Highlights from 2024 American College Dance Association Conference in Utah

two dancers with arms entwined writhe about a single chair

by College of Fine and Performing Arts Staff

Nineteen dancers from Western's Dance program traveled to Ogden, Utah in early March to participate in the American College Dance Association Conference. The Festival was hosted this year by Weber State University.

Dance faculty Pam Kuntz's humorous duet "Is This Seat Taken?" was awarded a "Gala Selection" for the conference by the adjudicators. Kuntz's fun and funny piece was performed by Dance majors Karen Kao and Emily Petersen to much acclaim.

Dance BFA major Karen Kao's choreography was also recognized by festival faculty and adjudicators for its intricacy in choreography and unique movement vocabulary.

BFA majors Karen Kao and Abby Rossi joined the prestigious Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company for a Saturday evening performance, working throughout the conference to learn company repertory for the performance.

Dance faculty Pam Kuntz, Angela Sebastian, and Susan Haines each taught master classes in line dancing, floor work, and neurological core reaction training, respectively, Their classes were popular with conference attendees and faculty from other schools.

"These trips do help put WWU Dance on the map with excellence in teaching and the technical level of our majors," says Susan Haines, Director of Dance at Western. "Participating in the conference is a great recruitment tool in addition to the student experience."

In addition to engaging technique and choreography classes Western's dance students and faculty took in a wide variety of choreographic offerings through the evening performances.

"We also enjoyed a surprise blizzard," says Haines.

Images: Dance majors Karen Kao and Emily Petersen perform Pam Kuntz's "Is This Seat Taken?" at the ACDA Conference in Ogden, UT. Video still courtesy of Pam Kuntz.