Year in Review

2020–2021 GRADUATES

BFA Emily Alderman Taylor Ballard Gabrielle Barnes Casey Copeland Fiona Dorr Cara Eichen Helen Grieder Katelyn Hamilton Ellen Kilby Jamin Koster Brooker Koster Peyton Lemen Madison Minkley Havilah Moore Hannah Peddicord Celine Seiber Ceylon Seiber Aaron Smith Evelyn Washburn Maria White Rian Wood MFA Leah Bailey Annali Clevenger Courtenay Thorne

MA Ariel Douglas Giltrecia Head Scott Lindenberg

Above left: School of Dance Professor Tim Glenn screened his work Triptych and discussed the process of designing, costuming, and choreographing. Glenn was joined by original cast members, FSU SoD BFA Alums Andra Gold and Kristen Bernier.

Above right: Annali Rose presented her Magic of Metamorphosis: A Journey through Liminality virtually in a three-part feature. In this presentation, three short vignettes featured the themes within metamorphosis: time, transition, and regeneration.

Left: School of Dance Assistant Professors Kehinde Ishangi and Tiffany Rhynard discussed their film-in-progress Not My Enemy. Not My Enemy paints a picture of the traumatic and dehumanizing impact of the Vietnam War through the experiences of African-American soldiers.

The School of Dance was able to present a number of socially distanced alternatives to theatre performances including outside showings, virtual events, and video showings.

VISITING GUEST ARTISTS

Ronald K. Brown photo by Matt Karas Juel D. Lane photo by Travis Geter

Mayte Natalio photo by Steven-Trumon Gray

The Show Must Go On: A COVID Friendly Student Showing was an event organized by the Student Advisory Council for safely-distanced in-person and virtual audiences. Due to rain, the event transitioned to a well-attended virtual only gathering.

Our BFA Seniors presented their Capstone projects, Boundless: Screen Dance Showings. Under the direction of Associate Professor Gwen Welliver, the Senior class showed creativity and resilience while continuing to make moving art. Congratulations Seniors on your hard work.

Leah Bailey’s Heartwood confronted the disconnect between ballet and the environment. Through film and live performance, six dancers explored balletic traditions set to music from Caroline Shaw’s Orange (2019) performed by the Attacca Quartet. In search of relevance within balletic structures, Heartwood utilized balletic movement to communicate an urgent contemporary issue: human impact on climate change. Her research explores balletic structures that perpetuate the form’s disconnect from relevance in an effort to reimagine balletic movement that communicates contemporary themes.

MFA Alumni Eboné Amos returned with a virtual viewing of the 2019 MFA Thesis Concert, Let the Church Say on February 23. This work is a tribute to the Sunday morning church services Amos attended growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, and examines her position in the world as a young black woman through the essence of cultural Sunday morning service rituals such as A&B selections, testimony, and benediction. In this immersive work the audience participates as the congregation and goes through a journey to celebrate the unity, faith, and liberation of the black church. After the viewing, Amos discussed current cultural implications of the work and answered live questions from guests.

Lian Thorne presented JAM, an exploration of the felt connections between two Black communities from the viewpoint of a Black Barbadian woman. This work is about experiencing and generating movement as a response to dances of resilience of a different culture, particularly, in this case the African American dance form jam skating. JAM is a physical reaction to how the descendants of enslaved Africans experienced each others’ dances of resilience that developed as a result of slavery.

FSU School of Dance held Looking Back and Thinking Ahead: A Curated Conversation of Black Women in Dance with panelist Assistant Professor Kehinde Ishangi, alum Millicent Marie Johnnie and Melissa Cobblah Gutierrez, and moderated by Dr. La Toya Davis-Craig, in partnership with the Office of the Vice President and The Center for Leadership and Social Change’s Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Week: The Black Women In Our Lives. The event included a video showing of Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s work Give Your Hands to Struggle.

MA Candidate Scott Lindenberg presented Scary Fairies, a virtual fantasy play space and installation built from collaborative fantasy with Ahri (Linxin “Kisa,” Li), Jed (Jeremy Guyton) and Virginia (Maria White).