20 July 2007
American Dance Festival Welcomes International Talent
Annual gathering connects choreographers and dancers from 23 countries
Washington -- Artists of different generations and nationalities come together at the American Dance Festival (ADF) for six weeks every year to learn, perform and share their love of modern dance and dance theater.
For established professionals and choreographers such as Walid Aouni, director of the renowned Egyptian Modern Dance Theatre Company in Cairo, participating in the festival is an artistic honor, while for young students like Manizha Mahmudzoda, a 16-year-old gymnast and aspiring dancer from Dushanbe, Tajikistan, it is the opportunity of a lifetime.
The director and the student are among the nearly 500 participants from 23 countries and 41 U.S. states at this year’s festival, which has made its home on the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, for the past 30 years. The festival originated 74 years ago in Bennington, Vermont.
The American Dance Festival is one of the most important modern dance events in America. It introduces new and emerging talents and has commissioned more than 300 works, but it also recognizes established artists and revisits seminal works from the past. In 2007 there were more than 60 performances, ranging from a reconstruction of the 1984 Garden of Earthly Delights by its originator, Martha Clarke, to world premieres of ADF-commissioned works by Japanese-born artists Eiko & Koma and the Paul Taylor Dance Company. There were also two “minifestivals” featuring Russian and Argentine companies. The ADF wraps up July 21 with performances by the Mark Morris Dance Group.
Since the early 1980s, ADF “has gone international,” said festival co-director Jodee Nimerichter. “It is very important to us because we want to help and develop modern dance based on the traditions and cultures in each country, and we also want to be able to present the best modern dance from around the world,” she told USINFO.
“We don’t really care where an incredibly talented choreographer is from -- we just want to see them and their work,” she said.
Both Mahmudzoda and Aouni are part of ADF’s International Choreographers Residency Program (ICRP). Twenty choreographers and dancers participated in 2007, including seven other members of the Egyptian Modern Dance Theatre Company. Russia, Indonesia, France and Germany also were represented.
Mahmudzoda is the first participant from Tajikistan and one of the youngest at the festival. She has trained in rhythmic gymnastics since the age of 10. She was recommended to the ADF by the U.S. Embassy; the ADF provided a tuition scholarship that includes room and board.
During the festival, Mahmudzoda took ballet and modern dance classes for six hours a day, four days a week. On July 18 she performed a work she choreographed featuring gymnastics and modern dance set to classical music.
Mahmudzoda, who will be entering the 11th grade in Dushanbe, said she would like to have a dance career but realizes that little modern dance is performed in Tajikistan. “Maybe I can help people study and learn more about modern dance because I got a lot of experience here,” she said.
“I like this festival. We can exchange our experiences, we can study other cultures,” she said. Americans are friendly and polite, she added: “I like it that they always say ‘Excuse me’ and ‘Hello,’ ‘Good morning,’ ‘Good afternoon.’”
Aouni is only the second Egyptian choreographer to participate in the residency program since its inception in 1984. He echoed Mahmudzova’s observations about the friendliness of Americans, including a policeman who took him back to the American Dance Festival when he lost his way in Durham. “It is really the opposite from all the movies we saw about America,” Aouni said.
The Egyptian Modern Dance Theatre Company, which Aouni founded in 1993, was the first dance theater company in the Arab world, he said, adding, “We are an example for all Arabic countries.” He wants to expand the audience for modern dance, which he sees as “a message of liberty.”
The American Dance Festival, Aouni said, “was more than I expected.” Everyone in the company is “connecting artistically with people from all over the world.” Although he has been a choreographer for 28 years, he said, “I can always learn something.”
His company has toured throughout the Middle East, Europe and Asia. The Egyptian Ministry of Culture is supporting its participation in the ADF. Despite his renown, Aouni discovered that many participants at the American Dance Festival “didn’t know about the existence of modern dance in Egypt. They were surprised.”
“Now we have connections here,” he said. “This is the beginning of a relationship between Egypt and the United States about dance.”
Additional information is available on the ADF Web site. Its international page encourages international students, dancers and choreographers to apply tor its programs.
ADF performance of Past/Forward