"An Evening of Dance" at Keene State College

KEENE, N.H. 4/12/06 - A special guest choreographer from the Boston dance scene and a first-time collaboration for two faculty artists highlight the 30th annual “An Evening of Dance” Wednesday-Saturday, April 19-22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Main Theatre of the Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond. Tickets are $7 for the general public and $5 for KSC students, senior citizens, and youth age 17 and under. Call the box office at 603-358-2168.

This year’s dance concert will showcase seven dances: four choreographed by students, two by faculty, and one by guest choreographer and former Keene State dance student Sara Sweet Rabidoux. This season also marks the 25th anniversary of the Redfern Arts Center, and the pieces by Rabidoux and by Marcia Murdock and William Seigh in the evening’s second half are intended as a celebration. Murdock is director of the Dance Program at Keene State, and Seigh is associate professor of dance.

Guest choreographer Sara Sweet Rabidoux’s “Leaving Early,” inspired by the tumultuous relationship of the gifted poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, takes on the imagined vantage point of Hughes and his perception of the many masks Plath wore throughout their life together. Rabidoux is a past dance student of Keene State, and is the artistic director of the hip and well-reviewed Boston dance company Hoi Polloi.

The second half of the evening is a piece for 12 dancers, and is a first for “An Evening of Dance”: a choreographic collaboration between faculty members Murdock and Seigh. They describe this work as “A dance collage which, when seen from a distance (like squinting at quilt fabrics), reveals an underlying color or theme.” Each of the nine chapters in “Spin” offers a different point of view about this theme, perspective. The sound score ranges in musical styles from folk to jazz to electronic.

“The Sky Inside,” choreographed by adjunct faculty member Candice Salyers, is about the inner conflict between wanting to give and wanting to give up. Angel characters serve as embodied presences that continually pull a “giver” back to her beliefs in order to propel her forward.

“X > 37895 and Counting” is choreographed by senior Stephanie Ritchie. Based on the estimated number of civilian deaths in Iraq by military intervention during the occupation and war to date, this piece explores the subject by embodying media imagery through sculptural movement.

“Hide and Speak,” choreographed by Angie Muzzy, is an abstracted personal memory, one that Muzzy grapples with daily.

Danielle Discenzo choreographed “Pavana,” a glimpse into the life of a young girl who is trying to make all the right decisions. She grows up before the audience’s eyes, gradually trusting her own judgment and developing into an independent young woman. The music for this piece is an original composition by Discenzo, with three KSC music students performing.

“Love?” choreographed by Tiffany Joslin, follows the worst day in a mother- daughter relationship.

Murdock and Seigh are director and associate director of the concert. Jeremy Robarge, a KSC graduate, is the lighting designer. Costumes for the production are by Elisabeth Tobey Roos, associate professor of Theatre and Dance. Craig Lindsay, theatre faculty member, is technical director for “An Evening of Dance.”