Dance convergence coming up at SaratogaArtsFest

Lovers of dance will want to check out the SaratogaArtsFest June 11-14?there?s something terpsichorian going on every day, with two and three performances Friday through Sunday. Offerings range from the internationally acclaimed Paul Taylor Dance Company to the up-and-coming Company Stefanie Batten Bland, from original danceworks choreographed by Skidmore dance faculty to a popular-dance smorgasbord at the National Museum of Dance.  

For the dance-minded, SaratogaArtsFest kicks off at 8 p.m. Thursday, June 11, when the internationally acclaimed Paul Taylor Dance Company takes the stage at SPAC.  (Admission is $25 at the gate or $20 with a SaratogaArtsFest ARTSPASS; call 518-584-9330 for tickets.) The June 11 program will include Taylor?s 1982 classic, Mercuric Tidings, as well as two newly premiered works, Changes and Beloved Renegade.

Dance, music, and song venture together into the digital world on Friday, June 12, with  "Art Across Boundaries: Virtually Real and Really Virtual," a presentation taking place from 2 to 5 p.m. at Empire State College?s Alumni House. It?s a series of live music and dance performances presented in a 3D immersive version in the virtual world Second Life, projected to a screen in the real-life venue. Performers include the classically trained German vocalist Juliane Gabriel; David Wolf and the Saratoga Savoy Dancers in a tango and Latin dance performance; and jazz duo Sonny and Perley.  Admission is free.

On Friday evening, the contemporary dance troupe Company Stefanie Batten Bland takes the stage at 7 p.m. in Skidmore?s Dance Theater. 
(Admission is $10 at the door or free with ARTSPASS.) A New Yorker living in Paris and artist-in-residence at Middle Tennessee State University, dancer/choreographer Stefanie Batten Bland performed for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and other outstanding ensembles, and her work has been presented worldwide. Her own company features U.S. and French dancers.

On Saturday, June 13, the National Museum of Dance showcases Taylor 2, the Paul Taylor company?s six-member junior ensemble currently in residence at Skidmore, in a family-friendly performance starting at 2:30 p.m. The program will include Taylor repertory favorites Airs, 3 Epitaphs, Lento Duet, and Company B. (Admission with ARTSPASS.) The Taylor performance is part of the museum?s ArtsFest weekend of dance, which starts at 2 p.m. Saturday with a performance by the museum?s School of Dance. (A previously scheduled Saturday performance by Company Stefanie Batten Bland has been canceled.)

Skidmore dancers star on Saturday night in a showcase presentation at the college?s Dance Theater starting at 8:30 p.m.  Admission is $10 at the door. Dance faculty choreographers Debra Fernandez, Mary Harney, and Ruben Graciani will join their student dancers and alumna Caitlin Trainor ?97 in a one-hour show of  ?old and new work and Skidmore students and faculty dancing together and with each other,? says Fernandez. Her works on the program include a 1993 duet performed by fellow dance faculty member Ruben Graciani and Jesse Kovarsky ?10, and a solo excerpt from her 2005 Mak Particles, performed by Emily Sferra ?09.  The five-dancer group that Trainor is bringing from New York City includes alumna Ann Olson ?99, an Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company veteran. Visiting artist-in-residence Mary Harney will present Finding Balance, performed by six Skidmore students, and Graciani and Sferra will perform his duet,  I?m Ready for the Rapture.

The SaratogaArtsFest dance options conclude Sunday, June 14, with nonstop dancing at the National Museum of Dance?s open house from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.  (Admission with ARTSPASS.) Demonstrations will include Greek dance, belly dancing, line dancing, swing, Irish step, and Arthur Murray Latin-style dance, along with family activities including face painting, refreshments, a dog contest and fashion show, and more.

For more information about performers, venues, and how to acquire an ARTSPASS, visit the SaratogaArtsFest web site.