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On this edition of "Inside UNC Charlotte", Meg Whalen speaks with Gretchen Alterowitz, associate professor of dance, about the 2018 Spring Dance Concert.

The Department of Dance presents student performers in five diverse works by faculty and guest choreographers in the Spring Dance Concert, March 22-25, in the Anne. R. Belk Theater in Robinson Hall.

New York-based choreographer Netta Yerulshalmy was in residence in the dance department in January, during which she created a new work, RONT, especially for UNC Charlotte students. Praised by the New York Times for her “fierce choreographic imagination,” Yerulshalmy has received the Jerome Robbins Bogliasco Fellowship in Dance, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Choreography.

Detroit-based choreographer Marcus White combines social dance forms, such as “house” and “vogueing,” with contemporary concert dance. In a residency at UNC Charlotte in October 2017, he created Breaking Pointe, which premiered on last semester’s Fall Dance Concert. The spring concert will feature a new version of Breaking Pointe, with added choreography by Assistant Professor Tamara Williams and spoken word developed by the students.

Three dance faculty members will also contribute to the spring program. Associate Professor Gretchen Alterowitz has created a contemporary ballet for the four students currently enrolled in the Professional Dance Training Certificate with Charlotte Ballet. Associate Professor E.E. Balcos has choreographed Natural Order, a new work for nine dancers set to original music composed and performed by Shamou, the dance department’s music director. And in a reprise from last fall, instructor Niche Faulkner will present a version of her rousing West African-based Bonheur et Prospérité (Happiness and Prosperity).

Later this spring, UNC Charlotte dance students will travel to New York City to perform at the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center, a venue of tremendous importance for dance both historically and currently (Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey, and Merce Cunningham are among the many storied dancers who have performed there). Students will perform Yerulshalmy’s and Alterowitz’s works from the spring concert, along with a piece by graduating dance major Anna Edwards. Their performance will be part of a field study experience during which students will take professional classes, attend concerts, and meet with alumni working in New York.

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