Kenyon dancers will present an expressive range of modern dance and creative talent at this year’s Fall Dance Concert, held Thursday, Dec. 12, Friday, Dec. 13, and Saturday, Dec. 14, at 8 p.m. in the Hill Theater.
The concert is composed of eight pieces, including six original choreographies, a staging of a historical piece and a dance film. Over the course of the semester, 40 students collaborated with three dance faculty to organize the event.
Professor of Dance Julie Brodie co-directs the concert along with Professor of Dance Balinda Craig-Quijada and Assistant Professor of Dance Kora Radella. The three will dance in “Trio A,” a piece choreographed in 1966 by Yvonne Rainer, who is considered a foundational figure in American contemporary art, film and postmodern dance. Brodie specializes in Labanotation, a notation system for recording and analyzing human movement, and started setting “Trio A” as part of a research project comparing stagings of the dance from score with stagings created through embodied memory.
“The dance broke from traditional stage-dance norms, questioning ideas about the need for virtuosity, sequencing, dramatic phrasing and performative projection,” she said.
Naomi Lofchie ’20, a dance major from New York City, will present her senior thesis, a dance film she choreographed. Her interest in film grew after a choreography class in which she created a film with a virtual partner from a school in Pune, India.
“As the choreographer, director and editor, I wanted to tap into the different qualities that dance and film offer as their own disciplines. The movement is playful and is loosely based on a person getting ready to go out somewhere special,” Lofchie said.
Lofchie’s film features Isabella Mojares ’20, a dance and art history double major from Miami. Mojares also will present her senior thesis at the concert, a dance inspired by the artist Ana Mendieta’s “Untitled, Body Imprints” photo series, which features body parts pressed against plexiglass.
Katie Stapenhorst ’21, an international studies and dance double major from Sierra Madre, California, is choreographing for the first time. She drew inspiration from her “Politics of Transitional Justice” class while working on her choreography.
“Overall themes I played with included chaos and peace, unresolved conflict, autonomy versus a group collective experience. I thought about what movement correlated with these themes, and how the two could interact with each other,” Stapenhorst said.
Fueled by senior-year nostalgia, Kristen Edgeworth ’20, a molecular biology major from Chattanooga, Tennessee, explored reflections on childhood and youthfulness in her choreography. “This piece definitely comes from the deep and bittersweet emotions brought about as I prepare for the big life transition that comes with graduating,” Edgeworth said.
Julia Hintz ’22, Willow Green ’21, Sonya Marx ’21 and Cassady Neviska ’21 also choreographed dances for the concert.
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.