Adele Myers and Dancers Premiere Athletic and Playful New Dance at Keene State's Redfern Arts Center
KEENE, N.H., 9/19/11 - The Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond at Keene State College continues its 30th anniversary season with the acclaimed contemporary dance troupe Adele Myers and Dancers which will premiere a new, highly athletic dance in a Wednesday, October 19, concert. Tickets for the dance performance, that begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Main Theatre, range from $23 to $9. To order tickets and for more information, contact the Box Office at 603-358-2168 or visit www.keene.edu/racbp.
Adele Myers and her four dancers will visit with patrons in a Meet and Greet in the lobby at 7 p.m. prior to the October 19 performance. Light refreshments will be served. The dance troupe also will remain after the performance for a question and answer session.
Myers also will conduct a masterclass for Keene State dance students at 10 a.m. Tuesday, October 18, in the Mabel Brown Room of the Young Student Center. This class is free and open to the public.
“Adele Myers’ work is so theatrical and engaging. She creates a visceral connection to her audience that one can’t help to be drawn into her unique perspective of the world,” said Shannon R. Mayers, the arts center’s new director.
Founded in 2000, Adele Myers and Dancers is a five-member contemporary dance company dually based in New York City and Connecticut. The mission of Adele Myers and Dancers is to create engaging dances that are accessible to a wide range of audience members. Myers has lit up the dance world with a singular style that combines effortless grace with a trademark threatricality mixed with dazzling athleticism and disarming poignancy. The Village Voice calls Myers’ work “engrossing …it’s a rich little world.”
These qualities will be apparent in the premiere of “This Dance is What You See,” performed to an original energizing score by Kyle Olson. The dynamic female quartet experiments with being in control of being out of control. The quartet was originally commissioned by the 2010 Dance New Amsterdam Theater’s New York Summer Dance Intensive as a larger ensemble work.
Adele Myers, who performed a 15-minute solo from “Theatre in the Head,” at the Redfern’s anniversary celebration, will be joined by her dancers to present the full 40-minute dance that is a quest for intimacy between performers and their audience. Developed with composer, Josh Quillen of So Percussion, the sextet is divided into two acts fusing Myers’ robust athleticism, theatricality, and humor. “Theater in the Head” was created in part during an Emerging Choreographer Residency at the 2009 Bates Dance Festival and developed during a year-long creative residency at the Vermont Performance Lab.
Novelist Blanche Boyd was so moved by “Theatre in the Head,” she said: “I have never felt so close to someone else’s art.”
Adele Myer’s and Dancers performance at Keene State is funded in part by The Kingsbury Fund and the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.
About Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond 30th Anniversary
The Arts Center is named in honor of Dr. Leo F. Redfern, Keene State College (KSC) President from 1969 to 1979 for his vision, commitment, and eloquence on behalf of the arts that made funding and construction of the facility a reality. In 1981, KSC inaugurated this new performing arts center, with the goal of providing unforgettable artistic encounters for the campus and community. Since then, the Redfern stage has hosted hundreds of amazing shows, from internationally renowned artists to emerging young talents to KSC’s own student performers.
Over the years, the Redfern has expanded its outreach programs and community partnerships, becoming an indispensible resource for the Keene community and beyond. An exhibit celebrating the Art Center’s 30th anniversary is currently on display in the Redfern lobby. The exhibit includes articles and photos of the ground breaking and construction of the Arts Center as well as posters and photographs of performances through the years by the Music, Theater and Dance, and Art departments. Visit www.keene.edu/racbp for more information on the season and to purchase tickets.
About Keene State College
Founded in 1909, Keene State College is one of the most preeminent public liberal arts colleges in the nation. With more than 40 programs of study, including a new nursing program and the nation’s only baccalaureate degree program in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College prepares students to think critically, act creatively, and serve the greater good.
Keene State College: Wisdom to make a difference.
