For 13 years, UNC Chapel Hill students have stood for 24 hours to support the patients and families at N.C. Children’s Hospital, but this year’s event promises to be the largest UNC Dance Marathon yet, with more registered dancers than ever before.
Two-thousand students signed up to take a stand for kids who can’t in the 14th annual UNC Dance Marathon on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 17 and 18, inside UNC’s Fetzer Gym. The previous record was 1,800 registered dancers for the 2009 marathon.
“I’m so excited that so many UNC students decided to participate in this amazing experience by registering to dance,” said Overall Coordinator Gracie Beard.
The marathon will kick off at 7:30 p.m. at UNC’s Fetzer gym after a few words from former N.C. Children’s Hospital patient and UND-DM kid co-captain, Asheton Ayotte and her parents, Matt and Tiana, of Chapel Hill.
Asheton was born at UNC in January 2002, 15 weeks premature and weighing a mere 1 pound, 5 ounces. Like many micro-preemies, she had myriad medical issues, including a hole in her heart and chronic lung disease. She had the distinction of being one of the first occupants of the then brand-new Newborn Critical Care Center at N.C. Children’s Hospital, where she received excellent care over a total of 107 days. (See Asheton’s complete story at http://bit.ly/meet-asheton.)
Now 10, Asheton shows no outward signs of being born so early. Despite some asthma-related issues and eyeglasses, her recovery is miraculous—a fact her parents attribute to the extraordinary medical attention the family received at N.C. Children’s Hospital. The experience keeps the family involved in giving back to the hospital through, among other things, participation in the UNC Dance Marathon.
“By the time ‘Family Hour,’ came it all went away—the pain, the exhaustion and the frustration,” said Lauren Stange, a senior dancing for her fourth time this year, of patient-family participation at the marathon. “Nothing else mattered but those kids and families whose lives we touched.”
The marathon will feature several Children’s Hospital patients, families and caregivers over the 24-hour course of the event—but that’s not all. Campus and community performance groups will entertain the 2,000 student revelers, and additional activities and on-stage games centered on this year’s “Mission Possible” theme will keep the energy high until the marathon wraps with Family Hour on Saturday evening.
“My committee and I work to ensure that dancers are constantly energized and engaged in the marathon,” said Entertainment Chair Diane Morris. “We work hard to make sure there aren’t too many acts of the same type and that we secure top-quality performers.”
Dancers will be divided into 24 teams, each with a spy-related name to keep with the event’s theme. Each team is headed by a member of the Morale committee and has also been assigned a kid co-captain. Like Asheton Ayotte, these kids have been personally impacted by the hospital or UNC-DM and remind dancers why they are participating in the marathon.
In addition to dancers, hundreds of moralers and volunteers will also participate in the marathon. Moralers work six-hour shifts and keep dancers energized, while volunteers work three-hour shifts and help with the operations and logistics of the event.
However, dancers, moralers and volunteers are not the only ones who work to make the marathon successful. More than 300 students also serve on 13 committees responsible for various aspects of the Marathon and its yearlong fundraising efforts. Committees helped to organize and publicize events including benefit nights at local restaurants, a benefit reception and Trick-or-Treat For Kids Who Can’t. They also canned for donations at UNC football and basketball games throughout the year.
UNC-DM is not just a two-day event but is a year-round effort that started in 1998 and has grown tremendously. During the past 13 years, UNC-DM has raised $2.8 million dollars, and last year it raised $436,709.61.
The public is invited to experience this unique event.
See what ended up on The News of Orange County's cutting room floor.
Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Festifall 2012 calls for non-profit and commerical exhibitors
Applications for local non-profit and commercial businesses at Chapel Hill’s 40th annual Festifall 2012 are now being accepted by the Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Department. Festifall will take place Sunday, Oct. 7, from noon to 6 p.m. on the tree-lined street of West Franklin. Applications are due by June 1st; space is limited.
More than 15,000 local and visiting attendees are entertained throughout the day with live music and the best that the local art scene has to offer accompanied by participatory interactive art and dance activities. Festifall was voted Best Festival by Chapel Hill Magazine readers 2011/12 In 2011 and attracts 15,000+ people from all over Central North Carolina; no other event in Chapel Hill or Orange County attracts as many people in one afternoon.
Partnerships in publicity include the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership and the Chapel Hill Visitor’s Bureau. Festifall is also promoted through 30,000 printed event guides, in regional print, radio and television advertisements as well as the most current, wide-reaching social media outlets.
To support the Town’s sustainability efforts, we are encouraging all interested artists to apply using the paperless application. A hard copy, PDF version, can be downloaded at this site as well.
More information, including the full official event guide, parking, and pictures from Festifall 2011, can be found online. Questions about registration for Festifall 2012 can be directed to Carter Hubbard at chubbard@townofchapelhill.org.
More than 15,000 local and visiting attendees are entertained throughout the day with live music and the best that the local art scene has to offer accompanied by participatory interactive art and dance activities. Festifall was voted Best Festival by Chapel Hill Magazine readers 2011/12 In 2011 and attracts 15,000+ people from all over Central North Carolina; no other event in Chapel Hill or Orange County attracts as many people in one afternoon.
Partnerships in publicity include the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership and the Chapel Hill Visitor’s Bureau. Festifall is also promoted through 30,000 printed event guides, in regional print, radio and television advertisements as well as the most current, wide-reaching social media outlets.
To support the Town’s sustainability efforts, we are encouraging all interested artists to apply using the paperless application. A hard copy, PDF version, can be downloaded at this site as well.
More information, including the full official event guide, parking, and pictures from Festifall 2011, can be found online. Questions about registration for Festifall 2012 can be directed to Carter Hubbard at chubbard@townofchapelhill.org.
Festifall 2012 artist applications now available
Applications for artist booths at Chapel Hill’s 40th annual Festifall 2012 are now being accepted by the Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Department. Festifall will take place Sunday, Oct. 7, from noon to 6 p.m. on the tree-lined street of West Franklin. Applications are due by May 1, and space is limited to 120 qualifiers.
Festifall artists will be awarded cash prizes for: first place at $350, second place at $250 and third place at $150, and juror, Sara Latta Gress, owner of the North Carolina Crafts Gallery in Carrboro, will be selecting the awards this year.
Selected artists creating in all media will be a part of this well-publicized annual event celebrating the cultural arts held in downtown Chapel Hill. More than 15,000 local and visiting attendees are entertained throughout the day with live music and the best that the local art scene has to offer, accompanied by participatory interactive art and dance activities.
Partnerships in publicity include the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership and the Chapel Hill Visitor’s Bureau. Festifall is also promoted through 30,000 printed event guides, in regional print, radio and television advertisements as well as the most current: wide-reaching social media outlets.
To support the Town’s sustainability efforts, we are encouraging all interested artists to apply using the paper-less application. A hard copy, PDF version, can be downloaded at this site as well. Applications are accompanied by a fee of $25. Applicants’ images will be reviewed by a panel of local artist jurors, and accepted artists will be notified on June 15.
More information, including the full official event guide, parking, and pictures from Festifall 2011, can be found online. Questions about registration for Festifall 2012 can be directed to Carter Hubbard at chubbard@townofchapelhill.org.
Festifall artists will be awarded cash prizes for: first place at $350, second place at $250 and third place at $150, and juror, Sara Latta Gress, owner of the North Carolina Crafts Gallery in Carrboro, will be selecting the awards this year.
Selected artists creating in all media will be a part of this well-publicized annual event celebrating the cultural arts held in downtown Chapel Hill. More than 15,000 local and visiting attendees are entertained throughout the day with live music and the best that the local art scene has to offer, accompanied by participatory interactive art and dance activities.
Partnerships in publicity include the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership and the Chapel Hill Visitor’s Bureau. Festifall is also promoted through 30,000 printed event guides, in regional print, radio and television advertisements as well as the most current: wide-reaching social media outlets.
To support the Town’s sustainability efforts, we are encouraging all interested artists to apply using the paper-less application. A hard copy, PDF version, can be downloaded at this site as well. Applications are accompanied by a fee of $25. Applicants’ images will be reviewed by a panel of local artist jurors, and accepted artists will be notified on June 15.
More information, including the full official event guide, parking, and pictures from Festifall 2011, can be found online. Questions about registration for Festifall 2012 can be directed to Carter Hubbard at chubbard@townofchapelhill.org.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Carolina Performing Arts to present eclectic array in February
February brings an intriguing mix of Piedmont bluegrass, Balkan-infused punk, modern dance, jazz and classical piano to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Carolina Performing Arts will present such special guests as the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, classical pianist Leif Ove Andsnes and Overtone Quartet, featuring a jazz dream team of Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Jason Moran and Eric Harland.
Performances will be in Memorial Hall on Cameron Avenue. For tickets and more information, visit www.carolinaperformingarts.org or call or visit the Memorial Hall Box Office at (919) 843-3333, open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and before shows. Show details follow.
Carolina Chocolate Drops with special guests Luminescent Orchestrii, 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 3
All about innovation and serious fun, the Grammy Award-winning and critically lauded Durham-based Carolina Chocolate Drops are the newest and youngest players in the long lineage of black string bands. The band has been widely credited with reviving the rich sounds of this music from the Piedmont region of the Carolinas. Upstarts in a stable of deep tradition, they are also a link between past and future, exploring generations-old songs with a modern touch.
They collaborate here with New York gypsy punk band Luminescent Orchestrii, which renders Romanian gypsy melodies, punk frenzy, salty tangos, hard-rocking klezmer, haunting Balkan harmony, hip-hop beats and Appalachian fiddle music.
The pairing guarantees a night full of high-energy and foot-stomping music from the southern Appalachian and eastern European Carpathian Mountains. Tickets are $29 to $69 and $10 for UNC-Chapel Hill students. Websites: www.carolinachocolatedrops.com, www.lumii.org
"Four Electric Ghosts: An Opera Masquerade" by Mendi + Keith Obadike, 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 9
This fantastically futuristic multimedia romp creates a composite world at the intersection of game culture, folk tales and pop songs. Inspired by Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola's 1954 novel "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" and Japanese video game designer Tori Iwatani's influential 1980s arcade game Pac Man, "Four Electric Ghosts" follows the afterlives of four ghosts who encounter the same mortal in a journey through the Land of the Dead. The provocative story is told through masquerade, dance, video interviews and original funk, rock and R&B music, and the audience is invited to dance with the performers at the end.
Mendi + Keith Obadike make music, art and literature. After working as a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University, Mendi Obadike became a poetry editor at Fence Magazine. Today, she is an assistant professor of humanities and media studies at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y. Keith Obadike is a tenured assistant professor in the College of Arts and Communication at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J., and an art adviser for the Times Square Alliance.
"Four Electric Ghosts" is part of the Loading Dock series in which audiences and artists share the Memorial Hall stage. Seating is limited to 160 people. Directions on how to enter Memorial Hall will be distributed with tickets. Tickets are $20 or $10 for UNC-Chapel Hill students. Website: www.blacknetart.com
Overtone Quartet, featuring Dave Holland, Jason Moran, Chris Potter and Eric Harland, 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 10
Grammy Award-winning Holland joins a quartet of jazz veterans who all have earned awards and critical praise as players, bandleaders and composers. Each contributes his own compositions to the Overtone Quartet. The online magazine "All About Jazz" reported, "This group has no bandleader and instead functions as a collective, coming together around the shared goals of challenging each other to greater and more subtle composition and performance."
From his beginnings with Miles Davis to his acclaimed ensembles today, Holland has one of the most celebrated legacies in jazz. "The Boston Globe" calls Holland "a master bassist and bandleader, one of the most sophisticated composers and arrangers in the jazz world." The "Los Angeles Times" described pianist and composer Moran as "a startlingly gifted pianist with a relentless thirst for experimentation." Grammy Award-nominated Potter has been called the finest saxophonist of his generation. And drummer Harland has recorded more than 30 albums and toured the world.
Tickets are $25 to $59 and $10 for UNC-Chapel Hill students. Website: http://www.carolinaperformingarts.org/media
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13 and Tuesday, Feb. 14
Spiritual, graceful, hopeful and one of the most celebrated modern dance companies in the world, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to Memorial Hall. The group started in 1958, led by Ailey and young African-American modern dancers. Their performances forever changed the perception of American dance.
In 2008, a U.S. Congressional resolution designated the company as "a vital American cultural ambassador to the world" that celebrates the uniqueness of the African-American cultural experience and the preservation and enrichment of the American modern dance heritage.
The modern classic "Revelations," to be performed both nights, tells a story of African-American faith and tenacity from slavery to freedom through dances set to spirituals and blues music. This is the first tour for the company featuring new artistic director Robert Battle, the personal selection of former director Judith Jamison. He is only the third person to head the company since it was founded.
Tickets are $25 to $64 and $10 for UNC-Chapel Hill students. Website: www.alvinailey.org
Leif Ove Andsnes, 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 17
Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, one of the most sought-after pianists of his generation, appears with the world's leading orchestras and gives recitals in the foremost concert halls. Also an active chamber musician, he plays at the Risør Chamber Music Festival in Norway and next year will be music director of the Ojai Music Festival in California.
This year, Andsnes has performed with the Boston, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Trondheim and Vienna symphony orchestras, the Norwegian and Swedish chamber orchestras and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
In Chapel Hill, he will perform Haydn's Sonata in C minor, Bartók's Suite, Op. 14, Debussy's "Images" and Chopin's waltzes, ballades and Nocturne Op. 62.
Andsnes' discography comprises more than 30 solo, chamber and concerto releases, spanning repertoire from Bach to the present and garnering seven Grammy nominations and five Gramophone Awards. Among his recent recordings are Rachmaninov's Piano Concertos Nos. 3 and 4 with Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra. He also recorded Schumann's piano trios with violinist Christian Tetzlaff and his sister, cellist Tanja Tetzlaff.
Tickets are $29 to $69 and $10 for UNC-Chapel Hill students. Website: www.andsnes.com
Christian McBride and Inside Straight, 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 24
Grammy Award-winning bassist, composer, arranger and educator Christian McBride is one of the most omnipresent figures in jazz, performing and recording with legends including McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Diana Krall, Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis and Joshua Redman. He also works with hip-hop, soul, pop and classical artists such as The Roots, Sting and soprano Kathleen Battle.
Performing with McBride is his band, Inside Straight, which just released their its album, "Kind Of Brown," in 2009. The band features styles that range from hard swing to bluesy groove and includes pianist Eric Reed, alto saxophonist Steve Wilson, drummer Carl Allen and vibraphonist Warren Wolf, one of McBride's former students.
McBride, equally adept on acoustic and electric bass, has been at the forefront of jazz education, working as an artist in residence at festivals and artistic director at arts centers and museums—including stints as co-director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem and creative jazz chair for the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Christian McBride and Inside Straight will perform at UNC as part of the 35th annual Carolina Jazz Festival. Tickets are $15 to $39 and $10 for UNC-Chapel Hill students. Website: www.christianmcbride.com.
Performances will be in Memorial Hall on Cameron Avenue. For tickets and more information, visit www.carolinaperformingarts.org or call or visit the Memorial Hall Box Office at (919) 843-3333, open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and before shows. Show details follow.
Carolina Chocolate Drops with special guests Luminescent Orchestrii, 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 3
All about innovation and serious fun, the Grammy Award-winning and critically lauded Durham-based Carolina Chocolate Drops are the newest and youngest players in the long lineage of black string bands. The band has been widely credited with reviving the rich sounds of this music from the Piedmont region of the Carolinas. Upstarts in a stable of deep tradition, they are also a link between past and future, exploring generations-old songs with a modern touch.
They collaborate here with New York gypsy punk band Luminescent Orchestrii, which renders Romanian gypsy melodies, punk frenzy, salty tangos, hard-rocking klezmer, haunting Balkan harmony, hip-hop beats and Appalachian fiddle music.
The pairing guarantees a night full of high-energy and foot-stomping music from the southern Appalachian and eastern European Carpathian Mountains. Tickets are $29 to $69 and $10 for UNC-Chapel Hill students. Websites: www.carolinachocolatedrops.com, www.lumii.org
"Four Electric Ghosts: An Opera Masquerade" by Mendi + Keith Obadike, 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 9
This fantastically futuristic multimedia romp creates a composite world at the intersection of game culture, folk tales and pop songs. Inspired by Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola's 1954 novel "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" and Japanese video game designer Tori Iwatani's influential 1980s arcade game Pac Man, "Four Electric Ghosts" follows the afterlives of four ghosts who encounter the same mortal in a journey through the Land of the Dead. The provocative story is told through masquerade, dance, video interviews and original funk, rock and R&B music, and the audience is invited to dance with the performers at the end.
Mendi + Keith Obadike make music, art and literature. After working as a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University, Mendi Obadike became a poetry editor at Fence Magazine. Today, she is an assistant professor of humanities and media studies at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y. Keith Obadike is a tenured assistant professor in the College of Arts and Communication at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J., and an art adviser for the Times Square Alliance.
"Four Electric Ghosts" is part of the Loading Dock series in which audiences and artists share the Memorial Hall stage. Seating is limited to 160 people. Directions on how to enter Memorial Hall will be distributed with tickets. Tickets are $20 or $10 for UNC-Chapel Hill students. Website: www.blacknetart.com
Overtone Quartet, featuring Dave Holland, Jason Moran, Chris Potter and Eric Harland, 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 10
Grammy Award-winning Holland joins a quartet of jazz veterans who all have earned awards and critical praise as players, bandleaders and composers. Each contributes his own compositions to the Overtone Quartet. The online magazine "All About Jazz" reported, "This group has no bandleader and instead functions as a collective, coming together around the shared goals of challenging each other to greater and more subtle composition and performance."
From his beginnings with Miles Davis to his acclaimed ensembles today, Holland has one of the most celebrated legacies in jazz. "The Boston Globe" calls Holland "a master bassist and bandleader, one of the most sophisticated composers and arrangers in the jazz world." The "Los Angeles Times" described pianist and composer Moran as "a startlingly gifted pianist with a relentless thirst for experimentation." Grammy Award-nominated Potter has been called the finest saxophonist of his generation. And drummer Harland has recorded more than 30 albums and toured the world.
Tickets are $25 to $59 and $10 for UNC-Chapel Hill students. Website: http://www.carolinaperformingarts.org/media
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13 and Tuesday, Feb. 14
Spiritual, graceful, hopeful and one of the most celebrated modern dance companies in the world, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to Memorial Hall. The group started in 1958, led by Ailey and young African-American modern dancers. Their performances forever changed the perception of American dance.
In 2008, a U.S. Congressional resolution designated the company as "a vital American cultural ambassador to the world" that celebrates the uniqueness of the African-American cultural experience and the preservation and enrichment of the American modern dance heritage.
The modern classic "Revelations," to be performed both nights, tells a story of African-American faith and tenacity from slavery to freedom through dances set to spirituals and blues music. This is the first tour for the company featuring new artistic director Robert Battle, the personal selection of former director Judith Jamison. He is only the third person to head the company since it was founded.
Tickets are $25 to $64 and $10 for UNC-Chapel Hill students. Website: www.alvinailey.org
Leif Ove Andsnes, 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 17
Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, one of the most sought-after pianists of his generation, appears with the world's leading orchestras and gives recitals in the foremost concert halls. Also an active chamber musician, he plays at the Risør Chamber Music Festival in Norway and next year will be music director of the Ojai Music Festival in California.
This year, Andsnes has performed with the Boston, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Trondheim and Vienna symphony orchestras, the Norwegian and Swedish chamber orchestras and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
In Chapel Hill, he will perform Haydn's Sonata in C minor, Bartók's Suite, Op. 14, Debussy's "Images" and Chopin's waltzes, ballades and Nocturne Op. 62.
Andsnes' discography comprises more than 30 solo, chamber and concerto releases, spanning repertoire from Bach to the present and garnering seven Grammy nominations and five Gramophone Awards. Among his recent recordings are Rachmaninov's Piano Concertos Nos. 3 and 4 with Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra. He also recorded Schumann's piano trios with violinist Christian Tetzlaff and his sister, cellist Tanja Tetzlaff.
Tickets are $29 to $69 and $10 for UNC-Chapel Hill students. Website: www.andsnes.com
Christian McBride and Inside Straight, 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 24
Grammy Award-winning bassist, composer, arranger and educator Christian McBride is one of the most omnipresent figures in jazz, performing and recording with legends including McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Diana Krall, Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis and Joshua Redman. He also works with hip-hop, soul, pop and classical artists such as The Roots, Sting and soprano Kathleen Battle.
Performing with McBride is his band, Inside Straight, which just released their its album, "Kind Of Brown," in 2009. The band features styles that range from hard swing to bluesy groove and includes pianist Eric Reed, alto saxophonist Steve Wilson, drummer Carl Allen and vibraphonist Warren Wolf, one of McBride's former students.
McBride, equally adept on acoustic and electric bass, has been at the forefront of jazz education, working as an artist in residence at festivals and artistic director at arts centers and museums—including stints as co-director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem and creative jazz chair for the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Christian McBride and Inside Straight will perform at UNC as part of the 35th annual Carolina Jazz Festival. Tickets are $15 to $39 and $10 for UNC-Chapel Hill students. Website: www.christianmcbride.com.
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