Dance Concert Highlights Life, Energy, Identity
Guest artists return to Alma to work with dancers while students perform their own choreography in a concert that highlights life, energy, identity and empowerment.
The Alma College Dance Company performs its annual spring concert at 8 p.m. Friday, March 26 and Saturday March 27 and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 28 in Presbyterian Hall of the Remick Heritage Center. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for seniors 62 and up, and free for Alma College staff, students, and youth 18 and under. Seating is reserved.
Alma College Dance Company
The program opens with “Women’s Work,” a piece by Liz Joynt Sandberg performed to music by James Brown, Earl Hines and Tori Amos. Joynt Sandberg is the artistic director of Think Dance Collective. “Women’s Work” is about women’s roles in society.
"It has a clear message about gender roles,” says Carol Fike, professor of dance at Alma College. “The dancers are wearing high heels, sixty’s era dresses and shredding sheets.”
The other guest artist whose work will be featured is Micaela Church, a 2006 Alma College graduate who is a Master of Fine Arts candidate in dance at Arizona State University.
“I feel that Micaela Church is one of my own,” says Fike. “It is so thrilling to have a student who has made it and is pursuing a career in dance education.”
Church’s piece, “Bound,” performed to music by Einaudi, is “fast-paced, provocative, energetic and physically challenging," says Fike.
The concert also features works by four student choreographers.
“It is so exciting to have their work showcased in our March concert," says Fike. "It affords them the opportunity to see what it is like to have a dance fully produced with the expertise of our lighting designer, Mike Sheldon."
"The Nurse’s Dairy,” choreographed by Macomb sophomore Angela Flynn and performed to music by Frank Wildhorn, Jack Murphy and Linda Eder, is a modern piece about death and the devastation of war, says Fike.
The classical ballet, “The Danse de Trois Filles,” is choreographed
and performed by the dance department's three dance majors, who
incorporated the piece as part of their senior thesis to complete the
major and graduate with honors. They are Huntsville, Alabama, senior
Lauren Deutscher, Onekama junior Kayla Pesko and Livonia senior Kori
Snow.
”Your Life is Now,” choreographed by Pesko and performed to John Mellencamp’s music, is described as a “wonderful piece celebrating life," says Fike.
“Breathe in, Breathe Out” by Perry junior Anna Dysinger is a contemporary piece that explores identity and growing, says Fike.
Alma Instructor Kristen Bennett’s “Love Reign Over Me,” performed to music by The Who, utilizes the entire dance company.
"It is wild,” says Fike. “The dancers are running and dropping. It’s a piece about youth, identity, love and energy. You can tell that the students enjoy performing this piece. Kristen Bennett is such a wonderful addition to the campus. She really connects with the students and is so talented.”
One of Fike's own works, “Tied,” also is included in the show.
“It is about how we are constantly breaking ties and growing through new ties in life,” says Fike. "Three dancers are tied around the waist to off-stage connected poles. They are tied, caught and work the rope in different hanging positions. They struggle with being tied. They lose the rope after two minutes and the dance begins.”
Posted: Thu, March 18th, 2010 at 1:12PM
