A behind the scenes video about the making of Dance for the River, narrated by the Yadkin Riverkeeper and the dancers involved in the project.
Dance for the River is a traveling multimedia exhibit that connects audiences with the Yadkin River, through dance, photography, video and storytelling. creating a unique message about clean water through art. It is a collaborative effort between Christine Rucker Photography, the Yadkin Riverkeeper and UNCSA Dance, Wake Forest Humanities Institute and Phoebe Zerwick. It was initiated and funded by the Yadkin Arts Council in NC, John Willingham, WFU Humanties, the Yadkin Riverkeeper, Wells Fargo and private donors.
Natalie Kirk, a UNCSA dance student bows to the river in the Shoals area of East Bend.
Narrows Dam Dancer
Alcoa smelted aluminum here for 90 years, with electricity generated by the Yadkin flowing over Narrows Dam. The smelter closed in 2002, but much of the cyanide, fluoride, PCB’s and other toxins it discharged remain, a threat to the watershed. Now under new ownership, the dam still produces electricity.
Dancers: UNCSA students Location: NC 67, Donnaha Park
Ashley Ramsey creates movement in the shallow area of the east bend of the river in Yadkin County.
A UNCSA dancer on point in a rocky section of the Yadkin River in Wilkes County.
Two dancers create contradicting backdrop to trash washed on the banks of the Yadkin River near the headwaters in Wilkes county.
A pop up rain shower creates a different experience for dancers along the Yadkin in Wilkes County. The river is more narrow and green near the headwaters in the foothills of NC.
The Bean Shoals Canal Trail follows the north shore of the river along the ruins of a failed 19th century canal project. Dancer: Natalie Kirk, UNCSA
The Little Yadkin flows into the big river near where Native Americans once lived in villages built along the bluffs rising from the river’s banks. Dancer: Juel D. Lane, Helen Simoneau Danse
Many small towns depend on water intakes like this one for water for drinking and industry. Dancers: Roza Savelyeva and Rebecca Van Dover, UNCSA Location: Ronda Access
The Yadkin River begins in a spring under a parking lot in Blowing Rock, NC. Dancers explore the tunnel where the Yadkin flows from.
Location: East Bend, Yadkin County Dancer: Audra Byers Kavaklı
A UNCSA dancer creates landscape with light and motion under a bridge along Peters Creek, an urban creek that is part of the Yadkin River watershed.
A UNCSA dancer blends into the wall of grafitti under a tunnel along Peters creek, an urban creek that is part of the Yadkin River watershed.
Peters Creek and the watershed’s other urban streams serve as massive ditches for storm water and the pollution and trash it carries, which threaten water quality downstream.
The Shoals, part of Pilot Mountain State Park, is a shallow stretch of water dotted with islands where people have crossed the Yadkin for thousands of years. Location: Pilot Mountain State Park, East Bend
On a December day, UNCSA dancer Elizabeth Fingeld seems suspended above a rocky shoal at the 421 access park in Pfafftown
The upper Yadkin Valley contains the highest concentration of poultry of any watershed in the state. These poultry farms produce tons of manure a year, polluting the watershed with nitrogen and phosphates. Dancers: Emilee Harney and Gregory Hamilton, UNCSA
The Yadkin River once powered Elkin’s textile industry. Today, with most of the mills closed, the town is building a tourism industry around the river, in the hopes of attracting paddlers, hikers and cyclists who use the riverside trails. Dancer: Rebecca Van Dover, UNCSA Location: Elkin, Wilkes County
The community of Dukeville relies on bottled water for drinking, bathing and cooking because the coal ash ponds managed by Duke Energy have seeped into private wells, contaminating the drinking water. Location: Dukeville
Location: NC 67 Forsyth/Yadkin line. Dancers: Alexis and Katherine Hubbard
Alcoa smelted aluminum here for 90 years, with electricity generated by the Yadkin flowing over Narrows Dam. The smelter closed in 2002, but much of the cyanide, fluoride, PCB’s and other toxins it discharged remain, a threat to the watershed. Now under new ownership, the dam still produces electricity.
The WilCox Bridge, built in 1924, connects Davidson and Rowan above the old Trading Ford, near where Native Americans crossed the Yadkin for thousands of years. Dancer: Roza Savelyeva, UNCSA Location: York Hill Access, Davidson County