The American Dance Festival (ADF) under the direction of Executive Director Jodee Nimerichter hosts its main summer dance courses including Summer Dance Intensive, Pre-Professional Dance Intensive, and the Dance Professional Workshops. It also hosts a six-week summer festival of

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

performances, currently held at Duke University and the Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham, North Carolina. Several site-specific performances have also taken place outdoors at Duke Gardens and the NC Art Museum in Raleigh, NC.

History

In 1934 the Bennington Festival was established as a summer program at

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

where

pioneers

Hanya Holm Hanya Holm (born Johanna Eckert; 3 March 1893 – 3 November 1992) is known as one of the "Big Four" founders of American modern dance. She was a dancer, choreographer, and above all, a dance educator. Early life, connection with Mary Wigman B ...

Martha Graham Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She ...

Doris Humphrey Doris Batcheller Humphrey (October 17, 1895 – December 29, 1958) was an American dancer and choreographer of the early twentieth century. Along with her contemporaries Martha Graham and Katherine Dunham, Humphrey was one of the second g ...

and

Charles Weidman Charles Weidman (July 22, 1901 – July 15, 1975) was a renowned choreographer, modern dancer and teacher. He is well known as one of the pioneers of modern dance in America. He wanted to break free from the traditional movements of dance for ...

came together to teach dance technique and perform new works. For one year, in 1939, Bennington moved the program to

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was r ...

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, but it was back in Vermont by 1940. It ceased to exist after the summer of 1942. In 1948, a program based on the Bennington model was established at

Connecticut College Connecticut College (Conn College or Conn) is a private liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. It is a residential, four-year undergraduate institution with nearly all of its approximately 1,815 students living on campus. The college ...

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decades ...

and called the New York University – Connecticut College School of Dance / American Dance Festival. In 1969, newly appointed director Charles Reinhart shortened the name to, simply, the American Dance Festival. After 30 years at the Connecticut College campus, the festival moved, in 1978, to the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Since its founding in 1934, The American Dance Festival has been the home to over six hundred and forty premieres, more than three hundred and forty commissions, and over fifty reconstructions by artists such as Martha Graham, José Limón, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Alvin Ailey, Twyla Tharp, Pilobolus, Meredith Monk, Martha Clarke, and many more. Charles Reinhert was the director of the American Dance Festival from 1969-2011. In January 2012 Jodee Nimerichter was appointed director after having been a co-director with Charles from 2007-2011, and Associate Director from 2003-2007. Modern dance choreographers and companies who have given performances or taught there include

José Limón José Arcadio Limón (January 12, 1908 – December 2, 1972) was a dancer and choreographer from Mexico and who developed what is now known as 'Limón technique'. In the 1940s, he founded the José Limón Dance Company (now the Limón Dan ...

, Pearl Lang, Bella Lewitzky, Sophie Maslow, Alwin Nikolais,

Merce Cunningham Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...

, Ruth Currier, Erick Hawkins, Paul Taylor,

Alvin Ailey Alvin Ailey Jr. (January 5, 1931 – December 1, 1989) was an American dancer, director, choreographer, and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). He created AAADT and its affiliated Alvin Ailey American Dance Cente ...

Twyla Tharp Twyla Tharp (; born July 1, 1941) is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1966 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance. Her work often uses classical music, jazz, and contemporary pop music. Fr ...

, Betty Jones, Paul Draper,

William Bales William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conqu ...

, Eiko & Koma, Justin Tornow, Seán Curran,

Wang Ramirez Wang Ramirez is a contemporary dance duo composed of Honji Wang and Sébastien Ramirez. The duo formed in 2007 in Perpignan, France. Their dance language is an outgrowth of hip hop meld with influences from contemporary dance, ballet and martial a ...

, Maguy Marin, Pilobolus and

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker Anne Teresa, Baroness De Keersmaeker (, born 1960 in Mechelen, Belgium, grew up in Wemmel) is a contemporary dance choreographer. The dance company constructed around her, , was in residence at La Monnaie in Brussels from 1992 to 2007. Biography ...

RIOULT DANCE NY, Lines Ballet Company, Shen Wei Dance Arts, LMNO3, Heidi Latsky Dance, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. In 1978, Madonna, who was at the time a dance major at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, was a summer dance student at the American Dance Festival.http://www.charlotteobserver.com/entertainment/music-news-reviews/article23418204.html Numerous dance works have premiered at the American Dance Festival, many of them commissioned by ADF. The largest theater in the Carolinas, the Durham Performing Arts Center, was built partly as a showcase for the festival. In 2016, the American Dance Festival with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Dances, commissioned Pascal Rioult's ''Cassandra's Curse'' with music by Richard Danielpour. ADF has given scholarships and awards out to accomplished dance figures. The Scholarship is entitled the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award and is $50,000 given to one distinguished choreographer per year. These recipients include Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Ohad Naharin, Pina Bausch, Twyla Tharp, Jose Limon, and others. ADF also awards distinguished dance teachers. This award is entitled the Balasaraswati/Joy Anne Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching. Recipients of this award include Gerri Houlihan, Gus Solomons Jr., Donna Faye Burchield, Jacylnn Villamil, Irene Dowd and others. The American Dance Festival also offers internships during their summer session for both Arts Administration and Production. Interns are able to take one dance class per day and then the remainder of their day is filled with working in the ADF offices for those interested in Arts Administration, or learning the tools and skills of stage hand work and spending 40+ in the theater by being on the crew for every professional company throughout the festival. Both internships include a full tuition scholarship to the Six Week school. Applicants must apply for these internships, and selection is very competitive. The American Dance Festival also offers classes year round in the Samuel H. Scripps Studio. The Studios offer classes for all ages and levels throughout the calendar year. During the summer session, the studio is used throughout the Six Week School in addition to spaces provided from Duke University. In addition to the summer sessions and year-round programs based in Durham, NC, ADF also hosts a Winter Intensive in both New York City and Pasadena, CA. Both of these programs are for dancers ages 18+.

References

www.americandancefestival.org https://web.archive.org/web/20180525081328/http://www.rioult.org/cassandras-curse-2016/ https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/arts/dance/american-dance-festival-charles-reinhart-tribute-review.html

External links

American Dance Festival official website
{{authority control Dance festivals in the United States Dance in North Carolina Duke University Festivals in North Carolina Summer festivals Dance schools in the United States Tourist attractions in Durham, North Carolina Culture of Durham, North Carolina Festivals established in 1948

History

Further reading

References

External links