10 minute read
Artist Engagements
Eiko Otake
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Pilobolus
ShaLeigh Dance Works
IN-PERSON, OUTDOOR PERFORMANCE SERIES
In 2021, ADF curated a series of in-person, outdoor dance experiences that invited artists back to the stage and brought live performance back to our community. ADF presented 4 events that supported a total of 114 artists and reached a total of 3,934 audience members.
The Stars are Out at Mystic Farm & Distillery
ADF’s presentation of The Stars are Out at Mystic Farm & Distillery in Durham was the first in-person event of the season and featured four local dance companies/artists and premiered the ADF-commissioned film and exclusive cut of tHe aGe oF aNXieTy by dendy/donovan projects. The evening featured live performances by ShaLeigh Dance Works, Nia Wilson, Gaspard&Dancers, and Soul Struck. In total, the sold-out evenings supported 21 local artists and 17 additional artists who performed in and created tHe aGe Of aNXieTy.
Chris Yon and Taryn Griggs’ Pairs in the Park
ADF commissioned and presented Chris Yon and Taryn Griggs’ Pairs in the Park, a site-specific work created for the North Carolina Museum of Art’s Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park. The work opened with a duet by the choreographers before audience members were led in groups to experience five different duets at fabulous sculptures throughout the park. Twenty North Carolinabased dancers were selected to participate in the program. The four sold-out performances reached a total of 433 audience members.
Eiko Otake at Maplewood Cemetery
Continuing her work A Body in Places, Eiko Otake brought A Body in a Cemetery to Durham’s Maplewood Cemetery following a residency at ADF’s Samuel H. Scripps Studios. The work provided a place and time for audiences to gather to meditate on the cycle of life and hold space for the lives lost during the pandemic. Over 200 attended the breathtaking performances. ADF dedicated Eiko’s performances to the late Susan Broili, a dance writer who documented much of ADF’s history since its move to North Carolina.
Together We Dance
In a grand culmination of our in-person, outdoor performance series, ADF presented Together We Dance, a week-long festival that brought world-renowned companies back to the North Carolina stage. Together We Dance was presented at the North Carolina Museum of Art’s Joseph M. Bryan Jr. Amphitheater and featured ADF-commissioned world premieres, historic works, and company debuts by A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, Pilobolus, Molissa Fenley, Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group, BODYTRAFFIC, and Paul Taylor Dance Company. In total, Together We Dance reached 3,037 audience members through 8 performances.
Pairs in the Park
Tatiana Baganova. Photo by Gleb Makhnev.
TRANSCONTINENTAL COMMISSIONING PROGRAM
The COVID-19 pandemic transformed the way the arts are realized and how cross-cultural collaborations take place. Embracing the beauty and power of dance to unite, ADF launched the Transcontinental Commissioning Program that facilitated collaborations between domestic and international artists.
Bluebeard by Tatiana Baganova featuring Provincial Dances Theatre (Russia) and Charles Slender-White (US)
In a digital age in which the world is everyone’s stage, Tatiana Baganova increased the stakes of the presentation of her latest work Bluebeard by livestreaming the performance across a 12-hour time difference to international audiences. The live production danced by Baganova’s company Provincial Dances Theatre was viewed by in-person audiences in Yekaterinburg while Charles Slender-White’s simultaneous performance happening in San Francisco was projected into the work’s landscape. Provincial Dances Theatre was joined by a live audience of 394 over two nights while 210 US audience members were provided access to the livestreamed performance and its recording.
Untold Secrets of the Heart Chamber by Gregory Maqoma (South Africa) and Marc Bamuthi Joseph (US)
In a pandemic-backdropped dialogue, choreographer Gregory Maqoma and poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph met in the fall of 2020 to begin discussing the matter of Black life as filtered through 25 years of South African democracy and one particularly hot summer on the American racial timeline. The result is a piece that connects these world-scaled events to the intimacy of the artists’ respective homes and sanctuary spaces. Untold Secrets of the Heart Chamber is a dance film shot on two continents in the time of COVID-19. Edited by David Szlasa and performed by Maqoma and Joseph, the work ponders democracy, what grandmothers leave behind, and the safety extended from Black fathers to their sons. The premiere was followed by a Q&A with Maqoma and Joseph moderated by Gina Belafonte and Jefferson Tshabalala. The virtual work was viewed by over 800 audience members.
+972 by Dana Ruttenberg (Israel) featuring Netta Yerushalmy (US)
Coming together in Tel Aviv, two Israeli artists, Dana Ruttenberg and Netta Yerushalmy, explored their similarities and differences during their first collaboration. The “digital art object” +972 captures their “blind date” through journaling, video, and sound in English and Hebrew. As the dance world came to an existential halt, Ruttenberg and Yerushalmy created an intimate film, allowing the camera to catch sight of where they found themselves and each other during a delicate moment in time. The premiere was followed by an interview with Ruttenberg and Yerushalmy moderated by Jesse Zaritt. The virtual work was viewed by 336 audience members.
Brian Brooks and BODYTRAFFIC
ADF commissioned Brian Brooks to create a new duet on L.A.-based repertory company BODYTRAFFIC. Brooks and BODYTRAFFIC company dancers Joseph Davis and Tiare Keeno were hosted for a residency ahead of the world premiere of Notes On Fall as part of ADF’s Together We Dance outdoor festival.
Helen Simoneau Danse
ADF hosted a residency for Helen Simoneau Danse to support the creation of the ADF-commissioned work, Delicate Power. As part of the residency, the company offered a masterclass and informal showing.
NC Artists
Supporting our local community, ADF provided residencies for NC companies including ShaLeigh Dance Works and
Gaspard&Dancers and choreographers developing new works: Kristen Taylor Duncan, Ronald West, and Stacy Wolfson. These were made possible with generous support from the Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation and in part by a grant from South Arts with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. OTHER ARTIST ENGAGEMENTS
ADF continued to find creative ways to support artists and engage audiences through virtual presentations, long-distance collaborations, and partnerships with local institutions.
Rennie Harris FUNKEDIFIED
In 2019, ADF audiences raved about the presentation of Rennie Harris FUNKEDIFIED. Following up on that enthusiasm, ADF and Rennie Harris produced an edited film version of the work that was accompanied by an introduction by Rennie and an interview with Rennie moderated by Robert Battle, artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Following the virtual presentation, ADF partnered with schools across North Carolina to share the program with students. In total, the project was shared with 49 partnering schools and organizations and reached just under 5,000 students.
LONG DISTANCE DANCE DIALOGUES
Long Distance Dance Dialogues is an ongoing online series of exchanges between Joanna Kotze and 12 dancers/choreographers from around the world and throughout the United States, conducted between January and December 2021. Each exchange begins with a video interview, followed by sharing one minute or less of movement, as a relay, from one dancer to the next, linking the dancers together through the making, learning, and documenting of dance. At the end of the year, a film bringing together all parts of the relay will be shared as a record of the project. Long Distance Dance Dialogues participants have included Omagbitse Omagbemi (Berlin, Germany), Liyabuya Gongo (Johannesburg, South Africa), Stuart Shugg (Dunoon, New South Wales, Australia), Alain Sinandja (Kobe, Japan), Björn Säfsten (Stockholm, Sweden), Megumi Kokuba (Toronto, Canada), Milka Djordjevich (Los Angeles), Yebel Gallegos (New York City), and Sarah Beth Oppenheim (Silver Spring, MD).
RESIST COVID / TAKE 6!
The outdoor exhibition and public awareness campaign titled RESIST COVID / TAKE 6! by nationally renowned artist Carrie Mae Weems was presented by the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University in collaboration with Duke Arts and Duke Health. The project emphasized the disproportionate impact of the deadly virus on the lives of communities of color. In addition to large-scale banners, window clings, posters, and street signs posted throughout Durham, ADF partnered with the Nasher to select and film 12 NC-based dancers’ responses to the campaign featured at multiple locations. These eight one-minute dance films have accumulated over 4,000 views.
RESIST COVID / TAKE 6! Dancers Tanu Sharma ShaLeigh Dance Works Laura Gutierrez Alyah Baker Amanda Edwards Courtney Liu Kahlila Brown Tony Johnson and Jessica Wooten Kevin Higgins Vania Claiborne and Nia Sadler
Screenshot from Movement Exchange #9: Yebel Gallegos to Sarah Beth Oppenheim. The Stars are out at Mystic Farm & Distillery was presented in partnership with Mystic Farm & Distillery with support from the Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation and the City of Durham. Additional support was provided by Susan and Michael Hershfield.
tHe aGe oF aNXieTy by dendy/donovan projects was commissioned by ADF with support from the Doris Duke/ SHS Foundations Award for New Works.
Pairs in the Park by Chris Yon and Taryn Griggs was commissioned by ADF with support from the The Forest at Duke and SHS Foundation. Additional support was provided by Adams Chetwood Wealth Management Group. Eiko Otake’s ADF residency and performances of A Body in a Cemetery were supported by The Jones Dance Education Scholarship.
ADF’s Together We Dance outdoor festival was made possible with support from SHS Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, North Carolina Arts Council, City of Durham, North Carolina Museum of Art, Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Durham Arts Council, Fox Family Foundation, The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, Duke Health, Jewelsmith, and American Tobacco Campus.
ADF’s Kids Night Out ticket program was made possible with support from Jody and John Arnhold/Arnhold Foundation. As Yet Untitled by Kyle Abraham was commissioned by ADF with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Works. The restaging of Megawatt by Pilobolus was supported by SHS Foundation and in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. The presentation of SNAP by Micaela Taylor was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The presentation of State of Darkness by Molissa Fenley was supported in part by Ann and Lex Alexander. Bluebeard by Tatiana Baganova featuring Provincial Dances Theatre and Charles Slender-White was commissioned by ADF with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Works, Trust for Mutual Understanding, and the Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation.
Untold Secrets of the Heart Chamber by Gregory Maqoma and Marc Bamuthi Joseph was commissioned by the American Dance Festival and DANCECleveland. ADF support was provided by the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Work with additional support provided by RBC Wealth Management. DANCECleveland support was provided by The Cleveland Foundation, Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, The Ohio Arts Council, and The George Gund Foundation. +972 by Dana Ruttenberg was commissioned and presented by ADF with support from Jewish for Good, Office of Cultural Affairs, Consulate General of Israel in New York, and Consulate General of Israel to the Southeast.
Notes On Fall by Brian Brooks was commissioned by ADF with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Works and in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Helen Simonau Danse residency at ADF was funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
The ADF presentation of the special edited version of Rennie Harris PUREMOVEMENT American Street Dance Theater’s Rennie Harris FUNKEDIFIED and companion interview was made possible with support from Jody and John Arnhold/ Arnhold Foundation and Susan and Dr. Michael Hershfield. Additional support was provided by the City of Durham.
