COMMUNITY

The 2009 Project Dance activities were made possible with major support from the SHS Foundation and generous contributions from Duke University Spanish Service-Learning, Duke Latino/a Studies, the City of Durham, the Durham Cultural Master Plan, the Duke Energy Foundation, and the Durham Merchants Association Charitable Foundation.

The ADF continues to dedicate time and resources to ensuring that all members of our community have the opportunity to explore their full potential through dance. From Community Day at the Nasher Museum of Art to site-specific work at the renovated Golden Belt, the ADF encouraged participants to take advantage of the many benefits of dance.

2009 ADF Project Dance

• Over 600 people attended the fourth annual Community Day, hosted by the ADF and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Activities included an African Dance and Drumming Workshop with Stafford Berry and Osei Appiagyei and tours of the museum. Paperhand Puppet Intervention, The Scrap Exchange, and storyteller Faye Stanley were also on hand, providing captivating entertainment for children of all ages.
• Twelve Creative Movement Workshops served over 230 area youth, ranging in age from two to 21. Workshop instructors Jody Cassell, Gaspard Louis, Catherine Miller, Sherone Price, Khalid Saleem, and Katy Schoetzow taught at a variety of locations throughout the Triangle, including the Duke Hospital – Congenital Heart Defect Symposium, Lyon Park Recreation Center, Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School, Walltown Neighborhood Center, and Weaver Street Recreation Center.
• The ADF is pleased to continue offering creative movement workshops during the Festival’s off-season and throughout the calendar year as part of our new year-round Community Dance Project. In 2008 – 2009, the project has already included residencies at Walltown Children’s Theatre and the Hayti Heritage Center, as well as workshops at Rogers-Herr Middle School, Durham School of the Arts, Campus Hills Recreation Center, Lyon Park Recreation Center and the Walltown Neighborhood Center.
• Through ADF’s Experience Dance Program,126 complimentary performance tickets were distributed to organizations that work with individuals, families, youth, and seniors in need and who otherwise could not attend performances.

Hispanic Initiative Project

Director of ADF’s Creative Movement Outreach Program and former Pilobolus dancer Gaspard Louis, taught classes to 41 students, ages 5–12, over a two-week period at El Centro Hispano in conjunction with the center’s summer camps. El Centro Hispano is a grassroots community based organization dedicated to strengthening the Latino community and improving the quality of life of Latino residents in Durham and the surrounding area. ADF also produced bi-lingual postcards and programs this season and Children’s Matinee performance tickets were distributed to the workshop students and their families as a part of the initiative.

Site Specific Works

Dendy’s site-specific work was the perfect way to anoint DPAC as a place for modern dance at the beginning of the ADF’s first season in this venue. The Herald Sun

The Festival presented two site-specific works choreographed by North Carolina native- dance and theater artist Mark Dendy. Would you please restate your answer in the form of a question? sent the audience on a treasure hunt for dances small and large throughout the Durham Performing Arts Center prior to mainstage performances by Shen Wei Dance Arts on June 18, 19, and 20. Boasting over 80 performers, many drawn from the North Carolina arts community, the piece explored the audience’s proximity to the dancers without the typical proscenium.

The performance drew loud applause and stomps, implying a request for an encore. The Herald Sun

Over 1,500 people attended Golden Belt, Dendy’s second site-specific work, performed by ADF students on July 17 and 18. The event was free and open to the public, with the July 17 performance coinciding with downtown Durham’s Third Friday festivities. Dendy utilized a stunning top floor space in the newly renovated arts complex to create a piece that explored the social and industrial history of the old textile mill.

photos by Sara D. Davis

Life. Love. Pursuit. photos by Alyssa Harrison

Members of the ADF and Durham communities came together on July 12 for a site-inspired performance at the stunning Sarah P. Duke Gardens. Choreographed and directed by Rodger Belman, Life. Love. Pursuit. featured 89-year-old former Doris Humphrey dancer Susan Gittler, as well as 20+ ADF students and community dancers.