New dance company featured at Arts Fusion 3 celebration Aug. 4

Release Date: 7/26/2007. Expired: 8/4/2007

Nashville In Motion, a new dance company that combines contemporary dance with music by top country music acts, will present a special performance at The Renaissance Center in Dickson on Saturday, Aug. 4, as part of Arts Fusion 3.

An annual statewide celebration of the arts in Tennessee, Arts Fusion 3 begins at 6 p.m. Aug. 4 with a dinner in the rotunda of The Renaissance Center, a fine arts education and performing arts center. The Arts Fusion 3 program begins at 7 p.m. in the Performance Hall and will feature Nashville In Motion and the keynote address “The State of the Arts in Tennessee” from Stephanie Barger Conner, new executive director of Tennesseans for the Arts.

Tickets for Arts Fusion 3 are $40 per person (for dinner and the program) and $20 (program only) and available through The Renaissance Center box office at (615) 740-5601.

“We began Arts Fusion two years ago as a way to bring artists, arts organizations and arts patrons together to interact, connect and learn more about the arts in Tennessee,” said Bob Kucher, senior director of Fine Arts at The Renaissance Center. “It has continued to evolve with that same mission each year and now with our third annual celebration we want to start offering tangible assistance to arts organizations.”

Proceeds from Arts Fusion 3 will benefit the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Value Plus Schools initiative at Dickson Elementary School, the Community Arts Development of Dickson County scholarship fund and Nashville In Motion. Value Plus Schools is a multi-year initiative to integrate the arts into all school subjects and Dickson Elementary is one of six schools across the state chosen to participate in the launch of the program.

“We are excited to have Nashville In Motion performing as part of Arts Fusion 3,” Kucher said. “Their unique blend of dance and today’s top country music makes this company one of the most exciting new additions to the arts scene in Middle Tennessee in a long time.”

Founded in 2007, Nashville In Motion is the vision of Artistic Director Jennifer Niemeyer Harwell, whose credentials range from performing with the Tennessee Repertory Theatre to dancing with the Nashville Ballet, among others. Harwell was looking for an opportunity to use her skills as a choreographer to combine contemporary dance with popular music.

“For five years I’ve been wanting to provide an opportunity for dancers and choreographers to work with the music of Nashville’s top songwriters and performers,” Harwell said. “This type of collaboration is one that both the audience and the artists involved often find extraordinary to experience and participate in. Nashville hasn’t seen anything like this, and we hope the response will encourage more events to follow.”

Nashville In Motion made its debut July 16 at the Belcourt Theatre with a performance that combined contemporary dance with live musical performances by Ty Herndon and Thompson Square.

Harwell said the performance at Arts Fusion 3 will include parts of the debut show as well as new productions. Choreography for the Aug. 4 event will include work by Warren Conover (a former soloist with American Ballet Theatre), Robbie Gosnell, Kathleen Cruz (modern dance instructor with Nashville Ballet and co-artistic director for Nashville In Motion) and Harwell, as well as the music of Herndon and others.

Following dinner and the performance by Nashville In Motion, Conner will conclude the evening with her keynote address.

Appointed to the Tennessee Arts Commission in 2002 and most recently serving as its chairman, Conner was named executive director of Tennesseans for the Arts in June. She previously served as executive director of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment and Music Commission. She also has served as assistant to the Governor for Policy and prior to that position was assistant to the Governor for Boards and Commissions. Conner received her Bachelor’s degree in human development from Vanderbilt University. She is married to Forrest Conner and they have two children.

For more information on Arts Fusion 3, contact The Renaissance Center at (615) 740-5600 or visit www.rcenter.org. To purchase tickets for the event, call (615) 740-5601. Aug. 4 also marks The Renaissance Center’s eighth anniversary, which will be celebrated with an open house and other events earlier that day.

The Renaissance Center is a fine arts education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.