Dance's Nina Nelson receives creative artist grant
Nov. 9, 2000
KALAMAZOO -- Nina Nelson, professor and director of modern dance in the Department of Dance at Western Michigan University, has been awarded an $8,000 Creative Artist Grant from ArtServe Michigan.
ArtServe Michigan is a granting agency of the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. Nelson's grant was one of 25 statewide applications approved for funding for the 2001 fiscal year. Grants were awarded in the areas of creative writing, music, inter/multidisciplinary and media arts. Nelson's award will be used to create a video dance based on the concert dance "and down will come baby," which she choreographed and premiered in 1998.
The project will include a partnership with the advanced media class of Kalamazoo County's Education for the Arts Program. Students in this class will assist with editing and videotaping. WMU's Office of Information Technology will be providing video shooting, editing, special effects and computer graphics expertise for this project. Nelson will also collaborate with San Francisco video artist and WMU alumna Shawn Coyle.
This project follows Nelson's first videodance project that was funded by Western Michigan University's Faculty Research and Creative Activities Support Fund. The first project was a video dance of her award-winning dance titled Rush.
Nina Nelson's choreography has been seen in Peru and throughout the United States and has been recognized by the Great Lakes Regional American College Dance Festival for excellence in choreography and performance. Her creative work has been supported by the Ohio Arts Council, the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo (for the Michigan Arts Council), the Bread and Butter Series (San Francisco), and The Kitchen (New York City) and Western Michigan University. Nelson has performed with Kathryn Karipides, Kelly Holt, Wellspring: Cori Terry and Dancers, and Albert Reid, among others. She has served on the board of directors of the American College Dance Festival Association and serves as an accreditation site visitor for the National Association of Schools of Dance.
Media contact: Jane Baas; 616 387-5833; jane.baas@wmich.edu