Dance Faculty Concert

The full version of Indulge originally premiered in October 2009 as Code f.a.d. Company’s first evening-length work. Director Autumn Mist Belk is especially proud to have all six of the core dancers from that performance back on stage tonight! The creation of Indulge was supported in part by the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County, Raleigh Arts, and the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Sections of Indulge were also created during a summer residency (in 2009) with the NC State Dance Program.

Autumn Mist Belk (Teaching Professor, NC State University) earned her B.A. in studio art from the University of Alabama (Roll Tide!) and her M.F.A. in dance from the University of Maryland. She also has over 600 hours of yoga pedagogy and philosophy training and a personal yoga practice spanning more than 15 years. Autumn founded and served as artistic director of the multimedia dance group Code f.a.d. Company from 2008-2020, collaborating with a strong core of dancers, musicians, and artists for over 50 performances across those 12 years.

Autumn’s choreography has been presented throughout the United States and in Hallein, Austria, as part of the international artist festival Schmiede. Autumn also directs FAD: Film-Art-Dance Festival, which includes curating Screendance in Schools – educational programs of dance films complete with lesson plans and learning objective-driven activities for K-12 classrooms. Her own dance films have been screened in festivals around the world, and she has been chosen to participate in artist residencies (making dance films) in Scotland, Italy, Iceland, and Austria.

Autumn was honored to be selected as the 2016 winner of the National Dance Society’s Dance Promotion in the Community Award, as an inductee into NC State’s Academy of Outstanding Teachers in 2015, and as a Distinguished Undergraduate Professor in 2023.

Jill Bradley is a founding member of Code f.a.d. Company and is thrilled to be back onstage with the original cast of Indulge. She has a BA in dance from James Madison University and has been performing and teaching for longer than she cares to admit.

Natalee Campbell is an alumna of North Carolina State University and a former dancer with the former NCSU Dance Company, now State Dance Company, under the artistic direction of Robin Harris. She is a founding member of Code f.a.d. Company, performing from 2008-2016. Now, as Natalee rejoins the stage with Code f.a.d. Company, she is filled with exhilaration and gratitude.

Gerren Mobley is a 2003 alumni of North Carolina State University and a former dancer with the former NCSU Dance Company, now State Dance Company, under the artistic direction of Robin Harris. He is a founding member of Code f.a.d. Company and has performed, taught, and choreographed dance for over three decades. Currently, Gerren resides in Washington, DC where he continues to dance in his spare time throughout the DC area. Gerren is thrilled to once again be dancing alongside his fellow Code f.a.d. dancers!

Kelley Murphy is a graduate of Ohio University with a BFA in Dance performance and a BFA in Studio Art. She currently works as a dance teacher and a professional photographer around the Raleigh area. Kelley has also performed and toured with several modern dance companies around the triangle since moving to North Carolina in 2005 and is an original member of Code f.a.d. Company.

Brooks Owens graduated with a BFA in Dance Education from East Carolina University and was the Head Dance Artistic Director of Cardinal Gibbons High School for 15 years. She won outstanding Choreography from NC Theater and grew the dance program from 34 students to over 250. Brooks underwent a big career change in 2021 and is currently a Sales Manager at Bandwidth and teaches fitness on the side. Her love for movement remains a passion, and she is thrilled to perform again in a piece that was so close to her heart. She started dancing with Code f.a.d. Company in 2008 and is excited to dance again with everyone!

Christina Serafino grew up in Connecticut and put on her first pair of dance shoes at age 3. She is a founding member of Code f.a.d. Company and received her BA in Dance from UNC Greensboro. Christina has also choreographed for and performed pieces by other choreographers with Choreo Collective and performed for David Dorfman Dance at the American Dance Festival, where she first met Autumn and Jill many moons ago. She is overjoyed to be dancing with Code f.a.d. Company again!

Dusk is inspired by “Courageous Paths: Stories of Nine Appalachian Women” by Jane B. Stephenson.

Beth Wright Fath is a Teaching Professor of Dance and Pilates at NC State. Prior to NC State, she was an Associate Professor and Director of Dance at Peace College where she created a dance minor and directed the dance company. Wright Fath received her MFA in Dance from UNC-Greensboro and previously studied at Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies (Certified Movement Analyst) and NC State University (B.A. with a focus in pre-Dance Therapy) where she performed in the former NCSU Dance Company, now State Dance Company, and the professional company-in-residence circa (1990). She completed Pilates certification with Kelly Kane.

Wright Fath has presented nationally and internationally, including at Movement Research and Danspace; at American Dance Festival’s Opening Acts, the Collegium on African Diasporic Dance, Somatic Dance Conference, National Dance Education Organization, ACDA conferences, and regionally in NC and WV. As a performer, she has worked with a range of artists such as Liz Lerman, Rick McCullough, NickWalk Dance Company, Rhynard and Dancers, Autumn Belk, and 2 Near the Edge. Her teaching and curricular work focuses on decolonization and cultural context, and integrating somatic concepts with traditional technical frameworks to further access, equity, and community building in addition to technical and artistic facilities.

Much of Wright Fath’s choreography focuses on connecting with and giving voice to underrepresented female perspectives. A regional dance advocate, she was an officer and founding Board member of the North Carolina Dance Education Organization and a former officer and Board member of NC Dance Alliance. Wright Fath has co-produced curated performances of NC choreographers with Five Chick Posse Productions and NC Dances.

Alexandra Burchette (she/her) has a B.S. in Textile Technology from North Carolina State University where she was a member of the Panoramic Dance Project (2010-15) performing works by choreographers including Tara Mullins, Baba Chuck Davis, and Matthew Thornton. Alexandra returned to her alma mater to serve as the Dance Program Assistant (2018-2022) and the Artistic Director of one of the university’s two dance companies, Panoramic Dance Project (2022-2023). She premiered a new choreographic work, Presences, in 2023 during the Panoramic Dance Project Spring Concert.

Her post-graduate life in Durham, NC has been greatly enriched by the movement teachings of Andrea Woods Valdés, Paul Matteson, Tracey Durbin, Gerri Houlihan and others. She has thoroughly enjoyed performing for artists setting work in the area including Craig Quintero, Monica Bill Barnes, and Mark Haim. Alexandra has been dancing with KT COLLECTIVE since 2020, under the direction of Kristin Taylor Duncan and performed in two shows for the 2023 American Dance Festival season; Made in NC and This Land is Your Land.

Jasmine Powell is a creative expressionist from Hillsborough, NC, having attended Oberlin College (BA) and Hollins University in collaboration with the American Dance Festival and Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts -Germany (MFA). Her mission investigates the interrelation of genres as an inquiry into how opposites can be embodied in each other through dance. Jasmine does not exclude the art of nature, culture, teaching, learning, and listening and shares these aspects as a Professor in the Performing Arts at Elon University and NC State. In her active artistry, Jasmine embodies the traditional diaspora invoking a connecting to source through a contemporary nature. She has danced with Philadanco, Dianne McIntyre, Milton Myers, Bill T. Jones, Ronald K. Brown, Okwui Okpokwasili, Justin Turnow, and co-directors of Culture Mill all with social awareness and activism at its core to align with her artistry.

Jasmine currently performs locally with KT COLLECTIVE alongside Jasmine’s largest choreographic premiere, Approximation of a Woman. Her evening-length performances have led to dance theaters, local and international dance/film festivals, music videos, the 2022 North Carolina Dance Festival mainstage, and the 2023 International Detroit Dance City Festival. Jasmine smiles at the opportunity to share her work rooted in conceptual storytelling and is always relating to others through a creative expressionist lens.

Amy Love Beasley holds a B.A. in Studio Art from the College of Charleston and a M.F.A in Choreography from the University of North Carolina Greensboro. She brings her experiences as an artist, choreographer, and performer in the field to her teaching.

Beasley has had the good fortune of performing across the country for many influential choreographers, including John Gamble, Susan Haines, Gerri Houlihan, BJ Sullivan, Sean Sullivan, Talani Torres, and Jan Van Dyke. Her own work has been performed at several universities, the North Carolina Dance Festival, UNC School of the Arts, Art-o-Matic in Washington, DC and through Triskelion Art’s Waxworks and the Center for Performance Research in Brooklyn, NY.

Beasley’s research in dance making and education merges her studies and considers how visual art making and processes intersect with dance making, training, and performance. Inspired by her Yoga practice and teaching, her research in each classroom looks at how mindfulness intersects with learning, moving, and self agency. Before joining the faculty at North Carolina State University, she was on faculty at Elon University, UNC Greensboro, Wake Forest University, and the UNC School of the Arts’ Summer Intensive.

Beasley is excited to share her work at NC State for the first time, alongside inspiring NCSU faculty and alumni artists.

Virginia graduated from NC State University in 2019 with B.S. degrees in Biochemistry and Plant Biology. During her time at NC State, she spent four years as a member of the former NCSU Dance Company, now State Dance Company. Virginia is currently pursuing a career in Clinical Research and would like to thank Amy Beasley and Tara Mullins for giving her the opportunity to dance with such lovely people again.

Delaney is a 2022 alum of NC State, where she spent four years as a member of the State Dance Company and earned the 2021 NC State Creative Artist Award for work as a student choreographer. She most recently served as the choreographer for NC State University Theatre’s 2023 production of She Kills Monsters. Delaney is so excited to perform at NC State again in the Dance Faculty Concert.

LilyGrace is a 2022 NC State graduate and current employee in the Department of Performing Arts and Technology. As a student, she was involved in the State Dance Company and received the 2022 NC State Performing Artist Award. She is grateful to have worked with Amy Beasley, Tara Mullins and Alexa Simeonsson for this concert, and she can’t wait to share the stage with her fellow dance company alumni again!

Tara Z. Mullins is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Performing Arts and Technology, where she choreographs for and directs the State Dance Company, teaches courses and coordinates the Performance and Lecture Series.

She recently founded the Lunchbox Series, a virtual lunchtime conversation that uses dance as a springboard to discuss pertinent topics such as Arts and Public Health and the intersection of STEM and dance. During her time at NC State, she created Against the Railing, a digital platform and mixed media dance piece that tells the immigration stories of the NC State community. She currently serves on the Faculty Senate and the Council on Athletics.

Tara has a B.A. in dance from James Madison University and an MFA in dance from Arizona State University.

Nick Mullins is a first-year at Green Hope High School. He plays in a band with School of Rock and will be a featured performer for the GHHS pregame show this fall. He recently attended the NC State Department of Performing Arts and Technology’s Introduction to Music Technology Camp. He also loves to compose music, draw and play piano.