FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 12, 2014Contact: Colleen Hooper [email protected]
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS, FACULTY, AND ALUMNI PERFORM NATIONAL WATER DANCE
Race Street Pier, Race Street and North Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia, PASaturday, April 12th at 10 AM, FREE ADMISSION, Open to the Public
On Saturday April 12th, Temple University students, faculty, and alumni will take part in the National Water Dance, an environmental performance designed to bring attention to the fragility of our waters. Dancers will perform on the Race Street Pier framed by stunning views of the Delaware River and the Ben Franklin Bridge. The National Water Dance is a celebration of arts in action designed to initiate a national "water ethic" in the U.S. - one that can inform and inspire both participants and audience members to take responsibility for conserving and protecting the water that they use and enjoy.
Choreographer Colleen Hooper directs a powerful cast of Temple dancers including award-winning Temple faculty member Merían Soto. The dancers will perform Hooper’s choreography and a collaborative movement choir accompanied by live music from the Jon Katz Trio. First conceived by Rudolf Laban, a movement choir is a community of people dancing together for a common purpose. Performances often take place outdoors, in celebration of the environment, and audience members are frequently invited to join the dance. The National Water Dance directors, based in Florida, gathered movement phrases and gestures from participants in 30 states. The directors choreographed a collaborative movement choir phrase that is used by participants around the country in their choreographic process.
Under the guidance of artistic director Dale Andree and producer Daniel Lewis, in less than three years the National Water Dance has grown into a national event involving over 70 institutions in 30 states around the country. Students at universities, private dance schools, colleges, elementary schools, and dance companies, from the University of Alaska to Miami Dade College in Florida, from the Dance Engagements Company in California to Bates College in Maine, will unite on April 12th in a simultaneous, site-specific dance at a river, a bay, a lake, the ocean, or any water site near to them. National Water Dance began in 2011 as a local event, initiated by the New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida to bring attention to the power and fragility of Florida's waterways.
LISTINGS INFORMATION: What: Temple University Dancers Perform National Water Dance When: Saturday April 12th, 10 AM Where: The Race Street Pier, Race Street and North Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19106Tickets: FREE admission, open to the public
RACE STREET PIER MANAGED BY THE DELAWARE RIVER WATERFRONT CORPORATION: The Delaware River Waterfront Corporation (DRWC) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation organized exclusively for the benefit of the City of Philadelphia and its citizens. DRWC acts as the steward of the Delaware River
waterfront to provide a benefit to all of the citizens and visitors of the City.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: … about the National Water Dance, visit http://se.nationalwaterdance.org
National Water Dance Press Contact:Audrey Ross212.877.3399,[email protected]
… about Race Street PierDelaware River Waterfront Corporation, visit http://www.delawareriverwaterfront.com
… about Temple University, visit www.temple.edu
PHOTO INFORMATION: Press Photo by Bill HebertFrom left to right: Emma MacDonald, Zoë Norris, Julee Mahon, Tiffany Williams, and Heather Dyer
BIOGRAPHIES Colleen Hooper is a dancer, choreographer, and writer and she directs Colleen Hooper Performance Projects. Her choreography has been presented since 2002 and New York venues include Dance Theater Workshop's Fresh Tracks series, Danspace Project, Dance New Amsterdam, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival and BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange. Colleen received a 2010 TOPAZ ARTS Dance Residency and she recently performed for Katherine Kiefer Stark and Merían Soto. She graduated from The George Washington University with a B.A. in Dance and English and she received her Dance M.F.A. from Temple University with a Certificate in Community Arts. She is a Temple University Fellowship recipient and she is currently a Dance PhD candidate.
Director Dale Andree received her BFA from Boston Conservatory of Music and her Certification in Laban Movement Analysis from the Laban Institute in NYC. During her years in NYC Dale was most strongly influenced by Elaine Summers and May O'Donnell, assisting and dancing with the O'Donnell Company, and teaching at her school. She has maintained a long relationship with Elaine Summers, dancing in her improvisational structures and intermedia pieces and creating teaching methods for introducing film and dance to students. Other teaching credits include LaGuardia H.S. in NYC, the Salle Pleyel in Paris, the School of the Paris Opera Ballet, the U of Miami, and the New World School of the Arts, among others. Recipient of many grants, Ms. Andree was a founding member of the Miami Dance Umbrella and her own company, the Mary Street Dance Theatre, which toured the U.S. and South America. She is passionate about site-specific work, making it a centerpiece of her composition classes and is creator and organizer of Florida Waterways Dance Project, which has grown from the local 2011 event to the nationwide 2014 National Water Dance.
Producer Daniel Lewis is president of Miami Dance Futures, formed in 1988 to develop dance in South Florida, and a consultant for the NY-based Limon Dance Foundation, having danced with the company from 1962 to 1974. Lewis created many roles in the Limon Dance Company and has staged Limon and Doris Humphrey works for the Royal Swedish Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, American Ballet Theatre, and others. After teaching for twenty years at the Juilliard School, Lewis moved to Miami and became founding Dean at Miami's New World School of the Arts in 1987, holding that position until his retirement in 2011. The native New Yorker, a graduate of the High School of Performing Arts and Juilliard, has been honored with numerous awards, including the National Society of Arts and Letters, The Florida Arts Recognition Award, the Nancy Smith Award, the National Dance Educators Award, and the Martha Hill Lifetime Achievement Award, to name a few.
NATIONAL WATER DANCE, PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS AS OF JANUARY 2014
Alaska University of AlaskaArkansas Henderson State College
Hendrix CollegeCalifornia Loyola Marymount University Dance Engagements
Crenshaw Yoga and Dance Connecticut Wesleyan UniversityFlorida NOVA Southeastern University University of Florida College of Central Florida Northwest Florida State College Florida Gulf Coast University Midway Elementary School of the Arts New World School of the Arts Miami Dade College Kendall Campus/Jubilation Dance Ensemble Broward College Palm Beach Atlantic University Earth Ethics Institute at Miami Dade College University of Tampa Pensacola State College South Miami Middle Community School Karen Peterson and Dancers Arthur & Polly Mays Conservatory of the Arts Florida Atlantic University RR Moton Elementary Florida State UniversityGeorgia University of GeorgiaIndiana Indiana University BloomingtonIowa Luther CollegeLouisiana University of Louisiana at Monroe Southeastern Louisiana University Dance
Performance ProjectMaine Bates CollegeMaryland Towson UniversityMassachusetts The Yard
Mississippi University of Mississippi University of Southern Mississippi Belhaven University
Missouri Webster UniversityNebraska The Moving Company, University of Nebraska
Omaha University of Nebraska LincolnNew Jersey Georgian Court UniversityNew York Briarcliff High School University of Rochester NDEO Brockport Student Chapter Horace Mann SchoolNorth Carolina Elon University Bradley Middle SchoolOhio Kent State UniversityOklahoma University of Central OklahomaOregon Southern Oregon UniversityPennsylvania DeSales University Temple University Muhlenberg College Slippery Rock UniversityRhode Island JMW High School for the Performing and Visual ArtsSouth Carolina Lander UniversityTennessee Sewanee: The University of the South Chattanooga Dance Projects Chattanooga Ballet Cleveland City BalletVirginia The Governors School for the ArtsWashington Cornish College of the ArtsWisconsin University of Wisconsin, Madison Kennedy Elementary School Dance Education Center Stevens Pt.Wyoming University of Wyoming
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