Five College Dance Repertory Project
Every year Five College Dance invites a professional choreographer to set a work on students from all five colleges.
"Progressions in Dunham Technique," FCD Repertory Project 2025, Technique by Katherine Dunham, staged by Saroya Corbett, photo by Derek Fowles.
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Garth Fagan Dance
"From Before," created in 1978, explores movement from “before” Western civilization through a contemporary lens. Garth Fagan drew on African and Caribbean dance traditions while stripping away the elaborate costumes and props typical of those forms, allowing the movement, rooted in loose, torso‐centered technique, to speak with clarity and modernity. The work honors ancestry and the values passed down through generations: family, community, creativity, and the ability to innovate. Its layered rhythms and dynamic shifts reflect the essence of Africa and the Americas. The skin-fitting unitards in bold colors, and his own, non-traditional way of moving gives the piece its contemporary look.
The piece has become one of Fagan’s most celebrated works, praised for its power, sophistication, and inventive use of space. Critics have highlighted its blend of sharp, swift movement with smooth, rippling modern phrasing, and its rich, athletic, and aesthetically striking qualities. "From Before" gained international recognition after its 1984 filming at Dance Black America at BAM, where it received a thunderous ovation and has since remained a staple in dance archives across the US, Caribbean, and Africa. The work features music from Ralph MacDonald’s award winning album The Path, with costumes by Fagan and lighting by C.T. Oakes. Photo by John Schlia.
About Garth Fagan
Garth Fagan (Founder and Distinguished Artistic Director Emeritus) is a visionary choreographer, educator, and creative leader, hailed as “a true original,” “a genuine leader,” and “one of the great reformers of modern dance.” Born in Jamaica, Fagan founded Garth Fagan Dance in 1970 in Rochester, New York, establishing an artist-led, predominantly Black dance company rooted in his signature Fagan TechniqueTM. For over five decades, Fagan has toured internationally with his company, receiving numerous honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a NY Bessie Award, the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award, a Fulbright 50th Anniversary Distinguished Fellowship, honorary doctorates, and Jamaica’s Order of Distinction and Special Gold Musgrave Medal, and most recently, the recipient of the 2025 Bessie Award Lifetime Achievement Award. Mr. Fagan is also the recipient of the 1998 Tony Award®, the 2000 Laurence Olivier Award, and the 2004 Helpmann Award for Best Choreography in a Musical for his work on Disney’s The Lion King and was recognized as the longest-running Black choreographer on Broadway.
Photo by Matt Wittmeyer
About Natalie Rogers-Cropper
Natalie Rogers-Cropper (Executive Director) joined Garth Fagan in 1989. As a principal dancer, in 1992, she received the prestigious “Bessie” award for her performances. She is also a 1993 recipient of The President’s Award from her country of birth, Trinidad and Tobago. Natalie was voted one of the top three female modern dancers in the world, by readers of Dance magazine in the 2004 “Readers’ Choice” awards. Natalie has served as one of Mr. Fagan’s assistants for the Tony Award-winning megahit “The Lion King” on Broadway, “Ellington Elation” on the New York City Ballet, and “Jukebox” for Alvin and “From Before” on the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Natalie has taught the Fagan Technique worldwide and has had at least 12 major roles created for her over the course of her dance career.
Ms. Rogers-Cropper has created her own choreography for several companies and schools world-wide and her first work for Garth Fagan Dance “Life Receding” premiered in August 2023. For her leadership in business, and all her other achievements over her 34-year career with Garth Fagan Dance, Natalie became one of the recipients of the Women of Excellence Award from the Rochester Business Journal in April 2021. She was appointed Executive Director for Garth Fagan Dance in November 2023. She is a graduate of the Juilliard School. (B.F.A. class of 1984).
Photo credit: Headshot by Erich Camping