Spring Dance Concert this weekend on campus

The Skidmore Dance Department will present "Lineage," the 2012 Spring Dance Concert, on Friday and Saturday, April 27 and 28, in the College's Dance Theater. 

The program includes historic classic works by Marius Petipa, Isadora Duncan, and Martha Graham, along with contemporary works by department guest artist Stevie Oakes and faculty members Debra Fernandez and Rub n Graciani.

The earliest historic work will be "The Jewels" an excerpt from Sleeping Beauty Act III (1890), staged by Denise Warner Limoli, after Marius Petipa with music by Piotor Tchaikovsky.

From the early 1900s are Isadora Duncan's "Cherubim," heaven's light in the Greek afterlife; and "Bacchanale," celebrating Bacchus ? the god of the grape harvest; performed to music by C. W. Gluck. The works were reconstructed by alumna Jeanne Bresciani '72 and staged by Mary DiSanto-Rose.

Martha Graham's "Steps in the Street" (from Chronicle, 1936) will be performed with music by Wallingford Reigger. This work was re-staged by Susan Kikuchi and directed by visiting artist Mary Harney, and performed at the Joyce Theater in NYC in March. Chronicle does not attempt to show the actualities of war; rather, by evoking war's images, it sets forth the fateful prelude to war, portrays the devastation of spirit which it leaves in its wake, and suggests an answer.

This performance will feature excerpts from the full-length piece, "Keeping Company with Cage" recently performed at the Skidmore Arthur Zankel Music Center. Fernandez choreographed to John Cage's Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano. Inspired by Cage's interest in the "so called permanent emotions of traditional Indian aesthetics" and the I Ching, the ancient Chinese book of changes, nine dancers with camera create an atmosphere for listening.

Graciani, assistant professor of dance, also choreographed new works for the program. 

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, please contact the Skidmore Dance Theater Box Office at 518-580-5392.

The Skidmore Dancers have been invited to perform many of these works at the Kaatsbaan International Dance Center in Tivoli, N.Y., at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 12. Click here for details.