Emory Dance Company Choreographer: Julio Medina

 

The Fall 2024 Emory Dance Company Concert features new work by faculty members Julio Medina, George Staib, Lori Teague and guest artists Doug Varone and Danielle Swatzie. 

Read about faculty member Julio Medina's work and process below! 

As a cast, we are exploring themes of resilience, resistance, and restoration. In particular, we are responding to and taking inspiration from Angela Davis’ “Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric”.  

 

When collaborating with the dancers, I give various improvisational and choreographic tasks for creation, and then we edit. I am also very transparent with the ideas generating in my mind, so that the dancers have context and a goal while they create. Sometimes they create individually, in duets, or trios. I’m working with a quartet, and it’s been a really fun and intimate creative process. 

 

I’d like for the audience to consider the term “immigrant”. I think the word itself, and the rhetoric around it, is very divisive, and supports a racist, hierachichal system that’s detrimental to our health and the advancement of the human race. I would like for the audience to reconsider that word, how they use it, and how it can be used to dehumanize.  

Thank you Julio! Tickets for the Emory Dance Company Fall 2024 Concert are on sale now. Click here to purchase them now.

Students Reflect on Transformative Doug Varone and Dancers Residency

Doug Varone and Dancers Residency:

Emory Dance Students Reflect on Their Transformative Experience

This fall, the Emory Dance Program had the privilege of hosting Doug Varone and Dancers (DOVA) as a company in residence. Over the course of the residency, our students had the unique opportunity to work closely with DOVA, learning directly from the world-renowned choreographer Doug Varone and dancing alongside his company members. From open classes to live performances, students were fully immersed in the professional dance process, gaining first-hand insights of what a performance career can entail. 

Two dancers who participated in the residency shared their reflections on what this experience has meant for their artistic growth.

Student Vivian Corry shares:

"Our time working with DOVA really gave me insight into what a professional process looks like. I learned more about what goes into a show like this, both on the choreography side and the tech side. I learned more about keeping your body healthy and safe during a physically demanding process. I learned how to advocate for myself and communicate when I needed to modify things. Every part of the process was extremely enriching, and I feel immeasurably grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it."

"I truly believe that I grew as an artist from this experience. It challenged me to approach movement differently, to pick up corrections quickly, and to collaborate with new people."

Student Alice Stern shares:

"I feel what was most valuable part of this experience was being given direction and insight directly from Doug, and being able to learn about his process in choreographing, conceptualizing, and completing his works."

"This experience has greatly expanded my modern dance vocabulary and will influence my creativity in dance as well as my understanding of movement and weight."

The residency has left a lasting impact on our students, helping them grow as artists and future professionals. We’re excited to see how these experiences continue to shape their artistic journeys.

Learn more about Doug Varone and Dancers. 

Emory Dance Company Choreographer: George Staib

 

The Fall 2024 Emory Dance Company Concert features new work by faculty members Julio Medina, George Staib, Lori Teague and guest artists Doug Varone and Danielle Swatzie. 

Read about faculty member George Staib's work and process below! 

I am working with the idea of unfulfilled expectations/hopes/dreams - an examination of the way some ideas never truly come into fruition for whatever reason. This thematic content will be revealed through dynamic partnering and multiple trios, moments that almost crystalize, along with set pieces: 10-12 foot flower stalks, representing potential – buds that never open. Still these stalks represent resilience in that they cannot be knocked down. The work moves from what is an elegant and dreamy beginning, into a tumultuous and chaotic conclusion. 

 

I am hoping to create an atmosphere of longing, perhaps even a connection to moving on, moving forward, despite the sadness that comes with missing out on something we feel was meant for us. The dancers are integral to the development of the work. Together we unearth the vocabulary, collaborate on partnering ideas, and relay feedback to one another.

 

We often devote a lot of time considering the “woulda, shoulda, coulda” elements in our lives. And truly – nothing can be done about scenarios that live(d) in the past. With that, perhaps visceral response to this highly athletic work will itself be a journey into the places where impulses live. If in the end, it is difficult to articulate what the work meant to an audience member, and they are left with images they found provocative, then we have done our jobs. 

Thank you George! Tickets for the Emory Dance Company Fall 2024 Concert are on sale now. Click here to purchase them now.