Spring Dance Concert to showcase array of styles
"Zero Hour" by Debra Fernandez
(photo by Steve Nealey)
Skidmore's Dance Department will stage its Spring Dance Concert Friday and Saturday,
April 29 and 30, in the Dance Theater. The program will showcase choreography and
staging created by members of the College's dance faculty and guest artists.
This year's presentation will feature dozens of Skidmore dance students from all class
years performing works of contemporary dance presented by dance faculty members and
choreographers Debra Fernandez, Ruben Graciani and Mary Harney. The program will also
include experts of the historic classic works by Jos Limon "There is a Time" and by
Isadora Duncan "Scherzo: Ode to Dionysius" (god of ecstasy and transformation) and
"Finale: Ode to Artemis" (goddess of the moon and the wilds) staged by Mary DiSanto-Rose.
Debra Fernandez's "Bang, Bang" is the second in a series of pieces ("Bang" was premiered fall 2010) that explore the organization and dissolution of form, built on repeating loops. The music is a lively percussion score by "Bang on a Can" composer Julia Wolfe. Fernandez is also re-staging the ever popular "Zero Hour" set to three of the late tango masterpieces of Astor Piazzolla, whose work was featured in the Theater Department's recent production of Romeo and Juliet.
Graciani's new work "Say It Ain't So" with music by Carl Landa is an exploration of the passage of time; a countdown to the moment when there is no one or nothing left in society, in relationship, in the world. "Afloat Below the Surface" also by Graciani (music by Oswaldo Golijov) is a micro of the macro in relationship. It is about the loneliness that can happen even while in partnership. Harney's new work "Just Dancin' " celebrates the joy of dancing with music by Cornellius DeFalo and Marcelo Zarvos.
"Geometry, Physics and Other Stuff" by Mary
Harney (photo by Steve Nealey)
The Spring Dance Concert is dedicated to the late Pat Peterson, known as the guiding spirit and matriarch of the Capital Region dance community. Peterson, 86, a co-founder of the region's Dance Alliance, died in March.
Performances are scheduled at 8 p.m. each day with a 2 p.m. Saturday matinee. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for students and senior citizens. Tickets will be sold 45 minutes prior to each performance. Advance reservations are not accepted.
For more information, call the Skidmore Dance Theater box office at 518-580-5392.
