High-Flying Covers by University Photographer
Photographs by Washington and Lee University photographer Kevin Remington of W&L dance students are featured on the covers of two dance and theater journals.
While the two photos are different, they feature the same dancers hanging in midair — Ellie Hanson, of the Class of 2009, and Kenneth Hopkins, of the Class of 2010. Kevin took both during indoor rehearsals for the 2009 performance by W&L dance students on the side of Wilson Hall, one of the first performances of aerial dance by a college that was choreographed and performed by students.
The February issue of Nu Delta Alpha, the national honor society in dance, also includes an article by Jenefer Davies, assistant professor of dance and artistic director of the W&L Repertory Dance Company, “The Democratic Body: The Introduction of Aerial Dance into the University Classroom.”
The spring edition of Southern Theatre, the quarterly magazine of the Southeastern Theatre Conference, includes an interview with Davies, “Flying Effects in … Aerial Dance.” The article’s writer was inspired to interview Davies after seeing the W&L Repertory Dance Company perform aerial dance at the SETC conference in 2011.
Remington takes all the photos for the W&L dance program. Davies said that she and the students think of him as the “personal photographer” of the dance company. “This is a bit of a coup for Kevin, and they must have thought his photos are awesome to put them on the cover,” said Davies. “Plus, I feel that being recognized by national journals gives legitimacy to what we’re doing at W&L, because our aerial sets us apart from other universities, since there only one or two similar programs.”
The costs involved in staging an aerial dance limit such performances to once every four years. Davies plans a second performance this May, following a Spring Term course on aerial dance.
