Led by faculty members Lauren Kearns and Karl Green, the dance majors from ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ were the only students to represent an American university in Aurillac.
Nine university students with the ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ Dance Company accompanied two professors to France last month for a performance in La Semaine de la Danse Festival at the La Manufacture Dance Centre in Aurillac.
Brenna Dames, Mat D’Amico, Colette Dong, Carly Flynn, Alyse Keim, Helen Phelan, Lauren Renck, Meg Wagner, and Katie Yahner joined Associate Professor Lauren Kearns and Assistant Professor Karl Green on the trip. The dancers performed End Game, an original ballet by Kearns with costumes designed by Green.
Kearns, who leads ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ’s dance program, and Green also taught workshops at La Manufacture Dance Centre and the students took class.
The tour came about after Karl Green went to France in the summer of 2011 to begin work on a creative research project with Marissa Hayes, an American living in France and a former student of his. Hayes secured an invitation for the ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ Dance Company to perform Kearns’ ballet, and ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ was the only American university invited to perform in the festival.
In addition to performing in the festival, the dance majors also took a dance history tour of Paris, seeing various sites including the Paris Opera House and Nijinsky’s grave. They also watched the Paris Opera Ballet Company perform a classical ballet by Jerome Robbins and a contemporary ballet by Mats Ek. In addition, they attended the Danser Sa Vie: Art Et Danse De 1900 A Nos Jours special dance exhibit at the Pompidou Center.
Vendetta Mathea, artistic director of La Manufacture Dance Center, will be coming to ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ in May 2013 to present one of her original ballets in Moving Visuals, the spring dance concert directed by Kearns. Kearns will then return to La Manufacture Dance Centre in May 2013 for a two-week residency with her professional dance company, the .
Green will also return to La Manufacture Dance Centre in the summer of 2013 to design costumes for Mathea’s new ballet.