Stephen F. Austin State University

More than 500 dancers and their instructors will arrive on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus this week for the American College Dance Festival Association’s South Central Region conference. The conference will feature four days of performances, workshops and master classes taught by instructors from throughout a four-state region.   

The American College Dance Festival Association's promotes the talent and creativity prominent in college and university dance departments by hosting regional conferences and a national dance festival.  

“The conferences provide a unique opportunity for students and faculty to have their dance works adjudicated by a panel of nationally recognized dance professionals in an open and constructive forum,” said Stan Bobo, SFA professor of dance. “This is on of 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.” 

Performances of dance pieces selected for their exemplary artistic quality are open to the public and will be held at in Turner Auditorium at 7 p.m. Feb. 27, and at 1 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. Feb. 28 and 29. Admission is $3 for students and $5 for adults.  

A gala concert will be held at 7 p.m. March 1 in Turner Auditorium. Admission is $5 for students and $8 for adults. Approximately four works from the gala concert will be selected to represent the region at the national festival in New York.  

Libby Rhodes, SFA professor of kinesiology and health science, said the concerts will provide a rare opportunity for East Texans to experience pre-professional fine arts dance in a concert setting. 

“The range of technical and choreographic styles, production elements and themes will be diverse,” said Rhodes, who, along with Bobo, is coordinating the conference. “Each participating institution may present up to two works for adjudication provided that at least one of the works is choreographed by a student.” 

Rhodes said the adjudicators give a blind review and do not know whether the dances are choreographed by students, faculty, or guest artists. 

“It is always exciting to see emerging student choreography take its place among faculty and guest artist works,” she added.  

Dancers from schools including Texas Woman’s University, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the University of Central Oklahoma, and the University of Houston have registered to attend the conference.

Adjudicators for the conference will be Kitty Daniels, Dan Wagoner and Leslie Jane Pessemier.

Daniels is the chair of the dance department at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. She began her professional career as a ballet dancer, performing with companies in the United States and Europe. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Goddard College and a master’s in dance kinesiology from Lesley College. She specializes in the application of dance science to dance technique education.

Wagoner began his professional career while attending the American Dance Festival as a scholarship student. After serving in the Army, he went to New York and, in 1989, accepted a two-year post as director of the London Contemporary Dance Theatre. Wagoner has taught at Harvard and Bates College summer dance programs, Connecticut College, and Florida State University.

Pessemier, a nationally recognized, New York-based choreographer and teacher for 20 years, is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts, Pennsylvania and Washington state arts councils, and a Jerome Foundation Grant. She is a four-time fellow to the Carlisle National Choreography Project and has received the Leona Norman Award and four Monticello College Foundation Choreographic Scholarships. Pessemier has been associate director of the Baltimore Ballet, three-time director of the National Choreography Conference, and currently is director of choreography for the Glenda Brown National Choreography Project.

For more information, call (936) 468-1761.