adf modern dance
 
 
 
A Day in the Life of an ADF Intern


Administrative Intern from Jenny Fornoff

My name is Jenny Fornoff, and I recently graduated from The College of William and Mary with a BA in Government and a minor in Dance. I've studied dance my entire life, but this internship was my first real look into arts administration, and it gave me a great overview of the field. A Northern Virginia native, I'm currently persuing a career in the arts in Washington, D.C.

Executive Intern

6:30 am Wake up and get ready for the day. This means getting dressed for dance class, but also putting together work clothes for the day ahead. I also try to make my lunch as many days as possible, to save money.

8:00 am Class begins. It is sometimes difficult to get moving this early in the morning, but once you get going it feels really good. It's a very refreshing way to begin the day. All interns are allowed to take one class, but when is determined by your office and its needs. It's best that the Executive Intern take class in the first time block to minimize the time you are out of the office.

10:00 am Class lets out and I hurry over to the office to change and begin work.

10:30 am Update an itinerary for a VIP who's visiting in a week. It is the Executive Intern's job to create itineraries for all visiting VIPs and other guests, and to put together welcome packets for them.

11:10 am Leave to pick up a visiting guest from the airport. Chauffeuring people does not sound like it would be a fun part of the job, but it really is. You get to leave the office fairly regularly, and, best of all, meet some pretty amazing people.

12:30 pm Lunch time! I usually eat at my desk, but I take the opportunity to read a little or look at the news online.

1:15 pm One of the biggest projects our office handles is the International Screendance Festival. The ISF is a weekend-long film series that is juried and curated by Douglas Rosenberg, a filmmaker and screendance scholar. We handle the administrative side of things, and it is the intern's job to create all the publicity fliers and compile the program copy. I start by checking to see if we have all the information we need from the filmmakers, and then begin putting it all in order for the program. This takes me the better part of the afternoon, and will take several days to complete.

5:30 pm Start on the schedule for the next day. I check in with Jodee Nimerichter, the Co-Director, to find out what she has going on. Any meetings or things the Directors have scheduled, all appointments, and anything we have on our schedule, like airport runs, gets listed. The daily schedule is the last thing I do for the day, and it gets posted outside our doors every day.

6:00 pm Leave the office and grab dinner.

8:00 pm See the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company perform at the Durham Performing Arts Center. It is a truly amazing performance!

9:30 pm Drive home and fall into bed!

 


Production Intern from Katie Houff

Being a production intern is a fantastic way to spend the summer. (So much so that this was my second summer doing it). You get to learn about all aspects of producing dance and work on shows for world-renowned dance companies from load-in to load-out. Your crew job will be different each week in one of the two theatres ADF uses (Reynolds Industries Theatre on Duke’s campus, and the Durham Performing Arts Center/DPAC). They are long, challenging days but well worth the hard work.

Production Intern

6:45 am Wake up and get ready for the day. This would include eating a hearty breakfast, throwing on dance clothes, packing work clothes for the theatres, and packing lunch and dinner. (Unless I plan to treat myself to some Panda Express or McDonald’s).

8 am Class begins. Production interns are allowed to take a dance class but it has to be the 8am slot since you work in the theatre(s) the rest of the day. Dragging myself out of bed for class is sometimes a challenge, especially toward the end of the summer, but is always worth it by the end of class.

10 am Grab my things and drive to DPAC. Change into my work clothes (including my wrench, gloves, multi-tool, and mini flashlight) and help with the Pilobolus load-in.
Help unload road cases, assemble huge Plexiglas table, hang projection screen, watch dancers warm up downstage.

11:15 am Break time! Watch the robotics guys from MIT test fly one of the robots for Seraph in the house. Grab a snack. Everyone gets a 15-minute break halfway through the morning, between lunch and dinner, and between dinner and end of day.

11:30 am Start laying marley. Receive instructions from the stage manager on how to do it correctly. The last piece in the show, Day Two, involves the dancers crawling underneath the top layer of marley and tearing themselves out of it. Very specific taping procedures.

12:30 pm Lunch! Microwave some leftovers and head outside for a picnic in the sun with the other interns.

1:30 pm Light focus begins. Work as a Genie base while another intern goes up to focus the first electric. Keep with this job the rest of the afternoon as focusers switch out with each electric.

6 pm Dinner! Head back outside with the rest of my food for another picnic. After being in a cold, dark theatre for so long, it is amazing to relax in the warmth of the sun! 7:00pm Fly in one of the upstage electrics to trade out some instrument lenses.

7:30 pm Receive instructions for a new job. (I was tired of being a Genie base all day). Cable, label, and dress cabling for some boom instruments. A satisfying job I can do by myself!

9 pm Changeover into the All Is Not Lost setup for dancers to rehearse. Peel the paper off the brand new Plexiglas. Best job of the day!

9:30 pm Cut and frame some color and label some lens boxes while the dancers use the stage to rehearse. Return boxes to the midrail. Complete an assortment of cable dressing. Help other interns with small backstage jobs like spiking the boom bases and floor mounts.

11 pm End of the workday. Drive home and fall into bed!

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