The semesterly Dance Concerts are opportunities for students participating in Swarthmore\u2019s Dance Program to showcase the work they have been doing over the past semester. This spring\u2019s show will feature ballet, tap, African, and taiko, as well as student-choreographed pieces. Students from all levels and backgrounds of dance participate, forming a collection of individual pieces that, together, reveal the depth and dynamism of Swarthmore dance.<\/p>\n
Professor Chandra Moss-Thorne will be showing her newest piece,\u00a0Plight<\/em>, at this year\u2019s event. Featuring more than 20 dancers, this contemporary ballet work is set to the music of Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi. Professor LaDeva Davis\u2019s tap dancers will be dancing to music by Aretha Franklin in a piece called\u00a0Think<\/em>. The lyrics of the song were written by Ira Tucker Jr. to \u201caccommodate a public service campaign\u201d about the \u201cdangers of driving under the influence.\u201d Professor Saleana Pettaway\u2019s\u00a0MISS Understandings\u00a0<\/em>is set to the music of Rick Allen, Beyonce, the Ibiza Royal Drums, and Me\u2019Shell Ndegeochello. The work is a \u201ctribute to the female experience…It celebrates the power of the female collective and the beauty of our diversity.\u201d Finally, Professor Joe Small\u2019s taiko drummers and dancers will perform a set of arrangements from Japan and beyond. While\u00a0Soma Bon Uta<\/em>\u00a0is a \u201cpopular standard at obon across Japan and overseas,\u201d the employment of the ukulele \u201cpays homage to the connection between Japan, Portugal, and Hawaii.\u201d Additionally, Kris Bergstrom\u2019s\u00a0Jack Bazaar\u00a0<\/em>showcases \u201cnot the iki of Edo, but Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n The Spring Dance Concert will also feature student works from Zara Williams-Nicholas ’19, Lia D’Alessandro ’21, and Marion Kudla ’19. These pieces allow student choreographers to demonstrate both their technical abilities and their skills in visual composition. Zara Williams-Nicholas\u2019s original work titled\u00a0Weeping Blue Mahoe<\/em>, is a piece about identity formation and the \u201cexploration of the self in relation to others.\u201d More than that, Williams-Nicholas says that her dance is reflective of her own experiences here at Swarthmore: In some sense, this work is an \u201cautobiography of [her] journey of finding [herself] at a predominantly white institution.\u201d<\/p>\n Lia D\u2019Alessandro\u2019s piece,\u00a0Progression<\/em>, is a contemporary ballet work about the \u201cescape from the traditional image of females in ballet as delicate and dependent upon men.\u201d D\u2019Alessandro says it was inspired by her journey as a ballet dancer \u201cwho does not fit the stereotype. It showcases the strength and athleticism of a female dancer in the 21st century.\u201d<\/p>\n Marion Kudla will be presenting her piece titled,\u00a0Into Interior<\/em>. Kudla says the work is an extension of a piece she choreographed last fall, called\u00a0Imprints<\/em>, which explored the biological concept of rewilding. Rewilding is \u201can environmental conservation tool that reintroduces \u2018native\u2019 species into an environment and lets nature take over to return to an \u2018original\u2019 state. Her new piece takes this idea and uses it to explore nature as an \u201cemotional, psychological space.\u201d A work of contemporary ballet,\u00a0Into Interior\u00a0<\/em>\u201cplays on the duality of the word \u2018interior\u2019 as both a signifier for nature as well as a personal, reflective process.\u201d<\/p>\n The Spring Dance Concert allows everyone to participate in the incredible diversity of Swarthmore\u2019s performing arts. Faculty works are shown alongside student pieces, and radically different styles occupy the same space. Swarthmore\u2019s dance concerts are a chance for members of the community to experience the hard work of students and faculty, who together reveal the unique kind of joy and catharsis that dance can provide.<\/p>\n The Spring Dance Concert will be held on Friday, May 3rd at 4:30 PM, and Saturday, May 4th at 8:00 PM in the Lang Performing Arts Center. The event is free and open to the public.<\/p>\n Gabriel Hearn-Desautels ’20<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The semesterly Dance Concerts are opportunities for students participating in Swarthmore\u2019s Dance Program to showcase the work they have been doing over the past semester. This spring\u2019s show will feature ballet, tap, African, and taiko, as well as student-choreographed pieces. Students from all levels and backgrounds of dance participate, forming a collection of individual pieces […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":7641,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7640"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7640"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7643,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7640\/revisions\/7643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}