The NC Dance Festival (NCDF) announces artists and activities for the 2022-23 Season, with performances beginning in September.
Each year, the NC Dance Festival, a program coordinated by Greensboro-based Dance Project, brings professional modern and contemporary dance choreography from NC artists to audiences across the state. The Festival provides up-close and personal experiences with dance through performances, classes, conversations, and more.
Performances
Creative Collaboration Exchange
September 24, 7:30pm
Goodyear Arts, Charlotte
4 artists, working in dance, mixed media, and music, will create a collaborative performance in just one day. Featuring Audrey Baran, Zachary Gossett, Jasmine Powell, and Tiffany Santeiro, the performance will be followed by a conversation with the audience. TwinNation (Sanwone & Santae Benjamin) and Chris Yon and Taryn Griggs will also perform recent work in the performance.
“Assembly” at Greensboro Project Space
October 6-7, 7:00pm
Greensboro Project Space, Greensboro
NCDF Trailblazer Awardee Tommy Noonan of Culture Mill presents the US premiere of “Assembly.” “Assembly” derives from Noonan’s work with NC-based artists, activists and Restorative Justice specialists, and exists in ongoing conversation with 5 other socially engaged dance artists from 5 other countries around the world, all tied together by a single performance score from Norwegian/Israeli Artist/Activist Mia Habib. As a hybrid installation, performance and social practice, “Assembly” invites audiences to consider the land where they gather: all that is not named in the past, all that might come to pass in the future, and all the ways in which distributive power exists differently in each present moment when bodies assemble. “Assembly” is a production of Culture Mill with support from Mia Habib Productions and Dance Project, also supported by The Norwegian Arts Council and Nordic Culture Fund – Globus Opstart.
Greensboro Mainstage Performance
October 8, 7:30pm
Van Dyke Performance Space, Greensboro
5 professional NC choreographers present new or recent dance work. Amelia Byrd’s (Greensboro) Womanifesto explores the struggle, freedom, and acceptance of a woman emerging into her adult life. Nicole Vaughn-Diaz’s (Asheville) duet, A Portrait of Them traces the impact of grief – its connections and distances –on a relationship. The mesmerizing movement patterns and sound design of Halidom, created and performed by Joy Davis and Eric Mullis (Charlotte), draw influence from their study of Japanese Butoh. Iridescence, a solo by Jasmine Powell (Hillsborough) was created in the context of the protests for racial justice in 2020, responding to the waves of sorrow, community, guilt, support, promise, and action. Coming Home, by Tamara Williams (Charlotte), is a section of a larger work, Morning Honeysuckle, Sunday’s Greed. Bringing in hip hop, Southern Baptist Church rhythms and southeastern Drumline, the dance explores the physical resistance of oppression in the United States and the celebration of perseverance by African Americans.
The season will feature other ongoing projects and events, including:
- In-person and virtual Monthly Dancer Chats
- NCDF’s monthly informal network-building events will continue, with in-person gatherings interspersed with virtual meetings. The first Dancer Chat of the season will be August 27, 5-7pm in person at Goodyear Arts in Charlotte. Additional dates and locations will be announced as the season continues.
- Artist in Residence
- The NC Dance Festival welcomed 8 Artists in Residence into the studio for the 22-23 season. This initiative nurtures North Carolina choreographers and supports the development of high-quality dance work. This program provides space, peer support, and professional development for both the seasoned choreographer and those newly emerging who are looking to create new work, explore new territory, develop an artistic practice, and/or gain additional experience developing their craft. Informal, public showings will be held in December 2022 and May 2023.
In 2019, the NC Dance Festival initiated two new awards. The Jan Van Dyke Legacy Award honors an individual who makes NC a great place to dance. In the spirit of Dance Project founder Jan Van Dyke, this individual sees a need in the community and works to fill it, generating ideas and laying a foundation that others can build upon, making a difference that will reverberate throughout the community. Nominations for the 2022 Legacy award are due September 4, 2022. The nomination form can be found here. The NCDF Trailblazer Award, which honors an NC choreographer that has achieved clear excellence in dance and whose work embodies innovative ways of thinking/working and represents a unique and relevant perspective on art and culture, will be suspended for this year.
The NC Dance Festival is supported in part by the NC Arts Council, Lincoln Financial Group, and individual donors and sponsors.
