Dancing Room, a studio dance concert

photo: Chuck Stull

Dancing Room: Alternative Dance Concert at Wells College

The Wells College Theatre and Dance program is pleased to present Dancing Room, an informal studio concert conceived and directed by Robert D. and Henrietta T. Campbell Professor of Dance Jeanne Goddard. Performances are Monday and Tuesday, April 13 and 14, 2009 at 7:00pm in the Schwartz Center dance studio, Wells College, Aurora, New York. There is no admission charge. Refreshments will be available before and after the performance.

“When I was awarded the Campbell professorship, I was both honored by the award and inspired to create a particular type of dance concert that would provide for the Wells community an alternative to our more formal productions in Phipps Auditorium, “ Goddard says. She says this year’s concert will be the first in a series of five.

Dancing Room, performed in the studio where Wells College students take their daily classes, places the emphasis on community, on dance and creative process as a part of the college experience. As Goddard says, “This room, this floor, is an inclusive space, a familiar space, a comfortable space.” Audiences will experience original dance works “up close and personal’ and have an opportunity to talk with the choreographers and the performers.

The concert showcases both student and faculty choreography, including a number of premiers. Students from the Women Making Dance seminar, Sarah Clark, Rebecca Danis, Catherine Marshall, Khadeja Merenkov, and Shannon Sass, will show “Where I Come From”, a suite of original dance studies on the theme of character and place. Goddard will premier “And so…”, a bittersweet quintet set to Max Bruch’s haunting “Kol Nidre” that she describes as “a gift” for dancers Arianna Bickford, Heather Frost, Eden Kostick, Iivy Murphy, and Tiffany Orellana. She will also restage her absurdist piece, “Those Ducks Aren’t Bobbing for Golf Balls” with baritone Steven Stull and pianist Russell Posegate performing the songs of Franz Schubert and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Mr. Posegate and Mr. Stull will perform additional music on the program, and Ms. Goddard promises a choreographic tribute to her dog, Hazelnut.

For more information about Dancing Room, please email jgoddard@wells.edu
or telephone 315.364.3213.