Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / July 21, 1983, edition 1 / Page 33
Part of Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
fficm I By PATRICIA COVERS Special to the Tar Heel I : Beverkt Botsford, a Chatham county resident, has been attending Chuck Davis community outreach classes for four years now, learning the dances of Africa. She takes class at the Hayti Cultural Center in Durham. "I love it. I can't get enough," Beverly said. "I play the congos myself, so I like to hear the drummers." She also likes to dress in traditional Afri . can garb for the class, wearing the tie-dyed cotton pants she made in the daba style. Daba are pants made with a drawstring waist and lots of fabric between the legs which allow for greater freedom of move ment. Bill Thompson, an Ecology professor at Duke University, is as enthusiastic about the class. "I like the drummers, and I like to do the dances that people really do," he said. This is Thompson's second summer with Chuck Davis. During the winter, he teaches Eastern European folk dance. Chuck chides his students for not danc ing with enough energy and feeling. Many are red-faced and sweaty, but Chuck won't let them get away with anyv lethargic, movements. "A dancer dances from the core," he said. "Look alive. Look happy. We thank God for giving us the arms to do this." Davis likens dance to a "deliberation of life, a perpetual process of which we are all a part. It began in Mother Africa, mani fests itself in us today, and will continue through all time." To Davis, community is all important. "That's my personal thing community and respect for other people," he said. "The importance of community was im pressed upon me-by my parents and nhe people I grew up among," Davis said. . "When I grew older, I went to Africa to study and adapted easily. In African tradi tion, there's no such thing as an audience." Chuck Davis and his company teach and perform in schools, community centers, 4-H clubs, Salvation Army Boys Clubs, and cultural centers. They even teach, in prisons. Again this year, they taught a class at the Correctional Center for Women in Raleigh. July 18, the inmates of the prison will present a final concert that concludes this summer's activities. v ; "We are working hard on our perfor mance," Chuck said. "There will be dances and a fashion show of African clothes, followed by a reading of poems the inmates have written on African themes." Last year, the American Dance Festival expanded its Community Outreach Pro- gram to include a year-round schedules with programs in November, January, and ' March in towns across North Carolina, from Asheville to Wilmington. "The American Dance Festival feels a strong commitment to community," said Charles Reinhart, Director of the American Dance Festival. This is Chuck Davis's fourth year as Director of the American Dance Festival's Community Outreach Program.. A native of Raleigh, Davis is a member of the Education Panel for the National Endow ment for the Arts. His dance company tours the United States, Europe and Africa, and his reputation is building. ' "Dance comes from the community," he said. "We feel we should take it back to them and let them share in the cycle.'? Reinhart describes Davis as a. "Pied Piper." "The man is magic. Anyone will follow him anywhere and have the time of his life doing it." Occasionally, community outreach blossoms into serious dance performance. This is the case with the Weaver Street Dancers, led by local dancer Ivy Burch: The troupe of Durham girls, aged 8-15,. perform on their own, an offshoot of the Weaver Street Center Community Out reach class. On July 25, Chuck Davis and the Weaver Street Dancers will visit the WRAL children's television show, "Frog Hollow." This daily children's show airs at 10 a.m., and has received two national awards, one from Action for CHildren's TV, the other from IRIS awards. One of the Weaver Street dancers, Venita Ashford, was selected to receive a scholarship from the Association for the American Dance Festival this year. The scholarship honors Chuck Davis. 121 S. Estes Drive, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514 Next to Post Office - . Certified by the ' ;'..V A Phone National Academy of Ballet 942-108& -f u ; :V : it) 929-6628,0 Ballet, Jazz, Directors: Tap, Modern Barbara Bounds Adults & Children Bobbi Erhbree ' Beginning - Advanced Over 75 students accepted by the N.C. School of The Arts V t - - nrT a i m a a it a a i r-v & -v t KtOIMUKAINI AINU LUUINt " ' : . , proudly presents JAZZ in the AFTERNOONS 5:30 pm-7:30 pm Happy Hour: 5:00 pm-7:00 pm ; LOWER LEVEL, UNIVERSITY SQUARE (formally Chez Conderet) AH ABC Permits 143 W. Franklin St. 929-1571 p. cpy ptim mews roi Birthdays are ou r specialty- If yno can't :bo tliorc BLLOOHS a TOnES can Oe'II nialie it special rjith a beaatifal boaaet off iicliom balloons, a person alized birthday song, birthday ca!ie and lots o? ther::cjrcat" ideas.?; ,r I -' Z ill.'-L .13 ' B VISA' tint 910-967-3433 103 E. Mcln St.. Ccrrfecro. N.C. 27510 Delivered in Chcpil cm, DcsrSrcm & fCT? 12B The Tar Heel Thursday, July 21, 1933
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 21, 1983, edition 1
33
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75