October 16, 2107 – Hundreds of young dancers from throughout Florida will converge on Santa Fe College’s Northwest Campus Oct. 27-28, 2017, for the Young Dancer Workshops sponsored by the Florida Dance Association, the Santa Fe College Fine Arts Department and the University of Florida School of Theatre and Dance.
The highlights of the workshops are the two public showcase performances at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 27-28, in the SF Fine Arts Hall at 3000 NW 83 Street, Gainesville. Tickets are $10, available through the SF Fine Arts Hall Box Office, 352-395-4181 or online at sfcollege.edu/finearts.
The two-day festival atmosphere of the workshops offers an intense, immersive dance experience for middle- and high school-age dancers. Included are classes, rehearsals, performances and scholarship auditions led by dance professionals from throughout the United States. This year, the young dancers will benefit from an artist residency with members of Black Label Movement, Carl Flink’s award-winning contemporary dance company from Minnesota.
“All of the groups that attend the workshops perform in the evening programs,” explained SF Fine Arts Department Chair Alora Haynes, who created the Young Dancer Workshops 16 years ago and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Florida Dance Association. “The Santa Fe College and University of Florida Dance Department’s faculty members program the young dancers’ pieces in an order that flows nicely for each night’s performance,” she continued. “Those two departments add one piece from the repertoire of each school to compliment the young dancers’ selections. The show is always diverse, energetic and leaves you wanting more. Each of the talented groups brings their own flavor to the performance.”
The Santa Fe College Fine Arts Department, The Florida Dance Association (FDA) and the University of Florida School of Theatre and Dance organize and co-sponsor the Young Dancer Workshop in partnership. The FDA is an organization that helps dance artists to network, collaborate and support each other to advance dance arts throughout the state.
The Florida Dance Association is a NPN Partner of the National Performance Network (NPN). This project is made possible in part by support from the NPN Performance Residency Program. Major contributors of NPN include the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information visit www.npnweb.org.
For more information, sponsorship logos, or biographies and photographs of the dancers-in-residence, call SF College Fine Arts Department Chair Alora Haynes, 352-395-5296.