Rider Dances 2023: Expanding Communities
Saturday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 5 at 2 p.m.
BLC Theater
Rider University
2083 Lawrenceville Road
Lawrenceville, N.J.
A Note from the Artistic Director
As most of you in the audience know, Dr. Kim Chandler Vaccaro has been the lifeblood of Rider University’s Dance Program since 1998 Her forward-thinking, holistic approach to the study of dance has shaped this program into the rigorous, creative force it is today, and we are deeply indebted to her. Dr. Vaccaro retired from the program this past December, but not before setting one final Rider Dances production into motion the theme, Expanding Communities.
As we head into this new era of Rider’s Dance Program, we are, indeed, expanding our community further. Through this production alone, I have witnessed this through both theory and praxis. I am always proud of our returning students who eagerly welcome those new to the Dance Program into the production with unwavering encouragement and support. This year, we welcomed two new choreographers into the fold (Welcome, Charly and Nik!). Thematically, our choreographers and production team have stretched the gamut, exploring everything from ancient mythology to artificial intelligence, and from abstract music visualization to hip hop comedy. Excitingly, we will expand this community even further this July, when Professor Yoshi Tanokura and I bring 12 Rider dance and theatre students to the prestigious Meeting of European Theatre Academies Conference in Florence, Italy, where we will present last year’s work Constellation Stories and this year’s Shimmer.
It is this spirit of collaboration and community expansion that makes Rider’s Dance Program so extraordinary, and we look forward to welcoming further expansion in the years to come.
Thank you for attending today’s performance. We hope you enjoy the show!
Sincerely,
Merli V. Guerra Artistic Director, Rider Dances 2023: Expanding CommunitiesPROGRAM
Uncanny Valley
Choreography Charly of mignolo dance
Very Large Green Triangles by Matmos
Evening Party by Yann Tiersen
bird enemy car by Lil Ugly Mane
Explanation Mark by The Books
Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467 Andante by Mozart
Ineunte by Mario Batkovic
Is There Anybody Out There? by Pink Floyd
Stooges Harmonica by DJ Spaceman
End of Days by Simple Symmetry
Kayla Faynor
Jossie Hunter
Anastasia Katsaras
Shannin Kavanagh
A Parting Gift
Aniky Salima
AJ Tillmon
Toby Trish
Alli Fama, understudy
Choreography Jennifer Gladney
Music by Tracy Chapman
Sophia Frosoni
Felicia Garro
Kate Harbison
Marissa Hassan
Melissa Juarez
Cassandra Krick
Simple Strings
Keiaira Rainey
Felicia Roehm
Alayna Rubach
Kaylie Smith
Koy Withers
Choreography Nikola Palivoda and the dancers
The Path, Optimist, and Exurgency by Zoe Keating
Kaniah “Keke” Brown
Lauren Feldman
Mekhia Gwynn
Shannin Kavanagh
Megyn Kukulka
Adrianna Noel
Francesca Roehm
Felicia Roehm
Natali Santana
Stupid Humans
Choreography John “Comix” Barrella
The Typewriter by Leroy Anderson
Requiem for a Loop by Acid Pauli
Kaniah “Keke” Brown
Kayla Faynor
Sophia Frosoni
Megyn Kukulka
Jamie Peña
Hands Off/Hands Joined
Keiaira Rainey
Rebecca Sharp
Kaylie Smith
AJ Tillmon
Choreography Julia Johnson Thick
Mean by Taylor Swift
People are People by RuPaul
We’re All in This Together from High School Musical
Alexa Barreiros
Alli Fama
Mekhia Gwynn
Melissa Juarez
Cassandra Krick
Shimmer
Amanda Pescatore
Madison Reilly
Francesca Roehm
Alayna Rubach
Rebecca Sharp
Choreography Merli V. Guerra
Music by Scott Buckley, Kevin MacLeod, Martia’s Muses, and Sappheiros
Alexa Barreiros
Kate Harbison
Marissa Hassan
Jossie Hunter
Jamie Peña
Madison Reilly
Aniky Salima
Marissa Stellato
Toby Trish
Koy Withers
PRODUCTION TEAM
Technical Director Buck Linton
Lighting Design Todd Loyd
Costume Design Robin I. Shane
Production and Set Design Yoshinori Tanokura
STUDENT PRODUCTION TEAM
Production Stage Manager Rylee Berger
Stage Manager Lindsay Clarke
Assistant Stage Manager Scarlett Liput
Assistant Stage Manager Krystal Vaughan
Assistant Stage Manager Victoria Yzaguirre
Costume Assistant Amanda Pescatore
Wardrobe Supervisor Margaret White
Assistant Lighting Designer Dakota Patterson
Assistant Costume Designer Emily Porter Siegel
Light Board Operator Marisa Barrulli
Sound Board Operator Deryn Kraner
Projection Operator Avery Nurzia
Social Media Kaylie Smith
Program Jamie Peña
About the Designers, Choreographers, and Producers
JOHN “COMIX” BARRELLA, CHOREOGRAPHER, is a Street Dance choreographer, performer, and educator based in New Jersey. His work as a choreographer and artist has been featured in a wide range of events including TEDx: Chaos; NYC Breakers
Presents: Battle of the Boroughs; Halftime shows for the NY Knicks; music videos such as Alissia’s Get Away, Tenin’s HSKT, and much more. John is hired internationally for conventions, events, programs, and institutions to present work in Street Dance that is both authentic and educational in order to maintain the quality of Hip Hop and related genres. When he isn’t touring the country, John is busy producing new works as a director and producer of Street Dance based productions, as well as the satire show Stupid Humans
RYLEE BERGER ‘24, PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER, is a junior double major in Theatre Design and Technology and Arts and Entertainment Industries Management. Rider University credits include: The Children’s Hour (Production Stage Manager, CoScenic Designer), Urinetown (Production Stage Manager, Assistant Technical Director), Polaroid Stories (Production Stage Manager), Cabaret (Assistant Technical Director), Rebirth (Production Stage Manager), Rider New Works (Co-Scenic Designer), Pete(HER) Pan (Stage Manager), Pride and Prejudice (Stage Manager, Stage Carpenter), Working (Stage Manager), and MonsterSongs (Stage Manager). Rylee is a carpenter in the scene shop and the technical director for the Rider Student Theatre Company.
CHARLY, CHOREOGRAPHER, co-founder and artistic director of mignolo dance, is a dancer, choreographer, writer, and curator. Originally from Florida and based in the NJ/NY area, she graduated with highest honors from Rutgers University in 2017. Charly has danced with several companies including Heidi Latsky Dance, VALLETO Dance, ReFrame Dance Theatre, Katelyn Halpern & Dancers, and Yu.S. Artistry. She also regularly performs in her own work, which has been presented at numerous venues around the tristate area. She has won screendance awards at several international film festivals as well as Ramapo College’s Leaning into the Unknown Competition, Spoke The Hub’s Winter Follies (Director’s Choice), Palm Springs International Dance Festival’s film competition, KoDaFe in NYC, and International Online Dance Competition’s Choreography Division. Find her online at www.charlysantagado.com and on Instagram @charlysantagado.
JENNIFER GLADNEY, CHOREOGRAPHER, summa cum laude Rider ‘06 is an adjunct professor at Rider where she earned a double major in Elementary Education and Dance and a minor in Early Childhood Education. She formerly was on the faculty at the Princeton Ballet School from 2005-20 and was a company dancer with the American Repertory Ballet. Gladney is now on the faculty of Martin Center for Dance and Mercer County Community College. She has been part of Rider Dances since its inception in 2005 and was the first senior honors student to choreograph, Cross Phases, for this event.
MERLI V. GUERRA, MFA, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/CHOREOGRAPHER, is an awardwinning choreographer and interdisciplinary artist. She is artistic director of Luminarium Dance Company in Boston MA (founded 2010) and Princeton NJ (2017). Merli has performed lead roles as a modern dancer and classical Odissi Indian dancer with acclaimed companies in India (2007, 2012) and Japan (2009). Her artistic works have been presented by 100+ events across the U.S. and internationally in Europe, North America, Asia, and South America, with permanent installations in the U.S. and Portugal. She received a 2022 Individual Artist Fellowship Award from Mid Atlantic Arts for her work in screendance, and a 2015 Gold Star Award from Massachusetts Cultural Council for her site-specific productions and community engagement.
Merli writes for several international dance magazines, and is an Adjunct Professor at Rider University. Learn more at merliguerra.com.
JULIA JOHNSON THICK, CHOREOGRAPHER, is an adjunct with priority status, teaching Rider’s Musical Theatre majors tap dance since 2013. Julie and her husband Bob founded the Off- Broadstreet Theatre in Hopewell where she functioned as Managing Producer and Choreographer. Together they produced over 300 shows in 32 years. In NYC Julie danced with Gregory Hines’s Tap Company and Luigi Jazz. Julie has worked as a guest artist at The Ed Sullivan Theatre, Hines and Hatchet, Broadway Dance Center, and continues to teach for Bucks County Playhouse and a New Jersey dance studio. Her diversified background even includes being the NJAIAW Collegiate State All-Around Champion in gymnastics.
BUCK LINTON, DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT/TECHNICAL DIRECTOR. Between earning his MFA in Scenography and Technical Design (Virginia Tech) and joining Rider as its Technical Director in 2012, he professionally produced nearly 200 productions with such venues as The Kennedy Center, Paper Mill Playhouse, Manhattan Theatre Club, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse and McCarter Theatre. Selected works include Travesties, Sleeping Beauty Wakes, Take Flight, Herringbone, Lookingglass Alice and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Falstaff, Die Zauberflöte, Pelléas et Mélisande, Dialogues des Carmélites, La Clemenza di Tito, Oreste, Sunjata Kamalenya, The Odyssey Experience, Die Fledermaus, Rigoletto, Turandot, Chicago, EDDA (Ping Chong & Sequentia Ensemble, international tour). Since then, he has produced over 100 productions for Rider University’s College of Arts and Sciences in the performing arts.
TODD LOYD, LIGHTING DESIGNER, is the lighting director for Rider University’s Department of Performing Arts. He supervises the lighting for every performance that the department produces in addition to mentoring several students that assist in designing, hanging, focusing, and programming the lighting for each show. At Rider he has designed over 30 productions including plays, musicals, dance recitals, cabarets, and operas. Some of the highlights include Cabaret, Polaroid Stories, Rider Dances: Moving in Our Community, Pippin, Pride and Prejudice, Everybody, Bright Star, Hair, Heathers The Musical, The Theory of Relativity, Once On This Island, She Kills Monsters, Our Town, A Chorus Line and Metamorphoses. Other selected professional projects include Rock of Ages and Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery (Forestburgh Playhouse), Journey to Oz (Children’s Theatre of Charlotte and Experiential Theater Company), and The Gun Show (Passage Theatre).
NIKOLA PALIVODA, CHOREOGRAPHER, is first and foremost, a trained Traditional Serbian Folklore Dancer who performed and choreographed with Dukati, Sumadije and Biseri Ensembles for over 20 years. He trained at Middlesex County College,
Montclair State University, and Raritan Valley Community College. Nik has directed and produced shows with Main Street Theatre Company in Parlin and with the Rahway Arts + Business Partnership at the UCPAC’s Hamilton Stage. He has most recently performed for Luminarium Dance Company, The Kennedy Dancers, and The Arts Institute of Middlesex County. Currently, Nik teaches at various studios and instructs group fitness for several Robert Wood Johnson Fitness & Wellness Centers. Whether it is through instruction, performance, or fitness, Nik strives to seek any medium through which to share his passion. He is very grateful to be working with Rider University.
ROBIN I. SHANE, COSTUME DESIGNER, is an Assistant Professor of Theatre in the Department of Performing Arts at Rider University. Favorite designs at Rider include Cabaret, Polaroid Stories, Pippin, and many Rider Dances concerts. Recent professional credits include The Pillowman and In The Next Room, or, The Vibrator Play at the Hedgerow Theatre in Media, PA and OK Trenton at the Passage Theatre in Trenton, NJ. Robin has designed costumes regionally and nationally at such varied theatres as The New Victory Theatre, Berkeley Rep, The Yale Rep, The Hedgerow, Theatre Exile, Philadelphia Artists’ Collective, EgoPo, Passage Theatre, Shakespeare Theater of NJ, The National Constitution Center, The Revision Theater, the Jean Cocteau Repertory Theater, Soho Rep and The Harrisburg Opera. Robin holds an MFA from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and a BA in Theater and Psychology from Wesleyan University.
YOSHINORI TANOKURA, PRODUCTION & SET DESIGNER, is originally from Tokyo and currently teaches scenic design at Rider University. Yoshi holds a M.A. in Scenography from Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London and an M.F.A. in Set Design from the University of Connecticut. His design credits include Moon Over Buffalo (People’s Light & Theatre), Clever Little Lies by Joe DiPietro (Westside Theatre, NYC), Exonerated (Delaware Theatre Company), and Peter and the Starcatcher (Adrienne Arsht Center), O.K. Trenton (Passage Theatre), and many more. Yoshi assisted John Lee Beatty on many Broadway shows, such as Doubt and The Color Purple. Yoshi is a member of the United Scenic Artists, Local 829.
Congratulations to the Senior Dancers!
FELICIA GARRO ‘23 is a Dance major, Graphic Design minor. She studied ballet and modern at the New Bedford Ballet School. Felicia has an internship with the Princeton Ballet School (PBS), the official school of American Repertory Ballet (ARB), which gives her the opportunity for more dancing experience outside of school. This summer, Felicia will be joining PBS as a full-time Trainee dancer, which will give her more opportunities to dance with ARB’s company dancers.
MELISSA JUAREZ ‘23 is a double major in elementary education and dance studies with a minor in special education. While at Rider, Melissa has been a dance mentor, the Vice President/member/choreographer of Rider Dance Ensemble, a member of the Rider Dance Team, and also was an Embedded Tutor. She has made the Dean’s List every semester and was a recipient of the Andrew J. Rider Scholar award in 2022. This is her fourth Rider Dances.
SHANNIN KAVANAGH ’23 is an Elementary Education and Dance Studies double major with an ESL minor. She is part of the Student Education Association for her future career as a teacher. She is also on the Rider Dance Team and choreographs and performs for Rider Dance Ensemble. Shannin is a dance teacher at The Dance Network. Shannin has been dancing her whole life and is excited to perform in her last Rider Dances show.
CASSANDRA KRICK ‘23 is a double major in Elementary Education and Dance Studies with a double minor in Early Childhood Education and Special Education. During her time at Rider, Cassie has been a dance mentor, a member, and a choreographer of Rider Dance Ensemble and was the Production Stage Manager for Senior Capstones. She was the recipient of the Andrew J. Rider Scholar award in 2021. She has performed in Rider Dances for three years.
ALAYNA RUBACH ‘23 is a senior Dance Science major. She is a member and choreographer in Rider Dance Ensemble, and has previously served as the Treasurer and President. She has performed in Rider Dances every year, and has also served as a mentor within the dance program. Additionally, she has performed twice in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. She plans to attend graduate school to obtain a Master’s degree in Athletic Training after graduation.
