"Looking Back at Dance" Lecture at the Redfern
KEENE, N.H., 09/01/09 - The KSC Theatre and Dance Department welcomes Norton Owen, director of preservation at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and Maura Keefe, resident scholar there, to present the lecture, “Looking Back at Dance,” on Thursday, September 10, at 7 p.m. in the Alumni Recital Hall of the Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond. The lecture will be a lively video- illustrated discussion drawing on decades of rare footage from the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival archives and will draw connections to the upcoming dance performances in the Redfern Arts Center 2009-10 Visiting Artists Series. Admission is free and open to the public.
Jacob’s Pillow is home to a world renowned international summer dance festival on 163 acres in the Berkshires and is the first and only dance entity in the United States to be declared a national historic landmark for the significance of its contribution to America’s culture, past and present. Founded by dance legend Ted Shawn in 1933, Jacob’s Pillow celebrates its 77th season in 2009.
In addition to the lecture, “Dance on Film: An Interactive Touring Kiosk” is a touring installation featuring video clips of dance performances over the past 75 years at Jacob’s Pillow, each approximately one minute long and accompanied by descriptive text. The video clips feature modern dance pioneering figures including Ted Shawn, Ruth St. Denis, José Limón, and Merce Cunningham, and contemporaries including Tero Saarinen, Black Grace, Doug Varone, Judith Jamison, and many others. Choices may be made according to name, genre (ballet, modern, non-Western, etc.), or era. Viewers may also test their knowledge with a fun guessing function. The kiosk can be enjoyed by individuals or groups and will be free and available to the public September 10 through October 1, Monday through Friday, 12 to 4 p.m. in the lobby of the Redfern Arts Center. For more information, call William Seigh, 603-358-2150.
The lecture and kiosk are made possible with support from the New England Foundation for the Arts, the American Masterpieces initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Redfern Arts Center.
