Theatre and Dance celebrates global dance with DAP Festival

Featured dancers perfom at the TROYxDAP Gallery Performance. University Relations photos

To kick off the month of August, Troy University dance students showcased what they learned while participating in the Danza in Arte a Pietrasanta (DAP) Festival overseas in Italy.

The night of performance, which closed out the TROYxDAP International Dance Experience, saw Trojan dancers fill the Trojan Center Theatre soaked in colorful ambiance.

Those students weren’t the only performers of the night, though, as international dance artists Sebastian Kloborg, Maria Kochetkova, Maxwell Simoes and Stefanie Noll flexed their dance expertise through intricate performances.

“I feel like everything I saw [tonight] just brought me back to the time I spent in Italy for the DAP Festival,” said Kacee Holmes, a junior dance major from Suwanne, Georgia.“All of these artists we saw tonight were very inspiring for our future, how we want to improve in our work and what I strive for in my career.”

For DAP Associate Artistic Director and Founder Adria Ferrali, the DAP Festival rang through as extremely special not only for the workshops and performances, but also for the celebration of the art of dance.

“The goal of the DAP Festival is to bring lots of global communities together to learn from one another,” Ferrali said. “For students, it means to be really in touch with this source of creativity and professionality on a very close, personal level.”

Holmes said her favorite performance of the night was Simoes’ original choreographed piece “A Part Apart,” which he performed alongside Noll.

Under the dim stage lights, the two dancers told a story of the intersections between love and individuality. The two pushed and pulled at one another, creating and amending their own tension and pressures.

“I really loved the way that they both looked like partners but almost as one when they were dancing,” Holmes said. “It was nice to see the correspondence of two people dancing together and how it makes magic on the stage.”

For Simoes, the 15-minute duet, which was prepared in just under two weeks, was a success thanks to his dance partner Noll.

“To make something new you have to really be in a space [of] curiosity and have a partner that’s open and willing to trust your ideas,” Simoes said. “The DAP Festival has brought me a lot of connections that authentically so quick and raw, and this duet really gave me that platform to connect with somebody new.”

Those interested in learning more about the DAP Festival can visit dapfestival.com or visit their Instagram at @dap_festival.