Note: We are accepting reservations for this trip. Please see blue box at right.

July 14-17, 2010 (These dates are new!)
Registration deadline: June 1, 2010
Capacity: 30
Cost: $350.00 per person (plus airfare & housing)

Now that Mary Easter has added “Emerita” to her title as Rae Schupack Nathan Professor of Dance and the Performing Arts, she finally will be able to fulfill her long-time desire to return to the American Dance Festival (ADF) in Durham, North Carolina. An educator as well as a dancer, choreographer, poet, and writer, Mary has invited Carleton alumni, parents, and friends to join her.

The American Dance Festival

The New York Post called the ADF “the world’s greatest dance festival.” Besides providing classes and workshops for students and professionals, it offers performances by established companies and emerging artists from around the world. “The ADF has supported, commissioned and helped launch the careers of choreographers such as Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Alvin Ailey, Bill T. Jones, Mark Morris, Meredith Monk, Pilobolus, Trisha Brown, Donald McKayle, Shen Wei, Ronald K. Brown, Eiko and Koma, Martha Clarke and John Jasperse, among others, most of whom continue to present work at the ADF.” For more information, visit ADF.

We will attend two dance performances and observe dance classes and workshops. In order to maximize our appreciation of the performances, Mary will introduce us to the particular dance companies and will lead discussions on the elements of dance, dance as an art form, and the language of movement.

Itinerary

Because the dance performances will be in the evening, we’ll also have plenty of time to explore this beautiful area – including a walking tours of historical Durham, the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, Nasher Art Museum, and Duke Chapel – and sample regional cuisine. We’ll also have the option of attending a Durham Bulls baseball game.

Our adventure will begin on Wednesday afternoon, July 14. After check-in, we’ll have a welcome dinner then attend our first dance performance.

On Thursday, we’ll have breakfast together and discuss the previous evening’s performance. After the discussion session, we’ll take a walking tour of downtown Durham, learning about "life in the work force, market days in Durham's auction warehouses, the development of the cigarette and how that brought Durham into the global arena, and transformation of Durham's identity from a city of tobacco to a city of medicine." For more information, visit Preservation Durham.

After lunch, we’ll observe ADF dance classes and workshops. After dinner, we’ll attend the second dance performance.

On Friday morning, we’ll discuss the previous evening’s performance, then take a shuttle to Duke University. We’ll explore some of the five miles of allées, walks, and pathways that run through the Sarah P. Duke Gardens – the original Terraces, the Native Plants garden, the Asiatic Arboretum, and the Doris Duke Center Gardens. From there, we’ll walk to the Duke Chapel, which was designed by Julian Abele, America’s first black architect of renown. The chapel is neo-Gothic in the English style, displaying the characteristic “large stone piers, pointed arches, ribbed vaults, and flying buttresses, which allow the creation of vast open spaces, uninterrupted by columns for support.” For more information, visit Duke Chapel. We’ll try to catch the 12:30 p.m. concert, played on the Flentrop organ, one of the three pipe organs in the Duke Chapel. From there, we’ll go to the Nasher Museum of Art for lunch and a tour of some of its permanent collection.

On Friday evening, we'll join the North Carolina Alumni Club for An Evening with Mary Easter. Mary will read from her new memoir and discuss the development of her career as an artist, with Carleton featuring prominently.

Faculty

Mary Easter, Rae Schupack Nathan Professor of Dance and the Performing Arts, Emerita, is a poet and writer as well as a dancer and choreographer. Mary received a bachelor of arts degree in music and French in 1962 from Sarah Lawrence College, a Master of Arts from Goddard College, and studied at the Eastman School of Music. She has presented her dance work in Minnesota and nationally for over 25 years, receiving a Bush Artist Fellowship in Choreography, a Minnesota Dance Alliance McKnight Fellowship, a Diverse Visions Video award from Intermedia Arts, and a McKnight Artist Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Artists. She also has served as director of Carleton’s African-American studies program.

Pricing:

$350.00 per person

Price includes:

Insight and expertise of Professor Mary Easter

Two dance performances

Three breakfasts, three lunches, and two dinners (including tax, gratuities, and non-alcoholic beverages)

Transportation and admission to sites

Price does not include:

Transportation to/from Durham

Lodging. The Marriott Durham Convention Center has agreed to a special group rate of $99.00 per night. To take advantage of this rate, a savings of nearly 50% over its current published rate, please call Marriott reservations at 800-909-8375 by June 1 and ask for the Carleton Block. After that time, the hotel will release these rooms to other groups.

Dinner on Friday night (Participants will have the option of attending the Durham Bulls game, which includes dinner.)

Gratuities (e.g. hotel staff and shuttle drivers)

Alcoholic beverages

Personal expenses

Questions?

Please contact Ann Iijima at 800-729-2586 or aiijima@carleton.edu.