American Dance Festival | June 30, 2007 Acts to Follow

June 30, 2007, 8 pm
Baldwin Auditorium
FREE and open to the public (general admission)

After the performance, take your shoes off and join us on stage for a Dance Party as we celebrate five years of discovering dance made locally!

2007 Acts To Follow | June 16 | June 30 | July 14

photo by Brant Murray Cara Hagan, Artistic Director of 87 Dance Productions, received her B.F.A. from the North Carolina School of the Arts. Hagan is a dedicated dancer, choreographer, and instructor. She was most recently a 2006 season company member with the Open Dream Ensemble, a Winston-Salem based children’s performance and arts in education group which produces original work comprised of NCSA alums in dance, music, and drama. She has experience teaching students of all ages and level of ability. Her most recent credits include: The Dance Academy of Winston-Salem; Salem Gymnastics Center; Girls, Inc. of Syracuse, NY; the 92nd Street Y of New York City; and Syracuse University. From 2005-2006, Hagan was in residence at the Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts in Education in NYC as a Kenan Fellow, working with children in NYC public schools. While in residency, Hagan produced a concert that was presented at Lincoln Center. Past works include Taste Test: Delectable Dance Works by Cara Hagan (2006); Dual Dance Perspectives I and II (2004, 2005), both in collaboration with Mackenzie Hagan; and Sneaker Dances (2005). Various shorter works have been presented as part of large shows. In the winter of 2005, Hagan presented a piece for the New Steps Series at the Mulberry Street Theater in NYC. Most recently, Hagan is a recipient of the Women in the Arts Grant from the Kenan Institute, which will help fund the creation of her new work, One Woman Show, which is set to premier in May 2007 and tour over the summer. Past grants include the 92nd Street Y Harkness Foundation Space Grant, the Cultural Arts Council Individual Artist’s Grant (2005), and the DeFranscisco New York State Decentralization Arts Grant for Individual Artists (2005). In January 2006, Hagan attended the Trisha Brown Winter Intensive on full scholarship.
87 Dance Productions will present an excerpt from One Woman Show, a multi-cultura, multi-genre approach to the art of contemporary dance. This piece depicts the physical and emotional journey of a woman through a life that parallels the lives of so many individuals across the world as she unfolds realizations and discovers resolutions to fundamental questions. Combining poetry, photography, and film with eclectic and multicultural dance movement vocabulary and music, this whimsical yet insightful work is sure to amuse and captivate the audience.

Photo by Brand Murray.

Renay Aumiller grew up in Raleigh and studied dance primarily at the Cary Ballet Conservatory and Enloe Magnet High School. From there, she went on to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she received her B.A. in Dance in 2004. Upon graduation, Aumiller continued to choreograph and perform in numerous venues across the state, including seven self-produced events from 2004-2006. She has performed in works by Erika Randall, Renata Sheppard, Esteban Donoso, Laura Chiaramonte, BJ Sullivan, Gerri Houlihan, Tere O’Connor, Ashlee Ramsey, Cara Clark, and Laura Arrington. Aumiller is currently an M.F.A. candidate in Dance and a teaching assistant at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Being a lover of big-movement, Aumiller is currently experimenting with minimalism and stillness within choreography. The piece she will present, “Paper Princess—April 18th,” is a study of these movement concepts and was born from an image Aumiller had while thinking about her daily activities.

Photo by Benjamin Roy.

Rodger Belman currently lives in Greenville, NC where he is an assistant professor in the School of Theatre and Dance at East Carolina University, and artistic director of Rodger Belman Dance. He moved to NC in the fall of 2004 from NYC where he had taught, choreographed and performed since 1989. He toured the U.S. and abroad as a member of Laura Dean Dancers and Musicians from 1989 until 1994. He also performed in the companies of Twyla Tharp, Mark Taylor, Rachel Lambert, Joy Kellman, Fred Darsow, Freefall, and Kristin Jackson Dance. He has taught and choreographed for George Mason University, Mary Washington College, University of Georgia, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, The Dance Theater of Harlem, The Milwaukee Ballet, Kaleidoscope and Ballet Pensacola, and the NYC Board of Education. He is a reconstructor of Laura Dean's signature work, Sky Light (1982), and has staged it on several universities throughout the U.S., and is currently staging it at the American Dance Festival for the Past/Forward program. His own choreography was presented throughout the state of North Carolina this year as part of the North Carolina Dance Festival Tour 2006-07. He most recently appeared at the Underexposed Festival at Dixon Place in NYC. An excerpt of his Fate (2006) will be performed this summer at the ADF on the Acts to Follow program. He holds a MFA in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Belman and Hae Young Oh will perform an excerpt from “Fate” to music by Amalia Rodrigues.

photo by Dan Merlo Duane Cyrus is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Director of Cyrus Art Production. Cyrus has performed with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Martha Graham, The Lion King, and Carousel, and has toured both domestically and internationally with Cyrus Art Production. Cyrus is co-author and editor of the book Vital Grace—The Black Male Dancer, a photographic celebration of black men in dance. A graduate of the Juilliard School (B.F.A.) and the University of Illinois (M.F.A.), Cyrus is a recipient of the Princess Grace Foundation Emerging Artist award.
“Fruit Flows From Root” is a dance work that explores the concept of returning to some form of the essential self through movement and voice. The dancers, dressed in suits, twist and undulate through a journey of discovery that begs the question of choice in our society, as well as the questions of individuality that exist beneath the surface in a society where a mask of similarity is all too often adorned. The dancers’ movements can be seen as responding to the vocalizations and sounds made by the singing artist—sounds that are unfettered by the constructs of language and reflect a call from beyond time and the limits of society.

Photo by Dan Merlo.

photo by Roland Elliot E.E. Balcos, Artistic Director of E.E. Motion, is from Minneapolis and has been dancing professionally for over 20 years. As a performer he has toured nationally and internationally as a member of such companies as Shapiro & Smith Dance, Demetrius Klein Dance Company, and Zenon Dance Company, and has worked with nationally known choreographers including Danny Buraczeski, Ping Chong, Sean Curran, David Dorfman, Joe Goode, Dwight Rhoden, David Rousseve, Yacov Sharir, Stephanie Skura, and Bill Young. He has been awarded grants for dance and choreography from the Minnesota State Arts Board, Jerome Foundation, Asian American Renaissance, Missouri State University, and by the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His choreographic works have been presented in such venues as the Walker Art Center and Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis, Joyce/Soho and St. Mark’s Church in New York City, the Folly Theatre in Kansas City, and at numerous dance festivals and universities nationally. Balcos has a B.A. in Music from The Colorado College and an M.F.A. in Dance from The University of Iowa.
Balcos’s newest modern dance work is a trio currently titled “So Far.” The final product is not one that can be described per se, as the process is one that takes on meaning through possibility and circumstance, what is happening in the world, and what is happening in the lives and in the relationships the dancers have in space, time, and energy. Its style has a dynamic nuance and athletic physicality that is both elegant and raw. It is created with spatial design and a musicality that expresses an engaging and moving picture.

Photo by Roland Elliot.

Footnotes Tap Ensemble is a non-profit professional tap company that was founded in July 2002. The Ensemble’s mission is to promote, educate, and perform this truly unique American dance art through annual ensemble concerts, community concerts for the underserved, and dance workshops. Footnotes has over 3,000 annual audience members and performs once a month at a broad variety of venues both locally and nationally. Highlights from last season include a performance with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones at the Carolina Theater in Durham and Bantapaba, a concert produced by Footnotes with guest artists the African American Dance Ensemble and glorydive. In August 2006, Footnotes performed in Chicago for the Chicago Human Rhythm Project. Most recently, Footnotes performed with the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble in a collaborative historic concert, Rhythm in Time, which premiered at the Carrboro ArtsCenter on December 10, 2006, and was performed as part of the first annual Roxboro Jazz Festival in April 2007. The Ensemble looks forward to an exciting 2007-2008 season and is planning a concert series called Live Rhythms, which will take place in September in Chapel Hill and in March in Durham. The company will continue to make appearances throughout the year, including the ADF’s Acts To Follow, Relay for Life, and the Triangle Dance Festival.
Footnotes is an all-adult dance company fueled by dancers who love to tap and push themselves both physically and artistically through dance. The Ensemble also performs and teaches to share skills and love of dance with others. Currently, the company is made up of twelve dancers and two guest dancers. The dancers are racially and ethnically diverse individuals who enjoy partnering with live musicians and other dance groups. As part of the educational mission, Footnotes passes on historic choreography to the community and educates the audience about the history of the great tap artists from the 1930s to the present. Workshops taught across North Carolina, called Classics Day, act to educate the community and preserve our rich tap heritage by teaching such classic tap dances as the Shim Sham by Leonard Reed, and Laura by Buster Brown. Ensemble concerts include an historic section that educates our audience about classic tap dances and the choreographers who invented the steps.
The Ensemble is the only professional, non-profit, repertory adult tap dance company in North Carolina. Footnotes dances on average once a month in the community, mostly for the underserved. There are very few adult tap companies in the United States that have been continually active and have a full repertory of performance material. Footnotes has been performing regularly for over five years and has continually maintained and updated a full performance repertory. The collaboration with other dance styles and music, including African dance, modern dance, jazz bands, rock bands, and drums, also serves to make the company unique.
Footnotes will present two pieces at Acts to Follow. “What's On Tap” is an a cappella piece that plays with rhythms and their relationship to the dance. “The Shim Sham/Dorothy's Shim Sham” is also performed a cappella. Leonard Reed danced as a team with Willie Bryant and created this famous dance that is done by tap dancers and swing dancers around the world. Dorothy Wasserman created a rhythmic new version of “The Shim Sham” that was performed in the 1989 movie Tap. Footnotes will perform each and then put them together to make an amazing polyrhythm.

Photo by Bill Russ.

photo by Steve Clarke Niki Juralewicz, Artistic Director of jwalk, is a New Yorker. A lifelong dancer, she received her B.F.A. from the State University of New York at Purchase with honors. She was a member of the Trisha Brown Company from 1987-1996, where she performed as a principle dancer, soloist, and worked with Trisha in choreographic development to create some of the company’s most outstanding roles.
Juralewicz’s specialty is training professional dancers. She has trained professional dancers and companies in Japan, Belgium, France, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Mexico, and New York City for such companies as Shizouka Performing Arts Center Dance Company, Japan, and P.A.R.T.S.-Anna Teresa De Keersmaeker, Belgium. Her teaching influences include Kinesiology, The Susan Klein Technique, Alexander Technique, T’ai Chi, and Chi Gong. Since 2004, Juralewicz has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, a recent Guest Artist at the North Carolina School of the Arts, and currently teaches at the Durham Arts Council.
ELEMENTAL is Juralewicz’s newest. Three women fold, flip, twist, and support one another through tender, vicious, and playful solos, trios, and duets.

Photo by Steve Clarke.

Ashlee Ramsey obtained a B.F.A. in Dance in 2004 from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She currently choreographs, performs, and teaches in Greensboro. Her work has been shown in Cary, Carrboro, Durham, Greensboro, and Raleigh. She has the toured the North Carolina Dance Festival for the 2006-2007 season with the John Gamble Dance Theatre, as well as performed and choreographed for the 2007 Greensboro Fringe Festival. In 2006 she produced the multi-choreographer show Physical Initiation at the Cultural Arts Center in Greensboro. She has collaborated with dancers Renay Aumiller, Jennifer McNure, and Kathryn Ullom, as well as live poet Clement Mallory and the musical group Phon. She has also had the privilege of dancing for Amy Beasley and Sean Sullivan and looks forward to working with Wake Forest dance professor Christina Tsoules Soriano. She currently teaches dance for City Arts—Greensboro and for Artistic Motion School of Dance.
Kathryn Ullom received her B.A. in Modern Dance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2004. Since then, she has performed in John Gamble Dance Theater, Jan Van Dyke Dance Group, and with numerous independent artists throughout the North Carolina area. Ullom has also presented her work in Raleigh, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Carrboro, and Brooklyn, NY. She has collaborated with Janna Blum, Campbell McMillan, and Ashlee Ramsey. Along with performing, Ullom has taught dance classes in Greensboro, Raleigh, and Boone, where she was a Visiting Artist at Appalachian State University in November 2006. She was recently certified in Pilates Matwork and looks forward to becoming certified in Pilates Equipment in the near future.
Ramsey and Kathryn Ullom will present “No, I Agree,” a duet about the multitudes of dialogues taking place when two people are having a conversation. What are the unspoken words in the mind of the participants? What is being said, what should have been said, and what are we really trying to say?

Katherine Kiefer Stark grew up outside of Philadelphia. After graduating from Connecticut College in 2002, Katherine moved to New York City where she danced with Luis Lara Malvacias, Meghan McCoy, and Deganit Shemy. Katherine arrived in North Carolina in December 2005. In North Carolina, she has danced with Immediate Theatre, collaborated with choreographer Courtney Greer, and become a member of Choreo Collective. She is also earning her M.F.A. in choreography at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Katherine has presented her own work in Connecticut, Philadelphia, New York, and North Carolina.
“The Pudding was Served Clumsily, Again” is a quartet choreographed by Katherine Kiefer Stark. The quartet explores movement gestures and a range of quirky behavior compiled within a specific thematic structure.

Tangophilia was founded in 2003 by Jason Laughlin and Gülden Özen to promote the Argentine Tango as a social dance, an art form, and as a cultural phenomenon. Laughlin and Özen have been teaching numerous classes, workshops and hosting social dance events in the Triangle and beyond (North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and New York) since 1998 (formerly BailaTango/NC), including organizing and hosting the first tango festival (Festival de Tangophilia) in the Carolinas, which drew participants from all over the U.S., Canada, and Germany!
Tangophilia has performed at several festivals and events including stage performances to live music at Duke University Reynolds Theater (with Tango Camerata), Carrboro Arts Center (with Tango Lorca), Meredith College (with the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra), and Holly Springs Cultural Center (with The Free Spirits of the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra). Laughlin and Özen have also collaborated with Choreo Collective to create the tango-modern dance fusion “Intersection” to Astor Piazzolla's music, which was presented at Acts to Follow in 2006.
Aside from their teaching and dancing activities, Laughlin and Özen have been tirelessly studying tango for the last nine years with world-renowned maestros that they have hosted in the Triangle, always focusing on taking their dancing and teaching skills to the next level.
In July 2006, Laughlin and Özen were awarded with “The Indies: 2006 Triangle Arts Award” by the Independent Weekly honoring “their dedication to building artistic communities that are both challenging and inclusive, constantly pushing their work to bring greater richness to local audiences and, in the process, making the Triangle an ever greater treasure of artistic opportunity for audiences and fellow artists alike.”
Argentine Tango is a dance of communication and improvisation, and learning to tango can be like learning any other language. Laughlin and Özen build the tango from the foundations of leading and following (grammar and parts of speech) to better prepare their dancers to dance comfortably anywhere, with anybody, in any style. Instead of memorizing endless sequences of step patterns (the phrasebook), Laughlin and Özen encourage their students to focus on learning the techniques and elements that will allow them to dance their own steps, to improvise in the moment, and communicate with their partners through the dance. Choreography in tango is not independent of improvisational techniques and mastery of musicality. Dynamics and connection with the partner that are crucial elements for a social dancer as well. For their Acts to Follow performance, Tangophilia will be joined by a trio of musicians from The Free Spirits of the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra.

Photo by Lissa Gotwals.