2023 FACULTY DANCE CONCERT

dancer in backbend
January 27, 2023 - 7:30 PM
January 28, 2023 - 7:30 PM
Anne R. Belk Theater - Robinson Hall

Department of Dance faculty Audrey Baran, E.E. Balcos, Kim Jones (Saturday only), Kaustavi Sarkar, and Rodrigo and Wendy Jimenez present a compelling program of diverse pieces, with guest performers. 

Tickets are $8-$18 for the general public. CoAA Faculty, Staff, and Students are eligible for free tickets to this performance.  Please log into your Niner account in the ticketing system to redeem.

PROGRAM


Title: The On-Going-Ness of Earth and Humankind
Performance: E.E. Balcos, dance; Leonard Mark Lewis, piano; and Claudia O’Steen, video artist 
Notes: This transdisciplinary work exists at the intersections of music, digital art, dance, and research. We are a collaborative group exploring the themes of physical movement, nature and the environment as impacted by climate change, our bodily connection to the natural environment, and the ways in which this connection can be expressed and communicated through a range of artistic media. It was premiered by Friday Arts Project in Rock Hill and will be presented for the Movement(s) in a Dynamic World Conference at Winthrop University in February. This project was originally supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources; the Arts & Science Council with funding from Mecklenburg County and the City of Charlotte.  

Title: Wait
Choreography: Audrey Baran
Performance: Melissa Jesse and Carolina Quiros
Music: Son Lux
Notes: A glimpse into the dissolution of a relationship, based on “In the Shower, When Your Marriage is Finally Over” by Erin Rose Coffin: www.hungermtn.org/in-the-shower-when-your-marriage-is-finally-over-by-erin-rose-coffin/ 

Title: An Impossible Romance

Choreography: Dr. Maya Kulkarni

Performance: Kaustavi Sarkar  

Music: Anirban Bhattacharyya 

Notes: A fable-esque take on desire and dissolution through a spectacular love affair between the cloud and the lightning. The peacock in this story is the prime manipulator luring the cloud towards its imminent death in the hands of the lightning. 

Title: “Güararey!” (A Salsa Story)

Choreography: Salsa: Rodrigo and Wendy, Rumba: Ana Acela Perez
Performance: Rodrigo and Wendy, Ayana Shelton, Christian Ignacio, Edgardo Contreras, Erika Guzmán, Ernesto Méndez, Geraldine Bedoya, Héctor Barriga, Jai’la Burney, Janise Rodriguez, Julia Peterson, Juliana Howell, Laura Velez, Liz Moralez, Steven Rookwood

Music: “Oye Mi Quinto” by Mayito Rivera / “El Güararey de Pastora'' by José Alberto “El Canario”, Septeto Santiaguero. - Musician: Freddy Rivera (Congas)

Video: clips from Part 1 & 2 “History of Salsa From Africa to New York” by Dj MontunnO

Notes: From the rhythms of “Cuban Rumba” in XIX century Havana, lands in the heart of NYC in the 1940’s as Latin Jazz. Embraced and developed by Cubans and second-generation Puerto Ricans (Newyoricans) Artists and Musicians in the 1960’s, to what we know today as SALSA!!! 


Title: Things I Left

Choreography: Audrey Baran
Performance: Audrey Baran, Ali Carden, Faith Carder*, Rahquelah Conyers*, Sharon Dunson, Akilah Edwards, Mackenzie England, Lydia Heidt*, Jherrymiah Go, Mikaela Laxton, Carolina Quiros
Music: Jonsi

INTERMISSION

Title: Tapa: A South-South Collaboration 

Choreography: Rohini Dandavate, Kaustavi Sarkar, Rosangela Silvestre, and Tamara Williams 

Performance:  Anirban Bhattacharyya, Smaranika Jena, Monali NandyMazumdar, Setu Patel, Madhavi Rao, Kaustavi Sarkar, Tamara Williams, Luciano Xavier da Silva 

Music: Anirban Bhattacharyya, Luciano Xavier da Silva 

Notes: Tapa means heat. It represents a fierce and passionate exchange across cultures, aesthetics, dance forms, and styles towards reimagining futures. A collaboration between Odissi and  Symbology of the Orixá, Tapa highlights ongoing challenges of environmental catastrophe and social justice issues via visual imagery and spiritual enactments. This is a South-South choreographic collaboration across African-Brazilian and South Asian aesthetics. There are three acts: 

Act I Anondo: Bliss
Act II Ase: Blessing
Act III Sawal-Jawab: Call and Response

Title:  자유 Dance for Freedom: Re-imagining the Dances of Choi Seung Hee (1930’s) --Saturday performance only
Choreographer and Director: Kim Jones 
Performance: So Young An, dancer, and Vong Pak, musician/singer
Music: Composer Vong Pak
Costume Designer: So Young An
Filmmaker: HaeJin Han
Notes: This dance is an excerpt of a more extensive work in progress on the life of Choi Seung Hee (1911-69). Widely regarded as Korea’s first modern dancer, Choi lived an eventful life through the Japanese occupation of Korea and the Korean War. Informed by historical accounts and artifacts, we explore grief, enlightenment, and the preservation of Korean culture through our contemporary lens. This multi-year research project has been supported by a 2020 UNC Charlotte Faculty Research Grant, a 2022 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute stipend, a 2023 Arts & Science Council Artist Support Grant, and the Department of Dance.