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SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Eighteen Wittenberg University students and Assistant Professor of Theatre and Dance Ligia Pinheiro have their dancing shoes ready. Good thing, since they will have plenty of opportunities to hone their craft at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Dance Festival hosted by Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., this week.
The regional festival is one of 10 around the nation this month affiliated with the American College Dance Festival Association (ACDFA).
At the regional festival, the students, all of whom are members of the Wittenberg Student Dance Company, get a “unique experience,” according to Pinheiro. They spend three days attending workshops, lectures, demonstrations and master classes taught by instructors from around the country.
Students and faculty also have their dance works adjudicated by a panel of nationally recognized professionals, with pieces selected for their exemplary artistic quality presented on the final day. According to the ACDFA Web site, “The festivals are the primary means for college and university dance programs to perform outside their own academic setting and be exposed to the diversity of the national college dance world.”
Pinheiro said she has been taking students to regional dance festivals for at least eight years. She describes the experience as intense but extremely worthwhile.
“Students are exposed to a variety of dance styles and teachers, an experience not regularly available to them on our campus,” Pinheiro said. “This is a unique experience in the way that they take classes, watch concerts, participate in discussion groups and perform for three days, all day long. They usually return inspired, refreshed and energized.”
Students making the trip are Natalie Bacon of Avon Lake, Ohio, class of 2008; Melanie Barr of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, class of 2005; Peri Cohen of Reisterstown, Md., class of 2008; Lyndsey Ferguson of Columbus, Ohio, class of 2006; Ann Hubbard of Canfield, Ohio, class of 2006; Amy Humrichouser of Twinsburg, Ohio, class of 2005; Sarah Kennedy of Cincinnati, Ohio, class of 2008; Dana Larson of Carmel, Ind., class of 2007; Jessica McClish of Shelby, Ohio, class of 2007; Tregg Nardecchia of Elyria, Ohio, class of 2006; Karen Phelan of Fishers, Ind., class of 2008; Ashley Roseberry of Fort Wayne, Ind., class of 2006; Kristen Slusser of New Albany, Ohio, class of 2006; Kacie L. Smith of Fort Wayne, Ind., class of 2005; Kari Strife of Cincinnati, Ohio, class of 2007; Renee Uhlmann of Columbia, Md., class of 2007; Amanda Vail of Toledo, Ohio, class of 2006; and Kelly Jo Zinc of St. Mary’s, Ohio, class of 2008.
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Dance Festival runs from March 16-19. The AFCDA’s big event, the 11th annual National College Dance Festival, is scheduled for June 1-3 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Thirty-one dance companies have been selected to perform in that prestigious event.
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