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Fri-Sat, May 9-10, 7pm, Webster Hall Studio 3 (G-19), Amherst College
Solo Performance
An evening of solo performances exploring the personal, the surreal, and the absurd. Sarah Young’s Lost Track journeys through life, travel, and disorientation, while Aidan Cooper’s lightstrung maps the ephemeral space between light and dark, silence and speech. In Interview, Polina Kasyanova assembles a range of intimate questions, such as “Have you ever failed to file a tax return? What is your height? What side of the bed do you sleep on?” Caitlin Canty’s Cuticle Creep designs a collage of fingernails and anxiety – exploring ideas of the grotesque, character building, and found text, she dances with the tiny things that drive us crazy. Kiran Jandu leverages the motif of the window to reflect on the legacy of feminist performance art. Finally, Sight and Seeing by Rebecca Schrader pairs ambient cello with gestural tableaus, investigates the relationship between ladder and solo performer.
Apply by April 15 for priority consideration
Five College Dance Post Bac Assistant Production Manager
Five College Dance is looking for a Post Bac Assistant Production Manager. This is a two-year position. See the description on the Smith College HR page. The priority app date is 4-15-2025.
Announcements
Progressions, Fundamentals of Dunham Technique
Progressions is an exposition of the fundamentals of Dunham Technique. Katherine Dunham composed the structure of "Progressions" during her time building the Performing Arts Training Center in East St. Louis, IL. Progressions highlight the energy and power of the technique.
In this project rehearsing at UMass Amherst, dancers will work with Saroya Corbett, a certified teacher in Dunham Technique and chair of History and Theory for the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification (IDTC). Dancers and drummers will also work with master percussionist James Belk, who specializes in the Dunham Technique Rhythms. Duane Lee Holland, Jr. will be the rehearsal director.
More about Saroya Corbett:
Saroya Corbett is a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Africana Studies at Williams College. Her research explores Black social dance genres as a foundation to construct histories of the everyday lived experiences of Black people. Her recent dissertation specifically focuses on dance team culture in southern Louisiana and at historically Black colleges and universities.
She is a certified teacher in Dunham Technique and the chair of History and Theory for the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification (IDTC). In 2014, her chapter “Katherine Dunham’s Mark on Jazz” was published in Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches, which focuses on Katherine Dunham’s contribution to the evolution of jazz dance. Saroya has performed in several dance companies including the Katherine Dunham Museum Workshop, the Spelman College Dance Theatre, Kariamu & Company, and Flyground.
Saroya received her Ph.D. from UCLA in Cultures and Performance, her MFA degree in Dance from Temple University and her BA from Spelman College in economics. She is on the steering committee for the Coalition for Diasporan Scholars Moving (CDSM), a shadow organization supporting and providing resources to Black dance artists, scholars, and professionals navigating microaggressions and racism.
Congratulations!
New England Regional Conference of American College Dance Association
Congratulations to Mount Holyoke College for being picked for the ACDA Nationals which will be held at George Washington University in Washington D.C. Professor Barbie Diewald's work Thousandth Orange was chosen from 3 days of performances of schools from throughout New England. Kudos also to Smith College's Dimitri Kalaitzidis who was chosen as an alternate for his work Going Here. Nationals will be held in its entirety at George Washington University on May 2-4.
Dance Magazine's 25 to Watch List
Julia Antinozzi '18
Congratulations to Julia for making Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch List." See our Five College Dance Spotlight on Julia here. From the article:
"Antinozzi graduated from Smith College in 2018 with a dance degree and an astronomy minor, and has been choreographing for her own dancers since 2022...Taken altogether, her works [The Suite and Third Variation both from 2024] illustrate a probing of her fascination with classical ballet filtered through a contemporary—and uniquely Antinozzi—lens, daring viewers to take a closer look."
Five College Dance featured in Dance Magazine
Five College Dance was featured in Dance Magazine this fall in an article by Stav Ziv. The piece includes information about the FCD program, this year's guest artist repertory project, an excerpt of Lucinda Childs's Dance, and interviews with faculty and students. Download a PDF of the article to read below.