| Dear Dance Alumni and Friends | The semester is in full swing, and we've already had several exciting events and performances. Here are some highlights from the summer and the start of fall.
We just finished our annual production of Dance Gala. This year's theme, Agile, featured an exciting lineup of new and re-staged works by faculty members, including Eloy Barragán, Armando Duarte, Kristin Marrs, and Stephanie Miracle. It also includes Sombrerísimo, a piece by renowned guest choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, which was restaged for the student dancers by Chris Bloom, a former member of Ballet Hispanico and an accomplished choreographer himself. READ MORE
We will be finishing off the semester with three remarkable and FREE events in Space Place. First, E/MERGE Moving Words, Moving Worlds will take place in the first week of November, where writers from the UI’s International Writing Program will collaborate with UI dance creators to showcase new works in performance. They will communicate through various artistic forms, engaging in a shared creative process to explore meaningful possibilities. Later in November we are looking forward to a Thesis I Concert featuring performances choreographed by MFA Candidate Brady Van Patten. We will finish the semester with Graduate/Undergraduate Concert where works choreographed by graduate and undergraduate students from the department will be featured.
We welcome you to come out and support the hard work of our faculty and students! Check out some of their news and accomplishments below, and make sure you’re following us on Instagram and Facebook so you can see regular reports of their excellence.
We are eager to hear about your accomplishments and accolades, too—so please share your news with us!
Thank you for your support!
Warmly,
Rebekah Kowal
Professor and Department Executive Officer | | | Department News | Renowned hip-hop dancers Lady Em and Supa Josh bring their Olympic-level skills to Iowa through a series of workshops. Both have extensive backgrounds in international competitions and teaching, with a focus on freestyle and breakdancing. Their classes aim to build a community of dancers, teaching not only technique but also the culture of hip-hop. The workshops offered Iowans a chance to learn from some of the best in the field while promoting hip-hop's core values of expression and unity. Read More.
Emily and Josh Culbreath performing
Dance Major Ellie Daley was featured in Dance Magazine September issue in the article “A Day in the Life of 4 College Dance Majors.” In the article they talk about how they balance demanding dance rehearsals, academic courses, and extracurricular activities. While each program varies in intensity and focus, all the students highlight the transformative nature of their dance education, strong community bonds, and opportunities for personal and artistic growth. Their routines reflect a mix of technique classes, rehearsals, and academic pursuits tailored to their specific programs. Read the article HERE.
Evan Zukin has started a new student organization, Tap Dance at Iowa, offering free weekly tap classes open to all. The club also features a performing troupe currently building a repertoire for future performances. It aims to create a space for students to learn and engage with tap dancing, whether as beginners or experienced dancers. For more details, visit their CampusLabs page or follow them on Instagram. | | | Alumni News | Sydnie L. Mosley (MFA 09) leads SLMDances, a Harlem-based collective promoting social justice through dance. Mosley, named one of Dance Magazine’s "25 Dancers to Watch," tackles issues like gender-based harassment and body image through performances. She aims to expand her projects, including bringing the Window Sex Project to college campuses, and continues to foster inclusive spaces for dancers. Mosley is passionate about elevating SLMDances' community impact and exploring new artistic collaborations. Read More.
Sydnie L. Mosley
Shannon Hartle (Dance BFA) performed in the premiere of Carl Flink's Battleground with Black Label Movement on October 11th at American Dance Festival. The work was covered in both Dance Magazine and The New York Times. Hartle believes that taking improvisation classes and joining the UI Dance Company during her time at Iowa was crucial to her capacity to tackle this difficult piece. Read more HERE.
SUBMIT YOUR NEWS HERE | | | Faculty News | Professor and Department Executive Officer Rebekah Kowal gave a preview of her upcoming book, War Theatre: Dancing American Empire during World War II at the Infinite Dream Festival held at Hancher Auditorium in September. Additionally, Kowal just inked a deal with the Academic Studies Press to have her second monograph, Dancing the World Smaller: Staging Globalism in Mid-Century America, translated into Russian. Through 2025, she will remain with Dr. Nadine George-Graves of Northwestern University as Executive Co-Editor of Dance Research Journal.
This summer, Assistant Professor Stephanie Miracle was abroad in Germany and France directing her international performance ensemble FAKERS CLUB. Since Miracle’s founding of FAKERS CLUB in 2015, they have been creating new Episodes using time-based dramaturgies with situational ingredients from these public spaces and a filmic logic that invite audiences and passersby to look more closely at what is around them. Miracle produced this summer The Lost and Found Episodes Project with site-specific performances in Berlin & Wuppertal, Germany and in Auterive, France as supported through residencies at Tanz Station Barmer-Bahnhof and théâtre à Allégora. This research was also made possible with generous support from the UI Office of the Vice President for Research, the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, UI International Programs, and the Stanley-UI Foundation Support Organization. Read More HERE.
FAKERS CLUB performing.
Professor Jennifer Kayle and longtime collaborator Pamela Vail presented last September an evening of work entitled RE-PAIR at the Center for Performance Research in Brooklyn, NY. The program comprised a talented network from the University of Iowa including Department of Dance faculty, alumni, and students Anna Adams Stark (2008 BFA), Assistant Professor Stephanie Miracle, Edward Rice (2007 MFA), Maurice Watson (2015MFA), Alyssa Alber (2023 BFA), Ellie Daley (current BFA senior), Maggie Steimel (2023 BFA), and Zoe Miller (2023 MFA); UI School of Music alum Jason Palamara (2015 PhD); and collaborators Lena Lauer and Donnell Williams.
Last September Tony Orrico and NYC-based art-rock duo Sky Creature presented a four-hour immersive performance at the UI Stanley Museum of Art, a multimedia collaboration wherein Orrico created a life-size graphic artwork using the movement of his body as the music swelled from ambient sound bath to an intense electronic dialogue with Orrico’s motion. Vocalist Majel Connery says: "The piece culminates in this glorious apocalypse where we’re all exhausted, I’ve lost my voice, Tony’s covered in graphite, and Matt looks like he just ran a marathon. The final 30 minutes is worth the wait.”
Tony Orrico and Sky Creature | | | |
