Yunek Family Gift Garners “Double Exposure” for Department of Dance Generous donation funds choreographic residency and annual world premieres at KSU Dance By Kathie Beckett
Student dancer Taia Galloway; photo by Lauren Kress.
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hen Jay and Debra Yunek decided to honor their late uncle, Glenn Conner, and his partner and choreographer Eleo Pomare, with a generous gift to Kennesaw State University’s (KSU) Department of Dance, they could not have known the impact that it would make, not only on emerging choreographers, but also KSU students. The Pomare-Connor Memorial Endowed Fund for Dance now funds the Eleo Pomare-Glenn Conner Choreographic Residency Endowment, which brings two nationally curated choreographers to the Department of Dance each summer to create original work. The annual KSU Choreographic Residency program honors the late benefactors who were luminaries of the dance world. Pomare, who passed away in 2008, was known for developing innovative choreography that deals with social inequality and injustice. The funds promote and preserve Pomare’s legacy through the cultivation of new choreographic voices in the KSU Choreographic Residency program.
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Two acclaimed choreographers, Annalee Traylor and Omar Román de Jesus, were the first artists chosen to spend four weeks with students and alumni at KSU Dance. They created two new world premieres in “Double Exposure,” both performed in the beginning of the fall semester, at the Marietta Dance Theater. The emerging choreographers developed their unique voices during the residency, as the Endowment provided a budget to produce their original choreographic works, plus an honorarium to support housing, travel and living expenses. Competition for the two spots was fierce, with only two selected from 52 well-qualified applicants. Annually, a screening committee of university and community professionals reviews the work of emerging choreographers from a national pool of applicants to select two individuals for the fourweek KSU Choreographic Residency. For summer 2022, the committee selected choreographers Tsai Hsi Hung and Chuck Wilt. (Continued to next page.)
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