Dr. Sherry Shapiro to give Faculty Distinguished Lecture

Each year one Meredith faculty member is honored by the Faculty Development and Instructional Technology Committee and the Vice President for Academic Programs by being chosen to deliver the FACULTY DISTINGUISHED LECTURE. Professor of Dance and Fulbright Scholar Dr. Shapiro was chosen for the excellence of her scholarship or research. She will present OUR BODIES, OUR LIVES: moving beyond boundaries March 12, 2013, 7:00 p.m. in Jones Auditorium.

Alyson Colwell-Waber chosen for North Carolina Dance Alliance Annual Award

Professor of Dance, Alyson Colwell-Waber was awarded the North Carolina Dance Alliance (NCDA) Annual Award during the organization’s annual event, October 20-22, 2012. The NCDA Annual Award honors an individual who has made significant lifetime contributions to the growth and development of dance in North Carolina. Recipients of the Annual Award receive a $500 honorarium to be used toward their work, or to designate as a one-time scholarship in their name.

Carol Finley Dance Group on 2012-13 NC Dance Festival Tour

The Carol Finley Dance Group, led by Professor of Dance Carol Finley will perform on the 2012-2013 North Carolina Dance Festival Tour. Five Meredith dance alumnae will perform Finley's "Kitchen Stories" at Meredith College, UNC-Greensboro, UNC-Charlotte, UNC-Wilmington, and Appalachian State Univeristy.

Alumna serving as intern at American Dance Festival

Dance Studies alumna Kelsey Riner ('12) will serve as an administrative intern at the American Dance Festival in Durham during the 2012 summer season.

 

Meredith dances chosen for regional and national ACDFA Galas

Betsy Graves' ('12) "21 Million" and Carol Finley's "Prelude to Settling" were both chosen for the regional gala at the Mid-Atlantic American College Dance Festival held at James Madison University in March 2012. Finley's work was also selected to represent the region at the National ACDF Gala at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC in May.

Student awarded NC Dance Alliance Scholarship

Junior Katie Mundt was awarded an NC Dance Alliance scholarship during the NCDA Annual Conference at Durham School of the Arts in September, 2011. Katie is majoring in Dance Studies and pursuing a K-12 License.

Character Performers at Walt Disney World Fall 2011

Sophomore Dance Studies Major Cara Mossman and Spring, 2011 graduate Andrea Phillips will join the Disney College Program as character performers from August, 2011 to January, 2012. Spring, 2011 graduate Tiffany Huffman performed in the same program Fall, 2010.

Student serving as intern at American Dance Festival

Dance Studies majors Katie Mundt will serve as an intern in archives at the American Dance Festival in Durham during the 2011 summer season.

Student awarded NC Dance Alliance Scholarship

Sophomore Katie Mundt was awarded an NC Dance Alliance scholarship during the NCDA Annual Conference at Elon University in September, 2010. Katie is majoring in Dance Studies and pursuing a K-12 License.

Dance Alumnae chosen for Even Exchange Dance Theatre

Alumnae Jill Guyton '09 and Ashley Spears '09 have been selected as company members with Raleigh's long standing modern dance company Even Exchange Dance Theatre.

Dance Alumnae at Broadway Dance Center

Alumnae Brenda Burton '09 dance minor and Aleah Ham '10 dance major participated the  Broadway Dance Center's internship program in New York City during summer 2010.

Meredith Associate Professor's Video Work Featured on Hulu.com

"A Polka Dream" choreographed and directed by associate professor of dance Carol Finley has been selected by the New York Dance Films Association to be part of Hulu.com's Dance for the Camera channel. The work was part of the 2000 Dance on Camera Festival and Tour.

To watch visit http://www.hulu.com/watch/174407/dance-on-camera-a-polka-dream

 

 

Meredith Professor Sherry Shapiro Receives Fulbright Award

Journal

Sherry Shapiro, professor of dance and director of women’s studies, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to research and lecture at the University of Cape Town in South Africa from January through July 2009.

The Fulbright Program’s purpose is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the rest of the world.

South Africa’s post-apartheid national curriculum makes the country an appropriate setting for Shapiro’s research, which brings together her work in dance and the social justice aspects of women’s studies.

“The new national curriculum, adopted in 1996, required that all disciplines must address issues of social justice, identity and equality,” Shapiro said. “I am interested in how dance programs are implementing issues of social justice into the curriculum.”

Shapiro has received what is known as a 60/40 Fulbright grant, in which she will spend 60 percent of her time researching and 40 percent teaching.

Her research will focus on dance education in the new South African curriculum. She will examine the implications for dance education in the process of democratic transformation.

She will also teach a choreography course for dance education students at the University of Cape Town and in the community, and provide workshops in dance education for teachers.

The course and workshops will use a process Shapiro developed and uses at Meredith. She describes the process as using “dance as a vehicle for increasing both self and social understanding among students.”

Shapiro is looking forward to the experience of working with “a community that is focused and concerned with ethical, moral and social justice issues … this process will be really enriching to my work.”

Through researching and teaching in an international setting, faculty members “gain new eyes,” Shapiro said. “We have so much to learn from other teachers, scholars and from other students and situations.”