A Quick HISTORY Organized by the ALBAN ELVED DANCE COMPANY, a 501-c-3 non-profit charitable organziation, the 'SARUS Festival' first took place in and around Wilmington in the summer of 2007. Back then it began as a dance festival for avant-garde dance. Its site-specific and interdisciplinary approach was and still is unusual for the area. We received great feedback and enthusiastic participation. Some people even moved to the area because of it....
The following year we opened the festival up to all art forms and the festival grew to two weeks of programming, outreach and workshops, performances and lectures and film showings. Performers from New York City, Chicago, North Carolina and many other places brought exciting, unusual, daring and inspiring performances to audiences of all ages. Performances took place at Wrightsville Beach and Carolina Beach on the beach strands, in downtown Wilmington, in Burgaw, on the UNCW campus, the Red Barn Studio Theatre, at UNCW and at Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, NC.
SARUS FESTIVAL LOGO high resolution 350 dpi, download below
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Audience feedback includes statements such as:
'I am so stunned at the impact that your performance has had on me, still has on me. Truly, I felt the emotional energy the two performers and the audience created and it resonated deeply. Adam- mah is brilliant.'
' I was experiencing an enormous range of emotion, not as a spectator, but it seemed, from within...'
'Your work always lifts me outside of myself, transports me to new places.'
'Your work gives me encouragement, motivation, a sense of other worldiness and euphoria.'
'visually intriguing and mentally exhilarating',
'fiercely physical, sensory experiences'
'moments of ineffable grace'
'completely fearless and unpredictable'.
ABOUT THE NAME...SARUS 'alban elved' is the Celtic name for the fall equinox, literally translating to "the light of the water". Water often finds a place in the company's works in actual or metaphorical form. The SARUS Festival was named after the sarus crane, Grus antigone, who had been a symbol for the company for years. The name "Sarus" has a Sanskrit origin and means "of water", "lake or wetland". SARUS Festival began as a dance festival. In fact, in Tamil the term "Sarasa-naadanam" refers to graceful dancing.
