Upcoming Events
Thurs-Sat, November 7-9, 7:30pm, Kendall Sports & Dance Complex, Mount Holyoke College
Frequency: Mt Holyoke / Amherst College Faculty Dance Concert
With faculty works by Shakia Barron, Mustapha Braimah, Barbie Diewald, and Angelica Monteiro and featuring Spent Days Out Yonder by Bill T. Jones with Jenna Riegel, rehearsal direct, Amherst College. Dance-powered by dancers from the five colleges!
Thurs-Sat, November 14-16, 8:00pm, Theater 14 Mendenhall Center for the Arts, Smith College
Fall Faculty Dance Concert
The Smith College Department of Dance presents the Fall Faculty Dance Concert, featuring the Five College Dance repertory project Spent Days Out Yonder (2000) by Bill T. Jones—heralded as “one of the most notable, recognized modern-dance choreographers and directors of our time,”—and new work by faculty artists Chris Aiken, Shakia Barron, and Ellie Goudie-Averill. The concert also features a Tango performance by Laura Grandi. The show runs three nights, November 14, 15, 16 at 8:00 PM, in Theatre 14, part of Smith College’s Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts.
Thursday, Dec. 4, 1:00-2:20, Main Studio, Hampshire College
Yaa Samar! Dance Theater
Join Five College Dance and Hampshire College for a masterclass with Yaa Samar! on Thursday, December 4, 1:00pm-2:20pm, at Main Studio, Hampshire College. This is a beginning/intermediate class. Free with registration through this form and open to the public.
At UMass, the company will perform Losing It, an exploration of generational trauma through solo dance of a female Palestinian living in a war zone, and Noah, which presents themes of love, courage, and regret through one man's personal history. Bowker Auditorium, UMass, Wednesday, December 4 at 7:30pm. Please get your tickets through the FAC box office.
Announcements
Announcing the Fall 24 FCD Repertory Project
Bill T. Jones's Spent Days Out Yonder (2000)
Spent Days Out Yonder (2000), set to the andante second movement of Mozart's String Quartet in F major (K. 590), evolved from one of Bill T. Jones's solo improvisations that was recorded during a time when Bill was working with postmodern choreographer Trisha Brown. His improvisation was recreated by then rehearsal director Janet Wong (now associate artistic director) and later made into a full company work. (Here is a solo version of the work, and here is a group version.) The intricate and detailed movement and musicality marries Trisha's release technique strategies with Bill's Africanist sensibilities of rhythm, sensuality, and spinal articulation/undulation. Bill, in recalling the improvisation, says he listened to Mozart as though he was listening to James Brown. This work offers students an opportunity to embody amalgamated movement lineages and styles through the choreography of a postmodern artist, while simultaneously developing deeper understandings of ways to hear and feel classical music in their dancing bodies.
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.