VCUarts Dance 40th Anniversary Season

Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Dance + Choreography is pleased to announce its 40th anniversary performance season including concerts, film screenings, audition dates and visiting artists including Paloma McGregor leading a process-based residency, Dean Moss in a teaching residency in partnership with Kinetic Imaging; and Charles O. Anderson in a choreographic residency. Event details will be announced in advance of each performance. Due to the uncertainty of the ongoing COVID pandemic crisis, the department is pleased to offer free admission to 2021-2022 season events.

The season opens on Monday, September 20 with Dance On Camera, a screening of compelling new films curated by Dr. Kate Sicchio, 7:30 pm at the Grace Street Theater, 934 West Grace Street in Richmond. Admission is free and reservations are not required. A range of films will be featured, including TRAX by Lisa La Touche, in which a Tap Dancer returns from Harlem to her home province of Alberta, Canada and discovers unknown Tap Dance ancestors, which sends her on a journey exploring the borderless Black History unimaginable right underneath her feet.

Founded in 1981, VCUarts Dance is a vital, energetic department with an established reputation, diverse guest artist program and professionally active faculty. Graduates of our program thrive as performers, makers, teachers, administrators, and in many other facets of the field of dance. During its 40th anniversary season, VCUarts Dance honors the 102nd birthday of its founder, Frances Wessells, and celebrates the accomplishments of alumni from coast to coast and internationally.

The presenting program of VCUarts Dance is committed to building and engaging dance audiences in the University and Richmond communities while providing opportunities for artists to present and create work. Guest artist residencies are made possible in part by a grant from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.

Fall 2021


Dance on Camera

Monday, September 20, 2021

An intriguing evening of dance based films combining media arts, film, choreography, and a number of other art forms, curated by Dr. Kate Sicchio, Assistant Professor of Dance & Media Technologies.
 

The Salon

Friday, October 29, 2021

An informal showing of new student work, with post-performance audience feedback facilitated by students.
 

Fall Senior Project Concert

Friday + Saturday, November 5 + 6, 2021
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, November 18-20, 2021

The Senior Project concert serves as a capstone experience in both performance and choreography for graduating Dance majors. Fall 2021 will feature performances in both The Anderson gallery spaces and on the Grace Street Theater stage.
 


Spring 2022


Rough Cut: Film Screening

Friday, January 28, 2022
New films by VCUarts students across disciplines, adjudicated by faculty and students.
 

VCUarts Dance NOW

Friday + Saturday, February 11 + 12, 2022

For 2022, this concert in two programs features new works by VCUarts Dance faculty, students, and guest artists.
 

Dean Moss: johnbrown

Friday + Saturday, March 25 + 26

Steeped in a childhood of grassroots organizing and pitched campaigns, multidisciplinary artist Dean Moss draws from an intimate and varied history with activism to create johnbrown—a dark, wry meditation on the legacy of the white 19th-century abolitionist, as well as the racial, gender, and generational processes at play in the inquiry. The result of three years of research, johnbrown layers live choreography and text with video performances of an original script by Thomas Bradshaw and a score by Stephen Vitiello.
 

Spring Senior Project Concert

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, April 28, 29, 30, 2022

The Senior Project concert serves as a capstone experience in both performance and choreography for graduating Dance majors.
 

First Year Repertory Concert

Friday, May 6, 2022

First-year Dance majors perform an evening of new work by VCUarts Dance faculty.
 

Recognized by professional dancers and choreographers as “a place where things are happening,” Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Dance and Choreography offers a vibrant and stimulating atmosphere where students prepare for careers in dance.

For information on applications and auditions, visit: http://arts.vcu.edu/admissions/how-to-apply/ freshman/dance-choreography/