AAS Concentrator, Runako Campbell, one of three Princeton students awarded Alex Adam '07 Award for Original Art

The Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University announces more than $123,000 in awards to support the summer projects and research of 52 Princeton undergraduates, chosen from 80 applicants. Although all first, second, and third-year student-artists are eligible to apply, for many recipients, the funding provides the resources to conduct research, undertake training, and pursue other opportunities critical to achieving their senior thesis project goals in the arts.

Three students — Runako Campbell, Gabriella Pollner, and Jhor van der Horst — have been selected for the Alex Adam ’07 Award. Established in memory of Alexander Jay Adam ’07 and made possible by a generous gift from his family, the award provides $7,500 in support to each of three Princeton undergraduates who will spend a summer pursuing a project that will result in the creation of new artistic work. While a student at Princeton, Alex Adam pursued artistic interests in creative writing and theater. Joyce Carol Oates, his creative writing professor, praised his work as “sharp-edged, unexpectedly corrosive and very funny.” He was also an actor, and performed with the Princeton Shakespeare Company, Theatre Intime, and the Program in Theater.

“The Alex Adam Award was created in loving memory of a wonderfully creative student,” says Michael Cadden, Chair of the Lewis Center. “Thanks to his family’s generosity, our young artists are able to pursue dream projects around the globe. Many past recipients have begun to build significant careers in the arts.”

 Sophomore Runako Campbell, who is working towards a certificate in dance, will gain exposure to new movement styles, processes, and choreographers as she travels throughout Europe this summer. Through recent courses in dance and in her major, African American Studies, she has developed interests in the idea of embodied knowledge and the ways identity can inform a movement practice. Undertaking a journey of self-discovery, Campbell will begin in Hungary, to participate in Budapest International Dance Week, training with instructors from Hofesh Shechter Company and Les Ballets C de la B, among others. She will then attend the b12 Dance Festival in Berlin, Germany, to participate in movement research with choreographers such as Micaela Taylor, Olivia Ancona, Scott Jennings, and Shannon Gillen. Next, she will attend the Inaugural Orsolina28 Forsythe/Pite Summer Program in Asti, Italy, to closely study the movement practices and repertory of contemporary dance icons William Forsythe and Crystal Pite. Then she will travel to Belgium to train at Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s P.A.R.T.S. School and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Eastman Intensive. She will close out the summer in New York City dancing with one of her biggest inspirations, Kyle Abraham, at the A.I.M. summer program. Throughout these research experiences, Campbell will utilize physical training, notes, video, interviews, and other methods to assist her in crafting a personal movement language and artistic voice for her future dance thesis and ultimately, a professional career in dance.

 

[Read Full Article via the Lewis Center for the Arts]