With a cast of 26 women, this year’s Winter Dance Concert, Beyond Steps, is designed to promote diverse perspectives on the female experience.
It will be performed in the Yulman Theater at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, March 1-4, with a 2 p.m. matinée on Saturday, March 4.
The concert will showcase the work of Director of Dance Miryam Moutillet and faculty choreographers Laurie Zabele Cawley and Marcus Rogers, as well as Emily Alston’19, Ayanah “Tris” Dowdye ’18, Lily Herout ’17, Grace Kernohan ’17 and Maddison Stemple-Piatt ’17, all dance minors.
“Dance is breathing,” said Alston, who attended the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City and the Theodore Dance Academy in Sacramento before coming to Union to study biology. She hopes her choreography expresses the power and strength of articulate, intellectual women. “I want to showcase the passion and drive I feel in my life and have seen in other women who inspire me.”
Dowdye, a neuroscience major who began studying dance as a first-year, has created a piece that focuses on insomnia, a struggle for many women.
“The Winter Dance Concert is an incredible and inclusive environment that allows anyone to pursue dance, whether they are classically trained or have never stepped into a studio before coming to Union, like me,” she said.
Kernohan, a math major with a second minor in economics, choreographed a work that focuses on female friendship, while Stemple-Piatt, a psychology major, aims to show “how the body communicates, and how every experience shapes us into who we are.”
Biology major Herout explores the concept of resilience.
“Whether it’s a personal struggle or the discord of our nation and world, practicing resilience is a universal necessity,” Herout said. “I am fortunate to work with talented, driven dancers who make this experience so rewarding. The overall concept of the show – highlighting the strength of women – speaks to the essence of the dance program itself, which is an environment of mostly women, empowering and supporting one another in and out of the dance studio.”
Scenography for the Winter Dance Concert will be created with dance films by students in Moutillet’s Dance for the Camera course and with live recordings by Visual Technical Director Jermaine Wells.
Costumes are by Costumer Brittney Belz, and theatrical lighting by Technical Director and Lighting Designer Robert Bovard.
Tickets are on sale at the Yulman Theater Box Office. The cost is $7 with a Union ID and $10 for the general public. The box office is open Monday through Friday, 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. For more information or reservations, call (518) 388-6545.