Every year students and faculty of the TC Dance and Dance Education program attend the American College Dance Festival (ACDF) conference. These students and faculty choreograph and perform at adjudicated and non-adjudicated concerts presented at the conference. The dances are honored in the Gala concert for their innovative choreography and performance. This last year of the program's attendance is no exception.

Thirteen students and one faculty member from TC attended the Festival this past March held at the University of Maine in Orono. The Festival consisted of three full days of varieties of dance classes including Graham-inspired modern dance, dances of the African Diaspora.

Concerts also filled the three days with a total of over thirty dance pieces submitted for adjudication from colleges all over New England. From these concerts, twelve dance pieces were presented at the Gala performance on the last night of the Festival. These pieces are video taped and archived for the American College Dance Festival Association.

Teachers College submitted two pieces for adjudication. "Walked" was choreographed by faculty instructor Claire Porter and danced by students Allison Bazin, Karen Eubanks, Caren Heller, Natasha Jones, Patricia Manalo, Tanya Mgrdechian, Nicole Pelaggi-Dyer, Summer Robertson, Jamie Sporn, Kathryn Tuman, and Alex Vasallo. "Solo Tree" was choreographed and performed by student Allison Bazin.

Each dance created its own music and set its own theme. Both pieces were selected for the Gala performance, and each received positive acclaim by the adjudicators and audience members.

Teachers College Dance and Dance Education program students and faculty have held a consistent record in choreography acclaim within its history of attendance at ACDF. Submissions from previous years have been selected for Gala performances at each Festival. Every other year, ACDF chooses pieces from each Gala throughout the United States to be performed at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.. In 1998, choreography by Claire Porter was presented at this ACDF National Gala.

A non-adjudication concert was also presented as a chance for emerging student choreographers to present their works for peer feedback. The strongly stated "Body Been Heavy," choreographed and performed by Natasha Jones, and the picturesque "Between White Pine," choreographed and performed by Nicole Pelaggi-Dyer, were presented at this concert.

"Solo Tree," "Walked" and "Between White Pine," as well as other works danced and choreographed by Teachers College Dance and Dance Education students, were performed at their annual Spring Concert, "Closing Stages," in April at St. Michael's Church.

Published Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2001