Herberger College dance department awarded 3 grants totaling $15,100

TEMPE, Ariz. – A trio of arts grants will enable ASU’s Herberger College dance department to bring three acclaimed choreographers to the Valley to teach fine arts dance students and offer master classes and demonstrations to the public.

Funding in 2003-04 for the annual initiative is provided, in part, by more than $15,000 in grants from the National College Choreography Initiative offered by National Endowment for the Arts and Dance/USA; the Arizona Commission on the Arts and the Tempe Municipal Arts Commission. 

On campus this fall and spring will be internationally recognized New York choreographers Marlies Yearby, Thaddeus Davis and Yin Mei. ASU has brought more than 20 guest artists to town in the last 10 years through this program.

ASU dance students gain access to the professional dance world by working closely with diverse guest artists and performing commissioned new works. The community benefits, too, because guest artists typically hold master classes, lectures or demonstrations in area high schools, dance companies and community centers during their residency.

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.