Infused with exciting performances, the American College Dance Festival Association’s 40th anniversary Conference could be described as a bombardment of lights, music, and motion during its spring showcase at EC.
From April 11-14, EC hosted more than 500 dance students, from 37 colleges, for the ACDFA Baja Region Conference.
“This has been an amazing educational experience for college dance practitioners from not only across California, but from Oregon, Florida and Taiwan,” Kenneth Walker, conference consultant, said. “Here in Torrance, we have been witnessing the best up-and-coming practitioners that you are going to see at major performing venues in the future.”
Student performers took part in a variety of dance forms that were conducted by “top-notch” instructors, Pamela Santelman, conference coordinator, said.
“We (hosted) all of these people from all over and this is a very important thing for college-aged students to be exposed to, all the different cultures and dance forms,” Santelman said.
“To see beginning and advanced dancers coming together to unite is a beautiful thing,” Joshua Dunn, 21, communications and dance major of Long Beach City College, said. “This conference shows the beauty of art.”
Along with dance classes, the ACDFA conference offered academic research presentations from graduate dance students.
“I’ve networked with the professors that I’ve taken classes from, and I’ve been really paying attention to the way they teach class from a pedagogical stand point,” Rachel Winchester, 30, of the University of Oregon, said.
Also, the ACDFA conference showcased four concerts that were judged by a distinguished panel, and three informal concerts where undergraduate dance students were given feedback from the panel, Daniel Berney, conference coordinator, said.
“It’s a chance to see other universities and students in the United States. It has opened my mind,” Wang Ning, 21, dance major of the National Taiwan University of Arts, said. “American dance is very big with many people performing fluid movements; Taiwanese dance has smaller theatres and pieces.”
Ning added that the confidence displayed from American performances has motivated her to be confident in her own performances when she returns to Taiwan.
“There are amazing artists that have such smart and different ways of seeing things and expressing them,” Jaimee Kadish, 20, dance major of California State University of Long Beach, said. “Dance is extremely relevant and present in our generation.”
“We want to instill the creative process again, so that they get enthusiastic about creating again and dancing,” Santelman said.
Also, Berney said the conference has established a “task force” dedicated to addressing pertinent issues about dance within the academic environment in order to “sustain a strong and vibrant program.”
“The Center for the Arts that we have in place here has made this as large a conference as you could possibly present for the ACDFA 40th Anniversary,” Berney said. “We’ve appreciated the administrative support for the conference; this has been a huge undertaking by our college.”
