Sweet Home Storytelling Dance Series
Donation protected
The storytelling tradition runs deep in Alabama’s roots, and with such a rich state history, Alabama has so many stories seeping out of its soil and searching for eager listeners.
I’m Victoria Rose Niblett and I've been an avid collector of stories throughout my young life. As I began to grow and desire to tell my own stories, I discovered that my preferred storytelling medium is the universal language of movement and dance.
I have been drawn to narrative based choreography since my first venture into dance making, and I long to craft messages drawing on the community, significance, and hope I’ve experienced growing up as an Alabamian.
With the bicentennial of my sweet home state of Alabama swiftly approaching, it is an opportune time for remembering Alabama’s history and celebrating the beauty of its culture and natural environment. I love my sweet home, and am filled with the pride and pleasure of being an Alabamian through and through so I am creating a series of storytelling dance works with this in my heart and mind.
I take on the honor of curating a moving documentation of significant notes in all of our state history. I take this honor very seriously, and realize that sharing Alabama history through a community performance of a dance work will encourage inquiry, study, and curiosity of the intergenerational audience members.
The goals of this series and our bicentennial celebrations are to commemorate Alabama’s history, culture, and natural environment; engage and inspire youth and young adults; and create a legacy for the future. I believe that dance has the power to do these things in a strikingly special and memorable way.
The dance works will recall through movement the beauty and richness of the Alabama red dirt, the handprint of indigenous peoples, the abundance of cotton, the devastation of the boll weevil, the “magic” of iron working and the industrial boom, the beauty and strength of the camellia, the storytelling traditions of Kathryn Tucker Windham and others, the unforgettable legacy of Rosa Parks, the haunting scar of racial strife and the greater impact of the Civil Rights Movement, the legacy of Montgomery native Zelda Fitzgerald, the optimism of the new frontier of space travel succeeding in a significant part due to Huntsville, the unmatched resilience of the Alabama spirit, and other significant moments and ideals of the Alabama experience previously unmentioned.
I believe sharing Alabama history through a community performance of a dance work will encourage the inquiry, study, and curiosity of the intergenerational audience members.
Alabama history is for everyone - young and old - and movement and dance is the most universal method of communication. Dance is a social connector and traces deep into the history of our folk art. Dance is taught and passed down from generation to generation, both gaining the unique fingerprint of its modern time while also retaining the roots of its past and initial inception.
This duality of past and present coexisting is a perfect ode to Alabama, and would present the information and message of the state history in a unique yet accessible and universally relatable format. Community dance classes will be held on the date of the performance to encourage connection and educate all ages on a timeless art form.
I would like the opportunity to expand this idea for celebrating Alabama's 200th birthday across the entire state and ensure a lasting impression on arts education and community enrichment in Alabama. This opportunity is created through funding from the generosity of donors like you! With costs in transportation, space rental, printing, publishing, dancer rehearsals, costuming, music rights, sound tech, and more - producing this dance show effectively requires resources.
The greatest expense for this Storytelling Dance Series is transportation and space for our storytelling performers, but my dream is to make art accessible and available to all people in the great state of Alabama, and share these incredibly important stories with everyone. Please consider giving so that we can build a better tomorrow for Alabama by celebrating, remembering, and reflecting on our past.
I’m Victoria Rose Niblett and I've been an avid collector of stories throughout my young life. As I began to grow and desire to tell my own stories, I discovered that my preferred storytelling medium is the universal language of movement and dance.
I have been drawn to narrative based choreography since my first venture into dance making, and I long to craft messages drawing on the community, significance, and hope I’ve experienced growing up as an Alabamian.
With the bicentennial of my sweet home state of Alabama swiftly approaching, it is an opportune time for remembering Alabama’s history and celebrating the beauty of its culture and natural environment. I love my sweet home, and am filled with the pride and pleasure of being an Alabamian through and through so I am creating a series of storytelling dance works with this in my heart and mind.
I take on the honor of curating a moving documentation of significant notes in all of our state history. I take this honor very seriously, and realize that sharing Alabama history through a community performance of a dance work will encourage inquiry, study, and curiosity of the intergenerational audience members.
The goals of this series and our bicentennial celebrations are to commemorate Alabama’s history, culture, and natural environment; engage and inspire youth and young adults; and create a legacy for the future. I believe that dance has the power to do these things in a strikingly special and memorable way.
The dance works will recall through movement the beauty and richness of the Alabama red dirt, the handprint of indigenous peoples, the abundance of cotton, the devastation of the boll weevil, the “magic” of iron working and the industrial boom, the beauty and strength of the camellia, the storytelling traditions of Kathryn Tucker Windham and others, the unforgettable legacy of Rosa Parks, the haunting scar of racial strife and the greater impact of the Civil Rights Movement, the legacy of Montgomery native Zelda Fitzgerald, the optimism of the new frontier of space travel succeeding in a significant part due to Huntsville, the unmatched resilience of the Alabama spirit, and other significant moments and ideals of the Alabama experience previously unmentioned.
I believe sharing Alabama history through a community performance of a dance work will encourage the inquiry, study, and curiosity of the intergenerational audience members.
Alabama history is for everyone - young and old - and movement and dance is the most universal method of communication. Dance is a social connector and traces deep into the history of our folk art. Dance is taught and passed down from generation to generation, both gaining the unique fingerprint of its modern time while also retaining the roots of its past and initial inception.
This duality of past and present coexisting is a perfect ode to Alabama, and would present the information and message of the state history in a unique yet accessible and universally relatable format. Community dance classes will be held on the date of the performance to encourage connection and educate all ages on a timeless art form.
I would like the opportunity to expand this idea for celebrating Alabama's 200th birthday across the entire state and ensure a lasting impression on arts education and community enrichment in Alabama. This opportunity is created through funding from the generosity of donors like you! With costs in transportation, space rental, printing, publishing, dancer rehearsals, costuming, music rights, sound tech, and more - producing this dance show effectively requires resources.
The greatest expense for this Storytelling Dance Series is transportation and space for our storytelling performers, but my dream is to make art accessible and available to all people in the great state of Alabama, and share these incredibly important stories with everyone. Please consider giving so that we can build a better tomorrow for Alabama by celebrating, remembering, and reflecting on our past.
Organizer
Victoria Niblett
Organizer
Birmingham, AL
