Company Wang Ramirez will perform July 7-9 in Reynolds Theater. Photo by Nika Kramer
Read MoreGet ready for summer dancing throughout Durham, colorful buses driving down university streets and a lot of energy on East Campus.
The American Dance Festival launches a new season Thursday with more than 400 dance students arriving for six week of classes, dozens of ADF-commissioned dance performances and special tributes to Durham dance legend Chuck Davis.
A native of Raleigh, Davis is founding director of the African-American Dance Ensemble and a leader in the Durham and North Carolina dance scene for more than four decades. Under his leadership, the ensemble has been ubiquitous.
His long relationship with ADF began in 1972 while the festival was at Connecticut College, and the Chuck Davis Dance Co. was invited for a residency. In 1980 his reputation as one of the foremost teachers and choreographers in the traditional techniques of African dance led ADF to recruit him as an artist-in-residence and to head its outreach program in North Carolina.
“ADF, Durham and the dance world are far richer places today because of Baba Chuck’s love and exuberance for the field,” said ADF director Jodee Nimerichter.
The festival will honor Davis at a 7 p.m. ceremony Thursday at the Durham Performing Arts Center, just prior to the first performance of ADF's 82nd season by Shen Wei Dance Arts.
The Shen Wei Dance Arts concert will mark the 15th anniversary of the company's first appearance at the ADF in 2000. The company, which draws on influences as varied as traditional Chinese culture and arts, European surrealism and American high modernism, will premiere the ADF-commissioned work "UNTITLED #12-2" and re-stage the piece the company is best known for, "Map."
The concert will be the first of more than 60 performances by 31 companies and choreographers from around the world. "We have an electrifying season ahead," Nimerichter said. "What remains central is ADF's core purpose to commission new works while supporting artists throughout their careers."
Other season highlights include Dynamic Duos presenting four ADF-commissioned duets created and danced by eight of today's most captivating dancers; the ADF debuts of Frances' Company Wang Ramirez and Cuba's Ballet Folklórico Cutumba; and one night of humorous and heartfelt stories and dancing with Ira Glass of "This American Life" and Monica Bill Barnes in "Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host."
Performances will take place in downtown Durham in the Durham Performing Arts Center, The Carolina Theatre, Motorco Music Hall and the Cordoba Center for the Arts, and on Duke's campus in the Reynolds Industries Theater and Baldwin Auditorium. Single tickets and subscriptions ranges from $10 to $51 and can be purchased through the ADF website.
As part of the ADF's mission to spread dance to a new generation, the Children's Saturday Matinee series presents three performances designed for a young audience. This year's series will include performances by Pilobolus on June 20, Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca on June 25 and Dough Varone and Dancers on July 25. All shows are at 1 p.m. in the Durham Performing Arts Center.
Other events will highlight dance's close connection to the arts.
On June 28, musicians from the ADF School showcase their musical talent at the ADF Musicians Concert on at 7 p.m. in Baldwin Auditorium.
Over four consecutive Sundays, the Nasher Museum of Art will host the 20th annual International Screendance Festival featuring films that showcase the relationship between cinema and dance. The films will include documentaries, original dance works made specifically for video or film, experimental films and films by dance students. The films will be shown at 2 p.m. on June 28, July 5, July 12 and July 19 at the Nasher.
This year’s festival will also include a Symposium on Teaching Screendance, July 8-10.
In addition to the performances, there is the teaching, described by Nimerichter as "the heart of the festival." Under the direction of Dean Gerri Houlihan and Associate Dean Leah Cox, the ADF school hosts the Six Week School (June 11-July 25), the Three Week School for Young Dancers (July 5-24), and the Dance Professionals Workshops, attracting dance students from around the world.
Students arrive Thursday and will register for classes in Wilson Residence Hall on Duke's East Campus, where most of the classes will be held. More than 70 dance faculty members will teach more than 40 classes a day throughout the school sessions.