Welcome! We invite you to move through our site and see all the opportunities NCCAkron creates for artists to engage with one another, their communities, the city of Akron, and the national dance ecosystem.
The National Center for Choreography at The University of Akron (NCCAkron) supports working dance artists as they experiment, engage in the creative process, and advocate for their work and for the field.
Dancing Conversations | April 15, May 20, and June 17
Join us this spring for a series of free, virtual events that reveal how dance processes the world beyond the studio and the stage! Choreographer John Heginbotham (New York, NY) and violinist and composer Colin Jacobsen (New York, NY) will discuss the relationship of dance and music (April 15); Liz Lerman (Tempe, AZ) and her collaborators will discuss the demonization of women (May 20); and the artists of NCCAkron's Dancing Lab: BLKmenMoves and Satellite Residency artist Iquail Shaheed (Philadelphia, PA) will speak on the plurality of Black male identities and decolonized metrics of success.
Upcoming:
Dancing Lab - Art Speaks 2.0
Thank you to all who applied for Dancing Lab: Art Speaks 2.0! Notifications will be sent to all candidates by April 26.
NCCAkron, S3 Technologies (Akron, OH), and Kinetech Arts (San Francisco, CA) will lead an experimental, virtual Dancing Lab between May 5-July 7. Participating artists will explore the use of augmented reality and its potential to expand their existing audience engagement practices.
This laboratory will be 100% remote (virtual) and will not require artists to travel to Akron for participation.
Artists will attend four (4) weekly sessions held on Wednesdays, 4pm-6pm Eastern Time; and will receive a $1000 stipend and up to $500 in technical assistance support.
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New Multi-Year Program
NCCAkron is excited to announce our $750,000 multi-year award from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to build out a new program, Creative Administration Research (CAR). Over the next three years, NCCAkron will foster a national think tank of up to 20 dance Artist Teams to investigate alternative administrative practices in support of their discrete artistic visions.
From 2018-20, NCCAkron prototyped Creative Administration Research with choreographers Jaamil Olawale Kosoko (New York, NY), Brian Brooks/Moving Company (New York, NY), and Raja Feather Kelly | the feath3r theory (Brooklyn, NY). The three prototype artists will continue their investigations and be joined by Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener (New York, NY) and Ronald K. Brown, EVIDENCE (Brooklyn, NY) as the first cohort.
The second cohort, beginning in early 2021, will include Abby Zbikowski/Abby Z and the New Utility (Champaign-Urbana, IL); Bebe Miller/Bebe Miller Company (Columbus, OH); 7NMS| Marjani Forté-Saunders & Everett Saunders (Pasadena, CA); Kate Wallich/The YC (Seattle, WA); and Banning Bouldin/New Dialect (Nashville, TN).
Provide space for artists to exchange knowledge and/or try something new.
Support opportunities for dance makers, writers, and artist-administrators to deepen their practice and realize their visions, at any stage of their creative process.
Elevate the voices of artists through documentation, publishing, archiving, and writing.
OUR IMPACT
NCCAkron aims to foster geographic equity and to fulfill our potential as a national center. We commit to supporting a stronger, more visibly connected network focused on research and development across the dance ecosystem.
Artists' Home Cities
Additional Cities Reached
Coming Soon (2-Years)
Virtual Reach
“I would consider NCCAkron as a place where ideas can become reality. Experiments build curiosity.”
- NCCAKRON ALUMNI ARTIST
NCCAkron’s social media and its monthly digital newsletters share inspiration, opportunities and insight on what’s happening at the Center and in the field.
Photo credits: Above video contains images courtesy Dale Dong Photography; Mike Crupi; Jonny Riese; Cara Hagan performs at the 2018 Performática Festival in Cholula, Mexico. Photo by Victor Blanco.