3 ASU Herberger College dance students win choreography award

TEMPE, Ariz. – Three ASU Herberger College of Fine Arts dance students have won Arizona Choreography Competition awards.

Graduate students Min Kim and Brad Garner won in the student division. Kim won for her group piece “White Socks” and Garner won for his sextet, “Martial Etiquette.”

Graduate student and Kent State University dance faculty member Kimberly Karpanty won in the professional division, for her eight-woman piece, “A New Commandment.”

Only four awards total, two in each division, were given. Prize money awarded in the professional division is $1,000 and $600 in the student division.

“I am excited to win this competition because it is an opportunity to present work outside of ASU,” Garner says. “Next year is my last year as a graduate student, so any chance I can find to broaden my audience will be a plus. I always create with the audience in mind, so the work is never fully rendered until there are viewers in the mix.”
Kim came to the Herberger College from South Korea. 

“I came to Arizona to study dance here,” Kim says. “The Herberger College’s Department of Dance is one of the best programs available. I am learning many invaluable things at ASU, and I am so proud of what I am doing now.”
The annual competition is open to all Arizona college, university and professional choreographers in all styles and genres of dance.

Sponsored by a Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction Grant, the Arizona Choreography Competition was conceived by Patricia Bodell and Lenna Demarco to support and encourage quality choreography in the state of Arizona.

In addition to the cash award, winning choreographers will set their work and see it fully produced on either Scottsdale Community College’s company dancers or Glendale Community College’s Physical Graffiti.
The department is nationally ranked in the top 10 by Dance Teacher Now magazine. Its graduate program is ranked fifth and its undergraduate program is ranked ninth. The ARCO Performance Arts College Guide calls the department one of the “most highly recommended programs” in the country.

Media Contact:
Megan Krause
480-965-8795
megan.krause@asu.edu