About Us, Dancers

A Day in the Life of a Code f.a.d. Dancer: MacKenzie Buice

MacKenzie Buice

MacKenzie Buice exploring her new surroundings!

*Editor’s note: This represents a day in MacKenzie’s life back in August 2013 – when she first moved to the area and joined Code f.a.d. Company. MacKenzie now works for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in Cary when she’s not in dance class or rehearsal. MacKenzie made her Code f.a.d. performing debut in our Beetlejuice dance at the 2013 SPARKcon.

In July of 2013, my husband Mike & I moved to the Triangle from Massachusetts for his new job. We absolutely love the area, and I’ve been enjoying a busy/lazy summer of settling in and getting used to my surroundings. Because of the move, I left my very normal routine, full-time job, friends, and family behind. A typical day these days is a bit atypical while I job search and get a lay of the land. Every day is a new adventure!

9:00 – Out of bed, shower, dress (I have the perk of sleeping in a bit while on the job hunt!)

9:30 – Head into Raleigh

10:00 – Internship: To keep busy, network, and get a little more experience in my field I have been interning with North Carolina Theatre’s Development Office. I’ve worked in development/fundraising for the past 3 years and having left a job in development in the social services sector, I’m now looking to transition in arts or higher education fundraising. The past 2 months at the theatre have been awesome! My work has focused on reception events for donors, organizing direct mail campaigns, and grant writing.

1:00 – Break for lunch

4:00- Wrap up more work & leave theatre, hit grocery store to pick up something for dinner and head home.

5:15 – Get home, check new job postings, and apply to anything new and exciting! Procrastinate and whine about not wanting to go to the gym…

6:30 – Finally get my butt to the gym. I’m back into training mode for my 7th half marathon in September, and running is always such a love/hate relationship for me. It’s a struggle to get to the gym, but once it’s over I feel great! I get in my miles, some lifting and ab work, and head back home.

8:00 – Shower & make dinner.

9:00 – Somewhere along the line Mike and I developed a 9:00 PM dinner time and its stuck. (Probably a habit we should break…)

9:30 – Dinner is followed by an episode or two of Lost. We didn’t get into it during the original run, but the whole series is now on Netflix and we’re sucked into to watching little else. Just started season 5, so many questions!

10:30-11:30 – Hit the sheets, always get in a few pages of whatever book I’m reading before my eyes get too tired and then it’s ZZZZZ…

-MacKenzie

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About Us, Creative Work, Dance, Dancers, Fashion Briefs, Film, Finding Place, Perfect 10, Travel

Reflections on 2013

beetlejuicearms

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! (at SPARKcon, photo by roguemark)

Well FAD fans, another year is ending so it’s time to take a look back at all the lovely moments of 2013. Here are a few of the highlights:

January 13 & 25: The year began with our last two performances of Julep as part of the NC Dance Festival tour. First, a Sunday matinee at UNC-Wilmington then a Friday evening show at UNC-Charlotte.

February 5: New sections of Finding Place are performed at Artspace in downtown Raleigh as part of their First Friday open gallery festivities. (We are in the home stretch for the full show premiere by this point; I’m surprised we could even break from rehearsal for these three mini-shows!)

Finding Place premiere

Finding Place premiere in PSI Theatre, photo by DC Dance Photography

February 22 & 23: This is the big one – the full premiere of Finding Place at the Durham Arts Council‘s PSI Theatre! Wonderful stories, great music, exciting choreography, and touching film segments combined to create our third evening-length work in just five seasons. (And this one was completed in only nine months… needless to say the company was ready for a break following this show!)

March 13-16: Again this year, I traveled to the American College Dance Festival’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference to represent the company and teach classes. With class scheduled at 8am this time, the turn-out was smaller than the last year, but still about two dozen collegiate dancers got to learn parts of Finding Place choreography (in addition to getting in the company’s traditional technique class).

April 28: We perform Journey at NC Dances in Cary, NC. Journey was originally created for NC State University’s Panoramic Dance Project, so this marked the first time Code f.a.d. dancers got to perform the work. We also brought in a guest dancer for this show – Sarah Putterman! We hope we get to work with Sarah more in the future.

May-July: Code f.a.d. Company was quiet this summer, but there were certainly creative juices still flowing, preparing for the busy fall season ahead.

August: The company finds two new rehearsal “homes” for 2013: Barre-Up and Cirque de Vol Studios. Holding our Saturday classes at Cirque de Vol has given us the opportunity to make this the first season we open company technique class to area dancers, and we have had a great time inviting more folks to join us a few Saturdays each month! Following auditions after one of these open company classes, we are also pleased to welcome three new dancers to our group: MacKenzie Buice, Krystal Lynch, and Anna Maynard. You can expect to learn more about all of these lovely ladies in the coming months on the blog. Rehearsals are also in full swing for Dear Nature, our new work inspired by the Artspace exhibition of the same name, including artwork by Natalie Abrams, Mi-Sook Hur, and Cynthia Camlin.

Dear Nature at Artspace, photo by Anna M. Maynard

Dear Nature, photo by Anna M. Maynard

September 6: First Friday at Artspace brings the partial premiere of Dear Nature in Gallery 2. Just like in February, we performed three 10-minute shows throughout the evening, to packed crowds!

September 12: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! Stuck right in between our Dear Nature performances came 2013 SPARKcon, and being we have participated in the festival for the past five years, we couldn’t let this one slip by without a Code f.a.d. appearance. The company invited some guest dancers from AWW Performance Company to join us in an interactive performance following the Beetlejuice theme (chosen by this year’s filmSPARK organizers). The show was complete with the super talented Todd Buker (composer to much of our work) performing as the sandworm!

September 18: Back to Artspace for the full Dear Nature premiere, and it was such a great experience to perform in the gallery among the artwork that inspired the piece. This show also marks the debut of two new artists in our ranks: composer Julia Price and poet Jessica Mansell Temple! We are excited to work with both Julia and Jessica on more new work in 2014.

October 12-13: I attended the NC Dance Alliance’s Annual Event as our company representative to teach classes (more Finding Place repertory is taught to high school attendees and professionals) and to speak about our dance films in a lecture/showing with other dance filmmakers based in NC.

Gerren roams through the audience during the performance at Masquerade

Gerren performs during Masquerade

October 25: Masquerade! Thank you to all who attended our fall fundraiser cocktail event, Masquerade. If you were unable to attend and would still like to support our work, we accept tax-deductible donations securely online through our fiscal agent, Fractured Atlas: http://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/fiscal/profile?id=4584

November 13-17: Destination by Michael Kors (one of our fashion-inspired dance films) makes it into its first big film festival! I traveled to Wilmington to attend Cucalorus for the screening (and got to see many other films and speak with filmmakers of all kinds at the events – inspiration was gathered for many new works to come).

from the film, Destination by Michael Kors

Destination by Michael Kors

December 6-12: The last performance of 2013 was on December 6 in Winston-Salem, as part of Movies by Movers IV. We performed a few excerpts of Dear Nature, adding video projections to those sections we took and titling these portions A Few Southern Legends. I’m excited to turn some of these sections into stand-alone dance films in the coming year. Also, across this entire week I was honored to have the opportunity to teach dance students at Jordan High School in Durham, NC. The advanced “company” dance class worked on a dance film project while junior and senior-level technique classes learned Horton modern dance technique.

And there it is… well, was. What a great year 2013 turned out to be for Code f.a.d. Company – lots of new faces and new dances! So, what does 2014 have in store for us? I’m tempted to just say wait and see, though I’ll give you a hint to be on the lookout for new dance films (hopefully) hitting the festival circuit in 2014. (And don’t worry, we’ll post some clips and photos from the shoots online, too.) Thank you for continuing to support the work that we do, for supporting dance, and we wish all our fans a very Happy New Year!

See you in 2014…

-Autumn
(Code f.a.d. Artistic Director)

A Few Southern Legends

A Few Southern Legends

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About Us, Dancers

A Day in the Life of a Code f.a.d. Dancer: Kelley Murphy

Kelley (and Jill) in "Finding Place"

Kelley (and Jill) in “Finding Place”

Editor’s note: Kelley showed up at the very first Code f.a.d. Company audition (back in the summer of 2008), and she’s been dancing with us ever since! See her perform next with the company at NC Dances: Sunday, April 28 at Cary Academy (free show at 7pm).

A day in my life would usually be pretty busy and full of constant activity! First of all, I wake up early to get my 7 year old son ready for 1st grade. Getting him dressed, fed and teeth brushed. Backpack in hand; we walk to the bus stop. Once on the bus, I walk home to get myself ready for my day.

I work during the day as a newborn photographer for a local hospital. We do in-room photo shoots of the artistic/creative type instead of old-school baby mugshots. I put on my work uniform, which consists of all black: pants, shirt, shoes and jacket. Glad to not have to think about what to wear… I grab all of my gear, double checking everything is charged up and ready to go. I am loaded down with my camera bag, flash, extra batteries, battery charger, laptop and cords. Not to mention a bottle of water and breakfast on the go!

the kids on a rare snowy day

the kids on a rare snowy day

I normally photograph around four precious newborn babies a day. After they’ve been photographed and edited, I give the parents a tear-jerking slideshow of their beautiful new baby. From here, I am usually rushing home to make sure I am in time to pick up my son from the bus stop. Once home, I am greeted by my other child, who is 16, and they both inform me that they are dying of starvation. Midday snack time!

After getting them fed and settled, we start on homework. It is already after 4pm and I have to be at my second job at 5. The teenager gets to help with the homework so I can change and get ready to teach dance for the next 3 hours. I teach modern, jazz and hip hop. I arrive home at 8pm, once again to starving kids. I cook dinner, get them showered and ready for bed. Sometimes I have some “me time,” but usually I am too tired to do anything but go to sleep myself. I always look forward to the days I have rehearsal with the company so I can get out by myself and do what I love… dancing!

-Kelley

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About Us, Dancers

A Day in the Life of a Code f.a.d. Dancer: Gerren Mobley

Gerren as Ralph Lauren

Gerren as Ralph Lauren

Editor’s note: I was introduced to Gerren soon after I began teaching at NC State University, through Dance Program Director Robin Harris. Gerren was an alum of the NCSU Dance Company and lucky for us, was still dancing and living in Raleigh after graduation! He is another one of our dancers who has been with the company since it started; he actually worked with me also for my film project Product, which began before Code f.a.d. was “officially” founded.

It is difficult to say what a typical day in my life would be like because, like most people I know, no two days could ever quite be the same. This is even more true now that I am in my second year of law school. On a typical day during the semester, I wake up around 5:45 in the morning to get ready for school. The first thing I do is make a pot of coffee because I am generally not a functional person prior to having at least one cup. Then I prepare my lunch and any snacks to keep me going for the majority of the day. This helps reduce my temptation to go out to lunch and make poor eating choices, even though I have to admit that Chargrill and Snoopy’s Hotdogs are only two blocks away from school and are often rotated into my lunch plans during the examination period.

When I arrive at school around 7:30 in the morning, I immediately drop my books off at my favorite study corral in the library, as I am likely to be in the same spot for the vast majority of the day. I try to schedule my classes early so I can utilize the afternoons to prepare for any classes or research any cases or laws I may need for upcoming assignments. I will often stay at school literally all day, sometimes not leaving the library until 10 at night, but I do take a break between 4 to 5 in the evening to either go workout at the gym, take a yoga class, attend a Code f.a.d. rehearsal, or even teach a dance class in the evening. One of the things I have learned as being a law student is that it is okay to take a break when you need one and you should often schedule these breaks to avoid taking too much time off or not allowing your brain time to rest in between reading assignments. Plus as a dancer, it is important to not only keep my physical physique up to par, but my mental capacities as well.

picture of my coffee table preparing for my Constitutional Law II final exam

picture of my coffee table preparing for my Constitutional Law II final exam

Rehearsals require us dancers to have both physical and mental strengths because it is important for injury prevention and to retain the complexities of each choreographic piece. Prior to attending rehearsals and during my off-time, I spend a portion of the day going over choreography and listening to the music we dance to from our in-house composer (Todd Buker) in order to catch certain accents in the music and translate them into my movements.

The last thing I do before my day ends is try to spend some time watching television, specifically the Daily Show or catch-up with Modern Family and House Hunters on my DVR. I think it is important to allow my brain to disconnect somewhat to everything I did prior to that point. This helps me to relax and have an uninterrupted number of hours to sleep.

And this is what is a typical day in the life of Gerren Mobley….thanks for reading.

-Gerren

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About Us, Dancers

A Day in the Life of a Code f.a.d. Dancer: Kristina Loflin

Kristina gets ready to perform "Julep"

Kristina gets ready to perform “Julep”

Editor’s note: Welcome to the second installment of “A Day in the Life of a Code f.a.d. Dancer!” We hope you enjoy learning a bit more about what our newest dancer, Kristina Loflin, does when she’s not dancing with us.

Monday, Dec 17, 2012

8:03am – Wake up. Walk into the bathroom, look in the mirror, and scare myself. Quickly reach for the mouthwash and comb my hair into a ponytail, all to impress my dog. He’s very judgmental.

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8:07am – Walk Mackie… more like let Mackie people watch and maybe he remembers to handle his business.

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8:20am – Loudly sing in the shower, waking my husband up. Josh loves my singing, he just doesn’t know it yet!

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8:36am – Cook breakfast while wrapping gifts for the kids I adopted off the angel tree. Smoke detectors go off because I’m not paying attention. Breakfast is a little burnt, but it adds character.

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9:09am – Dance in the bathroom to the TLC Pandora station while getting dressed for work. Slowly but surely, I’m getting dressed – debating highly on long hair or short hair for the day. Ask Josh his opinion and he says, “you’ll look fabulous either way.” What an awesome husband!

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9:57am – Leave apartment looking like a true bag lady with angel tree gifts, a bag of clothes to take to the tailors, and my ever so cute Thirty One lunch bag.

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10:02am – Arrive at the tailors but she isn’t there although it says store opens at 10. As if she didn’t know I was coming… I mean she didn’t but still… come on, I’m on a schedule here!

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10:05am – Seamstress pulls up. I’m a little pissed-off at the moment but I smile anyway. She is the best in Cary so I will tolerate this tardiness but this mark goes in the book.

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10:17am – Arrive at work – 13 minutes early! I’m feeling like a winner!

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10:30am – Finally settled and ready to start the day.

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11:45am – Look at the time and sees that it’s 11:45 a.m. Holy shit, I was suppose to have an appointment at 11am! Where have I been that it has taken me 45 minutes to realize that no one is in my office?!?

*Editor’s note: Apologies for the 4-letter word, but yes, there is some cursing within the Code f.a.d. world. As a humorous additive; however, whenever the cursing comes from myself in rehearsal the other dancers laugh and say it is like hearing your mom curse. Awesome… I am seen as a mother to dancers who are mostly my own age. Anyways, back to Kristina’s day…

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11:48am – Call the potential student to see where she is (Kristina works in admissions at a local college), and she informs me that her daughter is sick. Although I understand sickness happens, I can ensure you that the phone companies are still in business. I reschedule her appointment, but this mark goes in the book (along with the tailor’s tardiness mark from earlier).

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12:49pm – Realize that I’m starting to get tired. Debate if I should get a cup of coffee or take a nap on my break. I decide against the coffee, but the idea of a nap still sounds tempting.

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at the office

at the office

3pm – Student walks in for info. I love when students walk in for info. I love the fact that I can take a break from doing follow-up calls and answering tons of emails. I love that human interaction is an option. Yay! Did I mention I love walk-ins? Lots of love! Lots of love and exclamation points! Yay, for love! Yay, for exclamation points! Yay for yay!

*Editor’s note: Wow, Kristina has lots of enthusiasm! I hope she is this excited to learn some new choreography for Finding Place soon; I have a wonderful duet planned for her and Kelley Murphy. Stay tuned to the blog for some video clips to come in future weeks.

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3pm-6:45pm – I was so busy with appointments that I don’t even remember what happened. (Let your imagination be your guide…)

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6:48pm – I take a break, after my few hours of meetings with students, to talk with my co-worker. I express my need for a glass of wine. I sigh at the fact I still have another hour of work to go. She laughs and brags about how she leaves in 12 minutes. I give her an evil look and assure her that I will moonwalk out of the office tomorrow when I leave at 6pm and she’s stuck until 8pm working. Her laugh is cut short. I grin and walk away.

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7pm – I see my co-worker happily dance out of the office. She may have won the battle but the war is still in session.

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7:54pm – I start packing my belongings to go home. I began to feel excitement that I will be home in time for a deliciously fun-filled episode of reality tv! That excitement is cut short after talking with Josh. I forgot we must complete Christmas shopping tonight or it will not get done in time.

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8pm – Clock out.

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8:05pm – Arrive in my apartment complex. I admire all the pretty Christmas lights that my neighbors have put up. I think maybe I should do that and quickly think, “yea, maybe next year.”

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8:12-8:37pm – Josh and I sweep through the store gathering all the last minute details for Christmas gifts for our family members. We head to checkout, and our cashier is super chipper for it to be 8:30 at night. She must have drunk a Red Bull. (She obviously didn’t drink enough to give her wings; wings to fly away with the other United Chipper People of America at 8:30 at Night Coalition.)

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9pm – Get cozy in bed just in time for Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Goodnight world!

-Kristina

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About Us, Dance, Dancers, Travel

A Day in the Life of a Code f.a.d. Dancer: Jill Bradley Hall

Editor’s note: Throughout the coming months, we are pleased to share a bit more about our dancers’ lives (both in and outside of rehearsal). We are starting this journey by spending a day with each dancer, beginning with Jill Bradley Hall, who has chosen to document one day of the company’s recent performance trip to Washington, D.C.

Saturday Dec 8, 2012

Running past the Washington Monument...

Running past the Washington Monument…

8:30am – Morning run. The temperature was almost perfect for running – a little chilly and foggy but not raining. I had the privilege to run by some the most notable buildings in D.C., including the Washington Monument. Luckily, I had my phone and was able to snap a picture.
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9:30am –  Shower. One bathroom… four women. It takes us awhile to get everyone showered and dressed – especially considering the extra grooming required for a performance in our underwear.
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11:00am – Brunch, finally. Thank you, Panera Bread!
Holocaust Museum

Holocaust Museum

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12:00pm – Metro ride. We set off in search of museums and monuments; however, we were quickly distracted by a street arts and crafts market. I managed to find three Christmas presents for family and new earrings and a bracelet for myself! After shopping we walked through the city, across the lawn at the Smithsonian, saw the Washington Monument (for the second time today), and headed to the Holocaust Museum. Note: do not have mace in your bag when attempting to enter a national museum or monument. It’s not allowed. I had to surrender my mace and was pulled aside and searched. Once inside you are left to explore the exhibits on your own. There are no words to express the horrific events of the Holocaust. The experience [of going through the museum] was overwhelming and emotionally exhausting but one I’m thankful to have experienced. Unfortunately Kelley, Autumn, and I spent entirely too much time at the Holocaust Museum and were then running late for our call time at the theater.
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5:00pm – Mad dash back to the apartment! Quickly gather all the things we needed for the performance, stop by Subway for dinner on the go, and a bakery for a cupcake to be used in place of a cake for tonight’s performance.
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6:20pm – We finally arrive at the theater. Christina and I rehearse with Human Landscape Dance for a small role assisting in their portion of the show. Then it’s on to makeup, hair, and warm-ups. As the backstage manager begins to give us the countdown to top of show, the nerves of being mostly naked on stage begin to kick in.
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8:00pm – As “places” is called, we all strip off our sweat pants and step onstage in our underwear. The curtain is opened, the music and lights come on, and the show begins. All too soon our portion of the performance is over. I think it went well.
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9:30pm – Post show reception in the lobby. We met a couple who were attending their first dance concert, and they loved the show.
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10:00pm – Metro ride back to Dupont circle. It seemed like it took forever for the red line train to arrive!
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11:00pm – Late night dinner and drinks and then home to bed so that we can do it all again tomorrow.
-Jill
Jill performs "Regulation"

Jill performs “Regulation”

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About Us, Dancers, Guest Dancers

Welcome William and Kim!

Code f.a.d. Company has participated in some manner in SPARKcon (downtown Raleigh’s annual all-things creative festival) since we began in 2008. SPARKcon 2008 was actually our very first performance… though we sometimes like to forget about that one. Don’t get us wrong, we love SPARKcon, but that first year was a little rough. I came into the festival planning-process rather late, not knowing what SPARKcon was or what ot expect and basically got handed “danceSPARK” to organize. We managed to get Code f.a.d. (and some break-dancers) performing on the main stage – in Moore Square at this point in time – and we had a pretty decent crowd to see our performance of FALLING: Man v. Monster following the poetrySPARK Slam. (And the stage even stayed standing for our show, which is more than can be said for the break-dancers who performed later in the festival…)

It is now four years later. I am still in charge of danceSPARK, and I’ve learned a lot. SPARKcon has grown and changed a lot, too. For one, the festival moved to Fayetteville St., and is now contemplating a move to the Warehouse District (but will still remain on Fayetteville St at least one more year for 2012). Code f.a.d. has done main stage performances, outdoor workshops in the park, informal indoor performances, classes on the main stage, and I’ve helped several other companies and dance groups get involved in the festival, as well. This year, we have even more planned!

We will be performing as part of the first ever SPARKcon Opening Ceremony, to be held on Thursday, Sept 13 at the Raleigh downtown amphitheater. Wow! We are expecting several thousand spectators for the event – short of one day doing the halftime show at a football game, probably the largest crowd we could expect for modern dance. It was an easy decision as to what to perform: Indulge. We love that piece from 2009, and the fact that it heavily involves fashion – and we are performing after the fashionSPARK runway show – it just makes so much sense.

However, that means we need more dancers. Indulge uses our “core” six dancers (all still dancing with Code f.a.d. – how awesome!) and 3-4 additional guest dancers – who we call the “adjustors” because they tend to mess with our core dancers’ environment throughout the piece. Luckily, we already had Kristina Loflin (a new dancer as of last season) who could fill the role of one adjustor, but we’d still need a few more.

Welcome William and Kim to join Code f.a.d. as guest dancers for our SPARKcon Indulge performance!

William Commander

William Commander (who we call Bill) is a 2011 graduate of Elon University, and he just recently came back to the triangle area after spending the last year dancing in Washington, D. C. He is quite busy these days, dancing with Kearns Dance Project, Gaspard & Dancers, and Renay Aumiller Dances, and he teaches around the local area. Find out more about Bill by visiting his website. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Kim Canada

Kim Canada is originally from upstate New York. She attended Meredith College and holds a B.A. in dance, concentration: Private Studio Teaching. Currently, Kim teaches Zumba and Ballet Fitness at Pure Body Studios in Cary, and works as a children’s dance instructor at Arts Together in Raleigh.

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We are excited to welcome both Bill and Kim to Code f.a.d. for this special performance! Come see them (and the rest of our dancers) at the Raleigh amphitheater on Thursday, Sept 13. (We perform around 9pm, but festivities start at 6pm. FREE)

-Autumn
(Code f.a.d. Artistic Director)

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