Saturday, April 12, 4pm
Coming together on Saturday, April 12 at 4pmEST are 1500 dancers from across the country to perform a site-specific dance at a river, a bay, a lake, the ocean, or any water site nearby. From the University of Alaska to Miami Dade College, from the Dance Engagement Company in California to Bates College in Maine, students from colleges and universities, private dance schools, high schools and elementary schools, and dance companies will unite to celebrate Water.
“My desire in creating National Water Dance was to inspire young artists to go beyond the studio and the stage with their art; to connect with the environment and realize the power of art to bring awareness to environmental issues, particularly water,” said National Water Dance founder and artistic director Dale Andree. “Through the internet National Water Dance has become the community of artists/activists that I hoped it would.”
Founded by artistic director Dale Andree and produced by Daniel Lewis, National Water Dance has been created to bring attention to the power and fragility of the nation’s waterways. Bringing dancers and musicians together from across the country and using dance as a form of social activism is, according to Ms Andree, “a force that can create social change.”
The Miami performance of National Water Dance will feature 80 dancers and 50 singers at the Deering Estate at Cutler, as part of their Festival of the Arts, at 4pm on Saturday, April 12. The artists will perform to an original score performed by its composers Miami musicians Vicki Richards and Jeff Deen. Admission from 3:30pm on is FREE. Participating schools include New World School of the Arts, South Miami Community Middle School, Arthur and Polly Mays Conservatory of the Arts, RR Moton Elementary School and Miami Dade College/Kendall Campus under the direction of Michelle Grant-Murray, assistant director of the Miami-Dade portion of National Water Dance.
“It will be so exciting to see dancers from across the nation, talking about our environment and turning those ideas into a symphony of movement across the country,” said Daniel Lewis, founding Dean of Dance of New World School of the Arts.
The entire local and national event will be live streamed.
About The National Water Dance Founder Dale Andree
Dale Andree received her BFA from Boston Conservatory of Music and her certification in Laban Movement Analysis from the Laban Institute in NYC. Influenced and inspired by Elaine Summers and May O’Donnell, Ms. Andree assisted and danced with the O’Donnell Company and taught at her school. With Elaine Summers, Ms. Andree has danced in her improvisational structures and intermedia pieces, as well as created teaching methods for introducing film and dance to students. Additional teaching credits include La Guardia HS in NYC, the Salle Pleyel in Paris, the School of the Paris Opera Ballet, University of Miami, and the New World School of the Arts, among others. A recipient of many grants, Ms. Andree is the founding member of the Miami Dance Umbrella and her own company, Mary Street Dance Theatre, which toured the U.S. and South America.
Assistant Director for National Water Dance/Miami Dade Michelle Grant-Murray
Ms. Grant-Murray, Coordinator of Dance at Miami Dade College/Kendall Campus, holds a MA degree in African Studies with a concentration in Pedagogy and Cultural Studies from Florida International University and a MFA degree in Choreography from Jacksonville University. Her work has been shown in South America, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe and throughout the United States.
Producer Daniel Lewis
Daniel Lewis is president of Miami Dance Futures, formed in 1988 to develop dance in South Florida, and a consultant for the NY-based Limon Dance Foundation. Mr. Lewis danced with the Limon Dance Company from 1962 to 1974, where he created many roles, and for many years has staged Limon and Doris Humphrey works for the Royal Swedish Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, American Ballet Theatre, and others. After teaching for 20 years at the Juilliard School of the Arts, Mr. Lewis moved to Miami in 1987 to become the founding Dean of Dance at Miami’s New World School of the Arts, a position he held until his retirement in 2011. A native New Yorker and a graduate of the New York School of Performing Arts and Juilliard, Mr. Lewis has been honored with numerous awards, including the National Society of Arts and Letters, the Florida Arts Recognition Award, the Nancy Smith award, the National Dance Educators award, and the Martha Hill Lifetime Achievement award, to name a few.
Deering Estate at Cutler
16701 SW 72nd Avenue
Miami, FL 33157
Ph: 305.235.1668
www.deeringestate.org
www.nationalwaterdance.org
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