The use of cell phones, cameras, and recording devices without permission is strictly prohibited because it is dangerous to the performers and distracting to other audience members. Devices will be confiscated if seen being used during this evening’s performance. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.
Afro Fusion Vibes
African Dance and Drum Ensemble
Pirates
Tap
Putney Bridge Station
Elpiniki (Ellie) Tsapatsaris ‘24
Passing Contemporary Dance
<Intermission>
GEMS
Ballet 50/50
Hip-Hop
Kalbeliya
Miyake~Yatai Bayashi
Taiko
African Dance and Drum Ensemble
Choreography: Cachet Ivey
Ghanaian musical arrangement: Wesley Rast
Guest musicians: Brytiece Wallace, Terrell Johnson and Yusuf Young
Dancers: Allyssa J. Wiggins ‘23, Elizabeth Adwubi Agyei, Raquel M. James, Natassia M. Lowe, Mark R. Reyes, Aaliyah Bullen, Augustella Tessa Makiese
Lighting Design: James Murphy
Special Thanks: Wesley Rast, Levonne, James Murphy, LPAC staff, the cast and guest musicians
Choreography: Darrell Williams
Music:From Pirates of the Caribbean, by Hans Zimmer and Klaus Badelt
Dancers: Sarah Adebiyi, Sophia Becker, Bua Boonkongchuen, Brooke Bothner, Wyatt Brannon, Erin Chen ‘23, Zixi Gao, Zhengfei (Alex) Li, HaEun Karissa Lim, Mark Lohatepanont, Reid Mansur ‘23, Rose Palmieri, Jenna Takach, Ellie Tsapatsaris, Max Winig
Ballet choreography and performance: Samantha Sordi
Fight choreography and performance: Henry Cassel ‘23 and Daniel Oakes
Narration: Jason M. Boyer
Costume Design: Darrell Williams
Lighting Design: James Murphy, Darrell Williams
Special Thanks: Brielle Johnson, D’Andria Williams
Elpiniki (Ellie) Tsapatsaris ‘24
Choreography: Elpiniki (Ellie) Tsapatsaris
Music: St. Thomas by Sonny Rollins
Dancers: Avery Baumel HC, Sasha Casada, Henry Cassel ‘23, Brenda Feregrino, Simone Gingerich-Boberg, Natassia Lowe, Greta Matthies, Susan McHarris, Alexis Metoyer ‘23, Angel Su, Jenna Takach, Nzana Thillot, Max Winig
Lighting Design: James Murphy
Costume design: Elpiniki (Ellie) Tsapatsaris
Putney Bridge Station explores the lives of a group of characters on the train, who despite existing discretely, are briefly connected by time and place.
Special Thanks: LPAC Staff, Maggie Zhao and my Dance Lab II cohort, LeVonne Lindsay, and my incredible dancers for making my vision a reality!
Contemporary Dance
Choreography: Lingyuan (Maggie) Zhao
Music: Isobel Waller-Bridge
Dancers: Liya Chang, Yu-Yang Chen, Keira Dandy, Emily Lathers, Griffin Moore, Gabrielle Nash, Ayla Schultz, Finn Verdonk, Dart MacVeagh, Moss Wacker
Lighting Design: James Murphy
Costume Design: Lingyuan (Maggie) Zhao
<Intermission>
Ballet
Choreography: Amy Hall Garner
Music: Bach Dreams: III by Ben Palmer, Partita performed by Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin conducted by Jacques Ammon; Kenji Bunch, Swing Shift, for Piano Trio: VI, performed by the Ahn Trio
Rehearsal Director: Chandra Moss-Thorne
Dancers: Sasha Casada, Daniel Cho ‘15*, Simone Gingerich-Boberg, Angel Su with Jacqueline Acunto ‘23 (4/30), Avery Baumel HC, Katie Carlson ‘23, Caroline Eagly Cummings (4/29), Emma Gabriel (4/29), India Gray (4/30), Alexis Metoyer ‘23 (4/30), Elpiniki (Ellie) Tsapatsaris, Sarah Zanger
Lighting Design: DeAnna Howard Spring Dance
Concert Lighting recreated by James Murphy
Costume Design: Denisha Locke
World Premiere: March 31, 2023, Lang Performing Arts Center, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA
Program Notes: The premiere of GEMS was a collaboration between Collage Dance Collective and Swarthmore Dance supported by the William J. Cooper Foundation. In this iteration of GEMS, two new dancers have joined the cast and two student dancers have moved into principal roles created on the company.
Special Thanks: The William J. Cooper Foundation, Olivia Sabee, Amy Hall Garner, Susan Grossi, LPAC Team, LeVonne, Emma, Collage Dance Collective, Dance Program Faculty, and Karen(EVS). To the incredible artists in this work and the Pop Up “Tennis Shoe Ballet” dancers {Justin Hohn, Patrick Li, Sam Sordi, and Jenna Takach}, your commitment to having dance in your lives is inspiring.
50/50
Hip Hop
Choreography: Kyle “JustSole”Clark
Music: They Reminisce Over You by Pete Rock and CL Smooth, Da Goodness by Rodman and Method Man, UNITY by Queen Latifah, No Way by Osunlade
Staging: Kyle “JustSole” Clark
Dancers: Deven Ayambem, Myadaggarav Chuluundorj, Wooseung Jeong, Chi Jiang, Haoyu Wang, Cheng-Yen Wu, Xiaoya Yuan, Rachel Lapides, Finn Jg Verdonk
Lighting Design: Kyle “JustSole” Clark
Costume Design: Kyle “JustSole” Clark
Hip Hop is 50 years old! It’s time to celebrate its rich history and diversity!
Special Thanks: James Murphy, The LPAC team and LeVonne Lindsey
Kalbeliya
Choreography: Pritika Agarwal in collaboration with the dancers, musicians, and Chirmi Sapera
Music:
Tabla and daf (live) - Aqeel Bhatti
Tabla and shaker (live) - Chaitanya Motwane
Songs - Musafir (Sentadlee) and Kalyo by Musafir
Instrumental - Rajasthan Folk: Music of the Desert by Langas and Manganiars;
Alghoza Blues by Taga Ram Bheel and Anahad Foundation
Dancers: Vaidehee Durgude, Malavika Eby, Shriya Fruitwala HC’23, Sophia Puang, Janani Suresh HC’23, Unzel Tariq, Isha Upender HC’23, Max
Winig, and Daijing Xu ’23
Costume Design: LeVonne Lindsay, Sophia Puang, Vaidehee Durgude, Emmie Parker, and Rebecca Keating
Video:
Guest artist - Chirmi Sapera (Jaipur, India)
Videography - Ramji Sapera (Jaipur, India)
and Aqeel Bhatti (Swarthmore, USA)
Editing and translation - Pritika Agarwal
Illustrations - Daijing Xu ’23 and Malavika Eby
Projected text from bell hooks’ Communion (2002)
Kalbeliya
Kalbeliya, now designated as an Indian Folk dance and as Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, was conceptualized and developed by women from the Kalbeliya community of Rajasthan, India, from the 1980s onwards. Professional Kalbeliya artists, including Chirmi, are globally renowned for their dancing skills but their (and their elders’) work as singers and composers often goes unrecognized.
I am a practitioner of Kalbeliya dance and have studied with teachers based in Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Pushkar (Rajasthan). My ongoing PhD research (Dance Department, Temple University) focuses on women’s labor, and documents transnational and intermedial connections between industries of cultural production and circulation networks of Kalbeliya as an artistic practice emerging from the Global South.
Kalbeliya
I am grateful to have had this opportunity to connect the Swarthmore learning community with my teachers in Rajasthan. This academic year, in tandem with studying Kalbeliya’s technique and history through an anti-caste lens, we critically considered the politics and significance of including popular, social, vernacular, and folk dance forms in US higher education. As these dance forms invite us to do, we reflected on individual practice in community.
Special Thanks: Chirmi Sapera & Group, Ramji, Sumit, and Ranveer; Murph, Scott, Tom, Brady, Jules and LPAC Staff; LeVonne, Joe, Chandra, Bethany, Olivia, Pallabi Chakravorty, Susan Grossi, Jen Moore, Lindsay Raclaw, Susan Smythe, Jeff Oaster, Max, Lisa Shen, Viv Srinath, Karissa Lim, Nina Phillips, Amolina Bhat, and TriCo Mayuri; Natalie Hiratsuka, Mallika
Singhee, Ankita Agarwal, Indira Agarwal, Christina
Eltvedt, Emily Oleson, Sherril Dodds, Jayasinhji Jhala, Kartik Nair, American Institute of Indian Studies, Elizabeth Bergman and PoP Moves, Lizzie Leopold and Dance Studies Association, Jovonne Bickerstaff and American Council of Learned Societies – Intention Foundry. Projected text from bell hooks’ Communion (2002)
Arrangement:
Miyake - Traditional, arranged by Joe Smallinspired by Kodo’s arrangement and aspects of Miyakejima Geinou Doushikai; Soli features by STE members.
Yatai Bayashi - initial arrangement by Eitetsu Hayashi and Ondekoza c.1972, additional arranging by Joe Small.
Staging: Joe Small and Swarthmore Taiko Ensemble
Performers: Liya Chang, Pedro Cruz, Keira Dandy, Myles Farrall, Min Fruman, Abdul Jeter, Anna Jing, Emma Jin ‘23, Emily Lathers, Lucas Liu, Koji Flynn-Do ‘23, Kimiye Maeshiro ‘23 (BMC), Clara Mulligan, Kieran Mulligan (HC), Atalie Pierre-Louis (BMC), Quincy Ponvert ‘23, Kyra Roepke, Drake Roth, Paul Seth ‘23, Jack Spector, Neil Steinglass ‘23, Jaron
Tinsley, Moss Wacker, Rain White, Jennie Williams, Serena Yang, Joe Small
Costume Design: Joe Small
Lighting Design: James Murphy
Miyake is an arrangement of the drumming accompaniment, Miyake-jima Kamitsuki Mikoshi Daiko, of the Gozu Tennou Sai -- a festival held since 1820 on Miyake, a small volcanic island about 180 km south of Tokyo. This drumming follows the mikoshi (portable Shinto shrine) procession around the village of Kamitsuki. Most often preceded by the ceremonial pattern known as Kagura, as well as Kiyari -- a work chant/song, literally referring to “carrying a tree’’, the drumming displays endurance and strength in low-to-the ground lunged stances.
The famous taiko ensemble Kodo first visited Miyake in 1982 to learn from local inn-keeper Akio Tsumura. Shortly thereafter, Kodo debuted a staged arrangement featuring non-native components of multiple drums, solo features, and modifications to techniques. Due Kodo’s success, increased interest from taiko practitioners resulted in the Tsumura family establishing a school in Tokyo to share their art -- a case of both ‘contemporary’ and ‘traditional’ working in tandem.
Yatai Bayashi (Music/Orchestra of the Carts) is a heavily modified arrangement of the music Chichibu Yatai Bayashi, featured in the 300-year-old Yo-Matsuri (Night Festival), held every December 2~3 in the town of Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture. Attendees pack Chichibu to witness six towering yatai (sacred carts), approximately 30 feet high and weighing between 10 to 20 tons, pulled by dozens through the narrow streets. From hidden alcoves in each yatai, drummers and shinobue flute players bring forth rhythms and melodies said to delight both gods and humans alike, spreading good fortune and health throughout the community.
In 1972, then-fledgling group Ondekoza (‘The Demon Drummers’) traveled to Chichibu to study the form. With members perplexed by the lilting shuffle and idiosyncratic playing differences between locals, member Eitetsu Hayashi created a modified arrangement out of field recordings. Dubbed Yatai Bayashi, the piece became synonymous with Ondekoza’s intense physicality -- and the art of taiko itself. The lilt turned into a forward-driving pulse. Modified dynamics and tempo (considered non-native to festival music) transported taiko from ‘folk’ into the postmodern. The sitting position required to play the taiko, initially determined by limited
space within the alcove, transformed into the infamous ‘sit-up’ position. In the 1980s, Yatai Bayashi became symbolic of Kodo’s holistic celebration of human interconnection, with a sitting position evocative of an embryo that knows only its mother’s heartbeat, manifesting the meanings of Kodo’s name -- ‘Heartbeat Drummers’/’Children of the Drum’.
Special Thanks:
Murph, Scott, Tom, Brady, Dom, LeVonne, Emmie, and LPAC staff, STE members past and present; Dance Program faculty, Kieran for the shinobue, Myles for the stands, the Tsumura family, LA and Australia Miyake Kai, Kodo, kenshuusei 26th cohort, Katsuji and Julia Asano, Aya Yoshino, Taikoz, Makoto and Norika Tashiro and the Koyu group, Mac Evans & Casual Fifth, Isaku Kageyama, Marco Lienhard, and last but not least Eitetsu Shisho and Fu-Un no Kai.
Director of the Lang Performing Arts Center:
James Murphy
Manager of Operations: Thomas Snyder
Production Stage Manager: Brady Gonsalves
Sound and Projection Engineer: Scott Burgess
Lighting Supervisor: Dominic Chacon
Live Stream Manager: Jeff Bagg
Assistant Stage Manager: Jules Kyung
Deck Crew: Nathaneal Brown, Maya Levine, Ana Sattler
Lightboard Op: Juna Saito, Jing Jing Gopinath, Maya Levine
Costume Shop Manager: LeVonne Lindsay
Dance Costume Coordinator: Emmie Parker
Photography: Sasha Fornari
Videography: Dave Tavani
Dance Program Editorial Assistant / Program Designer: Liya Chang ‘24
Faculty Concert Production Manager: Joseph Small
Pallabi Chakravorty
Stephen Lang Professor of Performing Arts
Olivia Sabee
Associate Professor and Chair
Joseph Small Assistant Professor
Kyle Clark Visiting Assistant Professor
Bethany Formica Bender Lecturer
Chandra Moss-Thorne Lecturer
Pritika Agarwal
Associate in Dance Performance
Aqeel BhattiI Associate in Dance Performance
Jennifer Chipman Bloom
Associate in Dance Performance
Shiva Das
Associate in Dance Performance
Ellen Gerdes
Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance
Cachet Ivey
Associate in Dance Performance
Wesley Rast
Associate in Dance Performance
Darrell Williams
Associate in Dance Performance
Lingyuan Zhao
Associate in Dance Performance
Susan Grossi
Associate in Dance Performance
Dance Lab Showing
Monday, May 1st, 5:00 PM
Troy Dance Studio, LPAC002
Free and Open to the Public
In case of emergency, please seek the LPAC or house staff for assistance and instructions.
Swarthmore College encourages persons with disabilities to participate in programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodations or have questions about the physical access provide, please contact the event sponsor or
Susan Smythe, ADA Program Manager,at 610-690-2063 in advance of your participation or visit
Evacuation Notice:
In the event of an EMERGENCY, please exit the theater through the nearest lighted exit, and then leave the building via the closest marked exit, including, if necessary, alarmed emergency exit doors.
If you have a disability and might require assistance with evacuation, please make yourself known to an usher or other staff member, and let them know what help you need.
In the event of an evacuation, if you see someone who might need assistance leaving the area, please either offer help yourself or alert a staff member to that person’s location.
