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| By Lois Greenfield http://www.seancurrancompany.com/gallery.php |
Coker Hosts Residency with Guest Dance Company
“It is really an honor to have the Seán Curran Company here at Coker College,” said Angela Gallo, associate professor of dance and coordinator of the dance major. “For the students to be able to both work and perform on the same stage with this company is an excellent opportunity that many undergraduate students in dance never receive. While the Company is in residency here at the college, they will also provide numerous master classes, some for the dance majors and some that are open to the campus and community. There are not many dance programs in the country, especially at private colleges like Coker, that bring in companies of this caliber. We are truly excited for this residency.”
The Company will present an evening of work set to vocal music, ranging from Baroque opera to contemporary a capella works and popular electronic music. This years-long exploration focused on physical expression of the human voice. At times abstractly conceptual yet always imminently human, Curran and his dancers discover the myriad ways of giving voice to dance.
The program opens with two excerpts from the evening-length work “Travel Songs,” created in collaboration with the Grammy Award-winning King’s Singers. “Even Here” navigates composer John McCabe’s aural landscape evoking the American southwest while Joby Talbot’s “Path” sets the dancers (students of the Coker College Dance Program) on a ritual journey. A member of Curran’s company, Rebecca Arends, came to Coker’s campus earlier this month to work with students learning this piece. In each piece, six dancers embody the tones, qualities, and ever-changing relationships of six vocalists.
“Hard Bargain” is a danced conversation between four individuals with differing opinions and agendas. Performed to selections of Georg Friederich Handel’s arias for countertenor, this work presents an abstract gestural language to give the dancers voice; they address, lecture, and converse with one another, revealing four dancer/diplomats at work and at play.
“Social Discourse” is a contemporary urban folk dance set to contemporary music by Thom Yorke and Radiohead. The electronic soundscape seamlessly melds voice and instrument, providing a rousing—and at times mysterious—motor for the dancing. Here Curran emphasizes the body as instrument by introducing increasingly complex physical, interpersonal, and spatial tasks that the dancers must solve through movement exploration and invention.
As part of its residency, the Company will also hold a Master Dance Technique Class in Choreography on Wednesday, Oct. 15 from 12:00-1:50 p.m. that is open to the public for a cost of $15 per person. To register, contact Gallo at agallo@coker.edu or (843) 383-8381. In addition, the Company will lead a discussion about the gender issues present in Curran's work on Oct. 15 from 2:00-3:50 p.m. in the Black Box Theater. The discussion is free and open to the public.
Tickets for the Oct. 16 performance are $25 for adults. Admission for Coker students, faculty and staff is free with a Coker ID. Admission for high school and college students is free with valid ID. In order to minimize disruptions for seated patrons and onstage artists during the performance, seating will be closed at 7:30 p.m. After the performance, the Company will host an open question and answer session.
Curran formed the Seán Curran Company in 1997. Known for its wit, intelligence, ingenuity, and uncanny physical humor, Curran’s choreography has been described as “meticulously structured and contagiously high-spirited” (The Village Voice) and “a breathtaking tour de force” (The New York Times). His company has received numerous choreographic commissions and has premiered works throughout the U.S. as well Germany and France. For more information, visit www.seancurrancompany.com.
written by media relations coordinator Elizabeth McCarley.
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