ISU Danson members, dance faculty perform, participate at American College Dance Festival

Presenting a dance performance at the final gala was a highlight for Idaho State University dance students and teaching classes was a highlight for ISU faculty at the American College Dance Festival (ACDF) Northwest Conference held recently in Moscow. 

ISU Department of Dance faculty and 16 members of the ISU student dance club Danson traveled to northern Idaho to participate in the conference. The faculty taught and students performed.

Molly S. Jorgensen and undergraduate students Jenna Griffin and Marti Brooks were selected to present their work in the adjudication and informal concerts at the conference. Jorgensen’s piece, titled "Assuage (uh-sweyj)," performed by ISU undergraduate students Victor Gomez, Omar Ruadez, Jenna Griffin, and Dantzel Cherry, received the prestigious honor of being selected to present the piece at the final night gala concert. 

Six schools were represented in the final night gala; ISU was the only university asked to perform that does not currently carry a dance major.  

More than 600 students from 25 different colleges and universities in the Northwest Region attended the festival.  Throughout the four-day event, students and faculty participated in a variety of dance classes, including but not limited to, modern, ballet, jazz, African, pilates, hip-hop, tap, contact improvisation and physical theatre.

Evening events included informal and adjudication concerts of works choreographed by both faculty and students.

ISU dance faculty members in attendance and teaching at the conference included Lori Head, who taught pilates and theatre games; Sheena Phelps, who taught hip-hop; Lindsay Tucker, who taught jazz and tap; and Jorgensen, who taught a Bartenieff class titled “Fun”damentals.

 The ISU dance department is under the dedicated direction of Josephine Garibaldi.

"This opportunity and honor serves to reflect that dance in higher education proves to strengthen cultural distinction, talent, and diversity within the Pocatello community," Jorgensen said.

ACDF, is an annual convention with an "educational mission of fostering creative potential and artistic excellence in choreography and/or performance. The ACDF Association serves as a reflection of college and university dance programs and gives presence and value to diversity in dance," according to the ACDF's website.

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