September 4 Friday
Pre-semester workshop with Susan Sgorbati: Emergent Improvisation
10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. solo practice, 2:00-4:30 p.m. ensemble forms. Mahaney CFA Dance Theatre
Emergent Improvisation links the creative work of art-making to the emergent processes evident in nature. It provides a basis for a rich and textured inquiry into how systems come together, transform, and reassemble to create powerful instruments of communication, meaning and exchange. Susan Sgorbati has been seriously investigating improvisation as a method for teaching and performance for more than twenty years. For the last five years, in collaboration with scientists, she has been exploring the relationship between dance and music improvisation and complex systems. Her work has led her to three residencies at The Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, California under the tutelage of Dr. Gerald Edelman. She has toured nationally with her “Emergent Improvisation Project.” Susan has been on the Dance Faculty at Bennington College since 1983. She currently holds The Barbara and Lewis Jones Chair for Social Activism. Pre-registration is required, contact dance@middlebury.edu September 9 Wednesday
Dance Company of Middlebury Auditions:
Proyecto Republica Dominicana
4:30 p.m. Mahaney CFA Dance Theatre
For the 2009-2010 season the Dance Company of Middlebury (DCM), directed by Penny Campbell, will create an evening of dances with themes and music that link US and Caribbean cultures. Following an informal showing on December 4 and the premiere in Middlebury on January 22 and 23, the company will tour to the Dominican Republic. Auditions are open to sophomores through seniors. Come ready to dance!
September 11 Friday
Middlebury Arts Walk
5:00-8:00 p.m. 51 Main at the Bridge
Artist in Residence Tiffany Rhynard’s company, Big Action Performance Ensemble will perform at the Middlebury Arts Walk. Yi Na Ng ’09, Ellen Smith ’05, Simon Thomas-Train ’09, and Rhynard will perform excerpts from their production Disposable Goods, including AWAY, a new piece with Boston composer Juliet Case.
September 15 Tuesday
Fall Dance Concert Auditions
7:00 p.m. Mahaney CFA Dance Theatre
Advanced student choreographers audition dancers for our November 20, 21 concert. Simon Thomas-Train ’09 will seek dancers for the annual Newcomer’s Piece, which is open to anyone who has not yet performed in a dance program sponsored event. Dancers must be attending a minimum of two approved technique classes each week to be eligible to perform. All are welcome.
September 21, 23 Monday & Wednesday
Residency: Marcela Giesche and Bruno Caverna
2:45-4:15 p.m. each day Mahaney CFA Dance Theatre
Marcela and Bruno will focus their workshops on rediscovering and investigating the original impulses that lead one to dance. Passing through a variety of elements including floor work techniques, partnering, capoeira, and improvisation/imagery work, they will open ways of exploring the mystery of existence through the body. Guided through a state of dynamic “stillness,” students can learn to listen to the ever-changing rhythms and impulses that move us through life.
Pre-registration is required, contact dance@middlebury.edu.
September 24 Thursday
“View from the Galapagos,” a presentation by Helen Young
and Andrea Olsen for the Howard E. Woodin Environmental Studies Colloquium and the 2009 Nicolas R. Clifford Symposium,
“Celebrating Darwin’s Legacy”
12:15-1:20 p.m. McCullough Social Space
Helen Young, Professor of Biology, introduces the Symposium, discussing Darwin’s contributions to evolutionary biology, and the Galapagos; while Andrea Olsen, Professor of Dance and the Kathleen and William F. Truscott ’83 Professor in Environmental Studies, performs “On Close Observation” a dance inspired by a Mellon-funded trip to the Galapagos. Co-sponsored by the Howard E. Woodin Environmental Studies Colloquium.
September 26 Saturday
“On Close Observation,” a solo by Andrea Olsen
4:30 p.m. Mahaney CFA Dance Theatre
Professor Olsen performs a full version of her new solo inspired by a Mellon-funded trip to the Galapagos Islands in the summer of 2008. A video, including photographs by Helen Young and edited by Nikhil Ramburn ’10, accompanies the presentation.
October 15 Thursday
DanceTalk: Christal Brown and INSPIRIT, a dance company
12:30-1:15 p.m. Mahaney CFA Dance Theatre
Christal Brown and members of INSPIRIT will show excerpts from their upcoming concert and discuss their mission and creative process.
October 16, 17 Friday & Saturday
INSPIRIT, A Dance Company
8:00 p.m. both nights, discussion to follow Friday’s performance
Mahaney CFA Dance Theatre
Founder and artistic director Christal Brown presents and performs with INSPIRIT, a dance company that creates contemporary dance works imbued with spiritual exuberance, ancestral strength, and clarity of perception. The rich movement vocabulary draws from the ensemble’s wide-ranging experiences, from postmodern forms to traditional West African dance, from ballet to yoga. INSPIRIT’s multi-dimensional dance works forge a visceral and emotional connection by expressing collective hopes, struggles, and truths, “evoking the strength of the ancestors and the sassiness of today’s feminists/womanists,” according to Eva Yaa Asantewa. Sponsored by the Performing Arts Series and the Dance Program. Tickets: $24/18/6
Additional Residency Activities:
(Pre-registration required, contact dance@middlebury.edu)
Thursday, October 15, 2009:
- 9:30-10:45 a.m. Master class, Advanced Beginning level
- 12:30-1:15 p.m. DanceTalk with the choreographer and company members
- 3:00-4:15 p.m. Master class, Beginning level
October 24 Saturday
TAKE ACTION Global Awareness Day for Climate Change
10:00-11:15 a.m. Mahaney CFA Dance Theatre
Open yoga class with Andrea Olsen: build energy, join the flow. For full schedule of world-wide events, check www.350.org
November 20, 21 Friday & Saturday
Fall Dance Concert
8:00 p.m. Mahaney CFA Dance Theatre
Advanced student choreographers explore the impacts of theatrical lighting in new work created under the direction of Visiting Artist in Residence Christal Brown and lighting designer Jennifer Ponder. The annual Newcomer’s Piece, choreographed this year by Simon Thomas-Train ’09, will feature performers new to dance program concerts. Tickets: $10/8/6; on sale November 2.
December 2 Wednesday
Taking Flight
4:30 p.m. Mahaney CFA Dance Theatre
A “lightly produced” showing of dance experiments by the new batch of choreographers emerging from the Advanced Beginning Dance course, facilitated by Artist in Residence Tiffany Rhynard.
December 3 Thursday
Dance Company of Middlebury:Proyecto Republica Dominicana
4:30 p.m. Mahaney CFA Dance Theatre
DCM will show and discuss the progress they’ve made in constructing a diverse concert of works for formal performance at Middlebury in January and later on tour to the Dominican Republic. Supported in part by grants from the Academic Outreach Endowment and the Committee on the Arts, the company is tackling questions about the role of the artist in society, the impact of children’s song and action games on personal identity, and the relationship of music and dance in contemporary US and Latin American performance forms. Guest choreographer Christal Brown will contribute a new piece to the company’s repertory which is under the artistic direction of Penny Campbell.
Stay tuned for these upcoming events!
January 22, 23
Dance Company of Middlebury: Proyecto Republica Dominicana
8:00 p.m. Mahaney CFA Dance Theatre
Tickets: $10/8/6, on sale January 4
March 11 Strange Democracy: An Evening with Spoken Word Brujo Guillermo Gomez-Pena
7:30 p.m. McCullough Social Space
Tickets: $24/18/6
All events listed are open to the public and are FREE unless otherwise indicated.
For further information, call 802.443.5245.
Join the MCFA’s electronic mailing list.
Tickets and information available at the Box Offices:
Mahaney Center for the Arts and McCullough Student Center
802.443.MIDD (6433)