New contemporary works to premiere during UNCSA’s Fall Dance

The School of Dance at UNCSA will showcase new contemporary works during its first event of the 2023-24 performance season. Fall Dance will feature dancers from the school’s contemporary dance program performing three brand-new pieces by guest artists Amyia Burrell and Pearlann Porter and UNCSA alumnus Robert Gosnell, plus two restaged works by faculty members Kira Blazek Ziaii and Fernando Carrillo.

Performances are Tuesday through Saturday, Sept. 26-30, at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, Sept. 30, at 2 p.m. in the Agnes de Mille Theatre on the UNCSA campus, 1533 S. Main St. Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for non-UNCSA students with valid ID online or by calling the box office at 336-721-1945.

This year, the number of choreographers in Fall Dance has been expanded from three to five, allowing, for the first time, beginning students to appear in premieres of brand-new works. The audience will experience a world-class repertory and fresh perspectives on current trends in the field with talented, up-and-coming young dancers.

Burrell, head of the Young Dancer Division at Orlando Ballet School, is working with fourth-year college students on a new dance titled “Children UPRisen.” The piece includes music by Teodor Wolgers and Martin Wirén, featuring Bear Garden; Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans; Divan Gattamorta; Yusef Lateef; Louis Armstrong and Sy Oliver; Arrested Development; and The Five Stairsteps.

Porter, an improvisational performing artist who is founding director of The Space Upstairs, is working with the third-year high school and college students on a piece intriguingly titled “Turmoil, Romance and Debauchery in D minor” to Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47: allegro moderato.

Gosnell’s dancers will consist of second-year high school and college dancers in a piece that honors his Japanese ancestry and culture. It will be performed to Asian drum music by Kiyoshi Yoshida, as well as music by flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal.

“Robert’s piece is a personal nod to his family and his culture,” Outlaw said. “It shows the breadth and bandwidth of what dance can invite you into as an audience member.” Gosnell is assistant director of Summer Dance and co-director of the Festival of Dance at UNCSA.

Ziaii, who has been a member of the Dance faculty since 2016, is working with high school students on her dance, “Superconductor,” performed to music by Franz Liszt and Aram Khachaturian.

Carrillo, a new member of the School of Dance faculty who was trained at The Ailey School, is working with first-year high school students on “Virtual Chromosomes,” which will be performed to “Detroit: Become Human,” the video game.

“It’s important for dancers to do new work, and to work with new material, because it makes the process very interactive,” Outlaw said. “When choreographers are creating new works, they are always inspired by the dancers who they are working with. I think it’s important for students to be part of this process.”

About Endalyn T. Outlaw

Endalyn T. Outlaw joined UNCSA as dean of the School of Dance in 2021. She has held the positions of director of Dance Theatre of Harlem School in New York — a company she joined in 1984, becoming a principal dancer in 1993 — and director of the Cambridge Summer Art Institute in Massachusetts. Her extensive administrative, artistic and academic career is steeped in ballet pedagogy and she has created an eclectic body of choreographic works.

About Amiya Burrell

Burrell is the head of the Young Dancer Division at the Orlando Ballet School. She is a member Actors Equity Association and most recently performed with the national Broadway tour of Disney’s “The Lion King.” Burrell has trained with many dance legends, including Tina Landon, Lula Washington, Debbie Allen, Milton Myers, Lady Leah Lafargue, Gus Giordano, Abdel Salaam, Petrus Bosman, Garth Fagan and Ana Marie Forsythe. Burrell studied biomedical engineering at Mercer University and holds a certificate in artist management from Berklee College of Music.

About Fernando Carrillo

Originally from New York City, Fernando Carrillo trained at The Ailey School. He has performed with Ailey II, Ballet Hispanico and in Broadway’s first national tour of Disney’s “The Lion King.” He performed at Carnegie Hall with Jessye Norman and the solo "Ready" from Alvin Ailey's “Revelations” with Compañía de Ballet de Cuba. Carrillo has taught at The Ailey School, The Juilliard School, Academy of Ballet, Joffrey Ballet School, Marymount Manhattan College and Adelphi University, to name a few.

About Robert Gosnell

Robert Gosnell began his training with the High Point Ballet in his home state of North Carolina, where he also continued to study at UNCSA from 1993-1998. In addition, Gosnell has expanded his dance career with The School of American Ballet, The Rock School of Pennsylvania Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and The Atlanta Ballet. He serves as a guest faculty member of the UNCSA Summer Intensive, Preparatory Program and the Festival of Dance.

About Pearlann Porter

Porter is an improvisational performing artist, visual-conductor, physical-poet and experimental filmmaker. She is the founding artistic director of The Pillow Project, and the founding director of The Space Upstairs, where she is a full-time resident artist and the regular host/creator of the long-running SECOND SATURDAYS jazz-happenings. Porter holds a B.F.A. in jazz dance from Point Park University where she has been on the dance faculty for more than 20 years.

About Kira Blazek Ziaii

Ziaii joined the School of Dance faculty in 2016, teaching contemporary classes. A former company member with Hubbard Street 2, Douglas Dunn & Dancers and Phantom Limb, she has danced a wide variety of styles and understands the value of versatility and adaptability. She is a certified instructor of Countertechnique, which is the movement system developed by dancer Anouk van Dijk to help dancers think about their bodies. She has a B.F.A. in modern dance from the University of Oklahoma and an M.F.A. in choreography from the California Institute of the Arts.

About the School of Dance

The School of Dance is one of the world’s premier dance schools employing a distinctive conservatory approach to developing and teaching talented young performers. Hands-on training from world class resident faculty members and professional dancers offers a thorough yet nurturing approach for the next generation of performers to become technically sound, artistically sensitive and versatile professional dancers. Students concentrate in either classical ballet or contemporary dance, but train and perform in both, with numerous performance opportunities that allow them to explore a diverse repertory. Additionally, there is an affiliate Preparatory Dance Program in ballet for rising third- through ninth-graders. The school also offers summer dance intensives and dance festivals for children and adults. 

Classical ballet graduates have enjoyed successful careers in dance, including becoming soloists, principal dancers, choreographers and artistic directors with the American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet, among many others. Graduates of the contemporary dance program enjoy careers as dancers and choreographers for companies such as the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Martha Graham Ensemble, along with their own companies. Alumni include Camille A. Brown, Kyle Davis, Kevin Lee-Y Green, Blaine Hoven, Juel D. Lane, Trey McIntyre, Gillian Murphy, Anthony Santos, Helen Simoneau and Dwana Smallwood.

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