ADF Celebrates 70th Season

Nrityagram Dance Ensemble: merging classic Indian dance with modern Photos:sonia manchanda

The American Dance Festival will celebrate its seventieth anniversary this summer with ten world premieres and three U.S. premieres June 5 through July 19 on Duke's campus. The season, dedicated to Stephanie Reinhart, the ADF's co-director, who died last fall, features artists from France, India, Russia, Japan, China, Taiwan, and the United States.

Returning to the festival are some perennial favorites, including the Paul Taylor Dance Company and Pilobolus Dance Theatre. Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan will open the six-and-a-half-week festival, and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company will perform an ADF-commissioned world premiere during the closing weekend. Some offstage performances are free and open to the public, including ADF-commissioned performances by Eiko and Koma and Opening Acts, a new series of weekly performances by North Carolina choreographers and their companies.

The ADF was established in 1934 at Bennington College in Vermont, with founding artists Martha Graham, Hanya Holm, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman. The festival moved to Duke's campus in 1978. Major sponsors include the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the city of Durham, the Herald-Sun, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the North Carolina Arts Council.

For tickets, call (919) 684-6402.

www.americandancefestival.org