Troy Dancers To Open Alabama Dance Council Show
By: Stephen Crews
Updated: February 1, 2011
The group will perform “Leaving,” a dance choreographed by Nicki Loud, who has choreographed “So You Think You Can Dance – Season 2,” “Dancing with the Stars,” and at the (NYC) Joyce Theater’s Rock n’ Roll Dance show “Revolution.”
The Showcase is the final performance of the Alabama Dance Council’s Alabama Dance Festival, this year featuring the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. The performance begins at 2 p.m. in the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. Tickets for the events are $17 for general admission and $10 for students.
Dancing in “Leaving” are TROY students Patrick Pugh, Adrienne Hicks, Courtney Allen, Kaitlyn Morgan, Sydnii Todd, Stephanie New, Christina Green and Monica Bates.
The festival began on Thursday, and includes master classes for pre-professional and professional dancers, said Deborah Hicks, TDRE’s coordinator.
On Thursday, 12 of the group’s 15 dancers participated in an invitation-only workshop by Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
“Merce Cunningham Dance Company has had a profound impact on American art and the avant-garde since its founding in 1953,” Hick said.
Guided by Merce Cunningham’s radical approach to space, time, and technology, the Company has forged a distinctive style, reflecting Cunningham’s technique and illuminating the near limitless possibility for human movement. For more than 50 years, MCDC’s collaborations with groundbreaking artists from all disciplines have redefined the way audiences experience the visual and performing arts.
Following Cunningham’s death in 2009, the Company embarked on its final, two-year world tour. The “Legacy Tour” is a celebration of Cunningham’s lifetime of artistic achievement. Currently encompassing over 40 cities, the Tour will culminate in New York City on Dec. 31, 2011. The Company performs at 8 p.m. tonight in BJCC, and is the first U.S. stop for the Tour in 2011.
TDRE showcases the University’s dance program within the Department of Theatre and Dance and is sponsored by the College of the Communication and Fine Arts. The Alabama Dance Festival, the largest dance event in Alabama, celebrates the diversity of dance and provides community engagement in the art of dance. Now in its fourteenth year, the four-day Festival features six performances, sixteen free community dance classes, and sixty-nine master classes for professional and pre-professional dancers.
