Hobart and William Smith Colleges

12 March 2013 Nine Ladies Perform at Conference

HWS Dance department faculty and students will perform during the American College Dance Festival Association (ACDF) Northeast conference held at Hofstra University later this month. Assistant Professor of Dance Kelly Johnsons Nine Ladies Dancing, with a cast of William Smith dancers, will represent the Colleges during an adjudicated concert.

Johnson and Donna Davenport, professor of dance and chair of the department, will accompany the students to the conference as well as present workshops to students in attendance from colleges and universities across the country.

The William Smith students performing will be: Tristan Bartsch 13, Courtney Brodie 13, Dana Florin-Weiss 13, Jordunn Joubert 13, Kristen Alex Cragg 13, Alex Welych Miller 15, Kathryn Lomardo 13, Mary Dinan 15 and Kaitley Wozer 15.

The piece premiered at the HWS faculty dance concert in April 2012. At the time, it was close to 20 minutes long. For the conference, performances must not exceed 12 minutes.

The piece has seen extensive editing for length and Ive brought in five new dancers. In the process, it has gained a new life, says Johnson, who explains from the original cast of nine, five have graduated or are participating in study abroad this semester.

Johnson and the current cast also performed in Rochester as part of a collaborative show.

Throughout the conference, students and faculty from other colleges and universities will have the opportunity to learn from each other in an environment that features a wide variety of dance styles. Every day, an adjudicated concert will feature selected works from each of the participating institutions. Three adjudicators will provide feedback and score the performances; the 10 or so with the highest scores will be presented again at the gala event at the close of the conference.

Its exciting to be taking the students to this event. Its an awesome experience for them to see how much dance is out there, says Johnson.