Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Aurora, New York - The Wells College Performing Arts program is pleased to present "Balancing Acts," a concert of original choreography by faculty and students. The annual performance will take place on Friday, October 31 and Saturday, November 1 at 7:30 pm in Phipps Auditorium, Macmillan Hall, on the Wells College campus.

"Balancing Acts," an exploration of texture, asymmetry, flow, falling and rebounding, features senior student thesis choreography by performing arts majors Iivy Murphy '09 of Brooklyn, NY and Tiffany Orellana '09 of West Islip, NY, as well as new and repertory work by faculty members Jeanne Goddard and Elizabeth Wilmot Bishop. Responding to themes suggested by Ms. Murphy and Ms. Orellana, all of the dances on the program explore in some way the maintaining, losing, and regaining of balance, from the delicate poise of the dancer en pointe, to the physical risk of dancing on ramps and pedestals, to the asymmetry of choreographic and scenic design.

Murphy's and Orellana's quartet, "Requiem," has been developed collaboratively with elements of balance and loss of balance, extreme level changes, risk-taking and kinesthetic challenge. Its dark, agitated tonality is heightened by Clint Mansell's haunting "Lux Aeterna," scored for strings. Dancers Brittany Bouchard '11, Sara Chiochetti '11, Eden Kostick '10, and Jennifer Miller '12 perform both on the stage floor and on a two-layer ramp that cuts across the space.

 

Wells' guest artist in dance Elizabeth Wilmot Bishop has restaged "Caged Fear," her 1993 emotionally charged reflection on abuse, identity, and transcendence, set to the music of Mannheim Steamroller and performed by Chiochetti, Megan Claxton '12, Mary Gooding '10, Catherine Marshall '11, and Miller. In complete contrast, Ms. Wilmot Bishop will premier "Moonlight Waltz," a classical double pas de deux set to Johann Strauss' beloved waltz, "Wine, Women, and Song." Gooding and Kostick will perform en pointe, partnered by Mac Hopkins '10 and Dmitry Liapitch '10.

 

Professor of Dance Jeanne Goddard's newest work, "Assignations," is a large group piece composed of haiku-length sections, sometimes overlapping, and employing a variety of scenic elements to explore the juxtaposition of motion and stillness, delicacy and strength, distance and proximity. Steven Stull of Ithaca has designed an ambient sound score for the piece, which will be augmented by live sound effects provided by Allison Salvatore '11. Dancers Eliza Bassett-Wilson '10, Arianna Bickford '12, Bouchard, Chiochetti, Claxton, Marshall, Miller, and Anastasia Zygarowicz '11 will begin their performance in the outer and inner lobbies of Phipps Auditorium, and make their way through the auditorium, before reappearing on a stage subdivided by screens and pedestals into a series of shifting environments.

 

Costume and scenic designs for "Balancing Acts" are by Lecturer in Performing Arts Roberta Kolpakas, with lighting design by Technical Director Joe DeForest.

 

----
v4i41