The UF School of Theatre and Dance has gone Gaga.
The school was recognized at a regional conference and chosen to perform at a national dance festival using the Gaga dance technique in a dance called “Wired.”
Yaniv Abraham, an Israeli dancer, taught the technique to UF dancers over the summer. He also choreographed the winning work during the Swamp Dance Festival 2011, a summer dance intensive program.
Gaga is a movement language from Israel that is relatively new to the U.S., said Joey Loto, a 20-year-old dance sophomore and one of the nine dancers in “Wired.”
Loto said UF is one of the only universities to have a certified Gaga instructor teach its students. The technique lets internal sensations guide dancers’ moves.
“The piece really improved the physical conditions of dancers in the program,” he said.
Neta Pulvermacher, assistant dance professor and director of “Wired” and the Swamp Dance Festival, said 48 works were showcased in the southeast regional conference, which was held in Georgia last week.
The American College Dance Festival Association holds the conferences every year and sponsors the National College Dance Festival every two years.
UF is one of the 30 schools participating this year at the national festival at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. from May 24 to May 27.
The other schools chosen in the southeast were Florida State University and Kennesaw State University, Loto said.
Loto said this is the fifth time UF has been invited to the national festival.
Dancers rehearsed every day for a month in summer. During the school year, they rehearsed about five times a week for an hour, he said.
Pulvermacher said she thinks the recognition is bringing more students to the school. She said the number of students has tripled since 2006, when she started working at UF. In the 2009-10 school year, 281 students were enrolled in the school.
She said the dance program is the first at UF to have a study-abroad program in Israel.
“We have great dancers that people are really interested in,” she said.
Contact Samantha Shavell at sshavell@alligator.org.
