Local Movement: Five Decades of Dance in Ann Arbor - Directors' Cut

Sat, 09/21/2024 - 5:06pm

"The national 'dance boom' of the late 1950's through the 1980's expanded audiences and support for dance. Federal grants supported the development of college dance programs and touring dance companies. The University Musical Society brought dance to the University of Michigan’s Power Center for the Performing Arts, built in Ann Arbor in 1971. Both at the University and in the community, Ann Arbor became a destination for dance. Low-cost performance and rehearsal spaces, community support, and grants helped create and nurture a vital dance scene, and Ann Arbor became home to numerous modern and jazz dance companies including Dance Theater 2, Hydra, Whitley Setrakian’s People Dancing, The J. Parker Copley Dance Company, Jazz Dance Theater, and The Peter Sparling Dance Company. Recurring community dance showcases, such as Spring Dances, Fall Dances, Dancing in Summer, and others took place throughout the year, allowing many choreographers to share their work. The film Local Movement, by Aimee McDonald and Terri Sarris, explores modern dance in Ann Arbor from the 1970's through today." - Terri Sarris

This is the directors' cut of Sarris and McDonald's 24-minute original created for Ann Arbor 200.

Local Movement: Five Decades of Dance in Ann Arbor

Sat, 09/21/2024 - 4:34pm

"The national 'dance boom' of the late 1950's through the 1980's expanded audiences and support for dance. Federal grants supported the development of college dance programs and touring dance companies. The University Musical Society brought dance to the University of Michigan’s Power Center for the Performing Arts, built in Ann Arbor in 1971. Both at the University and in the community, Ann Arbor became a destination for dance. Low-cost performance and rehearsal spaces, community support, and grants helped create and nurture a vital dance scene, and Ann Arbor became home to numerous modern and jazz dance companies including Dance Theater 2, Hydra, Whitley Setrakian’s People Dancing, The J. Parker Copley Dance Company, Jazz Dance Theater, and The Peter Sparling Dance Company. Recurring community dance showcases, such as Spring Dances, Fall Dances, Dancing in Summer, and others took place throughout the year, allowing many choreographers to share their work. The film Local Movement, by Aimee McDonald and Terri Sarris, explores modern dance in Ann Arbor from the 1970's through today." - Terri Sarris

And for more stories from the film, check out the 46-minute directors' cut.

AADL Talks To: Peter Sparling, Lecturer, Poet, Essayist, Dancer, and Filmmaker

Fri, 08/09/2024 - 10:00am

In this episode, AADL Talks To Peter Sparling. Peter is a lecturer, poet, essayist, dancer, and filmmaker. He is the Rudolf Arnheim Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Dance at the University of Michigan. Peter talks with us about his career, from his start as a member of the José Limón Dance Company and principal dancer with Martha Graham Dance Company through his time in Ann Arbor as director of his own Peter Sparling Dance Company. Peter talks about his activism, the changes in the Ann Arbor dance community over the years, and his current work after retiring from the university 6 years ago.