Post-modern dance and choreography pair to debut new work Oct. 24 and 25

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. ? Dancers and choreographers Lisa Gonzales, a 1994 Middlebury College graduate, and Darrell Jones will perform several works, including “Traitor,” at the Middlebury College Kevin P. Mahaney ‘84 Center for the Arts Dance Theatre on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 24 and 25, at 8 p.m.  

In addition to “Traitor,” the dancers will present two smaller solo performances as well. To begin the evening, “the things themselves” will feature the choreography, performance and video of Gonzales, while “third Swan from the end” will feature Jones. Utilizing his training in improvisation and post-modern dance, Jones explores the pluralism of ideas and forms conveyed by the body. He contextualizes dance with contemporary issues and ultimately invites the audience to look deeper into the narrative behind the physicality of movement.

Gonzales is an independent dancer, improviser and performing artist. She began her training in choreography and improvisation at Middlebury and earned her Master of Fine Arts from Ohio State University.

In 1999, she helped found the Architects, a dance company that focuses on improvisational performance. She has performed in New York at such venues as Dance Theatre Workshop (DTW), Danspace at St. Mark’s Church, Joyce Soho and Theater for the New City, as well as in spaces across the United States. Internationally, she has presented her work in Taiwan, Russia, Finland and the Dominican Republic.

She credits many artists with whom she has worked as being influential to her own art making including Penny Campbell and Andrea Olsen, of the Middlebury College Dance Department. She has toured with choreographer and puppeteer Dan Hurlin for his Obie award-winning work “Hiroshima Maiden,” and is currently collaborating with New York puppeteers Chris Green and Erin Orr on a work that combines elements of dance, theater, object performance and puppetry. She is on the faculty at Columbia College, Chicago and at the Movement Intensive in Compositional Improvisation, which happens annually in June at Franklin and Marshall College.

Jones has performed in the United States and abroad with a variety of choreographers and companies such as Bebe Miller, Urban Bush Women, Ronald K. Brown, Min Tanaka, Ralph Lemon and KOKUMA Dance Theater. He continues to choreograph and teach, collaborating with other choreographers, writers, musicians and designers in a variety of media including dance films, documentations and interactive multimedia installations.

He worked throughout the U.S. as well as in South Africa, the United Kingdom and South Korea. He serves on the faculty of The Dance Center of Columbia College in Chicago.

Gonzales and Jones will offer related workshops while they are in residence. The workshops are free and open to the public and will take place in the Mahaney Center for the Arts Dance Theatre on Monday, Oct. 20, at 2:45 p.m.; on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at 4:30 pm.; and on Thursday, Oct. 23, at 9:30 a.m.

The performance is sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series. The Mahaney Center for the Arts Dance Theatre is located on South Main Street (Route 30). Tickets are $20 for general admission and $15 for seniors. For tickets and more information, contact the Middlebury College Box Office at 802-443-6433 or www.middlebury.edu/arts.