As we celebrate App Summer’s 40th anniversary, this series offers behind-the-scenes discussions with artists from the music, dance, and visual arts worlds that center around a common theme of legacy and longevity.
MOVEMENT, by Netta Yerushalmy, synthesizes over one hundred citations from an expansive range of dances across genres and cultures. It is a radical quilt of borrowed material that stretches the idea of pluralism until it almost snaps. It features a score by award-winning composer Paula Matthusen and is performed by dancers from Korea, Senegal, Israel, Taiwan, and the US. This piece follows Yerushalmy’s PARAMODERNITIES, a six-part series generated through reverently and violently dissecting iconic modern choreographies, provoking dynamic conversations with the troubled legacies of the past. MOVEMENT continues Yerushalmy’s practice of repurposing, reorienting, and recontextualizing dance, spinning fragments of seemingly unrelated works into an enthralling new whole. This maximalist performance highlights dance as an inevitable and unifying force in a brittle and confused world.
This summer, Pilobolus is bringing its Re:CREATION tour to ADF, presenting a dynamic collection of dance pieces—daring experiments and groundbreaking new collaborations alongside the classics that have altered the landscape of dance and theater. Walklyndon, a seminal piece in Pilobolus’s repertoire, is an all-time favorite that captures the playful essence of the company’s early days. The themes of youth, playfulness, and bawdy humor give way to a sophisticated narrative in Untitled, leaving the audience in awe of a theatrical work where contrasts coalesce into an unnamable and meaningful art form. Behind the Shadows tells a poignant and mysterious story using Pilobolus’ famous shadow dance technique, with moving illusions and surreal narrative. Thresh|Hold, a collaboration with the Venezuelan-born and acclaimed Latinx director, choreographer, and designer Javier De Frutos, is a physically daring quintet with psychedelic shifts in time and emotionally charged choreography. Tales from the Underworld, a new creation, harnesses the creative energy and collaborative spirit that defines Pilobolus, as the performance weaves together stories that reveal profound connections through elements of horror, humor, and revelation.
The Children’s Saturday Matinee series presents one-hour performances specially curated to ignite and inspire children’s imaginations. The 2024 Children’s Matinees include Ballet Hispánico (June 15, 1 pm), Pilobolus (July 6, 1 pm), and Paul Taylor Dance Company (July 27, 1 pm) at Page Auditorium. A FREE Kids’ Party follows each matinee at the Landing of the Bryan Center, complete with live music, face painting, and more. Tickets are $18 each.
The Made in NC program features the world premiere of four ADF-commissioned works by North Carolina artists. Dom-Sebastian Alexis, a Greensboro native, is a Hip-Hop and Contemporary Juxtaposition Artist trained in various degrees of Street Dance, Social Grooves, and contemporary dance techniques and has devoted their life to understanding dance diversity. Iyun Ashani Harrison, the founder and artistic director of the Durham-based Ballet Ashani – A Contemporary Ballet, and professor of dance at Duke University, collaborates with and presents the work of artists of color and women to expand racial and cultural diversity in ballet to attract new audiences. Gavin Stewart and Vanessa Owen are the co-founders of Stewart/Owen Dance, based in Western North Carolina, where they are dedicated to building a thriving dance community. As passionate cross-genre collaborators, they cultivate the craft of storytelling through movement while incorporating work by local writers, filmmakers, and musicians. Stacy Wolfson and Curtis Eller, based in Durham, have devised a unique compositional approach combining movement, music, and lyrics to create a peculiar and compelling hybrid of dance and song.
As we celebrate App Summer’s 40th anniversary, this series offers behind-the-scenes discussions with artists from the music, dance, and visual arts worlds that center around a common theme of legacy and longevity.
Bob is a manic whirlwind of methodical, rapid-fire movements dictated, performed, and self-enforced by Milka Djordjevich. Set to bold music and silence, Bob eroticizes the labor of the dancing body—the repetition, the discipline, and the fallout. A mid-career taxonomy of sorts, Djordjevich confronts demands to optimize her female body and the market’s expectation to enhance her performance over time. Bob is an alter ego trained to be so skilled as to become other—the perfect kinetic subject in the service of her audience. Algorithmic movement patterns conjure approaches from trance, folk ritual, and rite—they become a means to no end. A reflection rivaling the self, Bob is on a rampage with and against self-consciousness to bask in reverie, delusion, desire, and rage. Show no mercy!
Bob is a manic whirlwind of methodical, rapid-fire movements dictated, performed, and self-enforced by Milka Djordjevich. Set to bold music and silence, Bob eroticizes the labor of the dancing body—the repetition, the discipline, and the fallout. A mid-career taxonomy of sorts, Djordjevich confronts demands to optimize her female body and the market’s expectation to enhance her performance over time. Bob is an alter ego trained to be so skilled as to become other—the perfect kinetic subject in the service of her audience. Algorithmic movement patterns conjure approaches from trance, folk ritual, and rite—they become a means to no end. A reflection rivaling the self, Bob is on a rampage with and against self-consciousness to bask in reverie, delusion, desire, and rage. Show no mercy!
The Footprints program, which bridges ADF’s performance series and education programs, delivers an outstanding presentation of three ADF-commissioned world premieres, choreographed by renowned choreographers and performed with impeccable technique and infectious energy by ADF students. This year’s choreographers are David Dorfman, Dianne McIntyre, and Kate Weare. ADF School alum and former faculty member David Dorfman, who founded David Dorfman Dance in 1987 to create politically and socially relevant work, is known for his movement-based dance theater. Dianne McIntyre, the 2008 recipient of the American Dance Festival Balasaraswati/Joy Anne Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching, is hailed as an artistic pioneer whose individualistic movement style reflects her affinity for cultural histories, personal narratives, and the boldness, nuances, discipline, and freedom in live music and poetic text. Kate Weare, known for her startling combination of formal choreographic value and visceral, emotional interpretation, charts a contemporary view of humanism by placing women at the center of the human story amidst the violence, sensuality, and yearning for intimacy that marks our age.
The Footprints program, which bridges ADF’s performance series and education programs, delivers an outstanding presentation of three ADF-commissioned world premieres, choreographed by renowned choreographers and performed with impeccable technique and infectious energy by ADF students. This year’s choreographers are David Dorfman, Dianne McIntyre, and Kate Weare. ADF School alum and former faculty member David Dorfman, who founded David Dorfman Dance in 1987 to create politically and socially relevant work, is known for his movement-based dance theater. Dianne McIntyre, the 2008 recipient of the American Dance Festival Balasaraswati/Joy Anne Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching, is hailed as an artistic pioneer whose individualistic movement style reflects her affinity for cultural histories, personal narratives, and the boldness, nuances, discipline, and freedom in live music and poetic text. Kate Weare, known for her startling combination of formal choreographic value and visceral, emotional interpretation, charts a contemporary view of humanism by placing women at the center of the human story amidst the violence, sensuality, and yearning for intimacy that marks our age.
As we celebrate App Summer’s 40th anniversary, this series offers behind-the-scenes discussions with artists from the music, dance, and visual arts worlds that center around a common theme of legacy and longevity.
Set in a fictional jazz club, SCAT!… The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar is a dance-driven musical that tells the love story of two people making their way during the Great Migration. It is a powerful tale of one family and what happens when dreams encounter the realities of American life in the ‘40s and ‘50s. The work features an original jazz score performed by a live band. Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, who created, choreographed, and directed SCAT!… The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar, says, “It is my story. It is my family’s story. It is a personal and collective story of a family and a people, moving from the Jim Crow South during the Great Migration.”
Set in a fictional jazz club, SCAT!… The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar is a dance-driven musical that tells the love story of two people making their way during the Great Migration. It is a powerful tale of one family and what happens when dreams encounter the realities of American life in the ‘40s and ‘50s. The work features an original jazz score performed by a live band. Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, who created, choreographed, and directed SCAT!… The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar, says, “It is my story. It is my family’s story. It is a personal and collective story of a family and a people, moving from the Jim Crow South during the Great Migration.”
Get ready for another thrilling Terpsicorps premiere! Featuring interactive projections and Heather Maloy’s spectacularly creative choreography, ‘Before the Scream’ promises to touch your heart, your soul… and your funny bone. The meaning of any work of art, visual or performing, is subject to the imagination of the viewer. Maloy is utilizing this fact to bring Edvard Munch's "The Scream" to life. A series of strikingly different vignettes will explore potential moments leading up to the iconic symbol of human suffering.
enVISION: The Next Chapter is an immersive interdisciplinary performance that relies not on sight or sound but on the felt sense of sonic experiences and visual perceptions. In a collective creative process, the work has brought together a team of collaborators around two questions: Can we listen to what we see? Can we see what we hear? Conceived explicitly with and for individuals who are low-vision and blind, as well as low-hearing and deaf, the work proposes a new multisensory experience of dance and theater. The work will be presented to a live audience who can choose to experience the show blindfolded or with earbuds, and six audience members will be invited to join the experience onstage. This ADF commission builds on enVISION: Sensory Beyond Sight, which premiered at ADF in 2022.
Get ready for another thrilling Terpsicorps premiere! Featuring interactive projections and Heather Maloy’s spectacularly creative choreography, ‘Before the Scream’ promises to touch your heart, your soul… and your funny bone. The meaning of any work of art, visual or performing, is subject to the imagination of the viewer. Maloy is utilizing this fact to bring Edvard Munch's "The Scream" to life. A series of strikingly different vignettes will explore potential moments leading up to the iconic symbol of human suffering.
enVISION: The Next Chapter is an immersive interdisciplinary performance that relies not on sight or sound but on the felt sense of sonic experiences and visual perceptions. In a collective creative process, the work has brought together a team of collaborators around two questions: Can we listen to what we see? Can we see what we hear? Conceived explicitly with and for individuals who are low-vision and blind, as well as low-hearing and deaf, the work proposes a new multisensory experience of dance and theater. The work will be presented to a live audience who can choose to experience the show blindfolded or with earbuds, and six audience members will be invited to join the experience onstage. This ADF commission builds on enVISION: Sensory Beyond Sight, which premiered at ADF in 2022.
BRAHM's Annual Gala is returning, again taking place in Appalachian State University's beautiful Grandview Ballroom. The evening will include cocktails, dinner, live music, dancing, as well as both silent and live auctions to strengthen BRAHM's impactful exhibitions and educational programs.
enVISION: The Next Chapter is an immersive interdisciplinary performance that relies not on sight or sound but on the felt sense of sonic experiences and visual perceptions. In a collective creative process, the work has brought together a team of collaborators around two questions: Can we listen to what we see? Can we see what we hear? Conceived explicitly with and for individuals who are low-vision and blind, as well as low-hearing and deaf, the work proposes a new multisensory experience of dance and theater. The work will be presented to a live audience who can choose to experience the show blindfolded or with earbuds, and six audience members will be invited to join the experience onstage. This ADF commission builds on enVISION: Sensory Beyond Sight, which premiered at ADF in 2022.
enVISION: The Next Chapter is an immersive interdisciplinary performance that relies not on sight or sound but on the felt sense of sonic experiences and visual perceptions. In a collective creative process, the work has brought together a team of collaborators around two questions: Can we listen to what we see? Can we see what we hear? Conceived explicitly with and for individuals who are low-vision and blind, as well as low-hearing and deaf, the work proposes a new multisensory experience of dance and theater. The work will be presented to a live audience who can choose to experience the show blindfolded or with earbuds, and six audience members will be invited to join the experience onstage. This ADF commission builds on enVISION: Sensory Beyond Sight, which premiered at ADF in 2022.
enVISION: The Next Chapter is an immersive interdisciplinary performance that relies not on sight or sound but on the felt sense of sonic experiences and visual perceptions. In a collective creative process, the work has brought together a team of collaborators around two questions: Can we listen to what we see? Can we see what we hear? Conceived explicitly with and for individuals who are low-vision and blind, as well as low-hearing and deaf, the work proposes a new multisensory experience of dance and theater. The work will be presented to a live audience who can choose to experience the show blindfolded or with earbuds, and six audience members will be invited to join the experience onstage. This ADF commission builds on enVISION: Sensory Beyond Sight, which premiered at ADF in 2022.
As we celebrate App Summer’s 40th anniversary, this series offers behind-the-scenes discussions with artists from the music, dance, and visual arts worlds that center around a common theme of legacy and longevity.
Choreographer and Radical System Art’s artistic director Shay Kuebler’s MOI-Momentum of Isolation is based on social isolation and loneliness, exploring objective and subjective experiences through the individual, the group, and modern society—a society with shifting values and an ever-advancing digital way of life. MOI places live interactive video and sound around the performers to shape a digital world on stage. These elements enhance ideas on how technology influences our lives and can empower and disempower us. Further distilling isolation, solo performances and the extended social isolation of one character on stage are critical to the arc of the performance. Within MOI, one character’s interactions are only with inanimate objects. The inanimate world comes to life through puppeteering and stagecraft, highlighting how social isolation can disrupt our connection to reality. Our social bonds allow us to understand that we impact what is around us and that we exist.
Paul Taylor Dance Company, one of the world’s most famous contemporary dance ensembles, has been innovating and transforming modern dance since 1954. Founder Paul Taylor (1930-2018) created 147 dances that cover a broad range of topics, themes, and moods. This summer, PTDC, now under the artistic leadership of Michael Novak, performs a program of Taylor’s energetic “Syzygy,” his awe-inspiring “Airs,” and the choreographer’s masterpiece, “Esplanade,” inspired by the sight of a girl running to catch a bus.
Choreographer and Radical System Art’s artistic director Shay Kuebler’s MOI-Momentum of Isolation is based on social isolation and loneliness, exploring objective and subjective experiences through the individual, the group, and modern society—a society with shifting values and an ever-advancing digital way of life. MOI places live interactive video and sound around the performers to shape a digital world on stage. These elements enhance ideas on how technology influences our lives and can empower and disempower us. Further distilling isolation, solo performances and the extended social isolation of one character on stage are critical to the arc of the performance. Within MOI, one character’s interactions are only with inanimate objects. The inanimate world comes to life through puppeteering and stagecraft, highlighting how social isolation can disrupt our connection to reality. Our social bonds allow us to understand that we impact what is around us and that we exist.
Get ready for another thrilling Terpsicorps premiere! Featuring interactive projections and Heather Maloy’s spectacularly creative choreography, ‘Before the Scream’ promises to touch your heart, your soul… and your funny bone. The meaning of any work of art, visual or performing, is subject to the imagination of the viewer. Maloy is utilizing this fact to bring Edvard Munch's "The Scream" to life. A series of strikingly different vignettes will explore potential moments leading up to the iconic symbol of human suffering.
enVISION: The Next Chapter is an immersive interdisciplinary performance that relies not on sight or sound but on the felt sense of sonic experiences and visual perceptions. In a collective creative process, the work has brought together a team of collaborators around two questions: Can we listen to what we see? Can we see what we hear? Conceived explicitly with and for individuals who are low-vision and blind, as well as low-hearing and deaf, the work proposes a new multisensory experience of dance and theater. The work will be presented to a live audience who can choose to experience the show blindfolded or with earbuds, and six audience members will be invited to join the experience onstage. This ADF commission builds on enVISION: Sensory Beyond Sight, which premiered at ADF in 2022.
The Paul Taylor Dance Company returns to ADF this summer, presenting three masterpieces from its repertory. Arden Court, a dance set to the baroque music of William Boyce and a nod to Shakespeare’s As You Like It, was an instant success after its premiere in 1981. Private Domain is the name of a mysterious dance that premiered in 1969 and was last performed at ADF in 1978. Mercuric Tidings, with music by Schubert, is one of the purest of Paul Taylor’s dance works, with thirteen dancers in pink costumes flashing across the stage in Taylor’s signature style.
Get ready for another thrilling Terpsicorps premiere! Featuring interactive projections and Heather Maloy’s spectacularly creative choreography, ‘Before the Scream’ promises to touch your heart, your soul… and your funny bone. The meaning of any work of art, visual or performing, is subject to the imagination of the viewer. Maloy is utilizing this fact to bring Edvard Munch's "The Scream" to life. A series of strikingly different vignettes will explore potential moments leading up to the iconic symbol of human suffering.
Winston-Salem and Forsyth County is 1 of 18 communities across the United States selected to be part of a national initiative called Arts For EveryBody. The initiative, announced in September 2023 and designed to bring together artists, civic leaders and community health providers to foster healthier communities. The local July 27 event is called “Creative Wellness Community Day” and will include traditional West African dance and djembe drumming, interactive creative spaces for youth and families, food trucks, and live performances highlighting local artists in a variety of disciplines. Free health screenings will be provided in addition to various health resource vendors, all in celebration of Winston-Salem’s commitment to health and wellness through the arts. The event is free and open to the public. Programs in all 18 communities are being led by local artists, municipal officials and community health leaders, who are working together to create large-scale participatory arts projects that advance health, equity and community connections. In Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, the key collaborating organizations include five entities: Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County, City of Winston-Salem Neighborhood Services, Forsyth County Health and Human Services, Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and United Health […]
The Children’s Saturday Matinee series presents one-hour performances specially curated to ignite and inspire children’s imaginations. The 2024 Children’s Matinees include Ballet Hispánico (June 15, 1 pm), Pilobolus (July 6, 1 pm), and Paul Taylor Dance Company (July 27, 1 pm) at Page Auditorium. A FREE Kids’ Party follows each matinee at the Landing of the Bryan Center, complete with live music, face painting, and more.
enVISION: The Next Chapter is an immersive interdisciplinary performance that relies not on sight or sound but on the felt sense of sonic experiences and visual perceptions. In a collective creative process, the work has brought together a team of collaborators around two questions: Can we listen to what we see? Can we see what we hear? Conceived explicitly with and for individuals who are low-vision and blind, as well as low-hearing and deaf, the work proposes a new multisensory experience of dance and theater. The work will be presented to a live audience who can choose to experience the show blindfolded or with earbuds, and six audience members will be invited to join the experience onstage. This ADF commission builds on enVISION: Sensory Beyond Sight, which premiered at ADF in 2022.
enVISION: The Next Chapter is an immersive interdisciplinary performance that relies not on sight or sound but on the felt sense of sonic experiences and visual perceptions. In a collective creative process, the work has brought together a team of collaborators around two questions: Can we listen to what we see? Can we see what we hear? Conceived explicitly with and for individuals who are low-vision and blind, as well as low-hearing and deaf, the work proposes a new multisensory experience of dance and theater. The work will be presented to a live audience who can choose to experience the show blindfolded or with earbuds, and six audience members will be invited to join the experience onstage. This ADF commission builds on enVISION: Sensory Beyond Sight, which premiered at ADF in 2022.
enVISION: The Next Chapter is an immersive interdisciplinary performance that relies not on sight or sound but on the felt sense of sonic experiences and visual perceptions. In a collective creative process, the work has brought together a team of collaborators around two questions: Can we listen to what we see? Can we see what we hear? Conceived explicitly with and for individuals who are low-vision and blind, as well as low-hearing and deaf, the work proposes a new multisensory experience of dance and theater. The work will be presented to a live audience who can choose to experience the show blindfolded or with earbuds, and six audience members will be invited to join the experience onstage. This ADF commission builds on enVISION: Sensory Beyond Sight, which premiered at ADF in 2022.
Youth from across the country take center stage and showcase their extraordinary and diverse talents before a panel of celebrity judges. Coordinated by Dr. Asabi (Stephanie Howard) (General Audience)
Youth from across the country take center stage and showcase their extraordinary and diverse talents before a panel of celebrity judges. Coordinated by Dr. Asabi (Stephanie Howard) (General Audience)
Common Hymnal, a group of artists whose music centers life, justice and underground spirituality, covering a wide range of subject matter in a broad range of styles.
