Fall Dance Concert
About the MTSU Dance Theatre
The MTSU Dance Theatre provides students with exciting opportunities to garner professionally-oriented performance experiences, while still in college. Any MTSU student can audition at the beginning and the end of the fall semester (for fall and spring companies). The MTSU Dance Theatre aims to enrich our campus and local community’s appreciation of concert dance by providing high-quality performances of ballet, jazz, tap, West African and contemporary dance. Members of the company perform each semester both on and off campus, and annually at the American College Dance Association.
MTSU Dance Program Faculty and Staff
Director of dance, Assistant Professor.....Marsha Barksy
Assistant Professor.....Margaret Brooker
Full Time Lecturer..... Michelle Parkins
Adjunct Instructor.....Kelvin Amburgey
Adjunct Instructor..... Ada Hatcher
Adjunct Instructor.....Kim Holt
Adjunct Intructor.....Kevin Loveland
Adjunct Instructor.....Jennifer McNamara
Adjunct Instructor.....Erin Rehberg
About our Guest Artist:
Katherine Duke began studying with Erick Hawkins in 1983. She made her professional debut with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company in 1986 at Lincoln Center. She has been a teacher at the Erick Hawkins School and taught composition for Lucia Dlugoszewski. Ms. Duke became a principal dancer under Hawkins’ direction and performed with the Company until 1991.
Ms. Duke’s mercurial grace, purity of presence, and focused phrasing, as noted by
Anna Kisselgoff of the New York Times, brought her critical acclaim. Jamake Highwater has written, “There is little doubt
that Katherine Duke represents the idealization of Hawkins’s four decades of creating
dance.”
In 1995, Ms. Duke returned to the Hawkins Company as a guest artist and teacher.
At that time, she assisted Dlugoszewski in setting Hawkins’ Journey of a Poet for Mikhail Baryshnikov. She served as rehearsal director to the Hawkins Company in
1999 and assistant to the choreographer in 2000. Ms. Duke became the artistic director
of the Erick Hawkins Dance Foundation in 2001. In an effort to preserve and perpetuate
the musical, compositional, and choreographic legacies of both Dlugoszewski and Hawkins,
Ms. Duke facilitates the reconstruction of classic repertory for universities and
professional companies. She set Early Floating on Mikhail Baryshnikov 's White Oak Dance Project, produced Company performances honoring
long-time collaborator Ralph Dorazio, a New York season at Lincoln Center, as well
as many Company performances throughout the US and internationally.
Her passion is to share, in its purist form, the beauty of the technique, the unique
approach to choreography, and the principles of this legacy through intensives, workshops,
and commissions of new work. She continues to bring the Erick Hawkins Dance Company
into the present with archival research that has enriched the Company’s repertory
through unexplored works by Hawkins and Dlugoszewski, commissioned choreographers,
and her own work.
Rebecca Steinberg is originally from Danvers, Massachusetts. She received her BFA in Dance and BA in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Upon graduation she lived in Israel and danced in Vertigo Dance Company's International Training Program. Rebecca was a freelance artist in New York before joining New Dialect in 2015.
She has performed in works by Ohad Naharin, Hofesh Shechter, David Dorfman, Doug Varone, Inbal Pinto, Roy Assaf, Bryan Arias, Joy Davis, Idan Sharabi, and Noa Zuk. In addition to performing, Rebecca is a choreographer and dance educator. She has most recently been commissioned to create work for New Dialect, Nashville Ballet, and Middle Tennessee State University. She has taught workshops and master classes across the country to young dancers, adults, and professionals for over a decade. Most notably she has worked with dancers through various education programs at Perry Mansfield Performing Arts School & Camp, New Dialect, Mark Morris Dance Center, Bates Dance Festival, and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.
Concert Order
Excerpts from Coppélia
Choreographer: Arthur St. Léon, staged by Jennifer McNamara (Faculty)
Music: La Valse des Heures, L’Aurore, La Prière, and Thème Slave et Varié, from Coppélia by Leo Delibes
Lighting Design: Richard K. Davis
Costume design: Jennifer McNamara
Dancers: Kadie Cooper (L’Aurore) and Lauren Zachary (La Prière), with Rowan Balcom, Jaimie Flores, Alleyah Garcia, Kristen Gaines, Shelby Langford, Sierra Smith, Lauren Taylor, and Koura Wright
Note: I have chosen to stage this work from the historical canon of classical ballet in order to facilitate a deeper understanding of the evolution of the artform. These pieces are from Coppélia, Act III, and are a celebration of the wedding of the protagonists, Swanhilda and Franz. The Waltz of the Hours is often said to represent the passing of time in a marriage, and to remind the couple of the cyclical nature of life. Dawn and Prayer are solo variations offered as a blessing of the marriage. I have drawn from St. Léon’s choreography in the first act, a village scene, to create the last section of this piece as a finale for all the dancers to join, together.
Junoesque
Choreographer: Katherine Duke (Guest Artist)
Music: Felipe Lara: Corde Vocal, played by Mivos Quartet
Set: Michael Baggarly (MTSU Art Faculty)
Lighting Design: Richard K. Davis
Costume Design: Trish Clark
Dancers (faculty cast - Friday): Marsha Barsky, Meg Brooker, Michelle Parkins
Dancers (student cast - Thursday and Saturday): Savannah Cook, Alleyah Garcia, Lauren Taylor
Note: This piece was created in Erick Hawkins dance technique. Musical phrasing is a hallmark of Hawkins’s creative work, and while the dance is accompanied by music, the movement in this piece is carefully crafted and phrased according to the needs of the movement (in other words the movement is not subservient to the music). Duke continues the legacy of both Hawkins and his composer Lucia Dlugoszewski. The artwork in this piece was created by MTSU sculptor Michael Baggarly and reflects Hawkins’s commitment to collaboration with contemporary artists.
B O U N D
Choreographer: Jade Treadwell (Faculty)
Music: The So Called Laws of Nature: Part II (So Percussion), Vivaldi: Double Mandolin Concerto In G, RV 532 – Andante (Yo-Yo Ma, Bobby McFerrin), Strings of Light (Yussef Kamaal)
Lighting Design: Richard K. Davis
Costume Design: Trish Clark
Dancers: Rowan Balcom, Maryn ClenDening, Savannah Cook, Kristen Gaines, Caroline Gunter, Jordyn Hill, Alana Landtroop, Sierra Smith, Jessicka Tucker
Note: At the seat of fear is the amygdala; the reason why we are afraid of things outside of our control. So, the choice is to stay within, on the cusp, or to simply explore the uncharted.
Left Behind
Choreographer: Marsha Barsky (Faculty) with dancers
Music Edited and Arrangement: Kai Mote
Composers: Erik Satie, Aaron Martin and and Tsutomu Ōhashi
Video Design: Kai Mote
Lighting Design: Richard K. Davis
Costume Design: Lindsey Ross
Dancers: Kadie Cooper, Jaimie Flores, Koura Wright, Lauren Zachary
Understudy: Ruth Anne Smith
Note: This work is a reflection upon the mass proliferation of plastic waste in our oceans, and a warning about the destructive legacy it embodies within our ecosystems. The accumulation of plastic in our oceans is expected to outweigh all fish in the sea by 2050, unless….
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The Clearing
Choreographer: Rebecca Steinberg (Guest Artist)
Music: A Clearing by Brian Eno, Vois sur ton chemin by Les Choristes, Shift by Grizzly Bear, Opus 28 by Dusin O’Halloran
Lighting Design: Richard K. Davis
Dancers: Rowan Balcom, Kadie Cooper, Jaimie Flores, Erica Fugate, Sierra Smith, Koura Wright, Lauren Zachary
Understudies: Joshua Dailey, Caroline Gunter, Austin Kraft
Note: The Clearing explores the idea that we all hold contradictions inside of ourselves as humans. In this surreal world, characters come together to explore the physical, theatrical, and sensory manifestations of these inherent tensions in space.
Raíz
Choreographer: Chell Parkins (Faculty)
Music: Che Guevara Speaks, Latinoamérica by Calle Trece, Mr Con Macana by Roy Brown, Rainforest Sounds by Roberto Aval, The Vinyl Project
Lighting Design: Richard K. Davis
Costume Design: Trish Clark
Dancers: Quinn Cunningham, Erica Fugate, Alleyah Garcia, Chertiqua Hargrove, Jennifer James, Hannah Rayhab, Sydney Roberts, Ruth Ann Smith, Terrishiell (Dede) Stone, Alex Strobel, Paige Strube, Lauren Taylor
Understudies: Jordyn Hill, Amanda Parks
Note: Raíz explores the complexities of race and colonization in Puerto Rico, utilizing movement inspired by the Katherine Dunham technique and Ms. Dunham's ethnographic work in Afro-Caribbean communities.
Control
Choreographer: Laurel Walker (Faculty)
Music: Recording of Fred Rogers, 1969, defending PBS to the US Senate and “Metamorphosis II” by Philip Glass
Lighting Design: Richard K. Davis
Costume Design: Trish Clark
Dancers: Maryn ClenDening, Jordyn Hill, Taryn Jones, Austin Kraft, Ruth Anne Smith, Terrishiell (Dede) Stone
Note: “And how will they grow in the shadow of red- Consumed by fear and anger they’re fed. Intoxicated from the fumes of sudden rage- Innocence robbed, ruptured and caged.”- L.W.
Women with Wings
Choreographer: Meg Brooker (Faculty)
Music: Prelude in G Major (Rachmaninoff), A River of Birds (Libana), Ready or Not (Fugees), Feeling Good (Nina Simone)
Lighting Design: Richard K. Davis
Costume Design: Trish Clark
Dancers: Rowan Balcom, Maryn ClenDening, Savannah Cook, Joshua Dailey, Erica Fugate, Kristen Gaines, Alleyah Garcia, Caroline Gunter, Jennifer James, Taryn Jones, Anna Morgan, Amanda Parks, Megan Robinson, Lauren Taylor, Jessicka Tucker, Zane Jeffries
Note: This piece is a collage of images representing flight, fragility, strength, transformation, power, and integration of feminine and masculine identities. The first section features the seasonal migration of monarch butterflies, who journey thousands of miles, traversing nations, crossing borders from Canada, to the United States, to Mexico and returning home. The second section of this piece is a transformation, a shedding of flight and acknowledgment of humanity. The third section calls on the fierce strength of women, calling out injustices, and the piece ends with a gesture towards integration and hope.
MTSU Dance Theatre Company Members
Company Members
Rowan Balcom
Maryn ClenDening
Savannah Cook
Kadie Cooper
Quinn Cunningham
Joshua Dailey
Jaimie Flores
Erica Fugate
Kristen Gaines
Alleyah Garcia
Caroline Gunter
Natasja Hall
Chertiqua Hargrove
Jordyn Hill
Jennifer James
Taryn Jones
Austin Kraft
Alana Landtroop
Anna Morgan
Amanda Parks
Hannah Rayhab
Autumn Richmond
Sydney Roberts
Megan Robinson
Ruth Ann Smith
Sierra Smith
Terrishiell (Dede) Stone
Alex Strobel
Paige Strube
Lauren Taylor
Jessicka Tucker
Koura Wright
Lauren Zachary
Zane Jeffries
MTSU Dance Theatre Student Society
Student Society Board President: Rowan Balcom
Maryn ClenDening (Treasurer), Josh Dailey, Kristen Gaines (Student Gala Coordinator),
Austin Kraft, Megan Manning (Volunteer/Major/Minor Rep), Anna Morgan (Secretary),
Sierra Smith (Vice President), Dede Stone, Lauren Zachary (Social Media Rep)
Acknowledgements
The MTSU Dance Theatre would like to acknowledge the generous support of the
MTSU College of Liberal Arts, the MTSU Student Organization Office, the MTSU Distinguish
Lecture
Committee, Bob Gordon, the faculty and staff of the Department of Theatre and Dance,
Jette Halladay, Sana Wilson and the production crew. Finally, a special thank you
to the
dancers of the MTSU Dance Theatre for their tireless dedication and devotion.