Winter Dance concert to feature new, classic works
Dances from Paquita, staged by Denise Warner Limoli
Skidmore's Dance Department will present its winter dance concert, titled "Wonderland?" Friday and Saturday, Dec. 3 and 4, in the Skidmore Dance Theater. Shows are scheduled at 8 p.m. both days with a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday.
Tickets (sold at the door) are $10 general admission and $5 students/senior citizens.
The program features original and classic works by the dance faculty and guest artists, performed by a cast of 35 students. Selections include Denise Warner Limoli's "Da Pacem," an original work set to the music of Estonian composer Arvo Part ("Da Pacem Domine," 2004, and "Te Deum," 1984). Explained Limoli, "The piece was inspired by Part's hauntingly beautiful music, which was written as a response to the 2004 terrorist bombings in Madrid. (This dance will be repeated in a program to be presented Feb. 11, 2011 as part of the College's Theater of War in a House of Peace program.)
Excerpted from the classical 1881 ballet, "Dance from Paquita" is staged by Limoli after the great St. Petersburg choreographer Marius Petipa. With music by Ludvig Minkus, the ballet has a charming Spanish gypsy style.
Mary Harney has created "Passages," a reverie in a Japanese garden with a celebratory ended. She dedicates the work to a dear friend who recently died.
Debra Fernandez offers "Bang!," an energetic piece with attitude, danced to percussion music of Julia Wolfe.
Ruben Graciani has choreographed "Silver Lining" to music by Garfunkel and Oates. This piece takes a look at relationships in a unique way. Parental guidance is recommended. Said Graciani, "It is a humorous take on all the ways that couples can miss the mark and/or just not quite connect."
Kevin Wynn, who was guest artist in the department this fall, choreographed a whirlwind of a piece for the student dancers and titled it "Reminiscin' on a Harmolodic Dream." Carl Landa and Prefuse 23 provide music for the piece, which a cast of 15 will perform.
An associate professor of dance in the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase, Wynn is also on the faculty of the Alvin Ailey/Fordham University B.F.A. Program. He received his early training in Washington, D.C., at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and continued to study at Cal Arts and SUNY Purchase. He was a soloist with the Jose Limon Dnace Company and has worked with a number of companies and dancers, including Jacques D'Amboise, Vernon Reid and Living Colour, Mel Wong, and Sounds in Motion Dance Company.
Wynn is founding director of his own company, the Kevin Wynn Collection, which is where Graciani first danced professionally in New York City. Graciani studied dance with Wynn at SUNY Purchase.
