April 17, 2023
Earlier this semester, 15 dance students and members of the dance area faculty attended the American College Dance Association (ACDA) South-Central Regional Conference. While there, they performed to acclaim in the ACDA Gala Concert, presented new works of dance and film and participated in over 50 classes and workshops.
ACDA's regional conference brings together dance students and faculty from states across the region to celebrate dance in higher education. This year's South-Central conference helped usher in ACDA's 50th anniversary with various workshops, discussions, performances and networking events that took place over four days in March.
Among the conference's performances, visiting schools were invited to bring up to two dance performances for adjudication and potential selection for the Gala Concert. One of the ten pieces selected for performance in the Gala Concert was Teena Marie Custer's Fall For Dance (2022) piece Quake: The Revival, performed by our UT dance students. M.F.A. candidate Ryan K. Johnson's new solo piece No Shoes Allowed was also selected for the Gala Concert. The adjudicators also chose Johnson's piece to represent the South-Central Region at this year's ACDA national conference, providing him with the outstanding opportunity to perform the work at California State University, Long Beach this May.
Other UT dance students presented works while attending the conference's workshops and events. Third-year B.F.A. in Dance student Andrea Orta participated in a Q&A after her film ew, fat. was selected for the Dance Film Screening. In addition, second-year B.F.A. in Dance students Megan Davidson and Giuliana Velez performed their duet Interconnection in an Informal Concert.
The conference provided our students with opportunities to forge new connections, learn new forms and showcase their work to an audience of their peers and mentors. Click HERE to learn more about the 2023 ACDA South-Central Conference and visit the ACDA website HERE to read about the upcoming national conference.
Photos provided by Erica "EG" Gionfriddo and Rachel Meador.
