The Hamilton College Department of Theatre and Dance will stage its annual Spring Dance Performance on Friday and Saturday, April 6 and 7, at 8 p.m. at Wellin Hall in the Schambach Center for Music and the Performing Arts.
The performance will feature "To the stars now" and "Open Passage, no. 2," two original works by visiting assistant professor Tresa Randall; "Kutambarara," an original work by guest choreographer Ron Thiele; and "Paquita," a restaging of a classic work by guest choreographer Nancy Long. Original works by student choreographers Sara Bencivenga '01 and Kelly Moran '02 will also be on the program.
Tresa Randall, visiting assistant professor of dance, will present two new works. "To the stars now" is a solo performed by the choreographer, and features the folk music of Nick Drake. The contemporary movement style is meditative, yet physical and three-dimensional. "Open Passage, no. 2" occurs in a dream-like world with a set constructed by David Hayden and music by Sheila Chandra. The nine dancers, all students from the Theatre and Dance Department, explore pathways that bring them in and out of contact with each other through movement. Both works feature lighting and set designs by David Hayden.
In his dance "Kutambarara" guest choreographer Ron Thiele worked with the dancers at Hamilton to create a piece in which the dancers build a sense of community and celebration of dancing.
The ballet Paquita, staged by Nancy Long, had its premiere at the Paris Opera in1846 with choreography by Marius Petipa and music by Ludwig Minkus. It was originally a two-act ballet about a Spanish Gypsy and her love for Lucien, a French nobleman. This performance includes a portion of the divertissement that is most often performed throughout the world today.
Tresa Randall is a 1993 Hamilton alumna. She received her master's in dance history from the University of New Mexico, where she published a thesis on the choreography of modern dance pioneer Hanya Holm. Randall performed professionally with a number of companies nationally, including Mark DeGarmo and Dancers, Bill Evans Contemporary Dance Company, Robert Stivers Dance, the Santa Fe Opera, and Santa Fe Dance Theatre. She was active for four years as a choreographer and dancer with the acclaimed collective Dancing: One Soul, and produced an evening of original choreographic work, Webs of Motion (1997). Her choreography has also been featured by the Park Avenue Repertory Dance Company, Moving Exhibitions, Santa Fe Dance Foundation, New Mexico Dance Coalition, and Turner Carroll Gallery.
Ron Thiele worked for 30 years as a principal dancer, teacher, choreographer, and co-artistic director with Oakland Ballet Co., CA. With his mentor, teacher and founding artistic director, Ronn Guidi, Thiele helped to build OBC into a company internationally renowned for its Diaghilev era reconstructions, American masterpieces and emerging works of contemporary artists.
Nancy Long is in her nineteenth year on the Faculty at Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute where she also serves as dance program coordinator. Long began performing professionally in 1974 throughout the United States and Europe in companies based in New York City and Los Angeles. She appeared as a guest with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, José Limón Dance Company, Washington Opera Ballet Company and on a PBS-TV special about the 1980 Spoleto Festival. Ms Long "retired" from performing to pursue teaching and choreographing at Hamilton College ('84-'85) and MWPAI and in 1983 she co-founded the Utica DanceWorks, Inc. She lives in New Hartford with her husband Dick Loomis and their two daughters, Ali and Casey.
Tickets for the Spring Dance Performance are $5 adult, $3 seniors and students. All seating is general admission. For reservations or for more information, call the Hamilton College Performing Arts ticket office at (315) 859-4331.
