Join us at DanceHaven: A Celebration of Vernacular Dance, April 14 & 15, presented by Yale Schwarzman Center and created in collaboration with "Queen of Tap," Yale Schwarzman Center artist-in-residence Dormeshia (co-curator/producer), and Divine Rhythm Productions (producer). Featuring renowned and award-winning dance artists, the multifaceted festival offers performances and masterclasses in Chicago footwork, tap, swing dance, commercial dance, Dunham jazz, Lindy Hop, and African diasporic movement, as well as a pop-up exhibition on the history of dance in New Haven and a dance party. All events are open to the public. Space is limited and registration is required.
The brainchild of Yale student Gabrielle Niederhoffer ’23 as part of her senior thesis in American Studies, DanceHaven begins on Friday, April 14 with the following masterclasses featuring a stellar lineup of choreographers, dance artists and musicians:
- Dunham Jazz with CEO & Head Choreographer of The Pro DANZ® Group Candice Michelle Franklin and Bessie award-winning vocalist, percussionist and composer Philip Hamilton, where you’ll learn how to both isolate and undulate your torso, while mixing ballet with Afro-Caribbean styles.
- Chicago Footwork with dynamic and versatile dancer Donnetta “LilBit” Jackson, where you’ll lose yourself in polyrhythmic hip-hop tracks amped up to 160 beats per minute, and learn the swivels, kicks and intricate scissoring steps that go along with them.
- African Diasporic Movement with LA based dancer, singer and choreographer Kara Mack, focusing on the essence of movement through learning traditional rhythms, history, and dance/music technique. Learn how various styles in the diaspora (North and South America & the Caribbean) evolved into the popular styles done today.
- Commercial Dance (Afro Style) with Kara Mack who made a name for herself for transposing traditional African diasporic movements to popular styles of music like hip-hop, R&B, and jazz. Students will get a chance to learn what it’s like in the commercial dance world in this choreography-based class.
- Tap Dance with the one and only Dormeshia. This class will focus on tap technique, musicality, and style. Class will start with a warm-up, then get bodies moving with a few across the floor exercises, and ending with a combination.
- Lindy Hop with multi-disciplinary teaching and performing artists Samuel Coleman and Candice Franklin (aka “Sammy & Candy”), a fusion of jazz, tap, breakaway, and Charleston that will transport you to Harlem in the 1930s.
On Saturday, April 15 at 7:30 p.m. in Commons, the featured festival artists take the stage with a journey into the diaspora of Black vernacular dance featuring live music by the Winard Harper Collective, Bessie-Award winner Philip Hamilton, and Sanu Basu. The lineup includes Lacina Coulibaly, Yale lecturer in Theater, Dance and Performance Studies and a preeminent specialist in West African Dance. The performance is punctuated by headlining artist Dormeshia, called the “Viola Davis of her art form” by Dance Magazine. Dormeshia has won an Astaire Award, a Princess Grace Award, a Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award, a Statue Award, and two Bessie Awards for her contributions to tap dance. Following the performance, the audience will get the opportunity to get up close and personal with the artists as part of a Q&A session moderated by Amanda Reid, Assistant Professor in Theater, Dance and Performance Studies.
DanceHaven culminates with a dance party at 9:00 p.m. in The Underground with music spun by Connecticut-based DJ Ch’varda.
Throughout the festival, attendees can enjoy a pop-up exhibition created by Julio Correa Estrada (MFA, Graphic Design ’24) and Daedalus Li (MFA Graphic Design ’24), inspired by the partnership between The Design Brigade and the New Haven Dance History Project in the summer of 2022. The Design Brigade is supported by the Center for Collaborative Arts and Media at Yale and Atelier Cho Thompson, and the New Haven Dance History Project by the Yale Dance Lab.
Conversations leading up to the festival sparked the New Haven Dance History Project, a research initiative celebrating the legacy and influence of dance in the city. As part of the festival, the exhibition will shine a bright light on and uplift voices within the New Haven dance community.
Yale Schwarzman Center Associate Artistic Director Jennifer Harrison Newman commented, “Making connections between students’ academic pursuits, professional artists, and the wider New Haven community is fundamental to Yale Schwarzman Center programming. What Gabrielle Niederhoffer and Dormeshia have done together exemplifies the kind of collaboration the Schwarzman Center hopes to foster—being a resource for bold artistic expression rooted in research and practice.”
Niederhoffer is thrilled to have her American Studies Senior Project highlight Black vernacular dance in a community-wide celebration and is excited for DanceHaven to come to fruition after she proposed the idea during her first year at Yale. “Working closely with Dormeshia and Emily Coates to curate the artists and performances of DanceHaven has been a wonderful learning experience,” she said.
The Senior Project in American Studies is the culmination of the major. The Visual, Audio, Literary, and Performance Cultures concentration—which is one of six potential areas of study in the major—allows students to employ both creative and critical strategies to study the embodied research involved in the creation of performance as well as the relevant historical, textual, archival, and ethnographic texts. Niederhoffer's thesis research is mentored by faculty advisors Emily Coates (Theater, Dance and Performance Studies) and Matthew Jacobson (American Studies), with additional support from Vincent Carbone, operations-production manager for the Yale Dance Lab.