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September 02, 2006
Jodee Nimerichter, Associate Director, American Dance Festival, 8-11-06
The American Dance Festival, now celebrating its 73rd anniversary, began in 1934 as the Bennington School of Dance in Bennington, VT. Founded by Martha Graham, Hanya Holm, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman, and directed by Martha Hill, it was the desperately needed laboratory in which they could experiment, train students and create the early works that made modern dance one of the great cultural triumphs of the 20th century. The Festival, held at Connecticut College in New London, CT from 1947 to the fall of 1977, was relocated in 1978 to the Duke University campus in Durham, NC, where it remains today, headed by Charles Reinhart, ADF’s director since 1968. With its numerous programs for dancers, students, choreographers and artists, ADF supports and develops new modern dance works, both nationally and internationally, while preserving the history of the field. Its school is one of the country’s oldest training institutions for dancers.
At the heart of ADF are performances by professional dance companies, ranging from the experimental to the established. The Festival has premiered over 580 works — many of which have become landmarks in American dance — by artists such as Martha Graham, José Limón, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Erick Hawkins, Alvin Ailey, Twyla Tharp, Pilobolus, Meredith Monk, Martha Clarke, Mark Morris, Bill T. Jones and Eiko & Koma, among countless others.
Since 1987, the ADF Black Tradition in American Modern Dance project has preserved, celebrated and created access to classic dance works by African-American choreographers. Developed from this project was the ADF-produced, Emmy-Award winning television series “Free to Dance: The African American Presence in Modern Dance.” Jodee Nimerichter joined ADF as Associate Director in January 2003. She assists with the day-to-day administration/management and long-range planning of the Festival. She helps curate ADF seasons and has traveled nationally and internationally, including Argentina, Israel, The Netherlands, and Germany, to see work. Ms. Nimerichter is active in the dance field serving as a guest panelist and is involved in the group, Next Generation of Arts Administrators.
Prior to returning to ADF, Ms. Nimerichter was a production member of the award-winning series, GREAT PERFORMANCES/DANCE IN AMERICA, at Thirteen/WNET New York. There she co-produced the performance documentary, “Born to Be Wild: The Leading Men of American Ballet Theatre”, which was broadcast in February 2003.
Ms. Nimerichter has also co-produced television recordings of the Broadway revival of “The Women”, starring Cynthia Nixon and Kristen Johnston, and the Broadway musical “Fosse” which was the first DANCE IN AMERICA program recorded in hi-definition. She was associate producer for the live broadcast of the Broadway production “The Man Who Came To Dinner” (which was the inaugural production in the PBS series, STAGE ON SCREEN) and “Fosse Millennium 2000”.
Posted by David Lemberg at September 2, 2006 02:29 PM Return to ARTSCAPE home page