Mahaney Arts Center Dance Theatre

Barak adé Soleil is a disabled artist of color who passionately embraces the politics of identity, culture, and aesthetics, with precise and focused attention to representations of race, disability, and the body. A feature presentation of the 2015 Clifford Symposium, The “good” Body.

Butoh is a postmodern approach to movement that originated primarily in the work of Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno in Japan in the 1950s. Synthesized in the aftermath of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, butoh—also known as Ankoku Butoh or “the dance of utter darkness”—is now practiced around the globe and has developed through many strategies for generating movement. My approach to butoh cultivates shifting experiences of embodiment as a mode of becoming.

In this lecture presentation, Sophie Bufton ‘15.5 presents her independent research in dance history with an investigation of early German ausdruckstanz philosophy, with a focus on the works and influence of Mary Wigman, and how images and notions of “the ideal body” existed or were challenged during the interregnum period in Europe. Sponsored by the Dance Program. Free

Guest artist Omar Carrum is a founding member of Delfos Danza Contemporánea, the premiere contemporary dance company in Mexico, and the educational director of the Escuela profesional de danza de Mazatlán (EPDM). He speaks about his work within the context of artistic movements in contemporary dance in Mexico. During his two-week residency, Carrum will teach movement workshops and creating a new choreographic work for the Dance Company of Middlebury in collaboration with company director Scotty Hardwig for January performances in Middlebury and a subsequent company tour to Mazatlán, Mexico.

An ensemble of dancers and musicians demonstrates the ability to compose engaging and coherent pieces “in the moment” after a semester-long study of improvisation as a performing art. Directed by Lida Winfield and Michael Chorney. Sponsored by the Dance Program. Free

The dance program provides pizza and salad for this informal gathering offering an opportunity to socialize and catch up as a community. Free, let us know you will attend by contacting dance@middlebury.edu

A showing of collaborative work with Julian Barnett (Artist in Residence) Melanie Maar (Movement Matters Artist) and Kenta Nagai (Japanese Musician/Composer). Having overlapped and melded within the New York and international dance field for over 15 years, Visit seizes upon the opportunity for collaborative performance and a shared interest in phenomenal bodies, fluid cultures, and vulnerable structures. Sponsored by the Dance Program and the Japanese Studies Program. Free and open to the public.

Blending the basics of movement therapy, a warm-up of Pilates and yoga, and the twerk in its many forms, The Lady B will guide you through a series of twerking tools to increase your visceral vocabulary in a purposefully non-appropriative setting. Free