Special Thanks and Sponsors

SPECIAL THANKS TO PERFORMERS WHO BLESSED EACH EVENING WITH AN INVOCATION IN THE LANGUAGE OF THEIR ART.

AGNES FULLER
Agnes Fuller is a frequent soloist in the Hampton Roads area. She has been a featured soloist with the Virginia Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, Virginia Beach Symphony, Virginia Opera, Cantata Chorus, and the Continental Army Band. Ms. Fuller is a full-time member of the voice faculty at Old Dominion University and soprano soloist at both First Presbyterian Church and Ohel Shalom Temple in Norfolk.

ELBERT WATSON
Elbert Watson began his professional dance career as principle dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. While in New York, he was also principle dancer with Pearl Primus Earth Theatre and the Joan Miller Dance Players. Before returning to his hometown of Norfolk, Virginia, he danced as a principle dancer with the State Opera House Ballet in Kassel, West Germany. Mr. Watson is the Ballet Master and Director of Dance at Norfolk Academy and Ballet Master for the Virginia Ballet Theatre.

UNITED ILOCANO YOUTH DANCE TROUPE
United Ilocano Youth Dance Troupe, a company of dancers comprised of Filipino-American youth in the Hampton Roads area, has been dancing under the direction of Jessica Bello since 1985. United Ilocano Youth Dance Troupe performs traditional folk dances and cotillion dances from the Philippines. Mrs. Bello notes that the dances are not only entertaining for audience members, but are a way dancers learn about and preserve Filipino culture and story through dance. United Ilocano Youth Dance Troupe has performed at universities such as Duke University, University of North Carolina, University of Virginia, William and Mary and at Old Dominion University. They've also danced for various community festivals and for many schools, churches and nursing homes in the Hampton Roads Area. Their performance is funded in part by the Norfolk Commission on Arts and Humanities.

MELODY RUFFIN WARD
Melody Ruffin Ward received her B.A. in Literature from Spelman College and her M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her training includes all forms of dance with extensive work in the Cunningham and Limon techniques. She danced with the Maida Withers Dance Construction and has toured throughout the South and the East Coast. From 1989-1990, Ms. Ward was visiting instructor at SUNY Potsdam in New York, teaching modern dance and choreographing, and most recently, she was visiting artist at Illinois Weslyan University. Ms. Ward is an assistant professor in dance at Old Dominion University and also teaches for the Governor's School for the Arts.

SPONSORED BY
THE OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY
CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM