In celebration of its new Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in Dance, Alabama State University’s Department of Theatre Arts presents Eclectic Dance Company in a spring concert, Visions in Motion.
The concert can be seen Wednesday, February 5 – Saturday, February 8, 2014, at 7:00pm nightly in the Leila Barlow Theatre at Alabama State University. General admission tickets are $10 and ASU students with valid I.D. can purchase tickets for $6. For more information, contact ASU Theatre at (334) 229 – 6929.
Visions in Motion is unique in that all pieces were choreographed by ASU’s new professors of dance, Mr. Michael Medcalf, Mr. James Atkinson, and Mr. Kavin Grant each of whom were hired to build the new BFA program.
“This concert is an event that you won’t want to miss,” according to Medcalf, the head of the BFA program. “It not only marks the culmination of very hard work and discipline by Eclectic company members, but it’s also going to be our introduction as professors and choreographers to the campus, the city & surrounding area.”
All three of these new faculty members come with diverse talents and specialties when it comes to dance. Medcalf, an MFA graduate of University of Iowa, specializes in Modern and Jazz, while Grant, who earned his MFA from Temple University, is sharing his training in African and Hip Hop. Atkinson has owned a dance company since his graduation from New York University’s MFA program and brings the refinement of Ballet and Dance Composition to ASU.
Grant, whose classes are full of energy and require the willingness to test one’s rhythm, says of the students and the concert that “they are simply wonderful. This concert is going to showcase the high caliber of students here at ASU. They work hard. They give their all, and they make me want to work harder. You have to make time to come see the work our students do.”
“I’ve always wanted the opportunity to work at an HBCU teaching a very specialized dance form. The students here are embracing the concepts of ballet like second nature,” says Atkinson, “and that is very gratifying. It’s very exciting to be able to incorporate some of our work into the concert.”
ASU boasts the only Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program in Dance to exist at a Historically Black College/University (HBCU). Approved by ACHE in June of 2011, it is one of only two such programs to exist in the State of Alabama and the southeastern region. The program will hold auditions for the upcoming year on Saturday, February 8, offering those who audition the opportunity to attend the concert that evening. Scholarships are available for this exciting new program. For more information about auditions, contact ASU Theatre at (334) 229-6929.
Posted By: Reginald Culpepper
Tuesday, February 4th 2014 at 3:29PM
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