Designing Dance

GAMBIER, Ohio (November 19, 2009) A toy piano strikes a whimsical note in a new piece choreographed by Karl Rogers, visiting assistant professor of dance, for the Fall Dance Concert on December 10-12.

Rogers also brings origami birds into play for his dance, All Points and Angles: A Swan Song, that includes eleven student performers as part of the concert at 8:00 p.m. each evening in Hill Theater. Props for the Rogers piece are used "to create a world of fancy and magic," said Balinda Craig-Quijada, associate professor of dance and co-director of the concert with Kora Radella, visiting assistant professor of dance.

Craig-Quijada and students Chauncey Harrison '11 of New York City and Alicia LaPalombara '10 of Merion Station, Pennsylvania, perform solo on different nights in another Rogers piece, Excerpt from Highway 66, set to the music of Willie Nelson.

Seven student choreographers and thirty student dancers are part of the concert. Tickets are $1.

Among student choreographers, Shaina Cantino '10 of Athens, Ohio, merges theater and dance in her ensemble piece I went into a home that wasn't mine. She mingles performers without dance training with those who have had training. The eight-member ensemble generates its own sound using dialogue, monologue, and song.

Katherine Ernst '10 of Chesterland, Ohio, was inspired by her experiences in India and choreographed a modern dance piece, Masala, a term used in South Asian cuisine to describe a mix of spices. Six female dancers will perform to the music of popular artists Panjabi MC, M.I.A., and Aesop Rock.

In I just need a little polishing, that's all!, choreographer Stephanie Kung '10 of New York City said she "hopes to highlight the absurdity of the modeling industry and its effect on societal definitions of beauty and thinness." Her dance is a quintet set to the music of Handsome Boy Modeling School and Phoenix.

The other student choreographers include Shelley Fort '11 of Gambier, Ohio (After the Rehearsal); Nicole Green '10 of Columbus, Ohio (Change the Control); Harrison (Re-Thread); and Sasha Rockwell '10 of New York City (After Gershwin).

Excerpt from Highway 66, by Rogers, and Cantino's I went into a home that wasn't mine will represent Kenyon at the American College Dance Festival at Ohio University in March 2010.