Fall 2019 Dance Program - Peak Performances

Department of Theatre and Dance

Photo by Robert M. Cooper

Fall Dance 2019

Common Ground. Dancers: Jalyn Gill, Jessie Crist, Tamir Rios

December 5–8, 2019 Memorial Auditorium

Dr. Susan A. Cole, President Daniel Gurskis, Dean, College of the Arts Jedediah Wheeler, Executive Director, Arts + Cultural Programming Department of Theatre and Dance Randy Mugleston, Chair

Fall Dance 2019 Artistic Director Maxine Steinman Lighting Designer Chris Ferranti

Sound Designer Selin Gunderen Production Stage Manager Jenna Leski

Cast A: 12/5, 12/6 (eve.), 12/7 (mat.) Cast B: 12/6 (mat.), 12/7 (eve.), 12/8 Duration: One hour 15 minutes, no intermission.

In consideration of both audiences and performers, please turn off all electronic devices. The taking of photographs or videos and the use of recording equipment are not permitted. No food or drink is permitted in the theater.

Program “Ritual to the Sun” from Acts of Light (1981) “Thank you for all the Acts of Light which beautified a summer now past to its reward.”—Emily Dickinson

Choreographer Martha Graham Music Carl Nielsen, Helios Overture, Op. 17, recorded by the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Herbert Blomstedt, courtesy of EMI Classics.

Original Lighting Beverly Emmons Lighting Associate Chris Ferranti Costume Design Martha Graham and Halston Costume Associate Grace Wilson Staging by Lone Kjaer Larsen Rehearsal Director Christian von Howard Rehearsal Assistant Serena Brown Cast A Jose Baez, Mikayla Batts, Kelly Beck, Toni Blockburger, Kimberly Chok, Gianna Diaz, Khalid Dunton, Jenna Eberhardt, Jalyn Gill, Danielle LeBron, Alison Lenahan, Kristilee Maiella, Jake Montanaro, Alfonse Napolitano, Christopher Odoms, Olivia Passarelli, Naimah Ray, Kristian Real, Madalyn Rupprecht, JayQuan Savage, Allison Strohm, Tashae Udo Cast B Jose Baez, Mikayla Batts, Kelly Beck, Toni Blockburger, Kimberly Chok, Melanie Della Peruti, Gianna Diaz, Khalid Dunton, Jenna Eberhardt, Amber Evelyn, Jalyn Gill, Amanda Kowalski, Danielle LeBron, Alison Lenahan, Kristilee Maiella, Jake Montanaro, Alfonse Napolitano, Christopher Odoms, Olivia Passarelli, Naimah Ray, Kristian Real, Madalyn Rupprecht, JayQuan Savage, Tashae Udo, Taylor Wade Premiere: February 26, 1981, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC Presented by arrangement with Martha Graham Resources, a division of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance.

Las Rosas Buenas

(Premiere!)

Choreographer Maxine Steinman Music Judy Frankel, “En la Mar (Out at Sea),” from Stairway of Gold—Songs of the Sephardim; Renaissance Players and Winsome Evans, “La rosa enflorece” from The Sephardic Experience, Vol. 1: Thorns of Fire; Judy Frankel, “Puncha la Rosa” from Sephardic Songs of Love and Hope (Canticas Sephardis de Amor y Esperansa); Oscar Ghiglia, Jean-Claude Gérard, and Victoria de los Ángeles, “Durme, durme, hermozo hijico” from Canciones Sefardíes (Sephardic Songs‚ arr. Manuel Valls); Osvaldo Golijov, Oceana: I. Call;

La Rondinella, “Poco le das, la mi consuegra” (arr. A. Kosloski, P. Bensel, T. Chancey, and H. Bass) from Sephardic Journey (Spain and the Spanish Jews) Sound Editing Maxine Steinman Costume Design Tania Borbon Rehearsal Assistant Olivia Defabritus Cast A Kaylyn Alston, Alexander Bar, Samantha Barraco, Brianna Bolt, Ciani Crosby, Amanda Edore, Lorna Fontana, Sahai Heyward, Jessica Lavenda, Sabrina Petrelli, Skylar Rienert, Tamir Rios, Amelia Dawe Sanders, Elena Dalla Torre Cast B Camille Blue, Gabrielle Colella, Kayla Fleming, Amy Horensky, Takashi Kanai, Sarah Kramer, Jessica Lavenda, Quashierra Muhammad, Ashlynn Payne, Julianna Rasmussen, Tamir Rios, Selena Salvino, Becky Seow, Megan Theobald

Underneath

(Premiere!)

Choreographer Jessica DiMauro Marks Music Parallax Beat Brothers, Pete Lockett and Scanner, “In Absence”; Scanner, David Dawson, and Robin Rimbaud, “Icarus”; Scanner, “Through Your Window” (excerpt) Costume Design Lauren Winston Rehearsal Assistants Jordan Jackson, Mark Lovell Cast A Nicole Arakaki, Meghan Brislin, Tatianna Burchette, Brielle Castaldi, Jordyn Cherry, Olivia Defabritus, Danielle Gutt, Amina Kolenc, Mark Lovell, Gabby Meza, Gryffin Mendonssa, Miguel Miranda, Madison Pasquin, Danielle Peel, Jack Puluka, Samantha Regimbal, Riley Rienert, Ruth Rise, Isabella Segall, Rebecca Vigna Cast B Quinique Bennett, Brianna Bowlby, Madelynn Brown, Kierstyn Edore, Heather Endres, Gina Giuffre, Gianna Grici, Jordan Jackson, Jayna Ledford, Jonathan Najera, Monae Payne, Taniyyah Payne, Brittney Schenher, Sara Sines, Shaena Smith, Sophia Solecki, Marcia Testino, Gianna Torma, Dayna Torre, Tess Whiteley

Awakening

(Premiere!)

Choreographer Fredrick Earl Mosley Music Kaxman, “Kaxtrancetrack”; Jay Ungar, Molly Mason, “Fog Scene”; Aphex Twin, “Hand Covers Bruise” and “Blue Calx” Costume Design Juliann Page Rehearsal Assistants Scarleth Alvarez Araya, Clifton Brown, Alexander Diaz, Ruddy Frias, Mary Guerriero Cast Nick Alvino, Rachel Ambrose, Mir Baldwin, Serena Brown, Jasmine Bullen, Emily Burke, Ashley Cromack, Colleen Duddy, Eliza Dumas, Kayla Franklin, Shelby Geiger, Kelly Guerrero, Oksana Horban, Madison Lewis, Sarah Macken, Serena Maldacker, Euphrozinia Martin, Kiana Rodriguez, Aradia Sessoms, Ellie Sharpe, Junyla Silmon, Melina Soriano, Jennifer Tran, Andréa Ward Understudy DeAnté Britton

Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance The Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance keeps vital and builds upon the unique work of Martha Graham, the principal originator of American modern dance. The Martha Graham Dance Company, founded by Martha Graham in 1926, is the first and most celebrated modern dance company in the world and features an international roster of the most talented modern dancers in the world today. Students come from around the world to study at the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, the only school primarily focused upon teaching the Martha Graham technique and repertory. The course structure culminates in the preprofessional training of young dancers, who perform at public schools, colleges, and other venues as Graham 2. The Martha Graham Resources shares the works of Martha Graham with other arts organizations and performers and preserves and makes available to the public the assets of one of the world’s most extensive collections of dance history: sets, costumes, audio and video recordings, photographs, and correspondence.

For more information, go to marthagrahamdance.org. Call 212-229-9200 for information about school programs and the Martha Graham Dance Company and Martha Graham Resources.

Email info@marthagrahamdance.org to be added to their mailing list.

Staff Office of Arts + Cultural Programming

College of the Arts

Jedediah Wheeler, Executive Director Stephanie Haggerstone, Managing Director Jill Dombrowski, Producing Director J. Ryan Graves, Director of Production Chrissy D’Aleo Fels, Cultural Engagement Director Camille Spaccavento, Marketing & Media Director Robert Hermida, Audience Services Director Regina Vorria, Associate Producer Andy Dickerson, Production Coordinator Colin Van Horn, Technical Director Andrew R. Wilsey, Master Stage Electrician Jeff Lambert Wingfield, Box Office Manager Patrick Flood/Flood Design, Art Director Blake Zidell Associates, Media Representatives Natalie Marx, Media Creator Martin Halo, Webmaster Susan R. Case, Copy Editor Bart Solenthaler, Program Layout Design Maureen Grimaldi, House Manager Nickie Delva, Eliza Dumas, Student Assistants

Daniel Gurskis, Dean Ronald L. Sharps, Associate Dean Linda D. Davidson, Assistant Dean Marie Sparks, Director of Administration Zacrah S. Battle, College Administrator Abby Lillethun, Art and Design Thomas McCauley, John J. Cali School of Music Keith Strudler, School of Communication and Media Randy Mugleston, Theatre and Dance Patricia Piroh, Broadcast and Media Operations Elizabeth McPherson, PhD, Director of Dance

Production Staff Heather Benton, Coordinator of Acting Peter J. Davis, Production Manager Cyndi Kumor, Production Associate Nicholas Zaccario, Production Office Assistant Erhard Rom, Scenic Supervisor Ben Merrick, Technical Director Daniel Graham, Assistant Technical Director Matthew Gallo, Student Technical Assistant Jason Audette, Master Carpenter Olivia Joyce, Scenic Charge Alison Merrick, Props Supervisor Debra Otte, Costume Supervisor Judith Evans, Costume Shop Supervisor Jeanette Aultz, Assistant Costume Shop Supervisor Tilly Adams, Amanda Phillips-Balingit, Katie Pippin, Drapers Taylor Pico, Wardrobe Mentor Cecilia Durbin, Lighting Supervisor Daniel Huston, Production Master Electrician Michelle Tobias, Studio Master Electrician Daryl Bornstein, Sound Supervisor Mysti Stay, Stage Management Supervisor

Staff for Fall Dance 2019 Michele Correggio, Assistant Stage Manager Emily Claire Gocon, Assistant Lighting Designer Michael Esposito, Master Electrician Eros Acosta, Assistant Master Electrician Markus Johnson, Programmer Kayla Chang, Markus Johnson, Light Board Operators Gabby Meza, Madison Pasquin, Danielle Peel, Rieley Rienert, Brittney Schenher, Isabella Segall, Shaena Smith, Sopia Solecki, Marcia Testino, Rebecca Vigna, Tessa Whiteley, Lighting Crew Selin Gunderen, Sound Board Operator Christina Gillespie, Wardrobe Head Brianna Bowlby, Madelynn Brown, Tatianna Burchette, Jordyn Cherry, Heather Endres, Gina Giuffre, Danielle Gutt, Amina Kolenc, Gryffin Mendonssa, Wardrobe Crew Joe Baez, Imani Carney, Anthony DaSilva, Logan Hurley, Adam Kushner, Run Crew

Acknowledgments The Dance Program extends grateful thanks to Daniel Gurskis, Dean of the College of the Arts, for his faithfully sustained support of our mission.

Deep appreciation is also extended to Randy Mugleston, Chair for the Department of Theatre and Dance, for his enlightened leadership; Elizabeth McPherson, the Director of the Dance Division; and faculty Christian von Howard and Kathleen Kelley for their support of Fall Dance.

Programs in this season are made possible in part by funds from: The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts Discover Jersey Arts New England Foundation for the Arts–National Dance Project Peak Performances is in partnership with WNET’s All Arts.

Peak Patrons: Mary Brislin; Susan Campbell; Yong Chang; Joanna Conrad; Bob Fisher/Monroe Denton; Paul Horowitz; Eric Levin; Karen Lundry; Michael Peroff; Gerard Piserchia, Jr. To view our complete season and for more information, visit peakperfs.org. @peakperfs

@peakperfs

Biographies Martha Graham (1894-1991) is recognized as a primal artistic force of the 20th century. She was named “Dancer of the Century” by Time and has been compared with other creative giants such as Picasso, Einstein, Stravinsky, and Freud. She created 181 ballets and a technique that revolutionized dance throughout the greater part of the past century. Using the founding principles of contraction and release, she built a vocabulary of movement to “increase the emotional activity of the dancer’s body,” exploring the depth and diversity of human emotion. Her ballets were inspired by a wide range of sources from the American frontier to Greek Mythology. She created and portrayed prominent women, including Clytemnestra, Jocasta, Medea, Phaedra, Joan of Arc, and Emily Dickenson. During her 70 years of creating dance, she collaborated with other great artists—Noguchi, Copland, Barber, Schuman, and her mentor, Louis Horst, among others—and is recognized for her groundbreaking work in all aspects of the theater—use of time, space, lighting, costumes, sets, and music. Her company was a training ground for many generations of choreographers including Cunningham, Taylor, and Tharp. At the Neighborhood Playhouse, she is said to have changed the course of American acting through students such as Bette Davis, Gregory Peck, Tony Randall, and Orson Wells. Her creative genius earned numerous honors and awards, including the Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of the Arts. Graham’s extraordinary legacy lives on in the work of the Martha Graham Dance Company, Graham 2, and the Martha Graham School, and in the students worldwide studying her technique and performing her masterworks.

Lone Kjaer Larsen, MFA (Staging “Ritual to the Sun” from Acts of Light ) serves as program director and faculty at the Martha Graham School as well as regisseur for the Martha Graham organization. She was a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company, Schaufuss International Theatre Ballet, and Pearl Lang Dance Theater, where she danced as a soloist for many years. While working in Europe she appeared in the film Halalabad Blues and was featured in Danish Television’s series New Dance.

She served as rehearsal director for the award-winning Danish Dance Theatre and was cofounder and artistic director of BALLET PLUS in Copenhagen. She also reconstructs and stages Pearl Lang’s choreography and creates her own work, which has been presented by members of the Martha Graham Dance Company

and Graham 2, Boston Conservatory Dance Theatre, BALLET PLUS, Marymount Manhattan College, Kanopy Dance Company, Teatret Comedievognen, American College Dance Festival Association, and Common Roots Projects, among others.

An internationally recognized teacher, Larsen has taught master classes and joined faculties at L’École Rudra Béjart Lausanne, Danish National School of Performing Arts, Danish Dance Theatre, Bartholin International Ballet Seminar, Congresso Brasileiro de Dança Moderna in Brazil, Ballet Hispanico, The Ailey School, LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, Barnard College, and Princeton University, among many others. She teaches technique, repertoire, composition, pedagogy, and performance techniques and conducts a unique workshop in “Choreography and Accompaniment for Dance.”

Larsen is also a faculty member at Marymount Manhattan College.

Jessica DiMauro Marks (Choreographer) is a modern dance choreographer invested in creating work that is rich in physicality and deeply communicative. Marks holds an MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University and a BFA in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College. She has taught and choreographed works extensively for both preprofessional and professional dance companies in the greater New York area as well as in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Florida. Marks’s company, DiMauro Dance, has been selected to perform at numerous curated festivals including Dance Conversations at The Flea, WHITE WAVE’s WAVE RISING Series, COOL NY and DUMBO Dance Festivals, and The T: Dance, Watch, Reflect. Marks has set 13 works on the dance majors at Montclair State University, where she teaches modern technique. At Montclair State University she has also acted as rehearsal director for Stacey Tookey’s Gift, Mark Morris’s Polka, Bill T. Jones’s work Spent Days Out Yonder, and Martha Graham’s Panorama and Chorus from Night Journey. Marks is also on faculty at Marymount Manhattan College and is the artistic director for Steffi Nossen School Dance Foundation in White Plains, NY. She is a certified May O’Donnell Technique Teacher, Kripalu Yoga Teacher, ACE-Certified Personal Trainer, and Group Fitness Instructor. dimaurodance.org Frederick Earl Mosley (Choreographer) is founder/director of Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance Inc. (EMDOD), including programs such as Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts (EMIA), Hearts of Men, and Dancing Beyond. A part of EMDOD’s mission is to educate, entertain, and use dance to enhance and enrich lives, even in the most

adverse of circumstances. EMIA, a four-week annual summer intensive that began in 2006, is held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, Long Island. Hearts of Men is an intensive designed to use dance to empower and cultivate a safe space where men of all ages can bond in a community of brotherly love. Mosley has applied his philosophy of “giving back” in the creation of a winter program called Earl Mosley’s Dancing Beyond, a benefit for Dance Against Cancer. All the artists involved in this program donate their time and effort in the fight for the cause. Mosley believes in diversity, not only in art but in the life experience that each dancer brings to the process of creating dance that entertains, educates, and heals the human spirit. emiadance.org Maxine Steinman (Artistic Director/Choreographer), a performer, teacher, and choreographer spanning more than 25 years, has presented her choreography in numerous festivals and venues such as Joyce Soho, the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival, the WestFest Dance Festival, the American Dance Guild Festival, DUMBO, the Battery Dance Festival, the Outlet Dance Project, and Making Moves Festival as well as others. She has traveled to Taiwan, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Cyprus to teach, choreograph, and perform her work.

Jack Anderson and Jennifer Dunning of the New York Times have called her choreography “ingenious” and a “jewel,” and twice she was awarded grants from the O’Donnell-Green Foundation for Music and Dance. Over the past 22 years, Steinman has been commissioned to create works and has taught for Montclair State University, Hofstra University, Marymount Manhattan College, The Ailey School, Institut del Teatre, Centro Andaluz de Danza, University of Colima, and for dance companies in Brazil and New York. Steinman was a soloist with the Eleo Pomare Dance Company for 12 years and has also performed with Denishawn Repertory Dancers, Mafata Dance Company, Robin Becker, Regina Larkin, Sue Bernhard, Spiritdance, Danceimprints, and in the LINKs project with the José Limón Dance Company, among others. Steinman holds a BFA in Dance (Adelphi University), an MA in Dance and Dance Education (Teachers College Columbia University), and an MFA in Dance/Performance (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts).

Steinman is an associate professor as well as BFA and BA coordinator in the Dance Division of Montclair State University.

Christian von Howard (Rehearsal Director) is the artistic director of the VON HOWARD PROJECT, a contemporary dance company based out of New York City. As an international artist, he has worked with many dance artists such as Doug Varone, Fernando Bujones, Douglas Becker, Germaul Barnes, Daniel Gwirtzman, and various others. Von Howard is a Fulbright Specialist (2019–21) and a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Choreographic Fellow (2006), and his choreographic work has been produced in various venues across the globe including Germany, Japan, Bulgaria, Colombia, Chile, South Korea, and in the United States at Dance Theater Workshop (now New York Live Arts), Joyce SoHo, Dixon Place, and the Ailey Citigroup Theater, among others. His guest artist teaching/residency highlights include the American Dance Festival, Dance It! Festival (Bulgaria), Peridance Dance Center, Dance Masters of America, and the Korean Dance Festival. Von Howard is a 2013–14 recipient of the Distinguished Achievement in Teaching Award from Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts, where he was part of the teaching faculty in the Department of Dance and Choreography from 2008 to 2014.

He is an associate professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Montclair State University and concurrently teaches at The Ailey School in New York City, where he has been on faculty since 1998. Von Howard serves as the northeast regional director of the American College Dance Association. He holds advanced degrees in Performance and Choreography from the School of Classical and Contemporary Dance at Texas Christian University and from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.