Tickets go on sale for the American Dance Festival tomorrow at 10am; the ADF, now in its 75th year since its founding in Vermont, will this year move some of its largest performances from Duke's tired Page Auditorium to the Durham Performing Arts Center downtown.
The Reynolds Industries Theater at Duke will continue to show many of the festival's dance works; Duke has been home to the annual summer festival showcasing modern dance since 1978.
You can purchase tickets at either the DPAC or at Duke University's box office in the Bryan Center, in person, online via the DPAC or Duke web sites, or by phone (Duke: 684-4444; DPAC: 680-2787).
From the ADF's press release:
Focusing on the impact each dance form has had in the development of current artistic expression, the eclectic works presented will look at the boundaries that do or do not exist between the two. The return of Festival favorites, the introduction of Festival newcomers, and a wide array of dance-related opportunities (many of them free!) await dance fans this summer.
With the exception of the Shen Wei Dance Arts programs, all of this year's performances will newly feature a pre-performance discussion by ADF critic-in-residence Suzanne Carbonneau, a faculty member at George Mason who leads the festival's NEA Arts Journalism Institute for Dance -- a helpful way for novitiates to modern dance to better understand the works presented.
New York-based dance and theater artist Mark Dendy will present a site-specific work, Golden Belt, on July 17 and 18, designed and choreographed specifically for a top-floor space in Scientific Properties' East Durham arts center. Dendy will also post daily updates to an online video blog during the festival, and will send "the audience on a treasure hunt for dances small and large at the Durham Performing Arts Center" just before the June 18-20 Shen Wei Dance PArts presentations.
The ADF is also partnering on youth and community outreach projects this year that range from support for groups from El Centro Hispano and the Walltown Children's Theatre to Durham Public Schools and the parks department.
Find out more including this year's schedule at the ADF's web site.
Isn't the DPAC too big for this? i've had friends who've gone to big shows in previous years to a half empty auditorium.
Posted by: jonn | May 11, 2009 at 11:15 AM
They are not using the upper balcony or the outside edges. It will be wonderful for the dancers to have a Broadway size stage. I look forward to this season!
Posted by: saluda | May 11, 2009 at 09:45 PM