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The American Dance Festival is a six-week summer festival of modern dance
Modern dance

File:Two dancers.jpgModern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance....
 performances, and a school for dance currently held at Duke University
Duke University

Duke University is a private university research university located in Durham, North Carolina, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodism and Religious Society of Friends in the present-day town of Trinity, North Carolina in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892....
 in Durham, North Carolina
Durham, North Carolina

Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina and also extends into Wake County, North Carolina county....
.

The precursor to today’s American Dance Festival began at Bennington College
Bennington College

Bennington College is a Liberal arts colleges in the United States located in Bennington, Vermont. The College was founded in 1932 as a Women's colleges in the United States focusing on arts, sciences, and humanities....
 in the summer of 1935 as the Bennington Festival where modern dance
Modern dance

File:Two dancers.jpgModern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance....
 pioneers Hanya Holm
Hanya Holm

Hanya Holm born in March 3, 1893 in Worms, Germany and died November 3, 1992 in New York City. She is known as one of the ?Big Four? founders of American modern dance....
, Martha Graham
Martha Graham

Martha Graham was an American dancer and choreographer regarded as one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance, whose influence on dance can be compared to the influence Igor Stravinsky had on music, Pablo Picasso had on the visual arts, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture....
, Doris Humphrey
Doris Humphrey

Doris Batcheller Humphrey was a dancer of the early twentieth century. She was born in Oak Park, Illinois but grew up in Chicago, Illinois; she was a descendant of Pilgrim William Brewster and Simon James Humphrey....
 and Charles Weidman
Charles Weidman

Charles Edward Weidman, Jr. was a modern dancer, choreographer and teacher. He studied and performed with Denishawn before leaving to form the Humphrey-Weidman school and company with Doris Humphrey and Pauline Lawrence....
 came together to teach dance technique and perform new works. For one year, in 1939, Bennington moved its dance program to Mills College
Mills College

Mills College is an independent Liberal arts colleges in the United States Women's colleges in the United States founded in 1852 that offers bachelor's degrees to women and graduate degrees and certificates to women and men....
 in Oakland, California
Oakland, California

Oakland , founded in 1852, is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Alameda County, California. Oakland is approximately 8 miles east of San Francisco and the cities are separated by San Francisco Bay....
.






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The American Dance Festival is a six-week summer festival of modern dance
Modern dance

File:Two dancers.jpgModern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance....
 performances, and a school for dance currently held at Duke University
Duke University

Duke University is a private university research university located in Durham, North Carolina, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodism and Religious Society of Friends in the present-day town of Trinity, North Carolina in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892....
 in Durham, North Carolina
Durham, North Carolina

Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina and also extends into Wake County, North Carolina county....
.

The precursor to today’s American Dance Festival began at Bennington College
Bennington College

Bennington College is a Liberal arts colleges in the United States located in Bennington, Vermont. The College was founded in 1932 as a Women's colleges in the United States focusing on arts, sciences, and humanities....
 in the summer of 1935 as the Bennington Festival where modern dance
Modern dance

File:Two dancers.jpgModern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance....
 pioneers Hanya Holm
Hanya Holm

Hanya Holm born in March 3, 1893 in Worms, Germany and died November 3, 1992 in New York City. She is known as one of the ?Big Four? founders of American modern dance....
, Martha Graham
Martha Graham

Martha Graham was an American dancer and choreographer regarded as one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance, whose influence on dance can be compared to the influence Igor Stravinsky had on music, Pablo Picasso had on the visual arts, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture....
, Doris Humphrey
Doris Humphrey

Doris Batcheller Humphrey was a dancer of the early twentieth century. She was born in Oak Park, Illinois but grew up in Chicago, Illinois; she was a descendant of Pilgrim William Brewster and Simon James Humphrey....
 and Charles Weidman
Charles Weidman

Charles Edward Weidman, Jr. was a modern dancer, choreographer and teacher. He studied and performed with Denishawn before leaving to form the Humphrey-Weidman school and company with Doris Humphrey and Pauline Lawrence....
 came together to teach dance technique and perform new works. For one year, in 1939, Bennington moved its dance program to Mills College
Mills College

Mills College is an independent Liberal arts colleges in the United States Women's colleges in the United States founded in 1852 that offers bachelor's degrees to women and graduate degrees and certificates to women and men....
 in Oakland, California
Oakland, California

Oakland , founded in 1852, is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Alameda County, California. Oakland is approximately 8 miles east of San Francisco and the cities are separated by San Francisco Bay....
. But it was back in Vermont by 1940.

In 1948 a program based on the Bennington model was established at Connecticut College
Connecticut College

Connecticut College is a highly selective coeducational private Liberal arts colleges in the United States located in New London, Connecticut. It is located on the Thames River , on which the College's crew and sailing teams practice....
 in New London, Connecticut
New London, Connecticut

New London is a wikt:seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut, southeastern Connecticut....
 and called the New York University – Connecticut College School of Dance / American Dance Festival. In 1969, newly appointed director Charles Reinhart shortened the name to, simply, the American Dance Festival. After 30 years at the Connecticut College campus, the festival moved, in 1978, to the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Modern dance choreographers and companies including José Limón
José Limón

Jos? Arcadio Lim?n was a pioneering modern dancer and choreographer. He was born in Culiac?n, Sinaloa on January 12, 1908, Mexico, the eldest of 12 children....
, Pearl Lang
Pearl Lang

Pearl Lang was an United States dancer, choreographer and teacher renowned as an interpreter and propagator of the choreography style of Martha Graham, and also for her own longtime dance company, the Pearl Lang Dance Theater....
, Bella Lewitzky
Bella Lewitzky

Bella Lewitzky was a modern dance choreographer and noted teacher.Born to Russian immigrants, Lewitzky spent her childhood in a utopian socialist colony in the Mojave Desert, and on a ranch in San Bernardino, California....
, Sophie Maslow
Sophie Maslow

Sophie Maslow was an American choreographer, modern dancer and teacher, and founding member of New Dance Group. She was a first cousin of the American sculptor Leonard Baskin....
, Alwin Nikolais
Alwin Nikolais

Alwin Nikolais was an United States choreographer.Nikolais studied piano at an early age and began his performing career as an organist accompanying silent films....
, Merce Cunningham
Merce Cunningham

Merce Cunningham is an American dancer and choreography....
, Ruth Currier, Erick Hawkins
Erick Hawkins

Frederick Hawkins known as Erick Hawkins was a leading modern-dance choreographer and dancer ...
, Paul Taylor
Paul Taylor

Paul Taylor is one of the foremost United States choreographers of the 20th century.He was born in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, and attended Syracuse University , where he first took up dance....
, Alvin Ailey
Alvin Ailey

Alvin Ailey Jr. was an African-American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York Theater. Ailey is largely credited with popularizing modern dance and revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th century concert dance....
, Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp

Twyla Tharp is an American dancer and choreographer. She has won Emmy Award and Tony Award awards, and currently works as a choreographer in New York City....
, Eiko & Koma
Eiko & Koma

Eiko Otake and Koma Otake, generally known as Eiko & Koma, are a Japanese husband and wife dance team. They have been living and working in the United States since 1976....
, Seán Curran
Seán Curran

Se?n Curran is an American dancer and choreographer. Curran's dance company, the Se?n Curran Company is based in New York City.As a boy in the Boston suburb of Belmont, Massachusetts, Curran began dancing by learning traditional Irish step dancing....
 and Pilobolus
Pilobolus (dance company)

File:Pilobolus dance.jpgPilobolus is an internationally-renowned dance company, whose origins are traced to a 1971 Dartmouth College dance class taught by Alison Chase; the founding members were Robby Barnett, Lee Harris , Moses Pendleton, Nicholas Bochte and Jonathan Wolken....
 have all given performances there.

Countless dance works have been premiered at the American Dance Festival, many of those commissioned by ADF.

External links