Discover Dance
The Fall Dance Concert this year celebrates the close of the semester with a diverse mix of contemporary dance styles choreographed by six students and two faculty members.
The performances, presented by the Department of Dance and Drama, will take place in the Hill Theater on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. Admission is $1.
"The Fall Dance Concert has a variety of styles and approaches to dance that are inventive, witty, and poignant," said Kora Radella, visiting assistant professor of dance. "It will be well worth the time to experience the ways that dance can evoke and provoke by coming to the concert."
Radella and Julie Brodie, associate professor of dance, each choreographed a piece for the concert. Radella has created a dance for eleven performers, Rest less, Wrest free. "We have dealt with the feelings of being restless via a shifting array of motions," Radella said. Brodie's solo piece is Emrayya (Woman), and it explores the experiences of Egyptian women she observed during a recent visit to Egypt as a Fulbright scholar.
Student choreographers include Paulina Gutierrez '11, Chauncey Harrison '11, Robert Letzler '12, Laura Miller '11, Christa Minardi '11, and Joshua Samuels '12.
For Letzler, the work has been about personal discovery as a dance major. "I am focusing on exploring my process as a solo choreographer and performer and am elated to be given the space within which to do so," he said. Letzler composed a collaborative solo piece called Vigils and Lullabies with the music of Erin Rae McKinney '12.
Gutierrez has choreographed her fourth dance at Kenyon. Her current piece, antipode, was inspired by the traditional foot-stomping dances of Mexico and India. "It is a very unique process in that we are creating both the movement and music scores at the same time," she said. "It's not something you find described in choreography books."
Eight dancers will perform Miller's Letters to the Editor. The piece explores ideas of sexual identity as portrayed through popular magazines and through the dancers' own experiences. "I wanted to show that you can make a social statement using dance in a way that can be humorous and interesting and not so dark and serious," she said.
Harrison will show You Make Me Feel Like, which combines a light-heartedness and freedom expressed through the character and movement of her dancers.
Minardi's piece is called It All Grows Back Eventually.
Samuels was inspired by the themes of mystery and puzzle from the board game, film and book franchise, Clue. His work is called A Friendly Game of Murder.
By Cate Flanagan '11