Bayport Resident Performs at Prestigous Dance Events

A Bayport resident was among the three Hofstra University students invited to present original choreography at two prestigious dance programs in New York City at the start of 2013: the College Partnership Program at New York Live Arts on February 24 and DanceWave’s “Kids Café Festival Goes to College” on March 2 and 3.

Every fall, Hofstra dance students present their original choreography to the dance faculty. The students listen to their professors’ feedback and continue to develop and revise their work. At the end of the fall semester, there is a final adjudication performance at Hofstra’s John Cranford Adams Playhouse. From that, the dance faculty selects two student works to be performed at the College Partnership Program, one student to represent Hofstra at the Kids Café Festival and three additional student pieces to be performed at the American College Dance Festival.

This year’s College Partnership Program featured works by students from five different dance departments – among them were Hofstra students Julie Seal and Laura Merkel. This was Seal’s second time in the program. She performed her original work, “Construct,” to music composed by Arthur Solari, Music Director for Hofstra’s dance program.

Seal, 21, is a Hofstra senior from Bayport, who is majoring in dance and minoring in psychology. Her choreography was also recently featured in a dance performance at North Shore University Hospital on February 1. She and fellow students performed in memory of their late professor Niles Ford as part of the American Heart Association’s 10th annual National Wear Red Day. She will next be seen in Hofstra’s Spring Faculty Dance Concert in April where she will be performing Bebe Miller’s work, “Guardian Angels,” restaged by Nancy Duncan, producing director of CoDanceCo, Inc.