Five College Dance Fall Lecture
The Fall 25 Five College Dance Lecture will be a panel discussion among three generations of Black women PhDs: Yvonne Daniel, Saroya Corbett, and Neri Torres, regarding dance artist / activist Katherine Dunham's influence on their lives as Black women artists, educators, and scholars. Friday, October 3, 4:30-6:00pm, Kirby Theater, Amherst College. The lecture is free and open to the public with registration below. Please let us know you are coming.
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Friday, Sep 19, 4:30pm, Neilson Browsing Room, Smith College
Reworking Contemporary Italian Dance: Repertoire Transmission and Reconstruction from the Eighties to Today”
Lecture with Prof. Elena Cervellati (University of Bologna)
Free and open to the public.
Today, Italian contemporary dance is searching for itself through choreographic processes of transmission and reconstruction of its recent past, striving to keep alive the actuality of dance works from the last four decades that are projected onto the present in an effort to make them part of it. Choreographic investigations into reconstruction, restaging and reenactment have flourished on the international dance scene and consolidated in Italy through numerous projects. This talk will examine two case studies. The first is the extensive project RIC.CI: Reconstruction, Italian Contemporary Dance (1980s-90s), ongoing since 2011 as a collaboration between dance critic and scholar Marinella Guatterini and a wide network of Italian theaters and festivals. The second concerns the solo Tu non mi perderai mai (You Will Never Lose Me), choreographed and performed in 2005 by Raffaella Giordano, one of the protagonists of the Italian contemporary dance world, and recently transmitted to Stefania Tansini, a dancer from a younger generation. These experiments in repertoire transmission stand for memory processes that ultimately aim to define artistic and human identities that are individual and personal, but also generational and cultural. They result in performance experiences that are inevitably different from the original ones, while trying to also remain the same.
Wednesday Oct 1, 4:00PM, Totman Gym, UMass
Ballet Hispánico Masterclass
Join Five College Dance and UMass Amherst for a masterclass with a member of Ballet Hispánico on Wednesday, Oct 1, 4:00pm, at Totman Gym, UMass Amherst. Free with registration through this form and open to the public. What to wear: Clothes that are comfortable and easy to move in.
Please join us for a performance with Ballet Hispanico at the FAC/FCT Performance Hall, UMass, on Thursday, Oct 2 at 7:30pm. Please get your tickets through the FAC box office.
Ballet Hispánico was founded only six years before it first took the Frederick C. Tillis Performance Hall stage in April 1976. Even then, there was no doubt the company was a perfect fit for the Fine Arts Center’s inaugural season. Ballet Hispánico had already established itself as a force in American dance on the strength of both exceptional talent and founder Tina Ramirez’s vision of a company that would challenge stereotypes and highlight the joy and celebration inherent in “Latinidad.” Their presence is nothing short of essential in a fiftieth anniversary season in which we celebrate a history of bringing community together through the arts. The largest Latino cultural organization in the United States, Ballet Hispánico engages audiences with the work of Latino and Latina choreographers, opens a platform for new cultural dialogue, and nurtures inspiring young dancers. Join us.
Announcements
Progressions in Dunham Technique
"Progressions in Dunham Technique" is an exposition of the fundamentals of Dunham Technique. Katherine Dunham composed the structure of "Progressions" during her time building the Performing Arts Training Center in East St. Louis, IL. "Progressions" highlights the energy and power of the technique.
In this project rehearsing at UMass Amherst, dancers will work with Saroya Corbett, a certified teacher in Dunham Technique and chair of History and Theory for the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification (IDTC). Dancers and drummers will also work with master percussionist James Belk, who specializes in the Dunham Technique Rhythms. Duane Lee Holland, Jr. will be the rehearsal director. IMAGE: Dancer Chanel Holland in "R.I.T.E.S." (2011), choreographed by Saroya Corbett.
More about Saroya Corbett:
Saroya Corbett is a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Africana Studies at Williams College. Her research explores Black social dance genres as a foundation to construct histories of the everyday lived experiences of Black people. Her recent dissertation specifically focuses on dance team culture in southern Louisiana and at historically Black colleges and universities.
She is a certified teacher in Dunham Technique and the chair of History and Theory for the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification (IDTC). In 2014, her chapter “Katherine Dunham’s Mark on Jazz” was published in Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches, which focuses on Katherine Dunham’s contribution to the evolution of jazz dance. Saroya has performed in several dance companies including the Katherine Dunham Museum Workshop, the Spelman College Dance Theatre, Kariamu & Company, and Flyground.
Saroya received her Ph.D. from UCLA in Cultures and Performance, her MFA degree in Dance from Temple University and her BA from Spelman College in economics. She is on the steering committee for the Coalition for Diasporan Scholars Moving (CDSM), a shadow organization supporting and providing resources to Black dance artists, scholars, and professionals navigating microaggressions and racism.
Five College Dance featured in Dance Magazine
Five College Dance was featured in Dance Magazine this fall in an article by Stav Ziv. The piece includes information about the FCD program, this year's guest artist repertory project, an excerpt of Lucinda Childs's Dance, and interviews with faculty and students. Download a PDF of the article to read below.
Dance Magazine's 25 to Watch List
Julia Antinozzi '18
Congratulations to Julia for making Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch List." See our Five College Dance Spotlight on Julia here. From the article:
"Antinozzi graduated from Smith College in 2018 with a dance degree and an astronomy minor, and has been choreographing for her own dancers since 2022...Taken altogether, her works [The Suite and Third Variation both from 2024] illustrate a probing of her fascination with classical ballet filtered through a contemporary—and uniquely Antinozzi—lens, daring viewers to take a closer look."