2012 ACDFA New England Conference

Connecticut College cordially invites faculty and students to participate in the American College Dance Festival Association's New England Region Conference, February 8-11, 2012 in New London, CT.  We are planning an exciting celebration of dance in higher education with a wide variety of master classes, opportunities for student and faculty exchanges in and out of the studio, adjudication and informal concerts, feedback sessions and a Gala Concert. 

The opportunity to receive feedback on choreography and performance is integral to every ACDFA conference.  We will have three dynamic and highly respected adjudicators: Victoria Marks, Keith Hennessy, and Darrell Jones.    We are also honored to have guest artist Nicholas Leichter, who will be performing in our opening night concert with our adjudicators on Wednesday, Feb. 8.

ACDFA values diversity and maintains a commitment to the development of conferences, which reflect and give value to the various forms, styles, cultural traditions and aesthetic dimensions of dance in performance.  We encourage the attention to diversity through both informal and adjudicated concerts, master classes, panel discussions and/or lectures.  We would like to encourage all institutions to attend and participate in the full array of scheduled events, whether or not you are planning to present choreography for adjudication.  The experience of taking master classes, viewing concerts, and listening to adjudicators' comments, as well as the energy exchange among dancers and faculty from other schools, has proven invaluable for our students, regardless of their levels of dance experience.

If you are interested in the adjudication process, please refer to the Adjudication Policies.  If you choose to adjudicate two pieces, at least one piece must be choreographed by a student.  The maximum number of dances we can adjudicate is 44.  Pieces will be accepted for adjudication, like registration, on a first paid-first accepted basis.  Please remember that you must be an ACDFA institutional member in good standing to qualify for adjudication.

For those of you who will be first-time visitors to our area Connecticut College is located in New London, CT. There are wonderful attractions, restaurants and hotels nearby.  Please see the following links for more information about all Downtown New London and New London County have to offer. http://newlondonmainstreet.org/ & http://mysticcountry.com/

 "New London's Historic Waterfront District is the hub of creative energy that gives the city its Top Ten rating among creative communities of its size in America. Art, music, and design venues, one-of-a-kind boutiques, and over 30 eateries populate this 26-block National Register Historic District in New London, CT. Nathan Hale, Benedict Arnold, and Eugene O'Neill walked these streets. America's greatest architects left their mark in these buildings. From the collection of Tiffany glass windows in its cathedral to the country's oldest operating courthouse and custom house, to the quirky shops and plentiful entertainment, New London, CT is a great place to be."  

All of us at Connecticut College look forward to seeing you at the conference!

David Dorfman
ACDFA New England Region Conference Coordinator

 

Darrell Jones has performed in the United States and abroad with a variety of choreographers and companies such as Bebe Miller, Urban Bush Women, Ronald K. Brown, Min Tanaka and Ralph Lemon.

Along with performing Darrell continues to choreograph and teach. He has collaborated with other choreographers, writers, musicians and designers in dance films, documentations and interactive multimedia installations.

Darrell is presently a full time faculty member at The Dance Center of Columbia College in Chicago.  His classes are informed by his training and studies in a variety of contemporary dance techniques and Traditional Dance forms.



photo: Yi-Chun Wu / Keith Hennessy is a performer, choreographer, teacher and organizer. He was born in Canada, lives in San Francisco and tours internationally. His interdisciplinary research engages improvisation, ritual and public action as tools for investigating political realities and social movement.

Recent awards include a NY Bessie (2009) for Crotch, two Isado ra Duncan Awards (2009) for Sol niger, and a Bilinski Fellowship (2011). Hennessy directs ZERO PERFORMANCE and was a member of the collaborative performance companies: Contraband (85-94), CORE (95-98), and Cahin-caha, cirque bâtard (98-02).

Recent works include Turbulence (a dance about the economy), Auf den Tisch! with Meg Stuart, Delinquent, a work with young adults investigating juvenile crime and punishment, commissioned by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and Crotch, a solo performance developed at L’Arsenic in Lausanne, and presented across the US and in six European countries.

Keith’s recent teaching includes Impulstanz (Vienna), University of California (Davis), Cie Premier Temps (Dakar), Touch & Play Festival (Berlin), Ponderosa (Stolzenhagen), Tanzfabrik (Berlin), Kiev Festival of Improvisation, University of Dance & Circus (Stockholm), and American Dance Festival (Durham).

Hennessy has an MFA in Choreography and is a PhD candidate in Performance Studies at UC Davis. www.circozero.org


 
Photo: Beatriz Schiller /  Victoria Marks creates dances for the stage, for film and in community settings.  Marks’ recent work has considered the politics of citizenship, as well as the representation of both virtuosity and disability. These themes are part of her ongoing commitment to locating dance-making within the sphere of political meaning.

Marks is a Professor of choreography in the Department of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA where she has been teaching since 1995.  

She is a 2005 Guggenheim Fellow and has received recent grants from the Irvine Foundation, the NEA and the Los Angeles, Cultural Affairs Council.  In 1997, Marks was honored with the Alpert Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography.  

Over the course of her career, she has been the recipient of multiple grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the London Arts Board, among others.

She has received a Fulbright Fellowship in Choreography, and numerous awards for her dance films, including the Grand Prix in the Video Danse, first prize in Videodance Barcelona, the Golden Antennae Award from Bulgaria, the IMZ Award for best screen choreography and the Best of Show in the Dance Film Association’s Dance and the Camera Festival.  http://www.victoriamarks.com

  
Nicholas Leichter / photo: Quinn Batson

Nicholas Leichter (Choreographer/Artistic Director) has taught throughout the United States and at festivals in Africa, Asia, Canada, and Eastern and Western Europe, and he has been on faculty at Tisch School of the Arts, Bates Dance Festival and the American Dance Festival in Durham, New York, Russia, Korea, and Shanghai. Leichter has created over 25 works for his own company, including Carmina Burana and Rite of Spring commissioned by the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Sweetwash with Eisa Davis for The Duncan Theatre at Palm Beach Community College and Killa, A Space Funk Invasion and The WHIZ with Monstah Black. Recent commissions include Connecticut College, Wayne State University, The Barnard Project, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and je danse donc je suis in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Leichter has been artist-in-residence and guest artist at many institutions including CSU Summer Arts, Sarah Lawrence College, Hollins University, George Washington University, University of Houston, Muhlenberg College, Goucher College and Idaho State University. Leichter received the 2006 Mariam McGlone Emerging Choreographer Award from Wesleyan University. In 2008, he received a Choreographer Fellowship from NYFA and a National Performance Network/Network of Cultural Centers of Color Artist-of-Color Residency Award at Sacramento State. He received the 2009 Copperfoot Award for Choreography from Wayne State University.

Founded in 1996, New York City-based Nicholas Leichter Dance has performed in over 50 cities in 17 states and 12 countries at venues including The Joyce Theater; the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House with the Brooklyn Philharmonic; The John C. Wright Theater at CSU Fresno; The Duncan Theatre at Palm Beach Community College, FL; The Jefferson Center in Roanoke, VA; Modlin Center for the Performing Arts at University of Richmond; Institute for Contemporary Art in Boston; Central Park Summerstage; Zoellner Arts Center in Bethlehem, PA; Reynolds Industries Theater at Duke University; Diana Wortham Theater in Asheville, NC; the Fabuleus International Theater Festival in Leuven, Belgium; Kaohsiung Jazz Dance Congress in Taiwan; Freedance in Ukraine; Time to Dance in Riga, Latvia; and the Dialogue de Corps Festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. In recognition of his unique approach to contemporary dance, Leichter has received support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Joyce Theater Foundation, New York City, with major support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, National Performance Network, New York Foundation for the Arts, Jerome Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation, The Albert and Esther Cory Foundation, The 92nd Street Y New Works in Dance Fund, the American Music Center Live Music for Dance Program, New York State Council on the Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) through the National Dance Project (NDP) with generous support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the MetLife Community Connections Fund of the MetLife Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.


http://www.nldnyc.org/

All institutional members are invited to bring up to two dances for adjudication while adjudication slots remain available.  Please read the Adjudication Policies carefully.  Policies are available to download and are included under the Conference Details tab on this website.

You will be able to indicate whether you are bringing one or two dances in the "Adjudication Fees" section in the online registration.

If you are not an institutional member and would like to participate in the adjudication process, you must begin the process of becoming an Institutional Member before registering to adjudicate work.  A membership application is available on the ACDFA website.

Please download ADJUDICATION POLICIES for your reference.

All groups and individuals registered fro the conference are eligible to perform in the Informal Concerts.

Dances presented in the Informal Concerts are restricted to work not being adjudicated.  Works-in-progress may be shown.

In the interest of creating opportunities for many schools, only one dance per institution may be shown in the informal concerts; however, more than one piece per school will be considered if space allows.  Performance slots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.  The maximum time for each work presented in the Informal Concert is 10 minutes.  The burden of meeting the time requirement rests with the choreographer.  ACDFA recommends that the choreographer allow a time margin within the 10-minute limit for technical errors or theater peculiarities.

A sound recording of concert quality must be provided by the choreographer in the format specified by the Conference Coordinator.

Please submit Informal Concert program information online by: Monday, December 19, 2011.

noon-7:30pm             Registration
8:00pm                       Opening Night Performance with
                                   Adjudicators & Guest Artist Nicholas Leichter

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

8:00am-12:00pm       Concert 1 & Concert 2 Tech
9:00am-7:30pm         Registration
9:00am-10:30am       Classes
11:00-12:30pm          Classes
11:45am-12:45pm     Lunch Talk with Adjudicators
1:00pm-4:00pm         Concert 1
4:15-5:45pm              Classes
4:00pm-6:00pm         Adjudicators' Feedback - Concert 1 
4:00pm-6:00pm         Concert 2 Tech
8:00pm-11:00pm       Concert 2


FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2012

8:00am-12:00pm       Concert 3 & Concert 4 Tech
9:00am-7:30pm         Registration
9:00am-10:30am       Classes
11:00-12:30pm          Classes
9:00am-11:00am       Adjudicator's Feedback - Concert 2
1:00pm-4:00pm         Concert 3
4:15-5:45pm              Classes
4:00pm-6:00pm         Adjudicators' Feedback - Concert 3 
4:00pm-6:00pm         Concert 4 Tech
Time TBA                   ADF Audition
8:00pm-11:00pm       Concert 4
11:00pm                     Student Event: Deep Aerobics! 

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2012

8:00am-9:00am          ACDFA Membership Meeting
9:00am-11:00am        Adjudicator's Feedback - Concert 4
9:00am-10:30am       Classes
11:00-12:30pm          Classes
1:30-3:00pm              Classes
Time TBA                   Bates Audition/Class
12:00pm-5:00pm       Gala Concert Tech
1:30pm-4:30pm         Informal Concert
6:00pm-7:30pm         Faculty Dinner
8:00pm                      Gala Performance with Farewell Reception to follow

It is not necessary to complete all online forms at the time of your initial registration for the conference.  You may return to your registration to add or update information.  Please honor all posted deadlines for information submission.

• PROGRAM INFORMATION

Submit Program Information for each dance you are adjudicating and/or presenting in the informal concert.  Please be thorough in your answers and accurate in your spelling.

Deadline for completed program information is Monday, December 19, 2011.

PLEASE NOTE:

The Adjudication Program Information Form will be visible only to the Faculty Representative for ACDFA Institutional Members and ACDFA Board Members.

The Informal Concert Program Information Form will be visible to the Faculty Representative for ACDFA Institutional Members and Non-Members, ACDFA Board Members and Individual registrants.

• TEACHER INTEREST

Teachers are encouraged to propose classes/workshops, research presentations and panel topics to enhance diversity and the breath of class offerings.

The online Teacher Interest Form allows faculty members and graduate students to submit up to three different classes/workshops, research presentations and/or panels.  The conference may not be able to involve all who are interested, but we appreciate your response and will contact teachers as soon as possible regarding selections.  Due to budget constraints, honoraria will not be possible.

The Teacher Interest Form will be visible to all faculty members and to graduate student registrants.

• CALL FOR MUSICIANS

We invite your most skilled musicians to participate in the conference, accompanying classes in exchange for conference registration and an honorarium of $50 per class.  Interaction among musicians will help to make very memorable master classes. Sharing good music gives us new ideas to take home to our own programs and adds vitality to classes.

Liability Waiver
Video Waiver

Each conference participant must sign onto the Liability Waiver. 
In order to save paper, we are asking all registrants in a group to sign one waiver.  It is important that each registrant understands the terms of the waiver.  Faculty are strongly encouraged to review the terms with all participants.

Return the Liability via FAX at 860-439-5365 or postal service.

Each choreographer or representative of a choreographer (for a guest choreographer) of a dance to be performed in the Gala Concert must complete and return a signed Video Waiver.  Waivers will be given to Gala Concert choreographers once the selections have been determined.  Please note that videos are for archival purposed and copies will not be available.  

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NATIONAL COLLEGE DANCE FESTIVAL

The 2012 National College Dance Festival will be held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on May 25-27, 2012. The National Festival, a biennial event, showcases on the national level the outstanding quality of choreography and performance that is being created on college and university campuses.  Dances are selected by the adjudicators from each of the regional conferences based on their outstanding artistic excellence and merit.  Approximately 33 schools from around the country will be invited to perform in one of the three gala concerts. 
 
The total number of dances adjudicated at each conference determines the number of dances selected from that conference.  Adjudicators select dances for the National Festival after viewing the regional gala concert.  The same anonymity policies apply to the National Festival selection as apply to the regional gala selection.  Dances for the National Festival are selected from the gala concert program. Only one dance from a school may be selected for the National Festival, even if that school had two dances in the regional gala.

All ACDFA member institutions are invited to attend the Festival. 

Click here to download National Festival Policies. For more information on the National Festival, check the ACDFA website (www.acdfa.org) or contact Diane DeFries at acdfa@verizon.net.

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