro-
gram, she conducted a free workshop around
the concept of identity that included movement,
writing and vocalization for a diverse group of
women in the greater Phoenix area. She partic-

10

National College Choreography Initiative

ipated in a panel discussion entitled "Fostering
Innovation and Creativity in Interdisciplinary
Efforts," which was offered through the College
of Interdisciplinary Studies. To share her expe-
rience in a wide variety of dance forms, Yearby
taught two advanced master classes at ASU, as
well as an open class for ASU and Herrara stu-
dents in collaboration with composer Daniel
Bernard Roumain. The NCCI residency with
Marlies Yearby expanded the education and
artistry of students and at the same time reached
beyond the boundaries of the university to
engage the community in the creative process
of self-expression.

state: California

school University of California, Irvine
artist Bonnie Oda Homsey /American
Repertory Dance Company

COMMUNITY PARTNERS: Support GrOUpS

Division of the Orange County
Performing Arts Center

Former Graham company principal dancer Bon-
nie Oda Homsey undertook a historic restaging
of Martha Graham's Steps in the Street, an excerpt
from Chronicle (1936) for the benefit of students
at University of California, Irvine. Applying
their foundational knowledge of the Graham
technique, students learned this seminal work
from reconstructor Homsey, as well as the
Martha Graham Resources designee Sandra Kauf-
mann, who had performed in the original restag-
ing by Graham principal dancer Yuriko. Choos-
ing to cast 14 women rather than 12 allowed a
greater number of students to experience Gra-
ham's methods firsthand and to learn the
nuances of performance from masters. Local
audiences had not been exposed to the Graham
repertory in more than 30 years, and this resi-
dency provided an opportunity to reacquaint
the community with the work, as well as expose
them to the larger artistic context.

Performed at UCI as part of "Dance Visions,"
the restaging was accompanied by an educa-

tional exhibit of photography by Barbara Brooks
Morgan of the Martha Graham Company, orig-
inal costumes from the piece, and a couture
gown worn by Graham. The exhibition marked
Homsey 's debut as a curator and allowed her to
"synthesize so many skills [to create] a dynamic
homage to the creative genius of Martha Gra-
ham and Barbara Morgan." Free outreach activ-
ities, designed to promote wider knowledge and
access to Graham's legacy, included a lecture/
demonstration, "Footsteps of Modern Dance,"
co-sponsored by the Orange County Perform-
ing Arts Center for 650 students at Santa Ana
High School. The presentation featured per-
formances of the work of St. Denis, Shawn,
Humphrey, Kreutzberg and Graham by UCI stu-
dents, as well as narration about the history and
philosophy of these artists. Students from Santa
Ana were invited to attend an open dress
rehearsal of "Dance Visions." A pre-show panel
discussion brought together former Graham com-
pany members from different generations to dis-
cuss the value of Graham's legacy as it relates to
the balance between preserving our dance her-
itage and supporting new artistic vision. The
project received outstanding press, including a
feature story in the Orange County Register.
Through the residency of performances and
humanities activities, Homsey and other Gra-
ham experts shared the talent and artistry of
this historical figure in modern dance with the
college and the community.

state: California

school University of California,

Los Angeles

artist Joe Goode

community partners: UCLA Fowler Museum

of Cultural History, UCLA Hammer

Museum, Japanese American Cultural

and Community Center

NCCI support allowed artist Joe Goode to create
Beauty Subsides, a performance installation that
was a primary component of a larger project,

Bill Hastings at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

"From the Verandah," a collaboration between
the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History,
the UCLA Hammer Museum, and the Japanese
American Cultural and Community Center.
"From the Verandah" was an experimental instal-
lation— a wooden verandah-like structure with
two platforms, one which featured a work by
visual artist Wolfgang Laib and another cov-
ered with a thick layer of clay that had hardened
and cracked. It was this environment that
inspired Goode to create a piece based on the
Japanese aesthetic principles of "wabi sabi," in
which things that are commonplace and humble
are given value.

Goode covered new ground with students
through a residency that emphasized a work-
shop process over the final product. He explains,
"We worked very hard to experience a land of
homeliness, a state of in-betweenness, which
was antithetical to performers who may want
to be dazzling and beautiful... We moved
beyond our western notion of what a perform-
ance is and what purpose it serves." He credits
their success to the "long gestation period [that]
made all the difference to the depth of our
understanding of the work."

The cast was made up of undergraduate and
graduate dance students at UCLA, as well as
dance students from California State Univer-
sity at Long Beach and California Institute for
the Arts, faculty from UCLA, California State
University at Los Angeles and Pomona College,

Encore: A Second Round of Success

11

and two Los Angeles-based community
dancers. Joe Goode commented on how engag-
ing this diverse cast created enormously
rewarding connections. Working with students
from all different cultural backgrounds did
prove to be a huge challenge: "Some were prac-
ticing Buddhists, some were of Asian lineage,
many were just coeds whose idea of dance
extended no further than the drill team. . . [Stu-
dents] had some artistic chasms to leap over
and some judgments to set aside." On top of
this, they were also "dealing with museum
curators and administrators who really didn't
understand what it meant to have 20 perform-
ers dancing through their art galleries." In the
end, "the students all bonded around the work
and discovered a lot about themselves."

The piece premiered at the opening day fes-
tivities for "From the Verandah" to a standing-
room-only audience, and was followed by a
discussion with Goode who shared his inspi-
ration and creative process. The students per-
formed the work weekly in the gallery for
museum visitors and were joined by guest lec-
turers including Goode and artists Hirokazu
Kosaka and Ogori. The class set aside time for
discussion of the project, allowing students to
become intimately familiar with both the initial
idea and the process of creating "From the
Verandah." In addition to Beauty Subsides,
another work created by UCLA media arts and
science students that compared human and rice
genomes through stunning projections
appeared in the Verandah space. In this way,
the residency stimulated interaction between
the dance department and students of molecu-
lar biology, psychiatry, media arts, film, tele-
vision and digital media as their respective
projects for "From the Verandah" collided in
the gallery. The dedication and hard work of
Goode's cast, and the experimental quality of
the residency, created camaraderie among the
students and teachers, who have continued the
relationships they developed beyond the end of
the project. Goode's work itself will be pre-

served through film footage that will be part of
an educational documentary of the project. As
Beauty Subsides was a unique collaboration that
brought together arts and academic organiza-
tions to develop a stimulating free perform-
ance, and created an environment for students
to explore Buddhist concepts with an acclaimed
artist in a unique performance installation.

Sleepwatchers at Franklin & Marshall College

state: California

school University of California

at Santa Barbara

artist Kim Epifano

The University of California at Santa Barbara
Dance Company, a touring company made up
of 10 dance majors in their senior year, added a
new multimedia work entitled Speak the Lan-
guage to their repertory this year after an inten-
sive residency with artist Kim Epifano. In the
first week of rehearsal, Epifano worked with
the students in improvisational exercises to famil-
iarize them with her creative process, getting to
know them personally and helping them expose
their own creative voices. To address American
cultural ideas of race, origins and stories of indi-
vidual lives, the dancers did writing exercises,
told personal stories, and kept journals. Epifano
designed a sound score for the piece, which
included pre-recorded sounds, song arrange-
ments, and live performances by the dancers.
Learning to act, sing and dance at the same time

was a challenge for the dancers, but the explo-
ration in early rehearsals created a safe envi-
ronment where they felt free to push themselves
artistically. The fruits of the students' own cre-
ative play were interwoven into the vocal, dra-
matic and movement material of Speak the Lan-
guage— a hallmark of Epifano's process. The
piece was a highlight of the company's rigor-
ous touring schedule and was performed 13
times, including at the American College Dance
Festival at the University of Utah, where it was
given high honors and selected for the gala per-
formance. The piece toured to numerous local
high schools, and there were other outreach
activities, including a community master class
and a brown bag lunch discussion at UCSB. By
giving students the opportunity to share their
own stories as part of the residency, Epifano
was able to both create a culturally rich work
that rang true for audiences, and to involve stu-
dents deeply in the artistic process. The proj-
ect has been, she explained, "a wonderful addi-
tion to my creative experience as a professional
artist! The connections I have made with the
faculty and students has been priceless."

state: Colorado

school: University of Colorado

artist Shelley Senter/Trisha Brown

Shelley Senter, a master teacher and represen-
tative of the Trisha Brown Dance Company,
came to the University of Colorado to re-envi-
sion Set and Reset, a 1983 masterwork of Trisha
Brown. This remarkable undertaking on the
part of Senter, 12 student dancers, and the
design team for the production culminated in
the meeting of young minds with the
renowned accomplishments of a master cho-
reographer. To complement the project, Senter
taught morning movement classes, which
allowed students to understand more deeply
the physical skills that are central to Brown's
movement style, as well to continue their study
of the Alexander Technique, a formative aspect

12

National College Choreography Initiative

of Brown's work and part of UC's curriculum.
Senter commented, "It was poignant to watch
the students work with allowing themselves to
remain in 'process/ and realize that the dance
requires approaching each movement as if it
were the first time. It was satisfying to see the
students' enjoyment in working this way."

The work was performed to a sold-out house
at the 2004 Central Region American College
Dance Festival, for an audience of 380 students
and faculty from 23 college/university programs
around the country. It was also performed as
part of UC's "Legacies" project alongside works
of historical importance, including work by
Martha Graham, Katherine Dunham, and Bill
Young, as well as premieres of new work. Fac-
ulty and students from design and technical
theater worked together with Robert Shannon
to create a complex mobile set complete with
video, photography, sounds, surfaces and light-
ing. Students had the opportunity to observe
the collaboration between Senter and an off-
campus costume designer, which closely mir-
rored the historical record of Brown's interac-
tion with Robert Rauschenberg. As part of
ACDF, a public panel discussion moderated by
a dance historian highlighted the importance
and problems of reconstructions, as well as the
unique solutions employed in this project. The
historic restaging of the work was not lost on
local press such as The Rocky Mountain News:
"Set and Reset dates from 1983, but it contin-
ues to resonate with a boldness that probably
will challenge dancers for generations." This
year-long project created a strongly-felt sense of
excitement, energizing UC's students, staff, fac-
ulty, community, and local press alike, and
prominently featured Trisha Brown's work in
Colorado where it is seldom seen. For Senter,
directing Set and Reset/Reset renewed an aware-
ness of the lasting integrity of Trisha Brown's
work. Through the restaging process, she said,
she discovered with students the "great power
in revisiting the known [and] having it still
teach you something."

state: Georgia

school University of Georgia

artist Stanley Zompakos

community partners: Clarke County Lyndon

House Arts Center, Athens Ballet Theatre,

Nellie Bee School District, East Athens

Educational Dance Center

Artist Stanley Zompakos arrived at the Univer-
sity of Georgia to reconstruct Simple Symphony,
which premiered in Athens, Georgia in 1981 for
student dancers of the UGA Ballet Ensemble.
As founding Artistic Director of the Athens Bal-
let Theatre, Zompakos is a prominent figure in
the dance heritage of Georgia. He was assisted by
Janet Robertson, a UGA faculty member whom
he trained. As a dance instructor, choreographer
and mentor to many Athenians, Zompakos' res-
idency allowed the community to become re-
acquainted with his contributions and celebrate
his place in local history. Among those who were
compelled by Zompakos' presence to participate
in the residency were his former ballet mistress
at Athens Ballet Theatre; many of his former
students, now teachers, who traveled from
Alabama, Tennessee, Florida and South Carolina;
and one former student who presented an entire
gallery of photographs of his teaching days in
Athens. Presented at a community reception
honoring Zompakos, the photo exhibition was
hung at the Lyndon House Arts Center and later
in the UGA Department of Dance. Many stu-
dents shared their fond memories of training
with Zompakos at the reception and provided
photographs, articles, programs and a few rare
clips of his choreography on video for the archive
created as part of the project.

Zompakos gave back to the community in
many ways during his residency by leading
panel discussions and lecture/demonstrations,
and teaching master classes at the Athens Bal-
let School, UGA, the Nellie Bee School District,
and the East Athens Educational Dance Cen-
ter. Community dancers who participated were
given free tickets to UGAs performance of Sim-

ple Symphony, providing them a chance to see
his work firsthand. The project illuminated the
connection of Athens, Georgia, the UGA dance
department and professional dancers in other
states to dance history and the pedagogy of
one of the great ballet masters, and allowed
students to explore a greater understanding of
their own artistry in performance.

STATE: Idaho

school: University of Idaho
artist Frankie Manning
community partners: Swing Devils
of the Palouse

The University of Idaho's NCCI project with
swing dance master Frankie Manning resulted
in the creation of two new works, Flying Home
and Jam Session. The first, set to the music of
Lionel Hampton with a cast of 20 university
dancers, featured the vernacular jazz vocabu-
lary found in the fad dances of the 1940s. The
89-years-young Manning taught the students
the history of the dances and enticed them
with the excitement of the era. The second
work, set to the music of Benny Goodman, was
a swing dance for three couples selected from
university dancers and members of the Swing
Devils of Palouse. With an improvisational feel,
intricate rhythmic footwork and "air steps,"
the piece recreated the feel of film clips of the
Savoy Ballroom dancers. The pieces were per-
formed for more than 300 school age children
and 400 visitors to the university's Lionel
Hampton Jazz Festival.

During his residency, Manning offered a
weekend swing/jazz dance workshop, which
sold out and attracted university and local
dancers, as well as other dancers from through-
out the Northwest region — some from as far
away as Seattle and Portland. Adding signifi-
cant context to the residency was jazz historian
Peter Loggins, who taught classes and lectured
on the roots of swing and vernacular jazz dance.
Late-night dinners with the inexhaustible Man-

Encore: A Second Round of Success

13

ning turned into impromptu oral history ses-
sions where he reflected on working at the Savoy
Ballroom, sharing stories about jazz luminaries
such as Ella Fitzgerald and others. The work-
shop concluded with a lecture by Manning and
a preview of the new works.

This exhausting weekend of dance was one of
the best workshops in the Northwest region
and gave the dance program at University of
Idaho a great boost in visibility. The program's
visibility was also increased on campus; Man-
ning's residency took place during Black His-
tory Month and the university held a presi-
dential reception for the artist, a first for the
program. The residency also received press fea-
tures in the Moscow y 'Pullman Daily News and
the Lewiston Tribune. Another long-lasting
impact of the residency was the video docu-
mentation of Manning's teaching and rehearsal
sessions, which will be housed at the univer-
sity and available to researchers or for future
documentaries on Manning. Frankie Manning's
residency was a great success for a small dance
program as it gave dancers throughout the com-
munity an opportunity to work directly with a
dance legend and educated the public about the
true roots of swing dance.

STATE: HlinOlS

school The Dance Center of Columbia

College Chicago

artist: Merce Cunningham

The support of the National College Choreog-
raphy Initiative made a direct connection pos-
sible between eight dancers from The Dance
Center at Columbia College Chicago and modem
dance genius Merce Cunningham in the first
ever student-performed Cunningham MinEvent.
Students were immersed in the technique, cho-
reography and history of Cunningham through
a nine-week residency that exposed young
dancers, arts professionals and vast audiences to
the master artist's work and process. Cunning-
ham's work has always been shown in one of

two contexts: as part of the repertory, wherein
full dances are maintained for performance by
the company members; or as an "Event," in
which excerpts from different dances are spliced
together by Cunningham and performed bv the
company. But never before had the "Event"
concept been licensed, nor had an intense col-
laboration of this scale been undertaken with
college students.

Guest teacher and former Cunningham dancer
Banu Ogan taught swatches of choreographic
material to the ensemble of student dancers.
Drawing on instructions from Assistant to the
Choreographer Robert Swinston, and Cunning-
ham himself, as well as her own extensive
knowledge of the repertory, Ogan taught and
rehearsed the students on a rigorous schedule.
Their work together culminated during "Con-
versations on Cunningham," a three-day sym-
posium. To students' amazement, Cunningham
visited their dress rehearsal and offered feed-
back on their performance of his choreography.
The celebration brought experts on Cunning-
ham, contemporary choreographers such as Eliz-
abeth Streb and Ralph Lemon, and four gener-
ations of Cunningham dancers to Chicago to
reflect on the body of work that he has created
during the last half century Through master
classes, film screenings, panel discussions, and
performances by Merce Cunningham Dance
Company, students and the community were
granted full access to the legacy of this artist. The
MinEvent was also performed in the end of the
semester student Repertory Workshop Ensemble
and faculty concerts for substantial student audi-
ences, as well as parents, friends and families,
many of whom were exposed to Cunningham's
choreography for the first time. The success of
this project has had a great impact on The Dance
Center and the local cornmunity: Cunningham's
work and technique had been under-repre-
sented, but this project provided both a look
back at Cunningham's historic contributions to
dance, and a new MinEvent performed by stu-
dents that is exemplary of his artistic genius.

STATE: IllmOIS

school: University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign
artist Lar Lubovitch

The NCCI grant awarded to the University of Illi-
nois, Urbana-Champaign, brought the artistry of
Lar Lubovitch and a restaging of North Star to
students who had never before experienced the
work. Though they had benefited from annual
week-long residencies with Mark Morris, who
is a former Lubovitch dancer and original cast
member of the piece, this was their first oppor-
tunity to delve into the choreographer's style.
John Davger, who had danced for Lubovitch for
25 years, set and rehearsed the piece, and also
taught a semester-long repertory class that was
open to all intermediate/advanced level dancers at
the university. During a four-day residency with
Lubovitch himself, the cast's understanding of
the work grew tremendously as they interacted
with him directly in rehearsal and repertory class,
and heard him speak about his choreographic
process for North Star in a lecture/demonstra-
tion. Approximately 200 people from the broader
community also had a chance to learn about
Lubovitch's work in classes, discussions, lec-
ture/demonstrations, and a public lecture, where
he discussed the challenges of choreographing
for the major venues of his career: the concert
stage, the ice skating rink, and Broadway.

Though North Star has not often been per-
formed by companies other than Lubovitch's
because of its difficulty, its performance as part
of the annual main stage concert, Festival 2004,
was a success by all accounts. The story of the
residency was picked up by the local paper, The
News Gazette, and the work was enthusiasti-
cally received by audiences, who benefited from
outreach activities that involved them in the
choreographer's work. This NCCI grant allowed
both students and cornmunity members to spend
a substantial time period immersed in the dance
style and choreographic process of an impor-
tant figure in the landscape of modern dance.

14

National College Choreography Initiative

STATE: KonSOS

school: University of Kansas
artist Sarah Stackhouse/Jose Limon
community partners: The Lied Center,
Lawrence Arts Center, Lawrence High
School, Free State High School

The end result of the University of Kansas's
exceptionally successful NCCI project was a stir-
ring performance of Missa Brevis by seminal
artist Jose Limon — featuring a stellar soloist, 23
dancers, 42 singers, live organ accompaniment,
an extraordinary projected backdrop of a dev-
astated landscape, and the enthusiasm and emo-
tional responses of a moved audience. During
this residency, dancers from KU and the
Lawrence area worked closely with Sarah Stack-
house, the former Limon dancer who re-created
the piece, as well as with faculty member Patrick
Suzeau, who learned the Limon role. For an ini-
tial three weeks, students rehearsed for at least
three hours a day to learn the work, and most
participated in daily dance classes with Stack-
house, which were open to all advanced dancers
in the region.

With the great gift of immersion in the Limon
technique, the cast learned Missa Brevis and
then began to take the work out into the com-
munity through performances, lecture/demon-
strations, and open rehearsals, along with mas-
ter classes taught by Stackhouse for youth dance
groups. Performances drew large regional audi-
ences, and a lecture/demonstration that coin-
cided with Annual Dance Day brought many
high school students from Kansas, Missouri, and
Illinois. Another performance took place at the
Kansas Dance Festival at Wichita State Univer-
sity, giving a wider geographic range a taste of
Missa Brevis, which helped bring larger audi-
ences to the final performance at the Lied Cen-
ter. The residency also brought diverse depart-
ments at KU together in a lively panel discussion
on 'Art and War," with faculty panelists from the
fields of theater and film, art history, music, phi-
losophy, humanities and Western civilization.

Audiences commented that the dancers were
already able to convey the enormous power of
this landmark piece. But thanks to the NCCI
grant, the students had the privilege to work
with Stackhouse for an additional three weeks to
ensure the highest possible level of perform-
ance. The dance faculty observed stunning
growth among students in technical and per-
formance skills, as well as a growth in the visi-
bility and passion for dance in the community.
The climactic performances at the Lied Cen-
ter received significant media attention in the
form of preview articles in three papers, glow-
ing reviews in two, a five-minute university tel-
evision spot to spread the word on campus, and
a local cable television program devoted to an
interview with Stackhouse and excerpts of the
piece, which aired for a week preceding the per-
formance. The NCCI grant project at the Uni-
versity of Kansas culminated with two per-
formances of Jose Limon's Missa Brevis at the
Lied Center, a concert hall which serves the
campus, community and region.

state: Kentucky

school: Western Kentucky University,

Bowling Green

artist Acia Gray and Barbara Phillips

community partners: Dance Images

The NCCI grant awarded to Western Kentucky
University, Bowling Green, brought tap dance
artists Acia Gray and Barbara Phillips to stage an
original work on the WKU Dance Company to
the live piano and vocals version of "Saturday
Night Fish Fry" from the Broadway musical,
Five Guys Named Moe. Phillips created a beau-
tifully entertaining work of choreography to be
performed as part of "An Evening of Dance
2004" and exposed the dancers to historical tap
from the 1930s, which formed the backbone of
the movement style in the piece. The residency
provided students with an education from sec-
ond and third generation tap dancers in the
style of "hoofing" (accurate to the period), as

Doug Elkins' Brimful of Ashe at the University of
Minnesota

well as a sense of the importance of preserving
and continuing the legacy of this uniquely
American dance form. For the first time, stu-
dents learned about tap as a culmination of Irish
and African dance with jazz and spiritual influ-
ences, and gained knowledge about the evolution
and origin of specific steps — an experience that
could only come from interacting closely with
artists. This message also went out into the cam-
pus and Bowling Green communities via master
classes, both on campus and at Dance Images, a
local dance training facility, in six open public
performances, and at a high school matinee
designed to support the Kentucky Common-
wealth's Initiative to integrate study of the arts
into public school curriculum. Since the WKU
Theatre and Dance program is largely focused on
musical theater, both the dancers and audiences
responded enthusiastically to the new work's
focus on '30s jazz and jitterbug, period fashions,
and live entertaining music. This NCCI residency
provided a remarkable opportunity to continue
passing down the oral history of rhythm tap
from the masters to a new generation of tap
dancers and audiences in Kentucky.

Encore: A Second Round of Success

15

state: Louisiana

school: Tulane University

ARTIST: Paul Taylor

community partners: New Orleans Ballet
Association (primary), St. Bernard School
Board, New Orleans Recreation
Department, New Orleans Center for the
Creative Arts/Riverfront, Housing
Authority of New Orleans

The NCCI grant awarded to Tulane University
enabled Paul Taylor's second company, Taylor
2, to be in residence for two weeks, exposing
the community to the work of one of the coun-
try's foremost pioneers of modern dance. Led
by director Susan McGuire, along with six Tay-
lor 2 dancers, excerpts of Taylor's famous
Esplanade were reconstructed for students in
the Newcomb Dance Program at Tulane.
Through workshop rehearsals and the recon-
struction, along with technique master classes,
the students gained insight into both the tech-
nical proficiency and performance quality of
Taylor's choreography.

This opportunity was extended to a wide
segment of New Orleans with the help of the
New Orleans Ballet Association, which acted as
a conduit into the community with its award-
winning programs. With 18 months of prepa-
ration, the project partners arranged an exciting
array of programs. Master technique classes were
offered to students at a performing arts high
school, students in the New Orleans Recreation
Department/New Orleans Ballet Association
"Step Up" program, and dancers in the profes-
sional community. Lecture/demonstrations
reached six public schools, a St. Bernard parish
community center, and the Sojourner
Truth/Lafitte Housing Development Creative
Community Center. Showings of the recon-
struction of Esplanade included an informal
showing of workshop material, one children's
show and four formal showings as part of "An
Evening of Dance" produced by Newcomb
Dance. In total, over 2,000 children and adult

community members observed work by Taylor;
each day 20-30 Newcomb Dance students par-
ticipated in classes; and another 2,000 children
and audience members observed the "Evening
of Dance" performances. All members of the
community were exposed to the absolute pro-
fessionalism of the Taylor 2 company members
and exquisite articulation and teaching of Tay-
lor technique by Susan McGuire. With the sup-
port of NCCI funding for the Taylor 2 residency,
an additional element was made possible through
other sources — New Orleans Ballet Association
produced the Paul Taylor Dance Company as a
culminating event for the community. This res-
idency was a success because of the powerful
presence of both Taylor 2 and the Paul Taylor
Dance Company in New Orleans in perform-
ances, lecture/demonstrations, teaching and
repertory workshops, which exposed the com-
munity to the choreography and creative process
of a master artist of the 20th Century.

state: Maryland
school: Towson University
artist Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
community partners: Towson University:
College of Fine Arts and Communication,
Office of University Marketing, Stephen's
Hall Production Crew, Department of
Theatre, Office of Diversity, African-
American Cultural Center, African-
American Acting Troupe; Stephanie
Powell Danse Ensemble; Dance Baltimore

Towson University's NCCI project was designed
to support a new work by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
for the Towson University Dance Company. The
new ensemble work, Dreamin' the Blues, Medi-
tations on Africa, was created in rehearsals with
BFA dance majors at Towson who grew tremen-
dously through their exposure to Zollar s approach
and movement vocabulary. Zollar was skilled at
encouraging and inspiring dancers to create in
dance composition and movement theater classes.
As their learning of the new work progressed,

faculty members were pleased to observe stu-
dents embracing Zollar s teaching and executing
the movement in an authentic fashion.

The residency had a wide array of positive
effects on Towson University administrators,
faculty, staff, students and artists, many of whom
had no previous exposure to Pearl Primus,
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar or Urban Bush Women.
The residency exposed the campus community
to the rich contributions of these artists through
numerous master classes in dance composition,
modern dance technique and movement theater
improvisation taught by Zollar, as well as talks
in seminars classes for dance and theater stu-
dents. Zollar also gave a seminar presentation
on diversity and the stage, sponsored by the
Towson University Office of Diversity, African-
American Cultural Center, and African- American
Acting Troupe, and introduced these groups to
the legacy of Pearl Primus and the work of
Urban Bush Women. During a brown bag lunch-
eon with Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, members of the
Towson University community had a chance to
interact with the artist and gained a greater
awareness of modern dance as an important part
of the fine arts. Through the residency, a col-
laborative documentary of the process was cre-
ated to serve as an educational tool and an
archive of the creation of Dreamin' the Blues,
Meditations on Africa. This NCCI residency
brought the contemporary artistry of Jawole
Willa Jo Zollar, as well as the history and legacy
of Pearl Primus, to dancers and community mem-
bers at Towson University and allowed them to
experience a unique combination of the work of
these two artists.

state: Michigan

school University of Michigan

artist Alonzo King

community partners: Detroit Public Schools

NCCI support brought artist Alonzo King to the
University of Michigan to restage Shostakovich
String Quartet on the University Dancers, to be

16

National College Choreography Initiative

presented as part of a campus-wide festival com-
memorating the 300th anniversary of the found-
ing of St. Petersburg, Russia. The choreography
figured prominently in the celebration of the
city's remarkable cultural heritage. The work
was set by King's assistant, Summer Rhatigan,
who inspired and pushed the students to new
heights, and was later rehearsed during a resi-
dency with King. The students learned the
abstract modern ballet without music or even
counted movements, although it was danced to
a live performance of Shostakovich's "String
Quartet #15 in B Flat Minor, Opus 144," by the
university's student Rosseels String Quartet. The
idea behind learning the work in this manner
was to encourage the students to find their own
interpretation and expand their performance
range. The process was a success, evidenced by
artistic growth that impressed the choreogra-
pher and the decision of a few students to con-
tinue their studies with King at his Lines Ballet
School in San Francisco.

While King was in residence, he also took
his work out into the community by conducting
a master class at Martin Luther King High School
in Detroit in which 40 students participated,
another 40 observed, and all had the chance to
hear him discuss his work and answer ques-
tions from the audience. The University of
Michigan hosted a "Dance Day" and invited 75
students from the Detroit Public Schools to take
a technique class and see a matinee perform-
ance of Shostakovich String Quartet. Another
major outreach effort was conducted by the
Freshman Dance Touring Company, which per-
formed sections of the work throughout the
community, including at the University of Michi-
gan hospital, area high schools and a retirement
community, totaling eight performances for more
than 1,000 community members. This NCCI res-
idency allowed students at the University of
Michigan to progress as artists, and allowed
Alonzo King to teach a cast of eager dancers
and curious community members about his cho-
reography and artistic process.

state: Minnesota

school: University of Minnesota

artist Doug Elkins

community partners: St. Paul Central

High School

Doug Elkins, a choreographer known for his fusion
of hip-hop, club dance and martial arts, created
Brimful of Ashe, a new work for students at the
University of Minnesota. The work is a wildly
physical ride set to the music of Punjab MC that
references the exoticism of Bollywood musicals.
Elkins' use of popular music and culture made
him an ideal choreographer for the residency,
which was designed to correlate with the uni-
versity's Trans/lations/ferrals Conference, which
focused on translating vernacular and popular
culture to the concert stage. The work premiered
on the University Dance Theater Program and
was also presented at the conference alongside
works and demonstrations by other contempo-
rary artists such as Jawole Jo Zollar and Rennie
Harris, as well as prominent local hip-hop artists
such as B-Girl Seoul, Desdemona, Kenna Camera-
Cottman, Daylight, Abomination, Dancin Dave
and Mr. Uneek. Panel discussions on topics includ-
ing "Vernacular Layers and Pop Culture," "Hip-
Hop in a Global Context" and "The Evolution of
Hip-Hop," allowed time for participants to get
involved in theoretical discussions and then see
actual work that addressed the same issues. In
conjunction with the conference, Elkins taught a
hip-hop class for 27 students from St. Paul Central
High School, an inner city school. The rigorous
and lively class encouraged students to focus
intently to learn new partnering techniques and
hip-hop moves. Elkins not only taught an engag-
ing and challenging class, but educated the young
students with a running history of hip-hop along
the way. The conference and performances allowed
the dance program at the University of Minnesota
to not only increase its outreach to the local dance
and scholarly communities, but to also provide a
vibrant, enriching experience in vernacular and
popular dance for the surrounding community.

Kim Epifano's Speak the Language at the University
of California-Santa Barbara

state: Mississippi

school: The University of Mississippi

artist Dwight Rhoden

community partners: Mississippi Arts

Commission, Yoknapatawpha Arts

Council, St. Peter's Episcopal Church,

Second Baptist Church, Clear Creek

Baptist Church, Office of Mayor Howorth

and the William Winter Institute for Racial

Reconciliation, the Oxford/Lafayette

Public Library

The University of Mississippi brought Dwight
Rhoden into the community to initiate a dia-
logue about racial reconciliation, using dance as
a medium for revealing both the pain of times
past and a hope for the future. The goal of this
residency was to bring together members of the
Oxford, Lafayette County, and university (OLU)
communities in the spirit of racial healing and
artistic growth. Through the choreographic
process, Rhoden worked with some of the dif-
ficult racial issues that are deeply ingrained in
the OLU community and particularly the com-
plex history of the university, including the
riots surrounding the admittance of James
Meredith in 1962. The ideas that informed the
piece, titled Before Now and After Then, were
drawn directly from Rhoden's interaction with
the OLU community, who opened themselves
up to him in the interest of healing old wounds.
Through town hall meetings and lunchtime dis-
cussions that took place in churches, libraries,

Encore: A Second Round of Success

17

and the black student union, Rhoden tapped
into the area's racial dynamics, and found both
lingering tension and evidence of progress. Stu-
dents attended many of the community events
so that thev could experience the anger, pain
and guilt that remained firsthand so that thev
might better understand and interpret the com-
munitv's feelings on stage. Rehearsals were open
to the communitv members, who in turn could
observe how their stories were being trans-
formed into art. For these committed dance stu-
dents at a university without a dance major, the
opportunitv to learn directlv from a well-known
choreographer was a first. Rhoden encouraged
and even expected them to meet the high tech-
nical standards of his companv, a challenge that
generated great respect for the artist.

The piece premiered at the new Gertrude
Ford Center for the Performing Arts in a program
that featured Rhoden's company, Complexions,
and was performed at the Southeastern Ameri-
can College Dance Festival, selected for the gala
and the national performances, as well as chosen
for the NCCI program at The Kennedv Center.
The impact on the community' as a whole was
dramatic and is still reverberating. An enthusi-
astic group of 1,000 children in Northeast Mis-
sissippi attended a school performance, which
was for manv their first experience with modem
dance. Rhoden taught master classes for the
campus and OLU communitv, for experienced
and novice dancers, voung and old. The Depart-
ment of Theatre Arts is editing a documentary
film of the project, which will serve as a record
of the creation of Before Now and After Then as
well as inspiration for future progress. Rhoden
himself grew artistically from the process, and
now hopes to develop it as a full-length piece for
his company. By using a new non-verbal
approach to racial healing, the project success-
fullv demonstrated to the university how the
creative process can bring historical events to
life, as well as be a catalyst for change. Conse-
quently the university is a strong supporter of
Rhoden's idea to expand the work, and plans

are underway to feature members of the OLU
community of all ages and creative contribu-
tions from local writers, musicians and visual
artists. For the first time, the University of Mis-
sissippi used the creation of a communitv-wide
artwork to confront racial issues. The NCCI res-
idency with Dwight Rhoden left students and
the OLU community as a whole with a greater
understanding of the need for reconciliation, as
well as the role that art can plav in healing.

state: Montana

school University of Montana

artist Sara Pearson and Patrik Widrig

COMMUNITY PARTNERS: SuSSeX School

For two weeks, artists Sara Pearson and Patrik
Widrig shared their artistic vision with a wide
range of University of Montana and Missoula
communitv members — from teaching univer-
sity and elementarv school classes to meeting
with dance, costume design, and media art stu-
dents to offering lecture/demonstrations and
restaging a site-adaptable piece, for which the
duet companv is so well known. The residencv
began at the start of the spring semester, which
allowed students to engage with Pearson and
Widrig earlv on and build on the ideas they
introduced throughout the semester. Students
were exposed to, and part of, this choreographic
team's working process, including how they
select music in juxtaposition to movement, the
contrast between highly technical and noncha-
lant pedestrian moves, and how thev build a
two-hour technique class on a few simple ideas
and phrases.

Pearson and Widrig 's skill at working on a
personal level created a residencv where rela-
tionships could develop with the dancers, and
also made their outreach into the community
exceptional. Students in fourth and fifth grade
at the Sussex School were treated to a video
viewing of Pearson and Widrig 's work and then
led through an improvisational movement work-
shop. After the workshop, students performed

Members of the University of Texas-Pan American
dance ensemble in Doug Elkins' Orange Peel Pifiata

their own improvisations and a piece of chore-
ographv for the rest of the school in an assem-
bly. Widrig presented his dance video work for
the university's Media Arts program and dis-
cussed how it develops based on rh\lhmic shifts
in the visual design rather than a narrative or
plot, an idea that is a significant departure from
the styles that students had previously experi-
enced. The Missoula public attended a lec-
ture demonstration that included discussion by
the artists, video clips of previous work and a
live performance, which the community reacted
to with excitement and gratitude, as it would be
the onlv out-of-town dance presented in Mis-
soula for the year. Later in the semester, the uni-
versitv presented A Curious Invasion, the piece
restaged bv Pearson and Widrig, and it received
a standing ovation, a first for the dance pro-
gram. The fact that the piece is site-adaptable
was a primary draw, and it will reappear for the
Missoula community outdoors in a site-specific
concert. With NCCI support, this residency proj-
ect was an invaluable addition to the cultural
life of Missoula for both the dancers who became
part of Pearson and Widrig 's creative process,
and the community members who were enticed
bv the work and outreach of these artists.

18

National College Choreography Initiative

state: North Carolina

school Duke University

artist Ronald K. Brown

community partners: Duke University Institute

of the Arts, John Hope Franklin Center for

Interdisciplinary and International Studies

Choreographer Ronald K. Brown worked with
students from five colleges and universities in the
Durham area during a two-day intensive and
later set a new work, Common Ground, on
selected dancers. Danced to the hauntingly beau-
tiful "Wodabe Nights" from Sweet Honey in
the Rock, the piece uses images of entering a
forest and clearing both a physical and emo-
tional space to suggest the need for openness
in order for people to meet on "common
ground" and interact on a deep level. The two-
day intensive required just this kind of deep
interaction. Through master classes, repertory
sessions and communal meals, 44 dancers got
to know each other, as well as Ron Brown. Their
talents spanned a range of diverse dance forms,
from ballet to modern dance, from African dance
to hip-hop, and Brown, whose work draws from
all of these, created a supportive environment for
interaction among these students from Duke
University, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina at
Greensboro, North Carolina Agriculture and
Technical University and North Carolina State
University.

The residency provided an opportunity that
was the first of its kind for students in the
Durham area to learn about each other and form
a basis for future communication and interac-
tion. The project appears to have had a huge
impact on students, who commented about how
working with Brown renewed their love for
dance, gave them insight into the role of life
experience in creating art, and even inspired
them to hope for a world where people can meet
on common ground. The new work was per-
formed on several programs at Duke University,
including a performance for Duke alumni and a

free matinee performance for Durham county
public, private and charter schools, and was
also selected to be shown on The Kennedy Cen-
ter's Millennium Stage. Additional outreach
included two open rehearsals with question and
answer sessions for the public, and a lunch dis-
cussion with Brown hosted by the John Hope
Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and Inter-
national Studies. Brown describes his work as
about "bringing worlds together, seeing how
people and cultures intersect and what is shared
while creating a space to witness and learn
respect for difference," and that certainly hap-
pened for students, faculty and community
members in the Durham area as a result of NCCI
funding for this residency.

state: Nebraska

school University of Nebraska-Lincoln
artists: Bill Hastings/Bob Fosse
community partners: Cooper Foundation, Ruth
Diamond Levinson, Nebraska Arts
Council, Dancerschool, Hart Dance
Academy, Club Kicks Dance and Cheer
Studio, Universal Dance Academy, Cheryl
Priess-Dickey Dance Academy,
Haymarket Theatre Children's Academy,
Studio 2, Karen McWilliams School of
Dance, Brackhan Dance Directive,
YWCA Dance Academy, True Dance
Academy, Pure Movement Dance
Academy (all in Lincoln), Anderson-Hoxie
Dance Project (Waverly), Shelly 's School
of Dance (Seward), First Position Dance
Academy (Ashland), University of
Nebraska at Omaha, Pure Movement
Dance Academy 2 (Crete) and Dance
Etc. (Crete)

Bill Hastings was in residence at the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln for more than a month to
introduce dancers and the community to the
pioneering Broadway choreography of Bob Fosse.
Hastings restaged works by Fosse, including
"Steam Heat" from Pajama Game, "The Aloof"

from Sweet Charity, "Dancin' Man" from
Dancin', and also created his own choreography
in the Fosse style for "All That Jazz" from
Chicago. The works were restaged with a com-
mitment to provide students with a visual and
educational experience of the history behind
the dances. The message hit home for the cast,
who realized that learning the choreography
from Hastings, one of Fosse's original dancers,
was a great gift, and that maintaining Fosse's
legacy and the details of the choreography would
be, in part, their responsibility in the future.

The reach of this project was staggering. Hast-
ing taught a total of 28 master classes in the
Fosse style of jazz dance in 18 dance studios in
Lincoln, Waverly, and Crete, and at UNL, as well
as lecture/demonstrations, open rehearsals and
presentations, for a total of more than 60 out-
reach activities. Audiences were enchanted by
student performances at a rehabilitation center
and at two retirement communities. The proj-
ect culminated in the concert performance
"Broadway Lights, Fosse Nights," which had a
scripted educational introduction for each piece,
as well as historical information in the program
about the musicals and dances. Other dances
included in the program were from such famous
musicals as Fosse, A Chorus Line, Riverdance,
Dreamgirls, Swing, CATS, Movin' Out, West Side
Story and 42nd Street. The performances in Kim-
ball Hall in Lincoln were a tremendous success
as evidenced by audiences totaling over 1,200,
a doubled attendance from last year's perform-
ance, with extensive coverage by the press,
including the Lincoln Journal Star and the Daily
Nebraskan. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln
was given the opportunity to perform the Fosse
program at The Kennedy Center's Millennium
Stage, where they were congratulated by U.S.
Senator Ben Nelson from Nebraska.

Due to the project's success, the Dance Divi-
sion at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has
been able to build stronger ties into the com-
munity, and Hastings expressed gratitude for
the chance to further develop his own teaching

Encore: A Second Round of Success

19

methods through outreach. Both the Dance Divi-
sion and Hastings have built a significant repu-
tation for the highest caliber of dance and teach-
ing in the midwest as a result of this project,
and Bob Fosse's choreographic legacy has been
imparted to a new generation of dancers and
dance audiences in Nebraska.

state: New Hampshire

school Keene State College

artist Sean Curran

community partners: Redfern Arts Center

on Brickyard Pond

Sean Curran collaborated with six Keene State
College students and two alumni to create a
new version of his original work Metal Gar-
den, titled (Another) Metal Garden, set to music
by Tigger Binford and Peter Jones. The resi-
dency concluded with a week of international
exchange for the students, including rehearsals,
classes and a performance in Montreal. Fifty
audience members had the chance to attend an
open rehearsal of the piece and learn about Cur-
ran's choreography and rehearsal process, which
was unfamiliar to many. The presentation con-
cluded with a question and answer session and
the performance of a solo by Curran. During
the residency his generous spirit and excellent
teaching enhanced both the small dance pro-
gram at Keene State and the experience of
dancers and community members in the sur-
rounding area. Curran taught master classes in
advanced modern dance and choreography at
Keene State and nearby Franklin Pierce College
and master classes at two Walpole, New Hamp-
shire elementary schools and at a local dance
school, the Moving Company

After months of rehearsal, the piece was fea-
tured in the Theater and Dance Department's
annual "Evening of Dance" concert and then
went on the road to Montreal. The dancers
spent a week in Montreal rehearsing the piece,
where they also participated in three master
classes at Les Ateliers de Danse Moderne de

Montreal (LADMMI) and a master class with
Butoh master Yoshito Ohno, saw a dance per-
formance at the University of Montreal, and
attended final dance projects for senior stu-
dents at LADMMI. The highlight of the week
was the students' performance of (Another)
Metal Garden at Montreal's Studio 303, a per-
formance space in the heart of the city that
was rented by The Redfern Arts Center. The
NCCI project shared the program with works
by Katie Ward, a Canadian choreographer, and
William Seigh, associate professor of dance at
Keene State. Bilingual programs and posters, as
well as a press release translated into French,
were distributed throughout Montreal and to
the press to publicize the performance, result-
ing in a capacity audience of 130 people. This
remarkable project extended the reach of NCCI,
Sean Curran and eight dancers from Keene State
College through their international study, per-
formance and collaboration in Montreal, and
also enhanced Keene State's status as the U.S.
hub site for the New Hampshire/New Eng-
land/Quebec Dance Alliance whose mission is
to foster the exchange of dance resources.

state: Newjersey

school Montclair State University

artist Alexandra Beller

COMMUNITY PARTNERS: MSU School of the ArfS,

MSU Department of Theater and Dance,
Tunnel Vision, Freespace Dance,
the Women's Center, the Health
and Wellness Center

Alexandra Beller eagerly took on the creative
challenge of addressing the damaging effects of
negative body image in a new work, Diet Coke
Can Save Your Life in a Montclair State Univer-
sity residency that was the focal point for a
larger campus-wide initiative known as "The
Body Talks." This multi-year collaboration that
involved many partners on campus, including
the School of the Arts, the Department of The-
atre and Dance, Tunnel Vision (a writer's group),

Freespace Dance (the dance company in resi-
dence), the Women's Center, and the Health and
Wellness Center, aimed to examine and discuss
the concept of body image as it affects dancers,
young women and our entire culture.

Beller is a renowned dancer, performer and
choreographer — one who does not have a "tra-
ditional dancer's body." She created the work
in collaboration with the cast of MSU dancers,
who were encouraged to share personal and inti-
mate experiences relating to their body and
bod\' image. After an emotionally and physi-
cally exhausting process, the result was a piece
that gave each of them an opportunity to craft
their often difficult experiences into articulate
and evocative movement. The work was per-
formed several times on campus in the Works-
A-Foot concert, the Alumni Dance Festival, and
the Danceworks 2004 concert, along with related
activities as part of "The Need to Know Series,"
which will continue to explore how the arts can
be used as a tool to bring relevant issues to light.
Students participated in "The Body Project," a
literary-dance concert in collaboration with Tun-
nel Vision Writer's Project and Freespace Dance
Company, which continued the exploration of
body image, beauty and aging. Additional activ-
ities were a roundtable discussion led by Beller
called "Dancing with Curves," which provided
an open forum for MSU dance students and
community members, and a master class for 30
students at Glenfield Middle School that dealt
with dance and body images.

The project will also serve as a springboard
for greater educational outreach as the topic is
introduced into K-12 curriculum with a variety
of performance and discussion vehicles designed
to promote self-confidence, mental and physical
wellness, and academic success. Discussions are
underway with faculty at St. Elizabeth's College
who plan to utilize the MSU model of "The
Body Talks" in their new dance program.

NCCI support, local press and extensive cam-
pus-wide participation resulted in enhanced vis-
ibilitv for Beller's successful residency as well

20

National College Choreography Initiative

Students in Kim Epifano's Speak the Language at
the University of California-Santa Barbara

as for a vital message about the damaging effects
of negative body image. The time the residency
afforded Beller was "unprecedented [and] offered
the opportunity for a process [that was] expo-
nentially deeper and more thoughtful." Beller
commented on the value of producing a piece
that was later reworked for her own company:
"This has never happened before, as there is
usually such a short rehearsal period that the
piece does not yield material or a work that is
truly of a professional caliber."

state: New York

school: Purchase College, State
University of New York
artist Merce Cunningham
community partners: Roeder Gallery,
Neuberger Museum of Art, Performing
Arts Center Arts in Education Program,
Conservatory of Music

The NCCI grant awarded to Purchase College to
restage Merce Cunningham's Septet allowed the
students, faculty and community to delve deeply
into the piece, Cunningham s artwork, and the
music. After the selection of a double cast of 12

dancers from more than 100 auditionees, the
dancers began learning the piece in intensive
rehearsals led by former Merce Cunningham
Dance Company members Carol Teitelbaum and
Carolyn Brown, a dancer in the original com-
pany. The piece, which premiered in 1953, is
set to a quirky piano score in seven parts by
Erik Satie. Student musicians selected from the
Conservatory of Music watched rehearsals,
worked with the dancers and even studied
videotape of the original company performing
with musicians in order to learn the piece. The
dancers continued to rehearse and add layers of
information about the artistry of the piece, and

Encore: A Second Round of Success

21

eventually took Septet out into the community.
The project provided many ways for the com-
munity to participate in the residency, including
lecture/demonstrations for local area schools.
During these presentations, the music, dance,
Cunningham's concepts and the challenges for
the dancers were discussed, and time was
allowed for the audience to ask questions and
request any section to be performed again. Sev-
eral local schools attended a performance of the
Purchase Dance Corps sponsored by The
Prompters, a children's arts-in-education pro-
gram, and local high schools and colleges were
invited to open rehearsals in the theater, as well
as offered discount tickets to performances. As
the first student company to restage this work,
the dancers were privileged to work with pas-
sionate former Cunningham dancers, and the
two men cast in the role of Merce Cunningham
had the opportunity to take class and work with
Rehearsal Director Robert Swinston at the Cun-
ningham Studio in Manhattan. The time that
Swinston spent personally coaching the dancers
in the role was invaluable to their understand-
ing of the material. Prior to opening night, a
reception was held for members of the commu-
nity and Carolyn Brown spoke about Septet,
inspiring the dancers with her passion. To coin-
cide with the concert, an exhibit of Cunning-
ham's drawings and dance notes was shown at
the Neuberger Museum of Art and was seen by
many on campus and in the local community.
After the performances, a new combined cast
was honored to perform the work at The
Kennedy Center, an exciting culmination to the
students' months of work. The NCCI grant
allowed Septet as well as Cunningham's drawings
to be shared with a large audience, created a
new environment of collaboration between musi-
cians and dancers at Purchase, and brought to
life an important work in the Cunningham reper-
tory with artistic guidance from master teachers.

High school students in Richmond, VA working with
the Limon company.

state: New York

school Sarah Lawrence College

artist Meredith Monk

With NCCI support, Meredith Monk returned to
her alma mater, Sarah Lawrence College, to
restage her classic Plateau #3 for a new gener-
ation of interdisciplinary artists. In a voice and
movement audition, four singers and eight
dancers were selected from the dance and the-
ater programs, and two full casts were created.
The dancer/actors and singers rehearsed and
learned from Ellen Fisher and Andrea Goodman
respectively, who were in the original cast of
Plateau #3 and who committed to communi-
cating both the details and the spirit of the work
to students. With these excellent mentors, as
well as Monk's coaching, the student perform-
ers were able to fully embody the images of
strong, yet vulnerable, pioneer women. The stir-
ring, mysterious vocal elements were entirely

unique to Monk's work. Two nights of per-
formance were devoted to Plateau #3 with both
casts performing each night to full and enthu-
siastic audiences. In collaboration with Monk's
organization, "The House," the recreation of the
piece was authentic with the use of original cos-
tumes and lighting design. The community also
had opportunities to interact more closely with
Monk during her residency through a master
class and discussion about her work in events
that were open to the greater Westchester and
Sarah Lawrence communities. At these well-
attended events, Monk talked about her self-
directed course of study at Sarah Lawrence and
how it related to her subsequent artistic career.
Because Monk's work crosses traditional per-
formance boundaries, Sarah Lawrence, with its
emphasis on interdisciplinary studies and the
creation of original work, was both an important
site of this master artist's early education and a
perfect match for the project. NCCI support

22

National College Choreography Initiative

enabled Monk to restage one of her masterworks
on a new generation of eager theater and dance
students at Sarah Lawrence and expose the sur-
rounding community to her artistry.

STATE: Ohio

school: Ohio University

artist Murray Louis and Alwin Nikolais

Ohio University's Dance Department's restag-
ing of Murray Louis's Bach Suite and Alwin
Nikolais's Tensile Involvement created meaning-
ful connections for students between dance his-
tory, practice and contemporary culture. The
residency began in October 2003 with two mas-
terclasses taught by Murray Louis. Dancer
Alberto Del Saz returned to the campus for an
intensive two week residency in January 2004
to work with the auditioned cast to reconstruct
the works. Original cast member Gladys Bailin
then worked with students through the
rehearsal process until the presentation of Bach
Suite and Tensile Involvement at the depart-
ment's winter dance concert.

The University's Nikolais/Louis Collection and
Archives provided rich context for the com-
pany's residency the first reconstruction in 10
years for the school's dance department. Merg-
ing performance with research on repertory cre-
ated a learning experience that had a tremendous
impact for students. Students read with interest
about their rehearsal director, Bailin, in the col-
lection. The connection of their performance
project to dance history became even more evi-
dent when the Bach Suite later traveled to New
York City for Hunter College's "Sharing the
Legacy" Festival, a conference that honored
Nikolais's legacy and work. The performance of
these works serendipitously coincided with the
release of the major motion picture film The
Company, which featured The Joffrey Ballet per-
forming Tensile Involvement as the backdrop
for its opening credits. Both students and audi-
ences alike were delighted by the currency of the
work and its connection to popular culture. Fac-

ulty members were taken by surprise by the
students' deep investment and commitment to
the two works; they witnessed significant
growth in performance skills by the cast of pre-
dominantly freshman and sophomore students.
Ohio University's residency with Murray Louis
and Nikolais Dance Company demonstrated the
power of combining performance with history
to deepen students' understanding of the evo-
lution of concert dance in the US.

STATE: Ohio

school: University of Cincinnati

artist Paul Taylor

community partners: West Clermont Institute of

Performing Arts, Cincinnati Ballet

Company, Fairview German-English

Bilingual Elementary School

At the University of Cincinnati, NCCI support
gave students the opportunity to study the tech-
nique of Paul Taylor in depth with master
teacher Connie Dinapoli, and learn one of his
acclaimed works, Esplanade. Approximately 25
dance majors immersed themselves in Taylor
technique classes twice a week, and those
selected for the cast of Esplanade had an addi-
tional 10 hours of rehearsal per week. For stu-
dents in a program emphasizing classical ballet,
this long-term daily study allowed them to work
with gravity and weight in an entirely new way.
The performance was received with a rare stand-
ing ovation, a testament to the crowd's appreci-
ation of the risk-taking and accomplishments
of the cast. Students were thrilled and their par-
ticipation in the piece has led to further profes-
sional opportunities for some. Five decided to
attend the Taylor workshop in New York over
winter break to continue their studies. One male
student was offered an apprenticeship with a
regional dance company after performing
Esplanade as part of his audition process.

The reach of the residency extended out into
the community as well through Dinapoli's excel-
lent teaching in two master classes at West

Clermont
Institute of
Performing Arts
for 50 students and a

master class for 12 dancers from throughout the
Cincinnati area at the Cincinnati Ballet Company
Studios. University of Cincinnati dance majors
and cast also had a chance to take their hard
work out into the community in events includ-
ing a lecture/demonstration — "Everything That
Moves" — which utilized dance majors to demon-
strate the Taylor technique, held at the studios
of the Cincinnati Ballet Company, and an open
rehearsal of Esplanade for 100 students from
Fairview German-English Bilingual Elementary
School. Additionally, a pre-performance lecture
was given for an audience of approximately 30
to discuss Paul Taylor's work before the pres-
entation of Esplanade.

For the University of Cincinnati dance pro-
gram, the success of this Taylor residency has
greatly enhanced recruitment efforts by making
potential students aware of the magnitude and
scope of performance opportunities available;
in fact, the incoming freshman class is the largest
to date. This NCCI residency brought the work
of master artist Paul Taylor to ballet students
and enthusiasts in the Cincinnati area, who
embraced it wholeheartedly, both in the
rehearsal studio and through outreach events
in the community.

Encore: A Second Round of Success

23

state: Oklahoma

school University of Central Oklahoma

artist Bill Evans

community partners: Classen School of

Advanced Studies (Oklahoma City),

Academy of Dance Arts (Yukon), East

Central University (Ada), Holland Hall

School (Tulsa)

The University of Central Oklahoma used NCCI
support to bring artist Bill Evans to campus to
create a new work, Together Through Time,
which had a profound influence on students.
Despite being both a tap dancer and a modern
dancer for most of his life, this piece marks the
first time that Evans has integrated these forms
in a choreographic work. After attending a con-
ference themed "Culture, Language and Dance,"
Evans was inspired to use musical and move-
ment rhythms as, in his words, the "heartbeat
of the earth." In this new work, the beat is
what connects modern and tap dancers, and
current dancers to the legacy of dancers before
them. Students had the opportunity to work
with Evans for more than two weeks, which
facilitated an in-depth study of the work and
the process of choreography. Evans drew on
the dancers' own experiences to create emo-
tional connection to the work, and thev were
expected to use their own personally authentic
movement styles as part of the creative process.
An informal showing of the work was presented
for the entire staff of the College of Arts, Media
& Design and Dean's office; after seeing the
work, they became key players in promoting
it on campus.

The project culminated with three evenings
of performance, two of which sold out, thanks
in part to the outstanding press the project
and Evans received, including a feature on
"Oklahoma Today," interviews in The Daily
Oklahoman, numerous articles and advertis-
ing, and word of mouth through other arts
institutions. While Evans was in residence,
he taught a number of master classes in tap

and modern dance for middle school, high
school and college dancers at Classen School of
Advanced Studies, Academy of Dance Arts,
East Central University and Holland Hall
School. The extensive press and community
interest, as well as outreach through teach-
ing, helped the NCCI project to reach a wider
audience, so that the hard work of dancers at
University of Central Oklahoma and Bill Evans'
new work could be showcased.

state: Pennsylvania

school Franklin & Marshall College

artist Deborah Slater

community partners: Silver Spring Dance

Academy, Reynolds Middle School,

Lancaster Country Day School, Grant

Street Studio

Franklin & Marshall College selected artist Deb-
orah Slater and her piece Sleepwatchers as the
focus of their NCCI project because it lent itself
to discussion among people of all backgrounds
and ages on the issues of sleep, dreams, memory,
responsibility and loss. The project brought
Slater, as well as three of her company mem-
bers, to lead classes and workshops in the com-
munity and restage Sleepwatchers on a student
cast. Rehearsals for the work challenged F&M
dancers to embrace the dramatic nature of the
piece and challenge their preconceptions of
beauty dance and narration. In a work that uses
text, acting, acrobatics, humor, props, set pieces
and challenging dance movement, the cast was
challenged both technically and creatively to
meet the demands of this powerful dance-theater
work. The piece was first presented in a studio
performance along with four other works by
the Deborah Slater Dance Theater, and followed
by a panel discussion featuring experts in the
areas of sleep studies in dance. The audience,
which included students and faculty from
departments including Psychology, Theater and
Philosophy of Mind, eagerly participated in the
discussion led by a doctor from Lancaster Gen-

eral Hospital's Sleep Center, a professor from
F&M's Psychology Department and a profes-
sional dance critic. This event was sold out, and
the success of the studio performance format
established a model for F&M that may grow into
an ongoing performance series. In the culmi-
nating performances as part of the Gala Fall Con-
cert at F&M, audiences witnessed remarkable
growth and change in the dancers who had been
transformed by the drama of dance-theater.

Outreach as part of the residency included
a master class led by Slater for F&M dancers
and actors, as well as community members,
about embodying character, as well as classes
and workshops at Reynolds Middle School,
Lancaster Country Day School, Grant Street
Studio and Silver Spring Dance Academy. At
each location, a study guide prepared by F&M
faculty with Slater was presented in advance to
faculty for use with their students, a component
that was facilitated through F&M's Center for
Liberal Arts and Society. Even after the end
of the project, the outreach activities initiated
under the NCCI grant continue as students par-
ticipate in F&M's "Service Learning Program"
as part of a class called "Dance and Commu-
nity" Students are working in community set-
tings with themes and material gathered in
large part from their in-depth experiences with
Deborah Slater's residency, and they now have
the background to expand the breadth of the
program on their own to cover subjects that
allow additional intersections with various sec-
tors of the community through dance. Slater
comments on the mutual benefits of the resi-
dency: "Franklin & Marshall has a young and
passionate department, which benefited
immensely from the luxury of having a com-
pany there for a period of time. We were able
to have dialogue with them that would not
have occurred otherwise. Conversely, it allowed
us the gift of time so we could focus intensely
on the students and feel cared for and rested
simultaneously," Slater explains and adds, it
was "quite a luxury."

24

National College Choreography Initiative

state: Pennsylvania
school: The University of the Arts
artist Cuban Pete (Pedro Aguilar)
community partners: Philadelphia Arts in
Education Partnership (28 inner city,
charter, Arch-Diocesan, and the School
District of Philadelphia's elementary, middle
and high schools), Taller Puertoriqueno

With support from NCCI, The University of the
Arts (U Arts) invited Pedro Aguilar, better
known as Cuban Pete, and his partner Barbara
Craddock, to choreograph a new work rooted
in the tradition of mambo, a vernacular dance
form not usually considered "concert dance,"
and presented it on the proscenium stage. Cuban
Pete and Barbara Craddock are mambo legends,
and among the most authentic artists of the
genre. After selecting a large cast of dancers for

Dwight Rhoden working with students at the
University of Mississippi.

the new work, Latin Magic, rehearsals and com-
munity outreach began. At the beginning of the
residency, the duo taught three master classes to
introduce U Arts students and the public to the
history, rhythms, music and steps of authentic
Latin dances rooted in mambo, which have been
revived and transformed through time. In these
classes, they shared their experiences and
stressed the importance of dancing to the "clave,"
the musical rhythm that drives the mambo.

Cuban Pete and Barbara Cradock explain,
"The students were very receptive to our teach-
ing, which helped support a congenial working
atmosphere. Ultimately, this heightened our cre-
ativity." Two of the master classes were open to
the public, amazingly attracting six dance teach-
ers from New York City who traveled to Philadel-
phia for the opportunity to learn from the
experts. A lecture given by the artists traced the
history of salsa and mambo, from its origins in
the 1800s through the present, and included the
showing of vintage footage of dances over the

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decades for audiences that included schools in the
Arts in Education Partnership, Taller Puer-
toriqueno and Point Breeze Performing Arts Cen-
ter. Another master class with the artists, as well
as a noted specialist in ballroom dance, drew
more than 80 members of the community, demon-
strating the great appeal of this project to the
Philadelphia area. As part of "Celebration of
World Dance" at U Arts, Latin Magic was per-
formed as the finale to an outstanding concert
where half of the program was devoted to Latin
music performed by musicians and vocalists from
the School of Music. Due to extensive outreach
for this concert, a capacity audience of 1,700
people from 30 public and private schools, com-
munity centers and other social service organi-
zations was in attendance and was treated to the
guest appearance of Cuban Pete and Barbara
Craddock in a duet that brought the house down.
Additional performances of the project took
place in the April concert series at U Arts and the
"Sharing the Legacy" program at Hunter Col-
lege in New York. The artists were widely cele-
brated in the community, from a gala party given
by Philadelphia's Latin community complete with
salsa dancing, to the extensive press the project
received. Articles and photographs appeared on
the front page of the entertainment section in
the Philadelphia Daily News, Dance Teacher mag-
azine and Dancing USA, a ballroom dance mag-
azine. Aguilar, Craddock and U Arts students
were also featured on Diego Castellanos' television
program "Puerto Rican Panorama," which airs
on Philadelphia's ABC affiliate and helped to
publicize the U Arts concert. Documentation
played an important role in this project where the
parallel goals were to preserve the salsa as an
important aspect of Hispanic culture, and to also
teach the traditional and cultural dances to future
generations. Filmmaker Barry Dornfeld captured
expressions of the culture in rehearsals and per-
formances, and U Arts plans to create a video
that mixes this footage with portions of the artists'
lectures, stories about the residency, archival film
of Cuban Pete, and the world premiere per-

Encore: A Second Round of Success

25

formance of Latin Magic. Cuban Pete and Barbara
Craddock's residency was a gift to U Arts stu-
dents, the Philadelphia area, and the Hispanic
community, who had the chance to experience
the history of mambo firsthand and celebrate it
as an important dance form for the future.

state: Rhode Island

school Rhode Island College

(collaborating with Roger Williams

University)

artist Sean Curran

Rhode Island College, in collaboration with Roger
Williams University, invited Sean Curran to
restage Where I End and We Begin on student
casts from both universities. Curran and his
work are well-known in the area due to many
previous college and professional residencies,
and this project was designed to give students
more extensive contact with an artist the}'
admired, as well as firsthand exposure to the
demands of modern dance performance and cho-
reography Curran and his assistant Anthony
Guglietti were demanding and specific in restag-
ing the work, but also engaged students with a
personal and humanistic approach that provided
support to their learning. The powerful dance
work addressed issues of individual identity
versus the demands of community and was per-
formed at the PJC Winter Concert, sharing the
program with Sean Curran Company.

The opportunity for students to perform
alongside professional dancers in Curran's own
company was inspiring and an education in
itself. Students saw firsthand the challenges and
tensions of mamtaining and producing reper-
tory for a company, giving them a look at the
rigor of life in professional dance. Curran was as
charming an instructor in outreach events as he
was inspiring in the classroom. In a daytime
concert, school children were fully engaged in
the performance and with Curran as a host. This
multi-faceted project, made possible by NCCI
support, provided students and the community

insight into Curran's work and the complex and
rich world that is professional dance.

STATE: TeXOS

school: University of Texas at Austin
artist Ann Carlson

The University of Texas at Austin commissioned
artist Ann Carlson to create a new work that
would integrate students from the various pop-
ulations of performers found within the Depart-
ment of Theatre and Dance. Her new work, Flag
2, included dancers, actors and graduate stu-
dents in the Performance as Public Practice pro-
gram, as well as members of the community.
Flag 2 was created as a sequel to Flag, which
Carlson previously set on UT dance students,
and allowed the artist to continue her work of
addressing the symbolism of the American flag.
This time, she used it as a dress worn by a soloist
juxtaposed against an ensemble of performers
in street clothes.

The impact of having Carlson in residence for
a month in total was profound. It created bridges
between disciplines in the department, university
and the Austin community through master classes
and her participation in graduate and under-
graduate courses. Connections into the community
were created via artist talks within the Theatre
and Dance and Radio-Television-Film depart-
ments, in addition to a free master class for the
Austin community. Carlson comments, "I came
into contact with a number of departments in
one university; land arts, film and video, theater
and performance, dance, philosophy — the NCCI
project allows for deep connections between dis-
ciplines and advances the stature of choreographic
research within the academic community."

The residency reached a national audience
because it overlapped with a conference hosted
by the Performance as Public Practice program.
At an open rehearsal during the conference,
scholars and performers from around the nation
participated. In fact, the soloist in Flag 2 was a
student from University of Michigan who Carl-

Rhode Island College students performs in Sean
Curran's Where I End and We Begin

son found through the conference. Carlson was
still looking for someone to fill the role, and
when the student volunteered, UT students and
faculty worked together to provide a per diem
and accommodation for the student. The piece
was performed as part of the annual concert of
the Dance Repertory Theatre on UT's campus
on a program with a work created in collabora-
tion with over 60 students from the music
department. The capacity audience consisted of
members of the music community in addition
to dance and arts supporters, resulting in greatly
increased exposure for Carlson's work. Thanks to
the support of NCCI and the integrating power
of Carlson's interdisciplinary work, the students
and community surrounding University of Texas
at Austin's Department of Theatre and Dance
have created connections and are working
together in unprecedented ways.

STATE: TeXOS

school: University of Texas, Pan American
artist Doug Elkins

NCCI support was invaluable to the University
of Texas, Pan American, in creating the most

26

National College Choreography Initiative

professional and diverse concert in the UTPA
Dance Ensemble's history, featuring a new work,
The Orange Peel Pinata, created by Doug Elkins.
The college has a limited faculty to create reper-
tory and teach modern technique, and having
Elkins at the university for two weeks to teach
daily technique classes and workshops, as well
as create a new work, was an exciting prospect
for faculty and students. The students' techni-
cal skills were strengthened, particularly in the
area of partnering, as was their enthusiasm and
knowledge about contemporary choreography.
Elkins' longtime collaborator, Evren Celimi, com-
posed the score for the new work and spent
four days in the studio during rehearsals, giving
students a chance to witness the collaborative
dialogue of two artists who have built a work-
ing relationship over the years. Elkins' new work
played freely with movement dynamics and
humorously alluded to the syncopation and
rhythmic density of flamenco, the area of focus
for faculty member and program coordinator
Fred Darsow.

Elkins, whose work often weaves together
elements of popular and vernacular movement,
challenged dancers to explore different
approaches to partnering. The students' enthu-
siasm and curiosity created fertile ground for
creative exploration and they began to work
as a company early on in the process, support-
ing and coaching each other as they learned.
The new work had four evening performances,
as well as a showing for surrounding K-12
schools, and was presented again in the fall of
2004. The residency was also featured on a local
television show, UTPA Today, in which Fred
Darsow appeared to discuss the work and
excerpts of Elkins' piece in rehearsal were
shown. This NCCI residency provided an oppor-
tunity for two artists, Doug Elkins and com-
poser Evren Celimi, to create new work in a
rewarding environment, and a chance for stu-
dents at the University of Texas, Pan American
to participate in an artistic experience with an
inspiring guest choreographer.

STATE: Utah

school: University of Utah
artist David Dorfman
community partner: Sorensen
Community Center

University of Utah invited New York City-based
choreographer David Dorfman and two com-
pany members to develop and re-work his Bessie
award winning community-based project Famil-
iar Movements: The Family Project. This
dance/theater work was originally performed
by Dorfman's company, along with community
members and their families, and has been recre-
ated in states across the country, and now Utah.
The goal in restaging the work was to establish
bonds between participants and shed light on
areas of family life that are not often discussed
such as intimacy, self-worth and personal expres-
sion. According to Dorfman, the residency
greatly influenced the process he uses for com-
munity based projects. It was the first time that
the company left a community based project in
the hands of the dance department, which
became the "steward," taking on a greater role
in connecting community members and rehears-
ing the piece. Dorfman found that this increased
ownership by the department "opened [the com-
pany's process] in a whole new direction."

The cast included 28 performers, 14 of whom
were modern dance majors in the department
while the rest were their family members,
broadly defined to include blood relatives,
adopted family or close friends, ranging from
10 months to 15 years of age. Dorfman and his
assistants led the group through explorations
involving physical movement, spoken word and
music, and they contributed their own stories,
from which the piece developed. The chance to
create and perform in their own autobiographies
was empowering for the participants and cre-
ated compelling theater for audiences, who com-
mented that they felt a personal connection. The
work was performed as part of the Performing
Dance Company's fall concert in a five-night run

Encore: A Second Round of Success

27

Susan Marshall's The Most Dangerous Room in the House at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

and an additional outreach performance at the
Sorensen Community Center, followed by a ques-
tion and answer session. Community groups,
campus-wide organizations, and general audi-
ences throughout Salt Lake City were invited
to all performances, which were documented
on video for future education for both facultv
and students.

Dorfman taught master classes within the
department, spoke in several gatherings includ-
ing a "Dance in Communitv" course, and his
companv members led a lecture/demonstration
for a College of Fine Arts Dean's Tour that
included potential funders for college-related
events. The project allowed the University of
Utah to forge new alliances within the commu-

nity— with audience members in the sold-out
shows, local journalists who covered the resi-
dency in the Salt Lake Tnbune, and the Sorensen
Community Center, where future joint programs
are planned. The most exciting outcome of the
residency was the artistic growth that took place
as students experienced a new process in which
their stories, gestures and family relationships
were an integral part in creating the work. Dorf-
man's tremendous skill in inspiring the cast to
explore and craft honest, evocative movement
pulled them into the process and allowed them
to establish a connection to a professional in the
dance field. The relationships that developed
during the residency are real, as manv in the
cast are still in contact with Dorfman, and one
student has attended the company's audition
process. This residency created and strength-
ened relationships in the University of Utah
community, among students, their families, fac-
ultv, Dorfman, and the communitv through the
transformative power of investigating intimacy
in Familiar Movements.

state: Virginia

school Virginia Commonwealth University
artist The Limon Dance Company
community partners: Pine Camp, Latin Ballet
of Virginia, Asociacion Hispano-
Americana de Richmond, Richmond
City Public Schools, Richmond Ballet,
Henrico High School Center for the Arts,
Huguenot High School, Broad Creek
Elementary, Richmond City Schools
Arts & Humanities Program

Virginia Commonwealth University invited
Limon master teacher Clay Taliaferro for a three-
week teaching residency, followed by a one-
week residency with The Limon Dance Com-
pany. This provided students with the once-in-
a-lifetime opportunity to learn a suite from the
master work, A Choreographic Offering, through
an intensive working process that raised their
awareness about professionalism and artistry.

28

National College Choreography Initiative

At the heart of Virginia Commonwealth Uni-
versity's NCCI project was the desire to expose
VCU students and central Virginians to the mod-
ern dance legend Jose Limon, his company, cre-
ative process and living memory The choreog-
raphy proved to be an enormous challenge, and
as a result, the students made significant dis-
coveries as dancers and performers, opening
new expectations within the dance department
about students' capabilities and what is possible
in the curriculum and presenting program. The
students rose to the challenge and performed the
work alongside The Limon Dance Company,
who presented other master works, new works
by emerging choreographers and a work by
dance luminary Donald McKay le.

To expose Virginians to Limon's work, an
extensive community outreach program was
planned to include a class taught by Taliaferro
for dance students at Pine Camp, a masterclass
with Carla Maxwell for 81 advanced dancers
at the Richmond Ballet, and a class for 59 young
community dancers from central Virginia and
beyond taught by Raphael Boumaila. The Limon
Company also led a lecture/demonstration at
the Henrico High School for the Performing
Arts for the Hispanic community and outreach
to area elementary and high schools that demon-
strated and encouraged participation in the
Limon philosophy and technique. The presen-
tation at the high school was conducted in Span-
ish and English for the large Hispanic popula-
tion present, and included work with the
concept of fall and recovery, which appealed
to the students.

The Limon residency forged lasting partner-
ships with arts organizations and schools, which
will enhance the logistics of planning future
community outreach activities. It also impacted
the Limon Company's own approach. As Ann
Vachon explains, "A great deal of collaboration
between various institutions helped make this
possible. . .This entire project was a model that
the Limon Company would really like to repli-
cate in other communities." With NCCI support,

VCU Dance was able to successfully identify
and communicate with student populations who
would most identify with the Limon heritage,
benefit from the outreach activity and enjoy
classes with the company's master teachers.

state: Wisconsin

school: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

artist Susan Marshall

community partners: Milwaukee Ballet,

Danceworks

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee had the
unprecedented opportunity to host an ongoing
residency over the course of a year with cho-
reographer Susan Marshall and her company.
The residency began when the company came
to UWM to rehearse and premiere Sleeping
Beauty and Other Stories in the Mainstage The-
atre for the largest audience the dance depart-
ment had attracted to date. Approximately 150
members of the campus and Greater Milwaukee
communities attended an open rehearsal and
talkback with Marshall, after which the entire
company shared an informal dinner with dance
faculty, university administrators and members
of the community. The company offered two
master classes, one of which was a repertory
class that served to audition a cast for the restag-
ing of an excerpt from The Most Dangerous
Room in the House, one of Marshall's signature
works. Company members Mark DeChiazza and
Kristen Hollinsworth began restaging the work
by first observing students' own choreography
and performance in an annual concert, "New
Dancemakers," to learn more about their cast.
During this two-week visit, DeChiazza and
Hollinsworth worked with the dancers six days
a week and were so pleased by the progress of
the rehearsals that they added an additional
section to the restaging. The company mem-
bers were busy on and off campus, teaching a
master class for dance majors, a master class at
Milwaukee Ballet, and a two-day workshop for
beginning dance and theater students on move-

ment and storytelling.

Students in the dance and theater depart-
ments continued these themes in an interde-
partmental outreach project by working with
Danceworks, a local dance organization that
implements creative arts residencies in facilities
for elders. After receiving training on working
creatively with elders, the students exchanged
stories and engaged in movement activities with
Chinese and Chinese American elders and sen-
iors at an adult day care center. Marshall
returned to campus to coach students in the
nuances of performance before the piece pre-
miered as part of the department's "Summer-
dances" concert, after which audiences com-
mented on the character development. Marshall
also worked with graduate students, who were
all professional choreographers that travel to
Milwaukee for intensive summer coursework.
To kick off their summer of study, Marshall
taught a workshop on choreographic process,
which was also attended by faculty members
and the local dance community. Marshall opened
the studio to observation by the public for the
last hour of creating and refining material.

The structure of this residency, particularly
the repeated visits by Marshall and the com-
pany, was a major strength because it allowed
time for strong connections to develop between
student and professional dancers. The project
had an enormous impact on the Peck School of
the Arts, the Milwaukee dance community and
the community at large, as well as the UWM
dance department which has benefited from
expanded donor interest resulting from the long-
term relationship that community members also
developed with Susan Marshall. This NCCI proj-
ect inspired and encouraged students through
their interactions with Susan Marshall and her
dancers, strengthened the dance department's
skills and confidence in presenting nationally
recognized artists, and engaged the community
in ongoing, exciting dialogue about dance.

Encore: A Second Round of Success

29

Artists Funded by National College Choreography Initiative

The following artists received funding for one
or more residencies through NCCI in its three
rounds of existence. (The third round of
residencies will take place during the 2004-05
academic year.)

Pedro Aguilar (aka "Cuban Pete) with Barbara
Craddock, N. Miami Beach, FL

Jill Bahr, Charleston, SC

George Balanchine, New York, NY (reconstructions
by Bart Cook, Fiona Fuerstner, and Patricia McBride)

Robert Battle, New York, NY

Lori Belilove, Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation,
New York, NY

Alexandra Beller, New York, NY

Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Ririe Woodbury Dance
Company, Salt Lake City, UT

Ellen Bromberg, Salt Lake City, UT

Ronald K. Brown, Ronald K. Brown/EVLDENCE,
Brooklyn, NY

Trisha Brown, Trisha Brown Company, New York, NY

Danny Buraczeski, JAZZDANCE, Minneapolis, MN

Wally Cardona, Brooklyn, NY

Ann Carlson, New York, NY

Feme Caulker, Ko-Thi Dance Company, Milwaukee, WI

Merce Cunningham, Cunningham Dance Foundation,

New York, NY

Sean Curran, Sean Curran Company, New York, NY

Agnes de Mille, New York, NY (reconstructions
by Gemze de Lappe and Glory Van Scott)

David Dorfman, David Dorfman Dance, New York, NY

Heidi Duckler, Los Angeles, CA

Eiko and Koma, New York, NY

Doug Elkins, Doug Elkins Dance Company,
New York, NY

Kim Epifano, San Francisco, CA

Bill Evans, Bill Evans Dance Company,
Sandia Park, NM

Bob Fosse, reconstructed by Bill Hastings,
Ridgewood, NJ

Joe Goode, Joe Goode Performance Group,
San Francisco, CA

David Gordon, Pick Up Performance Company,
New York, NY

Martha Graham, New York, NY (reconstructions
by Bonnie Oda Homsey and other artists)

Acia Gray, Austin, TX

Neil Greenberg, Dance by Neil Greenberg,
New York, NY

Mark Haim, Seattle, WA

Deborah Hay, Austin, TX

Josh Hilberman, Jamaica Plane, MA

Bonnie Oda Homsey, American Repertory Dance
Company, Los Angeles, CA (for reconstruction of
works by Martha Graham and Michio Ito)

Lin Hwai-min, Cloud Gate Dance Theater, Fu-Hsing,
Taipei, Taiwan

John Jasperse, Thin Man Dance, Inc.,
New York, NY

Brian Jeffery, XSIGHT!: Performance Group,
Anchorage, AK

Margaret Jenkins, Margaret Jenkins Dance Company,
San Francisco, CA

Keith Johnson, Keith Johnson/Dancers,
Long Beach, CA

Marianne Kim, Lincolnshire, EL

Alonzo King, Alonzo King's LINES BALLET,
San Francisco, CA

Nicholas Leichter, nicholasleichterdance,
Brooklyn, NY

National College Choreography Initiative

Jose Limon, Limon Foundation, New York, NY (recon-
structions by Sarah Stackhouse, Risa Steinberg, Clay
Taliaferro, and Ann Vachon)

Loretta Livingston, Los Angeles, CA

Lar Lubovitch, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company,
New York, NY

Frankie Manning, Corona, NY

Susan Marshall, Susan Marshall & Company,
Putnam Valley, NY

Gesel Mason, Mason/Rhynes Productions,
Takoma Park, MD

Gabriel Masson, San Diego, CA

Dianne Mclntyre, (for the reconstruction of work
by Helen Tamiris), Cleveland, OH

Carol Mendelsohn, Roy Hart Theatre,
Anduze, France

Bebe Miller, Bebe Miller Company, New York, NY

Celeste Miller, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange,
Takoma Park, MD

Meredith Monk, New York, NY

Mark Morris, Mark Morris Dance Group,
Brooklyn, NY

Nita Little Nelson, Nita Little Nelson Dance Theater,
Santa Cruz, CA

Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis, Nikolais Louis,
New York, NY (for works reconstructed by
Alberto del Saz and Murray Louis)

Tere O'Connor, Tere O'Conner Dance, New York, NY

David Parsons, Parsons Dance Company,
New York, NY

Sara Pearson and Patrik Widrig, Pearson/Widrig
and Company, New York, NY

Dwight Rhoden, COMPLEXIONS, New York, NY

Pascal Rioult, Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre,
New York, NY

Shirley Ririe, Ririe Woodbury Dance Company,
Salt Lake City, UT

Wendy Rogers, Riverside, CA

David Rousseve, David Rousseve/REALITY,
Pasadena, CA

Sue Schroeder, Core Performance Company,
Decatur, GA

Vicki Shick, New York, NY

Billy Stiegenfeld, Jump Rhythm Jazz Project,
Evanston, IL

Deborah Slater, Deborah Slater Dance Theater,
San Francisco, CA

Mark Taylor, Dance Alloy, Pittsburgh, PA

Paul Taylor, Paul Taylor Dance Company,

New York, NY

Michael Thomas, Brooklyn, NY

Antony Tudor, St. Louis, MO (work reconstructed
by Muriel Topaz)

Doug Varone, Doug Varone & Dancers,
New York, NY

Martha Wittman, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange,
Takoma Park, MD

Mar lies Year by, Movin' Spirits Dance Theater Inc.,
Brooklyn, NY

Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (for original choreography
and the reconstruction of work by Pearl Primus),
Urban Bush Women, Brooklyn, NY

Stanley Zompakos, Charleston, SC

Sherry Zunker, Chicago, IL

Encore: A Second Round of Success

31

Schools Funded by National College Choreography Initiative

The following colleges received one or more
awards in three rounds of NC CI funding. They
are listed by state:

AZ University of Alaska-Anchorage

Al Huntingdon College

AR Henderson State University

AZ Arizona State University

AZ Scottsdale College

CA California State University-Hayward

CA University of California-Irvine

CA University of California-Los Angeles

CA University of California-Riverside

CA University of California-Santa Barbara

CO University of Colorado at Boulder

CT Connecticut College

CT Trinity College

DC Howard University

DE University of Delaware

FL Florida State University

FL New World School of The Arts

GA Brenau University

GA University of Georgia

HI University of Hawaii

HI University of Hawaii at Manoa

ID University of Idaho

IA University of Iowa

IL Columbia College Chicago

IL Illinois Wesleyan University

IL University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

IN Ball State University

KS University of Kansas

KS Wichita State University

KY Western Kentucky University

LA Loyola University LA

LA Tulane University, LA

MA Five Colleges, Incorporated

MA University of Massachusetts- Amherst

MD Towson University

MD University of Maryland-College Park

ME Bates College

MI University of Michigan

MI Wayne State University

MI Western Michigan University

MN University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

MO Southwest Missouri State University

MO Washington University

MS University of Mississippi

MS University of Southern Mississippi

MT University of Montana

NC Duke University

ND Dickinson State University

ND University of North Dakota .

NE University of Nebraska-Lincoln

NH Keene State College

NJ Montclair State University

NJ Rutgers University

NM Eastern New Mexico University

NV University of Nevada-Las Vegas

NY Purchase College

NY Sarah Lawrence College

NY Vassar College

OH Ohio State University

OH Ohio University

OH University of Akron

OH University of Cincinnati

OK University of Central Oklahoma

OR Lane Community College

OR Reed College

PA Franklin & Marshall

PA Pennsylvania State-Altoona

PA University of the Arts

RI Rhode Island College

SC Columbia College

SD Washington Pavilion of Arts & Science

TN University of Memphis

TX Southern Methodist University

TX University of Houston

TX University of Texas at Austin

TX University of Texas-Pan American

UT Southern Utah University

UT University of Utah

VA James Madison University

VA Virginia Commonwealth University

VT Bennington College

WA Cornish College of the Arts

WA University of Washington

WI University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

WI University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

WV West Virginia Wesleyan College

WY University of Wyoming

National College Choreography Initiative

Ada Gray and company

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