Hobart and William Smith Colleges

13 April 2012 Faculty Present: A Change of Pace

This years faculty dance concert, Change of Pace, is just that-a concert celebrating diversity of dance genres and media. With hats on ballerinas, dancers with extension cords, a ladder solo, jump ropes, science professors, tap, and tango, this concert promises to be an experience not to be missed. The annual concert will be held in Winn-Seeley Gym Theater on Thursday, April 19 and Friday, April 20 at 7:30 p.m. with a final performance on Saturday, April 21 at 2 p.m.

Kathy Diehl and Heather Acomb, visiting professors and dancers with the Bill Evans Dance Company, kick off the concert with Orbit, a dance that recently premiered at WAXworks in New York City. Diehl explores gesture, rhythm, and contact in this quirky, fun duet set to music by Bach.

Next, What We Play by visiting choreographer Courtney World is a convergence of dance and play through rhythm, rhyme, tap dance, hand clapping and street games.

Professor of Dance Cynthia Williams duet, featuring Associate Professor of Dance Michelle Ikle and Diehl, explores the two voices in the Brahms Sonata in E Minor for Cello and Piano, where each instrument has a separate but collaborative role. The piece will be performed live by Meg Heaton and Ara McCorkle.

For a change of pace before intermission, Where have all the hats gone? is a lively and uplifting contemporary ballet piece choreographed in five sections: Feathered Parade, Garden Party Ballet, Flowered Fedora Tango, Wilting Wallflower Waltz and Blue Top Procession. Associate Professor of Dance Cadence Whittiers choreography is a parade of distinct characters and personalities. Each section showcases performers wearing unique hats and dancing to colorful music. Where have all the hats gone? features the performance of 11 William Smith dancers.

In Plugged In by Professor of Dance Donna Davenport, three polished performers, a film, and a score by Armadillo Dance Project generate an intense commentary on human experience with technology.

Then, Assistant Professor of Dance Kelly Johnson performs a powerful solo, Just another RANT, in response to the longstanding inequalities faced by women on a global scale.

Davenports An Other: In Proximity, with a cast of seven Hobart and William Smith students, is topped by surprising cameo appearances at the end of the piecechildren, an infant, a tango couple and HWS professors. This vibrant ensembleof duets, that includes salsa, tango and hip-hop,investigates personal space, connection and mutuality. Jordan Youngmann 10, known for his standout performances as an actor in Geneva productions of Copenhagen and The Laramie Project, returns to the stage in a duet with Davenport as the dance begins.

Whittier will perform her solo Down to Bret Bohmans exciting musical composition Shades of One Another. Down investigates the word: down on ones luck, down and out, down to business. Through highs and lows, successes and failure, Down negotiates a humorous and complex journey with an eight-foot ladder. Whittiers and Bohmans compositions were first commissioned for performance in the April 2011 Vision of Sound Concert series in Central New York.

This rich concert ends with Johnsons Nine Ladies Dancing, featuring a fusion of Afro-Caribbean and modern dance. Johnsons choreography honors the female: her body, heringenuityand her perseverance. General admission is $5, and $3 for students.