Artist Engagements

ADF launched a ticketed event series that presented works, lectures, films, and other experimental ways of presenting dance in our new normal. To kick off the series, ADF partnered with Dixon Place, Portland Ovations, Maine Arts Commission, and SPACE in Portland, ME, to present the virtual premiere of Sara Juli’s Burnt-Out Wife. ADF presented Reggie Wilson’s Unpacking INTRODUCTION: Cultural Appropriation, Kinesthetic Anthropology, and Post-African Neo Hoodoo Modern Dance, an interactive lecture that used Wilson’s solo performance of INTRODUCTION (1996) to discuss borrowing, stealing, cultural appropriation, copyright, intellectual property, and innovation. ADF closed our year with Keep Moving by Monica Bill Barnes and Company, which collaborated with sixteen dancers from New York City’s Hunter College to compose an original online collection of video and audio experiences based on the company’s work The Running Show, created for the world we are all living in now.

Sara Juli Burnt-Out Wife by Sara Juli was commissioned by ADF with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Works. The presentation of Burnt-Out Wife was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Reggie Wilson The presentation of Unpacking INTRODUCTION: Cultural Appropriation, Kinesthetic Anthropology, and Post-African Neo Hoodoo Modern Dance was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional support was provided by the City of Durham. Monica Bill Barnes & Company Keep Moving by Monica Bill Barnes & Company was co-commissioned and presented by ADF with support from Jody and John Arnhold/Arnhold Foundation. Additional support was provided by the City of Durham.

ADF selected 20 North Carolina choreographers to participate in a 60-second video challenge titled The World is Our Stage. Choreographers had two weeks to create oneminute dance films. Over 3,300 audience members voted to select first, second, and third-place awardees: Kristi Vincent Johnson, Cara Mossman, and ShaLeigh Comerford. The top three film makers were awarded cash prizes ranging from $250 to $1,000, studio time at ADF’s SHS Studios, and tickets to ADF’s 2021 performance season.

The World is Our Stage artists: Renay Aumiller Anna Barker Jody Cassell Kristin Clotfelter ShaLeigh Comerford Kristin Taylor Duncan Taryn Griggs Kristi Vincent Johnson Killian Manning Cara Mossman Alyssa Noble Courtney OM Michelle Pearson Allie Pfeffer Justin Tornow Andrea E. Woods Valdés Alexandra Joye Warren Ron West Megan de roiz Yankee Chris Yon

The presentation of The World is our Stage was sponsored by The Forest at Duke.

At a time when we could not come together, ADF created the Gathering for Dance series featuring many artists who would have performed during the 2020 season, as well as several other artists the festival has previously presented. Moderated by Executive Director Jodee Nimerichter, Gathering for Dance hosted conversations around various topics: Sharing Legacy, featuring Blakeley White-McGuire, Masha Maddux, Andrea Weber, and Michael Trusnovec, stagers of Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, and Paul Taylor repertoire. Screendance: Moving Images. Moving Bodies., featuring ADF’s Movies by Movers Director Cara Hagan and Co-Curators Juel D. Lane and Jennifer Scully-Thurston, a screening of the short film Bones from the 2020 festival, and the film’s Co-Creators Andrew Harper and Katherine Henly. Vertigo Dance Company: Art. Community. Nature., featuring Noa Wertheim, Artistic Director, Choreographer, and Co-Founder and Adi Sha’al, CEO, Artistic Partner, and CoFounder of Vertigo Dance Company. ADF’s interview with Vertigo Dance Company was made possible with support by the Office of Cultural Affairs, Consulate General of Israel in New York. ADF Musicians Live in Concert, featuring Adam Crawley, Jeff Dalby, Andy Hasenpflug, Terrence Karn, Amadou Kouyate, Lamar Lewis, Eric Mullis, West Oxking, Sherone Price, Atiba Rorie, Khalid Saleem, and Del Ward. New Dances Created and World Premieres Postponed, featuring Kyle Abraham, Colin Connor, Chafin Seymour, and Abby Zbikowski, ADF co-commissioned artists whose works were not able to be performed at ADF 2020 due to COVID-19. Finding Humor Through Dance, featuring Monica Bill Barnes, Janis Brenner, Rosie Herrera, Sara Juli, and Claire Porter. 20th Anniversary of Shen Wei Dance Arts, featuring Shen Wei and ADF Director Emeritus Charles L. Reinhart in celebration of Shen Wei’s rich visual arts and dance history and the founding of Shen Wei Dance Arts at ADF in 2000.

ADF’s Gathering for Dance series was made possible with support from the Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation.

Since the 1980s, ADF has produced several humanities and media projects that focus on the crucial role Black choreographers and dancers have played in the development of modern dance as an American artform. In collaboration with the artists featured, ADF Celebrates Black Artistry released historic and contemporary works by Black artists presented by ADF. ADF also shared the three-part documentary and Emmy award-winning PBS television series Free to Dance: The African American Presence in Modern Dance.

ADF Celebrates Black Artistry participants: A.I.M by Kyle Abraham Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company Charles O. Anderson/dance theatre X Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble JOYEMOVEMENT Vuyani Dance Theatre

Seeking opportunities for our community to come together, ADF established an advisory committee composed of Durham-based artists and administrators. The committee produced a Creative Healing Parade as its first event. For one hour on a Saturday evening in October, 70 local socially distanced artists performed across 25 driveways and lawns in the Trinity Ridge neighborhood of Durham. 200 cars drove through and over 500 viewers attended. It was a cathartic experience for the artists and attendees. For many, it was the first time performing or seeing live performance in seven months. It galvanized a neighborhood and generous donors to come to gather to support live arts, and it was thrilling for attendees to witness so much local talent within a quarter-mile radius. All of the professional artists were paid an honorarium.

Creative Healing Parade artists: Welcome Community BANTABA: Venita Allen, Britany Burch, Ivy Burch, Toni Hall, Sakarah Hall-Edge, Kenzie Presswood, Bashir Shakur Renay Aumiller Dances: Sarah DeSordi, Olivia Haskell, Jenna Kulacz, Olivia Walton Big Red Dance Project: Glenna Batson, Rebecca Bliss, Andrea Didisheim, Sue Hill The Bipeds: Stacy Wolfson and Curtis Eller

Black Box Dance Theatre: Aflredo Hurtado, Adelle Johnson, Laura Montgomery, Karen Warr Culture Mill: Paul Molina, Cathy Moore, Carol Vollmer, Michael Rank Gaspard&Dancers: Oakley Gaddy, Sullivan Gaddy, Shana Gordon, Dahlia Louis, Louise Luboyera, Sumi Scoville

JOYEMOVEMENT: Dylan Reddish, Milanda McGinnis, Samantha McKinney, Jordan Shadley killianmanning/noforwardingaddress: George Barrett, Christina Conley, Mary Chandler Gwinn KT COLLECTIVE: Kristin Taylor Duncan, Jackie Bennett, Darian Moore

Laci McDonald and Durham Academy Dancers: Megan Corey, Lee Jeffries, Rachel Urato, Katherine Lantzy, Laci McDonald, Rebecca Urato ShaLeigh Dance Works: Jam Niel Delgado Castro, Isabelle Frame, Hannah Nicole Marr, Steven J. Rodriguez Velez Anna Barker Carol Burgess Ajani Chinfloo/Asha Chinfloo/Daphne Chinfloo/Toya J. Chinfloo/Lamar Lewis

Chris Cherry Amanda L. Edwards/Alyah Baker/Amari Jones Juliet Irving Tony Johnson Ramya Sundaresan Kapadia Nicole Lawson Masha Maddux/Diana Hoffmaster Alyssa Noble Jasmine Powell/Anthony “Ay-Jaye” Nelson/Megan Rindoks Caitlyn Swett Myra Weise

Venita Allen Anna Barker Ivy Burch Britany Burch Toya J. Chinfloo Pamela M. Green

Toni K. Hall Tony Johnson Kristi Vincent Johnson Gaspard Louis Jodee Nimerichter Kristin Taylor-Duncan Myra Weise

ADF’s 2020 Creative Healing Parade was made possible with support from Durham Magazine, The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, Rosenstein Vision Center, PMG Arts Management, Jodee Nimerichter & Gaspard Louis, Walter & Gwen Cleary, Michael, Karin, & Matt Bless, Guy & Lora Charles, Gilda Rodriguez & John Villani, Pamela & Isaac Green, Mar & Jorge, The Ashley Family, Karen Brown & Nora Policastro, Jane & Steve Kelly, Nina & Rick King, Erica Peethumnongsin & Pavel Christiny, Bonna & Daniel Robbins, Heidi Hennink Kaminski & Robert Kaminski, Anonymous, John & Ruth Clausing, Denise Kassab & Rafael Dix Carneiro, and Dale & Kathy Bass and Family.