News

December 4, 2018

Lewis Center for the Arts presents End-of-Semester Showings in Dance

The Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Dance will present a series of showings of dances, new choreography, and visual artworks created by students during the past semester on December 12 and 14 and January 17 in various locations in the Lewis Arts complex on the Princeton University campus. All performances are free and open to the public.

dancers in forum

In the Lewis Arts complex forum, students perform new work created in “Introduction to Choreography” during the spring 2018 semester. Photo by Justin Goldberg

The schedule for the end-of-semester showings of student work and performances is as follows:

On Wednesday, December 12 at 1:00 p.m. in the Forum, there will be a presentation from “Introduction to Contemporary Dance,” taught by Alexandra Beller. In this course, students tried on various identities within dance — mover, creator, performer, writer, historian — in an attempt to learn holistically about contemporary dance. Following at 3:15 p.m. in the Hearst Dance Theater there will be a presentation from “The American Dance Experience and Africanist Dance Practices,” a popular studio course taught by Dyane Harvey-Salaam that introduces students to American dance aesthetics and practices, with a focus on how its evolution has been influenced by African American choreographers and dancers.

Students will present new choreography they have created on Friday, December 14 starting at 11:30 a.m. in the Hearst Dance Theater from the first section of “Choreography Workshop I” taught by Rebecca Lazier and “Choreography Workshop II” taught by Dean Moss. Students in Rebecca Stenn’s “Choreography Workshop III” will show new work along with the second section of Lazier’s “Choreography Workshop I” at 2:00 p.m. also in the Hearst Dance Theater. Focusing on contemporary practices and performance, students in these courses worked in movement-based laboratories and presented original choreography each week. Students also learned to discuss and critique the work of their peers, combining readings and viewings to contextualize their studies. Throughout the semester, students learned decision-making choreographic skills and developed dance pieces around central ideas.

On Thursday, January 17, 2019 at 3:00 p.m., students will present work from “Body and Object: Making Art that is both Sculpture and Dance,” co-taught by Program in Dance director and choreographer Susan Marshall and Program in Visual Arts director and sculptor Martha Friedman. Students in this interdisciplinary course created sculptures that relate directly to the body and compel performance, interaction, and movement. The class considers how context informs perceptions of the borders between performance, bodies, and objects. Work will be on view January 17-31 in the Hurley Gallery at the Lewis Arts complex, with related performances at 3:00 on the 17th.

For more information on these events, the Program in Dance, or any of the more than 100 performances, exhibitions, readings, screenings, concerts, and lectures presented annually by the Lewis Center for the Arts, most of them free, visit arts.princeton.edu.

Press Contact

Steve Runk
Director of Communications
609-258-5262
srunk@princeton.edu