Five Colleges, Incorporated: Five College Dance 25th Anniversary

Home > Archive > Five College Dance 25th Anniversary

The Five College Dance at 25: Celebrating the Past, Welcoming the Future

The yearlong program for the 25th anniversary of the Five College Dance Department (FCDD) has been planned as a multifaceted series of events celebrating the faculty past and present as well as students past and present. Several concerts will feature works by members of the department.

No celebration of dance would be complete without honoring the rich legacy of George Balanchine, who was born a century ago this year. As a special tribute to the 25th anniversary of the Five College Dance Department, we are delighted that the George Balanchine Trust® has agreed to send a representative to set the first movement of Serenade -- one of Balanchine’s signature ballets -- on dancers from Hampshire, Smith, and Mount Holyoke Colleges and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Serenade will be performed at Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges and the University.

View the schedule of events below, or download a PDF file of the full program.

Schedule of Events

September
17: Alumni Friday
Totman 13, UMass Amherst, 2–4 p.m.
Karen Brown returns to teach a jazz class and share her professional experience with current FCDD students.

October
14: Masters in Motion: Photo Exhibit
Celebrating 25 Years of FCDD Faculty in Performance
Dance Building Lobby, Hampshire College
Opening reception after Five College Alumni/ae Dance Concert.

14-16: Five College Alumni/ae Dance Concert
Dance Studio Theater, Hampshire College, 8 p.m.
A “showcase” concert featuring the work of three FCDD
alums: Nichole Canuso, Heidi Henderson, and Layard Thompson.

15: Joan Acocella: "Collaboration and Authorship: Who Made the Dance?"
Wright Hall, Smith College, 4 p.m.
Joan Acocella is a dance critic for The New Yorker.

November
4-6: Tradition: The Mount Holyoke College Faculty Concert
Studio Theater, Kendall Hall, Mount Holyoke College, 8 p.m.
"All new dance emerges from the past. We honor our traditions as we recognize that they lead to the future. These performers and their work represent the pinnacle of the work shown over our 25-year history."
–Terese Freedman

First movement of Serenade, a Ballanchine ballet, presented by arrangement with the George Ballanchine Trust®
Tap performer Pam Raff, fresh from TapCity Festival’s Tap Treasures/TapMasters on Broadway this July
Marilyn Middleton and drummers performing invigorating West African traditional dances
A classical modern work
Come to Me, Bend to Me, choreography by Agnes de Mille, staged by FCDD faculty emerita Gemze de Lappe

12: Dancing in the Eric Carle Museum
Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 10:30 a.m.
Students from the Crocker Farm Elementary School present a collaborative performance based on their drawings. Director/facil-itator: Billbob Brown, associate professor, UM. Free admission.

18–20: Fusion: The Smith College Faculty Concert
Theatre 14, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts,
Smith College, 8 p.m.
Dance Through Fusion sites dance with other performing and visual arts. Mark Allan Davis combines classical modern dance forms with jazz and hip-hop; Amie Dowling develops links between theatrical art forms and the community; Nia Love, visiting lecturer, calls upon her extensive background in both West African and modern dance; and Rodger Blum presents a piece that fuses movement and video production. Also on the program, two ballet works: a collaborative piece by Ken Lipitz of UMass Amherst and Susan Waltner of Smith College and a selected restaging of George Balanchine’s Serenade.

December
2–4: Dance and Repertory Concert
Bowker Auditorium, UMass Amherst, 8 p.m.
An eclectic program of dance repertory featuring works from FCDD alumnae/faculty Billbob Brown and Kenneth Lipitz, as well as dances by some mainstream choreographers such as Doug Varone and Robert Battle. In praise of our students, two recent graduates will present dances from their own companies: University alumnae Patricia Kenny (Patricia Kenny Dance Collection of New York City) and Katherine Hooper (Mass Motion Dance Company of Boston).

February
11–12: Dance in Dialogue Alumnae Concert
Kirby Theater, Amherst College, 8 p.m.
A festival of performances that emphasize dance and choreography in dialogue with other media and featuring newly commissioned works by FCDD alumnae Lisa Biggs, Yanira Castro, and Jelena Petrovic and special site-specific events by Karinne Keithley, Sara Smith, and Melissa Briggs.

18: FCDD Alumnae Panel: "Careers in Dance: Beyond Performance"
Studio Theater, Kendall Hall, Mount Holyoke College, 3-5 p.m.
Seated on the panel are Kathy Couch (AC), Susan Griss (SC), Hillary Stern (HC), Rochelle Rice (UM), and Martha Mason (MHC).

March
3-5: Live Music and Dance: Five College Faculty Concert
Dance Studio/Theater, Hampshire College, 8 p.m.
An exploration of the collaborative possibilities for dancers and musicians, choreographers and composers, with choreography
by FCDD faculty performed by students, alumni, faculty, and guest artists.

Also visit the Five College Dance Department Web site, and the Five College Calendar of Events.

Page created 1/16/04
Updated 10/13/05

web site design by gravity switch, inc.