SHALL WE dance A CAMPAIGN FOR THE AMERICAN DANCE FESTIVAL
SHALL WE DANCE
Movement is life. Every great artist is in a constant state of becoming, and so is the American Dance Festival. î Throughout its 80-year history 36 at Duke University in Durham ADF has been a nationally recognized leader in our indigenous art form of modern dance. Generations of dancers and choreographers have come to ADF as students, taught as faculty, and created and performed work as professional artists. Each summer, ADF has been the beating heart of the dance world. Now, sparked by the opening of the new Samuel H. Scripps Studios ADF s first year-round building the festival is expanding its reach into national and global dance communities and offering more performances and educational opportunities to its Triangle-area neighbors as well. We need to raise $3 million by the end of 2014 to keep growing with our dynamic audience. Help us turn a 6½-week festival into a 52-week extravaganza. Come dance with us! 01
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When I see dancers audition for my company, and I can see that they have the potential to be a professionallevel dancer in the future, my first recommendation to them is: Go to ADF. Shen Wei, Artistic Director, Shen Wei Dance Arts î What ADF is nowwhat AD Even if you see a few performances each summer, you might not know everything that ADF does. It turns out we ve gotten involved in a lot over 80 years. ADF is a school Each summer at ADF, more than 420 students from some 20 countries and 40 states study with ADF s 70 faculty members. They come as kids in leotards with as many doubts as dreams. They leave as dancers and artists and sometimes even new members of companies. Lives change in those 6½ sweaty weeks. Our Winter Intensive workshop in New York, now entering its 18th year, nurtures 70 students through 9 days of classes and performances and offers a golden chance for young dancers to plunge into the dance community in the city and to get noticed by leading choreographers. ADF is also in the eighth year of its partnership with Hollins University to offer an MFA degree in Dance that graduates approximately 15 students annually. 03
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When we were kids starting off and trying to make dances, the idea that an august organization like ADF would ask us to come and perform had an incredibly energizing effect on us. It was an affirmation of what we were about. The festival s continuing support of our work has been enormous. Robby Barnett, Artistic Director, Pilobolus Dance Theater ADF is a presenter The best companies in the world premiere work on ADF s stage, much of it commissioned by the festival. Other festivals and season programs are measured against ADF. Over 26,000 people see performances by about 20 companies here each season. î Audiences in the Triangle have come to love returning companies like the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Pilobolus, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Eiko & Koma, and Shen Wei Dance Arts. Innovative dance companies and choreographers debut at ADF every summer too, comprising about a third of the season. Over just the last several years we ve met Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker s Rosas, Stephen Petronio Company, Tao Dance Theater, Vertigo Dance Company, and Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion, as well as choreographers such as Emanuel Gat, Rosie Herrera, Monica Bill Barnes, Jodi Melnick, and Inbal Pinto. 05
SHALL WE DANCE ADF is a launching pad for many young dance companies, and many older choreographers who have new ideas, to reach a wide and knowledgeable audience. Young choreographers come to ADF to work together and perform in each other s pieces, and they have teachers and mentors there giving critiques and suggestions. And then they return home and there s another generation of dancers born. Chuck Davis, Founder & Artistic Director, African American Dance Ensemble ADF is a steward of the art form Although what s called modern dance began as an American form, it s now a global phenomenon. ADF s international programs foster that cultural ex- change by bringing the world s dancemakers to Durham to teach and present their work, and by sending ADF faculty abroad to conduct workshops and mini-festivals. Since 1984, 457 choreographers, teachers, and dancers from 88 countries have come to ADF through the International Choreographers Residency program, mini-festivals have taken place in China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, and Salt Lake City, Utah, and linkage programs have gone to over 20 countries. Preservation and documentation of the art form is as important as innovative programming. Among the premieres, ADF also commissions reconstructions of significant dance works each summer, taking history from off the page and bringing it alive in the bodies of today s dancers. The festival s extensive archives are an invaluable research resource for scholars from all over the world. And ADF diligently tracks emergent forms through forward-looking programs such as the International Screendance Festival that explores the ever-evolving relationship between cinema and dance.
ADF has had and continues to have a huge impact on Durham. It is one of the city s crown jewels. Bill Bell, Durham Mayor My mom has made the festival a part of my life. I ve really enjoyed seeing all kinds of performances. Levi Tapper, 10-year-old dance theater fan, Durham ADF is a cultural hub If you live in or visit Durham, ADF is a part of your life. You hear the African drum circle on your morning jog. You point out the graffiti-covered ADF bus to your kids. You watch dancers practice their footwork in the grocery checkout line. And ADF is a part of your business, too. The Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau estimated that the festival s total economic impact on Durham topped $7 million in 2012. Longstanding community institutions like ADF are the seeds from which Durham s cultural and economic resurgence has sprouted. Some of Durham s recent praise:: One of the 10 Best Places to Live in the Nation, U.S. News & World Report (2010) #1 America s Leading Creative Class Metro, Atlantic Monthly (2011) One of the Top Ten Places in the World to Visit, New York Times (2011) Once the Durham Performing Arts Center opened in 2008, half of the ADF season has performed there each summer. In only its fourth year, DPAC is already the highest-attended venue of its kind in the country, outpacing iconic halls like Radio City Music Hall and Coliseum Theater at Caesar s Palace. 07
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What ADF will become The two-story glass front of the Samuel H. Scripps Studios represents the theme of ADF s next phase openness. The already-buzzing building will house a wealth of new community classes and programs and provide a devoted space for choreographers to create their groundbreaking work in residence. Likewise, ADF aims to expand its intensives into new cities, supporting festival-commissioned work and artists in an unprecedented way, and bolstering financial assistance to help students attend new offerings. î Expanding community classes New classes for all ages and skill levels are underway and the schedule is growing. Dancers drop in to learn release technique and advanced modern technique. Moms and dads get sweaty during yoga and Pilates. Kids get their bounce on in hip hop class and glide around in beginning ballet. All are working with expert faculty who share the festival s continued focus on excellence and supportiveness. î Expanding community outreach and involvement You don t have to come to the new studios to dance. Through ADF Project Dance, Gaspard Louis teaches some 300 free creative movement workshops in local schools and community centers each year. This program will grow both locally and regionally, bringing movement instruction to new, under-served communities. î Starting new intensive workshops here & abroad Using the Winter Intensive in New York as a model, new schools will be established in other American cities and cities abroad with strong dance profiles. The Scripps Studios will also host a new spring break intensive for 9-12 year-olds. î Organizing new international mini-festivals Creative exchange across continents is a continuing emphasis at ADF. The Festival will bring new choreographers and companies to Durham to teach and perform, and send American faculty and companies to new places abroad, all to develop modern dance based on the unique traditions and cultures of those countries. î Presenting dance on a national scale ADF is now extending its commitment to returning choreographers and companies by helping present their work nationally, beyond the festival s summer season. Rosie Herrera Dance Theater s Dining Alone premiered at the 2011 festival in Durham and ADF co-presented it in April 2013 at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York. î Offering choreography residencies Choreographer residencies are expanding now that the Scripps Studios provides an optimal, devoted space for dancemakers to work. Current and future generations of choreographers will develop new dances and offer workshops, masterclasses, and special showings year-round. 09
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What your investment will do î Bolstering student scholarships Over half of ADF students receive partial or full scholarships totaling $200,000 annually. Many of these students would simply not be able to attend without financial assistance. As the festival s educational offerings expand, student scholarships must expand as well. î Growing future audiences Programs like Experience Dance, which annually distributes over 320 complimentary tickets to organizations working with people in need, and Kids Night Out, which provides over 350 free tickets to youth accompanied by a paying adult, seed our future audience. Putting on more shows means giving away more tickets to ensure that audience s diversity. SHALL WE dance We invite you to play a role in ADF s future. Help us reach our campaign goal of $3 million by the end of 2014. You can make an undesignated contribution or designate your contribution in one of three areas: î ADF Fund Giving [support what the festival is today] î Capital Giving [provide first class facilities for ADF s work at the new Scripps Studios] î Endowment/Planned Giving [shape what the festival becomes] ADF Fund Giving ($1.25 million) Contributions to this fund support the performances and commissions on the festival s stages each summer. Scholarships for talented dancers and choreographers, community classes and programs at the Scripps Studios, and community outreach programs in Durham and elsewhere are also funded by these donations. Additionally, the ADF Fund supports programs that introduce underprivileged youth and nontraditional audiences to the joy of modern dance and keeps our archives open to scholars of the art form. Capital Giving ($1.3 million) The Scripps Studios threw open its doors in July 2012. Now we need to keep those doors open. Capital Giving contributions go toward the costs of purchasing and upfitting this beautiful new home we now share with the community. Contact us about the many naming opportunities within the building. Endowment/Planned Giving ($.45 million) Contributions to this funding area ensure that everything ADF does will continue to happen in the future. In the coming years, earnings from endowment gifts will provide annual scholarships for students, create choreographer residencies and commissions, start new workshops, and expand performance programming both locally and nationally. Endowments also offer an opportunity to recognize someone in perpetuity by naming a permanent fund of a designated size. 11
SHALL WE DANCE How to join the Shall We Dance Dance campaign campaign & make & a make contribution a The Campaign for ADF is already underway and there are many convenient ways to make a donation: î RETURN a pledge card î VISIT americandancefestival.org î CALL (919) 684.6402 î EMAIL development@americandancefestival.org Contributions are tax-deductible within the law. Visit the ADF website to see the festival s annual reports, or request them from the New York State Attorney General s Charities Bureau, Attn: FOIL Officer, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271. Financial information about this organization and a copy of its license are available from the N.C. State Solicitation Licensing Branch at (888) 830-4989. This license is not an endorsement by the State. Photographs by Sara D. Davis, Bruce R. Feeley, Gregory Georges, Grant Halverson, and Amitava Sarkar. Design by Flywheel Design.