Regional dance conference visits MTSU

The world of dance - from workshops and classes to performances - came to the MTSU campus this week as part of a regional dance conference hosted by MTSU's Department of Speech and Theatre.

The American College Dance Festival Association's Southeastern conference draws students and instructors from around the country to participate in workshops, panels, classes and performances. More than 150 classes were offered in styles ranging from pointe, pas de deux, hip-hop and tap.

In her second residency at MTSU, Stefanie Batten Bland performed and taught master classes during the conference. Batten Bland has worked with European choreographers including Pal Frenak and Georges Momboye, and she has been featured as a soloist with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance.Company. For more information on Bland, visit her Web site at www.birdlegs.net.

Claire Porter, who also filled a guest residency at this conference, has received awards and fellowships in choreography and dance. Porter earned her master's in dance from Ohio State University. She has been described by The New York Times as "the ever-funny, ever-eloquent Claire Porter." For more information on Porter, visit her Web site at www.cportables.com.

Bland and Porter's residencies have been funded by The National Women's History Month committee, the Black History Month committee and MTSU's Distinguished Lectures Committee.

Student pieces selected during the conference were performed at a gala concert today at 2 p.m. A concert featuring both Bland and Porter, along with dancers Teena Custer and Erica Randall, was on March 8.