"UNCSA at Home" brings student and faculty performances to community online
UNCSA has launched “UNCSA at Home,” an online portal showcasing student and faculty performances past and present to enjoy while stages remain dark due to the coronavirus pandemic. “UNCSA at Home” will feature complete performances, videos created at home, slideshows and more from each of the school’s five conservatories -- Dance, Design & Production, Drama, Filmmaking and Music -- all accessible on demand for free online.
“We are thrilled to be able to give back to our community by offering ‘UNCSA at Home’ during these challenging times,” said Interim Chancellor Brian Cole. “As with other arts institutions across the country, we were disheartened to end our performance season early this year due to social-distancing measures aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19.
“As artists, we are never not making our art,” he continued. “Our students and faculty have been working hard from their homes throughout the country these past several weeks, and while they don’t have access to UNCSA’s top-notch facilities, they have found a way to let their talent shine in less typical locations. We also have a variety of past UNCSA performances, and we are pleased to offer samples of that to our audiences while we all stay safe at home.”
UNCSA at Home will offer the online premiere of Susan Jaffe's "Polovtsian Dances." / Photo: Rosalie O'Connor
“UNCSA at Home” features dozens of videos at launch, and new content will be added in the coming weeks, including premiere experiences.
Highlights of offerings at “UNCSA at Home” include:
- Dance: Dance videos include contemporary dance seniors in “Pluck Solo” videos from the Pluck
Project 2020, “Dance at Home” featuring School of Dance students from their homes,
“Raymonda,” a video feature following UNCSA dancers as they prepared to bring a Marius
Petipa work to life on stage for Spring Dance in 2019, and more. And, COMING SOON: UNCSA will release the online premiere of “Polovtsian Dances” by departing School of Dance Dean Susan Jaffe in her UNCSA choreographic debut. The work received its world premiere in 2014 as
part of Carolina Performing Arts’ season retrospective of The Rite of Spring. A collaboration between the UNCSA schools of Dance, Music, and Design & Production,
it involved 130 students, with scenic design by D&P faculty member Joseph P. Tilford.
- D&P: “Storytelling Without Words,” a video feature following the work of students in the stage properties program as they prepare custom, period-appropriate pieces for the recent UNCSA production
of “Spring Awakening”; online senior thesis projects from the high school Visual Arts Program; and coming soon, a sample of images from productions held during the first half
of the 2019-20 season.
- Drama: A video feature about the School of Drama’s new emphasis on devised theater, centered
around last season’s presentation of faculty member Mollye Maxner’s “Still Life With Rocket.” The video follows the devised theater production come to life, as Drama students
collaborate to build a script and Design & Production students craft an immersive
set for a unique performance in a former tobacco warehouse in Winston-Salem.
- Film: A “Best Of” playlist of films made by students in the School of Filmmaking from the 2018-19 academic year. Additionally,
a live online screening of this year’s Fourth-Year Student Films will take place at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 8 (details to be announced).
- Music: A newly launched YouTube channel with dozens of past performances from the School of Music, including faculty and student ensembles, as well as faculty performances recorded from home in a range of repertoire, and a video featuring the Guitar Studio in “Stayin’ Alive,” shot from their homes in place of a spring recital.
UNCSA at Home offers a collaboration by the Guitar Studio.
UNCSA has also been spotlighting student work on social media with the #poweringcommunity hashtag, and will continue to do so throughout the summer.
“Our resilient and talented Pickles are powering community despite the challenges presented by COVID-19,” said Cole. “We are pleased to give back to our audiences and community through ‘UNCSA at Home’ during this time, when art is needed more than ever.”
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May 04, 2020