As part of Family Weekend, the department of music and the department of theatre and dance collaborated to present "Choral Song and Dance," with two shows celebrating the performing arts programs at Hamilton College. The shows included performances by the College Hill Singers and the Hamilton College Choir and dance arrangements by Elaine Heekin, Bruce Walczyk and Leslie Norton.
Professor of Music G. Roberts Kolb conducted the College Hill Singers, a small concert choir consisting of 18 students. They sang, "When faces called flowers float out of the ground" by Elizabeth Alexander. Soloists for this selection included Julia Berger, Adam Morris, Darcy Crum, Dan Walker, Teresa Giardina, Sarah Ziegler, and Kristen Nielson. Two other selections, "Quis dabit capiti meo aquam" by Henrich Isaac and "Night at Day" by Cole Porter, rounded out the performance, showing off the choir's amazing vocal abilities and group cohesiveness.
Kolb then conducted the larger Hamilton College Choir. The group performed five songs, including "Ave Maria" by Bruckner, " Alleluia" by Thompson, and Bach's "Der aber die Herzen forschet." Charles Francis, Ann Horowitz, Mike O'Leary, and Heather Montana displayed their own individual vocal talent in the Scottish folk Melody "By Yon Bonnie Banks," They then ended with a traditional spiritual, "I Can Tell the World" arranged by Moses Hogan, which displayed the versatility of the group as a whole.
Elaine Heekin arranged the first piece in the dance portion of the presentation. Titled "Parlor Games," it was inspired by Fernand Leger's painting "Three Women" (1921). During the final portion of the dance routine, the actual painting was projected onto a large overhead screen, allowing the audience to connect the actions of the dancers to the actual original painting. The performance included three female dancers, Heather Koniz, Ashley Jaffee-Anecharico, and Jacqueline Kook.
The second piece was quite different from Heekin's arrangement. Arranged by Bruce Walczyk, "Out of Order Out of Place," the sequence focused on the music, props, and lighting. The use of strobe lights, flashlights, and spotlights added a new dimension to the overall performance, highlighting different characters at different times. The eclectic mix made the performance visually intriguing.
The last portion of the dance program was a more classical arrangement. Leslie Norton arranged the ballet performance that featured two professional male ballet dancers. Using classical music by Alexander Glazunov, and titled "Con Brio," the piece combined four dance solos with two separate pas de deux, as well as beginning and ending with a complete six dancer ensemble number.
-- written by Emily Lemanczyk '05
