UF's dance program uses technology to reach the National Festival

March 28, 2006

GAINESVILLE, Fla., — With inventive use of technology, University of Florida’s dance program has achieved the pinnacle of accolades on the national dance scene. UF students have been selected to present “Never Enough,” choreographed by Danial Shapiro and Joanie Smith, May 16-18 at the National College Dance Festival at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

This very young dance program graduated its first class in 2001 and its use of technology allows students to partner with artists from around the world. UF’s School of Theatre and Dance has been working with Shapiro and Smith since 1999 although their company Shapiro & Smith Dance Company is located in Minneapolis, Minn.

“Our collaboration with UF began in 1999 when Kelly Drummond Cawthon joined the faculty,” said Shapiro. “During the ensuing years, we have worked together to build both the University of Minnesota (UM) and UF dance programs by making and taking opportunities to share dancers and repertory.”

The distance barrier was first overcome in 2001, when Cawthon teamed with professor James Oliverio of the UF Digital Worlds Institute and Shapiro and Smith to produce “Dancing Beyond Boundaries (DBB).” This unprecedented use of the Internet2 brought dancers and musicians from four cities across North and South America together via Access Grid technology. “DBB” won the award for “Most Courageous and Creative” use of the high-speed network at the 2001 global SuperComputing Conference.

Since this pioneering event, UF dance students are able to rehearse and receive feedback from Shapiro and Smith — all the way from Minneapolis.

This very nontraditional use of technology and dance continues to give UF students the edge over other universities.

Earlier this month, UF students Matt Reeves, Colette Krogol, Nic Bryan, Kelly Watson, Meryl Thurston, Beverly Hergert, Sarah Bowlus, Robin Neveu, Kara Moseley and Hannah Renegar from the College of Fine Arts’ School of Theatre and Dance presented “Never Enough” before world renowned adjudicators Ann Reinking, Steve Rooks and Wendy Perron at the American College Dance Festival Association’s Southeastern Conference. Only three pieces, including “Never Enough,” were chosen to move on to the organization’s National Festival.

Reinking, the Tony Award-winning director and co-choreographer of “Fosse,” said of the piece, “A perfect 10!”

Students Krogol and Reeves also were awarded distinction at the American College Dance Festival Association’s Southeastern Conference for their choreography and presentation of “I am: Choices.” The piece was among only 10 selected to appear in the regional Gala performance, of which only three were choreographed by students.

“Inspired by the experience and vision at UF… our educational objectives are to enhance teaching in all courses of dance instruction — philosophical, historical and practical — and to expand performance research and choreographic opportunities for dance faculty to include leading edge multimedia elements,” said Shapiro.

This summer, Cawthon will lead The Peoples Touring Project, a UF summer residency program for dance students. It is aimed at training dancers for touring and collaborating with artists from across the country and world.

“The program will connect students from UF and UM (University of Minnesota), so both have the advantage of learning and working with dancers and faculty with different experiences, expertise and perspectives,” said Cawthon.

Through two-dimensional technology, dancers are later able to work together in the flesh as if they’d been doing so for years, and Shapiro hopes that this type of multimedia will someday connect many dancers from all over the country.

“In the coming year, we will work toward our goal of turning on all the cameras, in all the dance studios, in all the universities to create a non-stop dialogue where it is possible to look in on any number of spaces across the country to see what’s being taught, shown, performed and rehearsed at any moment in time.”