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Show C-2 The Park Record Wed/Thurs/Fri, February 14-16, 2018 Dancers will move for Peace House Introducing... 435-645-7139 www.marketatparkcity.com Please look for our insert in today’s paper! PHOTO COURTESY OF CLAIRE KOVA Dance Tech Studios will perform a benefit concert for Peace House at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 15, at Ecker Hill Middle School, 2465 Kilby Road. Studio’s yearly fundraiser has come full circle SCOTT IWASAKI The Park Record Dancers, like any artist or athlete, strive to push themselves, according to Nicole Campbell-Fielding, owner and director of Dance Tech Studios. “We always focus on becoming stronger and trying to become the best we can be,” Campbell-Fielding said. “So it’s nice to have something that will give us a chance to look outside of ourselves to see how our art can help others.” Campbell-Fielding is referring to the annual Dancers with a Purpose concerts that the studio has presented for the past six years. The concert, which is set to take place this year at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 15, at Ecker Hill Middle School, 2465 Kilby Road, raises money for local and international nonprofits. Continued from C-1 Photos capture wildlife without any trees in the background. “That meant a trek in the snow with a sled that held all my equipment up an embankment, through a field an up a ravine,” she said. “It was pretty intense, and I kept thinking, ‘I couldn’t have gotten a nice office job The Potashner Bohannon Intermountain Group at Morgan Stanley Richard Potashner Senior Vice President Financial Advisor Jesse Bohannon Financial Advisor The 2018 beneficiary will be Peace House, a local nonprofit that is dedicated to wiping out domestic violence in Summit and Wasatch counties. “This is special for us because we’ve come full circle,” Campbell-Fielding said. “Peace House was the first beneficiary from our first benefit concert we chose six years ago. And we have a soft spot in our heart for this one because we can help them again, but we also can see how much their programs and services have grown over the years.” Peace House offers various services including counseling, outreach, prevention and awareness education and victim advocacy, Campbell-Fielding said. It is also in the process of building a new community campus on Round Valley Drive that will feature self-sufficient suites, gathering spaces, larger and more secure emergency housing and shelter units and secure parking. Campbell-Fielding said the Dancers with a Purpose concert is the brainchild of her son Tyler, one of Dance Tech Studios’ hip-hop directors. “He had to do an Eagle Scout project six years ago, and since he grew up competing and training in hip-hop, he decided to produce the first benefit concert for the project,” Campbell-Fielding said. “It was such a great experience and we got so much out of it, so we decided to do a yearly benefit show.” Other beneficiaries throughout the years include the National Ability Center and some organizations in Haiti including the Jasper House, an international nonprofit that offers a transitional home, therapy and job training for young Haitian women who have left lives of prostitution, exploitation and abuse. Admission to this year’s concert is $10 at the door, and additional donations will be accepted. The production will feature 65 dancers performing all 17 of Dance Tech Studios’ Team competition pieces that were choreographed by the staff. “We chose to do that because the choreographers have pulled in some pretty significant awards,” Campbell-Fielding said. Those awards include honors at the Celebrity Dance Nationals at Sea in Long Beach, California, aboard the Carnival Inspiration Cruise; the Tremaine National Dance Competition in Las Vegas, as well as the Dance America “Spring Fling” Competition and the Relevé Dance Competition, both of which were both held in Utah. In addition to the Dance Tech Studio Team dancers, Campbell-Fielding also invited some guest performers. “Some of our Little Princess Tutu class members, between the ages of 2-and-a-half to 5, will be part of the show, and we are excited for them to come, inspire and remind us of how all of us older dancers started on our own journeys,” she said. “We are also excited for them to see and be a part of what dance can bring to their futures.” This year marks the return of another past faculty member, Gev Manoukian, a finalist from season four “So You Think You some place?’” Francois’ wildlife images differ in that she doesn’t capture the animals in a scenic setting. The photographer uses a wide-angle lens and captures up-close images of the animals, but then overexposes the photo to wash out the background. The style sometimes proves tricky for Francois to decide which photographs to use for her exhibits. “Sometimes you can tell right off the bat, but sometimes if you’re too close to the work, like I am most of the time, you can’t tell which ones are right for the collection,” she said. “So I’ll put the images up in my home and office where I have to look at them all the time.” The weaker photographs start to fall away after a while and the ones that are left are used in the collection. “Sometimes it’s the look of the animal — the connection with the content,” Francois said. “But sometimes there are some formal composition things that make the difference.” Those compositional elements include how a shape fits into the frame, or how the animal’s image divides the space. “I also see how the tones that are weighted on one side are balanced from the other,” Francois said. “Sometimes the photos are decided on formal artistic elements — lighting, shadow. When you add levels of interpretation, the picture gets richer and richer and has a better chance for sustainability.” While Francois is drawn to her art by the thrill of getting up close the animals, she is always relieved to finish a session without getting gored or trampled. “This last time when we were in Alaska, we rode around in a golf cart where there were elk,” she said. “The elk are huge and majestic, but they are also skittish and have these huge antlers. So when I got out of the cart, I had to walk really slowly and tried not to look too menacing so they wouldn’t get scared and gore me.” During the same session, Francois and her assistants, along with a guide, entered a pen of bison. “All the females came up to us and stuck their heads with their horns into the golf cart,” Francois said. People have asked the photographer why she doesn’t just shoot the photos with a long lens and just drop out the background. “I think the part that I think is crazy cool about what I do is how close I get to the animals, not just big ones, but the little ones, too,” she said in reply. “If it wasn’t for the camera and equipment, I would not have that kind of access with these creatures. And there is something absolutely mind boggling to be that close to them.” Above all else, Francois enjoys the non-verbal communication with the animals. “You have to convey something calming and non-menacing to an animal that could very easily spooked and attack,” she said. “I think that’s what the draw is for me. It pulls out a primordial, instinctual non-verbal communication connection with these animals. It’s goose-bumpy.” An artist reception for photographer Nine Francois new exhibit “Animalia II” opening will be held from 5-7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 17, at Julie Nester Gallery, 1280 Iron Horse Drive. The event is free and open to the public. For information, visit www.julienestergallery.com. Please see Dancers, C-3 |