Appalachian State to present Spring Appalachian Dance Ensemble

BOONE, N.C. – The Appalachian State University Department of Theatre and Dance will step into spring with its annual performance of the Spring Appalachian Dance Ensemble (SADE) this month. The show will take place in the Valborg Theatre on the university’s campus at 7 p.m. March 21–24, with a 2 p.m. matinee on March 25. Tickets are $10 for students and $17 for adults.

This year’s production includes eight original pieces choreographed by faculty and students who collectively bring many styles and forms of dance to the concert. SADE choreographers include four Appalachian faculty members, three dance students and national guest artist Teena Marie Custer. All the performers are dancers on the university campus.

Custer is a street dance artist, practitioner and dance teacher at Slippery Rock University where she teaches street dance styles, contemporary dance and dance composition. She also serves on the faculty at the prestigious American Dance Festival at Duke University. Custer battles and performs internationally with her all-female street dance crew, Venus Fly, as well as her local Pittsburgh crew, Get Down Gang.

SADE coordinator Cara Hagan, an assistant professor of dance studies at Appalachian, remarked, “The Spring Appalachian Dance Ensemble is always a great way to put an exclamation point on the school year for the dance studies program. The 2018 concert is jam-packed with sensitive, daring, fun and thoughtful work by our students, faculty and our guest artist.”

According to Hagan, the hallmark of SADE is the wide range of styles represented on the program. This year, audiences will enjoy ballet, modern, jazz, West African and House dance.

“House dance is a social form of dance originating in the late 70s and early 80s in underground clubs in large cities like Chicago and New York and will be featured Custer’s piece ‘Quake’,” she shared. “Teena is well-versed in House dance and brings and energy and unique flair to everything she does.”

Hagan says that the example Custer sets for Appalachian’s dancers, combined with a series of master classes given during her on-campus residency, will give students and the community “a glimpse into the rich history of House dance and the ways it continues to send ripples through dance communities and pop culture.”

SADE will be performed in the Valborg Theatre on Appalachian’s campus, located at the north side of Chapell Wilson Hall on Howard Street in Boone. The theatre entrance faces the back of the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts on King Street. Parking is available after 5 p.m. on campus in faculty/staff lots and after 5:30 p.m. in the College Street parking deck near Belk Library and Information Commons. Performances run March 21, 22, 23 and 24 at 7 p.m. with a matinee on March 25 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 for students and $17 for adults. For information on purchasing tickets call the Schaefer Center box office toll free at (800) 841-2787, locally at (828) 262-4046, visit the box office in person, or go online at theschaefercenter.org/tickets.