THE AMERICAN COLLEGE DANCE FESTIVAL

ACDFA is the only national organization dedicated to fostering artistic excellence in dance choreography and performance in higher education. Meeting in 10 regional conferences across the nation for classes, workshops, and performances, the centerpiece of each conference is a series of Adjudicated Concerts: each participating college or university may send one or two dance works for critique by nationally recognized dance professionals. The adjudication is considered ‘blind’ because the adjudicators are only told the name of the dance and the composer, if music is used. Adjudicators do not know what institution is presenting the dance, or even if the choreographer is a student or a professional. Forty to fifty works are seen at each conference, and of those works approximately a dozen are chosen, based on excellence in choreography and performance, for the Gala Concert on the Saturday evening of the conference. On alternate years, ACDFA holds a National Festival. When the National Festival is held, a select few works deemed the best from each Regional Conference are chosen for presentation at the National Festival.

AMERICAN COLLEGE DANCE FESTIVAL 2008

Congratulations are in order for Charles O. Anderson and our male dancers Michael Biren, Erik Fiebiger, Brandon Girouard, Dany Guy, Kennedy Kanagawa, Michael Laskaris, Mike Miller, William Porter, Theodore Rutherford and Scott Schneider.   Charles' spectacular piece, "evidence of things (un)said," has been selected as one of three works from the Mid-Atlantic Conference of the American College Dance Festival Association for presentation at the National festival to be held in New York City this June.  Of the 46 works adjudicated at this conference only three are selected for presentation at the National Festival, so this indeed a high honor.   ACDFA is comprised of 10 regions and about 30 works are shown as the best of college dance at the National Festival.  This is the third time Muhlenberg College Dancers have been selected. Charles O. Anderson has been included in Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch" for 2008.He is the recipient of a prestigious Pew Charitable Trusts grant in support of his professional company, dancetheatre x.

"This is an honor to our entire department - theatre and dance!  Special acknowledgments go to Constance Case for her incredible costumes and the costume shop for their support and efforts to get everything together for us while also laboring on the very full production season.  We also thank Paul Theisen for his support and assistance with the lighting."
Karen Dearborn, Director of Dance

Muhlenberg College Dancers at ACDFA – regional and national success!

• (2008) evidence of things (un)said, choreographed by Assistant Professor Charles Anderson was selected for the Mid-Atlantic Gala Concert and was one of only 30 works from across the nation selected for presentation at the National Festival in New York City in June.

• (2007) Chris Shepard '07 and Kate Thompson '07 earned top honors at the American College Dance Festival Northeast Conference. Only 10 of the 41 adjudicated pieces were deemed excellent by the adjudicators and performed again as part of the conference's gala concert. Shepard and Thompson were two of the 10. Muhlenberg was the only school to have both submitted works selected for the gala and both pieces were choreographed by students. (non-national year)

  

• (2006) Tango X Three, Choreographed by Erica Cenci, Kara Senich, and Adam Reich, all from the class of ’06, was selected for the gala concert of the Northeast Regional Conference.

• (2005) (re)Singing from the Underspace, choreography by faculty member Charles O. Anderson was selected to perform in the Gala Concert for the Mid-Atlantic region in a non-national year.

• (2004) Business or Pleasure, choreographed by student, Mary McLaughlin’04, was selected for the NE Gala concert and was one of only 37 works from across the nation selected for presentation at the National Festival at the Kennedy Center.

• (2003) Rubbish Overrunneth, choreographed by student, Julie Danton’03 was one of only eight works selected for the NE Gala Concert. (non-national year)

• (2002) Black Raspberry, a ballet choreographed by faculty and guest artist Jennifer Kayle and Megan Bonneau-McCool was presented at the NE Gala and subsequently selected for the National Festival at the Kennedy Center.

In 2002 Muhlenberg College hosted the Northeast Festival. More than 475 dancers and choreographers from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Ohio gathered in Allentown for four days of classes, workshops and performances. Thirty colleges were represented and eighty Muhlenberg students stayed on campus to lend a hand and be a part of this festival.

The department normally takes 24 students to attend the annual festival. We typically adjudicate two works and present one work on the informal concert. Selection criteria to attend the festival includes major, class year, and/or if one is cast in a work that will be performed at the festival.