Release: April 28, 2017
GAMBIER, Ohio — Kenyon College dancers will present a variety of works, including an ensemble piece performed by graduating students, at this year’s Spring Dance Concert, held May 4-6 at 8 p.m. in the Bolton Theater, 205 College-Park St.
“As is true for all of our concerts, we have a mix of student work, guest work and faculty work,” Professor of Dance Balinda Craig-Quijada said. This year’s concert features three faculty-choreographed pieces, three pieces choreographed by students, and a piece choreographed by Tiffany Mills, a New York-based dancer who owns Tiffany Mills Company in Brooklyn.
Mills choreographed the concert’s closing dance, which will serve as this year’s senior piece. Julie Brodie, professor of dance, said this is always a special experience for seniors.
“In the past eight years or so, we’ve tried to bring in a guest artist to work with the seniors,” Brodie said. “It’s a really intense bonding experience, as well as a creative process.”
This year’s senior piece consists of 11 graduating students, and the dance draws inspiration from recurring dreams that Mills and the dancers have experienced. These themes are used to inspire the dancers’ movement. The piece will be performed in three sections.
Pankti Dalal, a senior mathematics major and dance minor from Southampton, Massachusetts, has been dancing and choreographing with Kenyon’s dance department since her first year at the college. “It’s going to be great to have one last good performance at Kenyon, but it’s going to be very tough coming to terms with the fact that it’s going to be my last performance on the Bolton stage,” Dalal said.
Brodie said her favorite part of the spring concert is watching seniors close their Kenyon dance careers with the senior ensemble dance. “I love seeing them perform that senior piece, especially the last night,” she said. “It’s very touching. It does, to me, have a sense of real closure.”
Tickets cost $7.50 for general admission, $4 for seniors, non-Kenyon students and children under 12, and $2 for Kenyon students. To reserve tickets, call the box office at 740-427-5546.
For more information, contact the Department of Dance, Drama, and Film at 740-427-5531.