Dances at MuCCC Shared Program 1

Wednesday June 15 at 8:00 PM

purchase tickets at https://www.muccc.org/events/dances-at-muccc

Shared Program 1

An eclectic mix of dances by new and returning artists

NEYDA COLÓN-DIMARIA & JANALYCE LANE are both School of the Arts and Borinquen Dance Theatre alum. While studying non-arts related academics at college, the two have performed on their respective colleges’ Latin Teams and continue to dance for community, self -expression, and release. They are happy to be back on the MuCCC stage again performing with and for a wonderful community! “Green Beanz” is a playful piece that reacts to the emotions and rhythms of Erykah Badu’s song Green Eyes.

PRALAYA CUOMO-HAITZ trained at School of American Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Joffrey Ballet and Ballet Academy East. She received her B.A. in Sustainable Development from Columbia University, where she was also a company member of Columbia Ballet Collaborative. Cuomo-Haitz has also performed with Eglevsky Ballet, Exit 12 Dance Company, Ballet Theater Company, and Lumiere Ballet. She premiered a ballet by choreographer Alex Tressor in celebration of NYC’s first fashion week at Lincoln Center and was a NYC finalist at the Youth America Grande Prix. Pralaya debuted her first choreographic work at Visions of Sound 2022. “Nevermore” explores the differences in how people perceived their time in lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Born and raised in the Finger Lakes, LAURA D’AMICO simultaneously occupies the spaces of art and agriculture. After earning two degrees in the STEM fields, she has danced three years at the Garth Fagan Summer Movement Institute under scholarship, and most recently appeared in an original work by Norwood Pennewell. D’Amico is an agricultural and animal activist, professionally licensed in veterinary technology, and cares deeply about where our food comes from and how it relates to societal progress. She can be found in the apple orchards at Cornell University, taking care of her family’s horses, and dancing here, there, and everywhere in and around Rochester. Working in collaboration with theater artist JUSTIN RIELLY, D’Amico will present “In the Machine,” a piece that explores the life and working conditions of modern society.

ROSEANNE DIMARIA/RANDOM DANCERS.  DiMaria writes: Random Dancers is exactly that. We represent dancers with all different backgrounds and dance styles. We are all in various stages in our lives and this group provides the space and flexibility to incorporate dance in our lives if the moment is right.  Regarding the dance “Returning” - we live in a world of More. Faster. Social media. Go go go. We post our whole lives. We have gotten so far away from the beauty of simplicity. Coming from African/Brazilian dance training the importance of community is stressed. We have lost that here in America. We must find it again.

SARAH JACOBS will present “Bulbous Bouffant,” pairing text and gesture in comedic parallel play. Performed dozens of times nationally, this quirky and charming trio always delights. You'll never see a macadamia nut the same again.  Jacobs is a movement artist and educator specializing in improvisation and interdisciplinary collaboration. Recently transplanted to Rochester, she has made artistic homes in Minneapolis/St. Paul and Los Angeles, where she had the pleasure to dance with artists including Cheng-Chieh Yu, Victoria Marks, Dan Froot, Alexx Shilling, Darrian O'Reilly and Trulee Hall. Jacobs choreographs for theater, galleries, and alternate venues; Bulbous Bouffant’s “plethora” of performances span the Walker Art Center, five universities, and a bus stop near you. Currently lecturing at SUNY-Brockport, she holds an MFA from UCLA and is a Somatic Movement Educator with the School for Body-Mind Centering.

BRIANA BLAIR KELLY’S “Rhythmic Conversation” is a dialog between related dance forms. This piece continues an investigation of how traditional Irish dance can exist and thrive within a contemporary context. Through fusion and collaboration, the piece unearths the unique choreographic potential of Irish dance. Kelly is a multidisciplinary artist and dance educator in Rochester, NY. She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from SUNY Fredonia and an MFA in Choreography and Performance from SUNY Brockport. Kelly is adjunct faculty at Niagara University, where she teaches Jazz and Irish. She is a movement/dance instructor for the Cobblestone Arts Center and an instructor at the Studio East Dance Company. ROCeltic is a performance company based in Rochester, NY. ROCeltic celebrates Irish heritage – past, present and future – through music and dance. Progressive with a traditional foundation, “ROCeltic” strives to break down genre barriers.

LAURIE MACFARLANE will perform “Talespin,” a comedic solo inspired by fairy tales.  For over 20 years, MacFarlane has presented her choreography and improvisations in a variety of settings, from the proscenium stage to art galleries, sidewalks and empty storefronts.  She incorporates text, props, costume, and sound score to create character-driven dance-theater pieces, which are often whimsical or humorous. Her work has been presented throughout the United States, in Toronto, Canada, and at the Performatica and Rodara festivals in Puebla, Mexico.  She is an Artist in Residence at MuCCC and co-coordinates Dances at MuCCC with her partner, Ruben T. Ornelas. She is a proud alumna of Bennington College.

OLIVE PRINCE will present a new solo work, "What remains," exploring structure, form, breath, shift, shift, change...influenced by departing figures. Arise and subside into a natural flow of life. Accept or fight. Unfolding spontaneously in a white blanket of snow. Olive Prince Dance (OPD) is a project based dance company creating psychologically compelling, physically stimulating and thematically suggestive dance works. Specific images act as conceptual muses and are allowed to lead aspects of the process. Imagery mingles with divergent ideas in the conceptual constellation to develop choreography that mirrors the human experience. Prince is a native of Rochester, NY who built her dance career in Philadelphia as a performer, educator, and artist. Her performance credits include touring internationally in Tawain, Singapore, Germany and Indonesia as well as nationally at the Lincoln Center Outdoors Festival, Battery Park Dance Festival, Joe’s Pub, Interlaken Arts Festival and throughout Philadelphia. Prince received her MFA in dance from Temple University. Prince is artistic director of Olive Prince Dance which has been presented at Triskelion Arts Center (NYC), the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, the Live Arts Festival (PHL), the International Contemporary Dance Conference and others. She has been commissioned to create dance for many Philadelphia companies and colleges including site-specific work for William Smith College (NY), the Magic Gardens, and the Iron Factory. She is the Director of Drexel University's Dance Ensemble.

ANNE HARRIS WILCOX (MFA) is an Associate Professor for the Program of Dance and Movement at the University of Rochester, where she is also the Community Engagement Liaison and a Posse Foundation Mentor. She is the founder of Active Learning Games, for which she designs kinesthetic educational products for K-university learners, and a Rochester choreographer, dancer, and educator who whose work has been featured at Geva Nextstage and numerous Rochester Fringe Festivals. She has choreographed over forty works for her company, Present Tense Dance, which she directed from 1991 – 2016. She is a former President of New York State Dance Education Association and presents nationally and internationally on topics such as kinesthetic education, creativity and assessment, linguistics and dance, and intergenerational dance.  “The Green Green” is a tribute to Kurt Joos's The Green Table, but a contemporary satire of where and by whom big decisions are made in America.

ROY WOOD will present an improvised dance, working with a group of performers who have been working together improvisationally since mid-2021.

Tickets $12 in advance, $15 at the door, $12 students and seniors

purchase tickets at https://www.muccc.org/events/dances-at-muccc

For further information:

https://www.facebook.com/dancesatmuccc

or contact dancesatmuccc@gmail.com

All programs subject to change.

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the office of the governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Genesee Valley Council on the Arts.

Photo courtesy of Sarah Jacobs.