MFA Dance student Colette Krogol to attend a2ru's Emerging Creatives Student Summit

This blog post is by Emily Schweich, junior broadcast journalism major.

Colette Krogol

Colette Krogol photo by Matthew Reeves
 

First-year MFA Dance student Colette Krogol will represent the University of Maryland’s School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru) 2015 Emerging Creatives Student Summit at Virginia Commonwealth University from January 28 to January 31. This year’s summit, titled PULSE: Creative Collaborations for Cities in Flux, brings together students from a variety of disciplines to tackle issues facing developing cities.

“I have a deep passion in creating art with and for the communities in which I immerse myself,” Krogol said. She and her husband Matt Reeves are Artistic Directors of Orange Grove Dance, a multi-media dance company that creates visual and auditory experiences through the lens of dance, film and design. This past summer, Orange Grove Dance produced and choreographed their third dance film "The Archetypes," while their other two films (Rauma in Motion and ELta Blöð) were Official Selections at the Blue Sea Film Festival in Finland.

At the summit, teams of students will also work together to develop projects related to creating the “city of the future.” Krogol said she looks forward to working with students from other disciplines.

“I find cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary collaborations vital in my work,” Krogol said. “The original vision is always heightened and propels further when allowed the room and space for people from different pathways to intersect.”

The summit also includes presentations by several guest speakers, including award-winning filmmaker Jem Cohen, ArtPlace America’s Executive Director Jamie Bennett and Pashon Murray from Detroit Dirt and the MIT Media Lab. Students will participate in a workshop to develop funding strategies and a project launching bootcamp led by Julie Lein, President and Co-Founder of the urban ventures accelerator Tumml.

Krogol said she is thrilled to represent the arts, dance and the University of Maryland community. “I am looking forward to connecting with new communities and . . . making sure that art courses through the veins of the cities we are envisioning.”