NKU SOTA Produces Choreographer Showcase As Virtual Dance Film Festival

Northern Kentucky University's School of the Arts virtually produces the Emerging Choreographer's Showcase (ECS) for its sixth season.

The Dance Film Festival will premiere November 23 on the NKU ECS website and SOTA YouTube channel. This showcase is student produced and student led where dance students learn about choreography, stage design, and stage management and can grow in their artistic expression. ECS was founded in 2014 by dance alum, Kat Wolf, who graduated in 2016 and is the owner of NKY Dancewear.

This year, the panel of area industry professionals have selected twelve student choreographers' pieces to be presented in the showcase. Due to the high volume of exceptional work submitted by the students, the executive team decided to categorize the pieces as formal and informal works, which is language appropriate to the discipline and used by the American College Dance Association. Formal works received a panelist mentor, while informal works are peer mentored.

Rhea Speights, choreographer and video artist, is the resident guest artist for the showcase. Much of her work intersects equal parts dance and video, either as multimedia performance or as video dance. Speights' work has been presented in a dozen of the 50 states and internationally in Colombia and New Zealand. In making her work, Rhea uses ballet and contemporary dance forms, video, film theory, and her desire to fully integrate the imagination with the body.

The executive team includes Sylvia Chervus and DJ Bruegge as the Co-Artistic Directors, Olivia Martel and Carli Robinette as the Assistant Artistic Directors, Grace Vetter as the Head of Marketing, Molly Payne as the Stage Manager, and Payton Pearson and Jessica Shepherd as Production Assistants.

Student Choreographers Include:

Formal Pieces

a-? Maiya Caldwell | "110"

a-? Arianna Catalano | "The Weight of It All"

a-? Sylvia Chervus | "Dazed"

a-? Hannah Duvall | "Pivot"

a-? Emerald McGhee | "Caught in the Wheel"

a-? Brianna Mullins | "Time Perception: The Illusion vs. Right Here, Right Now"

a-? Janie Smith | "Control"

a-? Grace Vetter | "Behind Closed Doors"

Informal Pieces

a-? Allison Gabert | "Colors of Confidence"

a-? Lilah Hoffert | "Power"

a-? Carli Robinette | "Maybe Tomorrow"

a-? Ki'azja Watterson-Brown | "As We Rise"

Panelists Include:

a-? Tracey Bonner | Faculty, Theatre and Dance Program, NKU SOTA

a-? Jenny Fitzpatrick | Founder and Artistic Director, Blackbird Dance Theatre

a-? Jeaunita Olowe | Bi-Okoto, Company Manager & Rehearsal Coach; Faculty, Theatre and Dance Program, NKU SOTA

a-? Brian Robertson | Faculty, Theatre and Dance Program, NKU SOTA

a-? Andrea Tutt | Faculty, Theatre and Dance Program, NKU SOTA

a-? Teresa VanDenend Sorge | Faculty, Theatre and Dance Program, NKU SOTA; Developer and Founding Director, Koresh Kids Dance

Emerging Choreographer's Showcase Dance Film Festival starts Nov. 23. Online at nku.edu/ecs or YouTube. Free to watch

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