The Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Dance at Princeton University presents dissonance, a dance concert premiering new and adapted works. The concert will include a new group piece by faculty member Rebecca Lazier; new group pieces by seniors Jonathan Golden and Gigi Pacheco; a solo work by choreographer Adriana Pierce, performed by senior Lucy Sirrs; a solo work by Princeton alumnus Enver Ramadani, performed by Anastasia Poverin; and a duet work by the founder of YY Dance Company and New York City-based choreographer Yue Yin, performed by seniors Heather Samberg and Emma Wang.
Performances are on Friday, March 24 at 8:00 p.m. and Saturday, March 25 at 2:00 and 8:00 p.m. at the Hearst Dance Theater in the Lewis Arts complex on the Princeton campus. The performances are free and open to the public, however advance tickets are required through University Ticketing. The Hearst Dance Theater is an accessible venue with wheelchair and companion seating in the front row. The March 24 performance will be open-captioned. An assistive listening system is available. Guests in need of other access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at least one week in advance at LewisCenter@princeton.edu.
Cultivated by senior Jonathan Golden and comprised of seven female dancers from across the University, “The Crow” seeks to explore the physical manifestation of mental illness through the words of writer, speaker, and “philosophical entertainer” Alan Watts. The piece explores the breaking down and coming together of individuals in a shared community space, evinced through caring moments and self-reflection. Golden, who is not performing in the piece, is a senior focusing on the anthropology of dance and relied extensively on collaboration with student artists Isabel Kingston, Clara McNatt, Kristen Umbriac, Sophie Main, Yukiko Chevray, Madison Qualls, and Makenzie Hymes.
Cast members of Professor of the Practice Rebecca Lazier’s new work “With Each (a)Part” in rehearsal for the performances on March 24-25. Photo by Jon Sweeney
Professor of the Practice Rebecca Lazier choreographed “With Each (a)Part” in collaboration with the performers, seniors Becca Berman, Payton Croskey, Kyle Ikuma, Gigi Pacheco, and Lucy Sirrs. Working with music by Laurie Anderson, Julius Eastman, Julia Kent, and Pamela Z, “With Each (a)Part” uses rhythm and repetition to reveal ways of being together. Slow shifts of perspective pulse against whirlwinds of movement and stillness; individuals burst from groupings; and forms emerge only to dissolve again. “With Each (a)Part” seeks to find community in subtle and striking juxtapositions.
Senior Gigi Pacheco’s original work, “in light of (de)construction,” explores the experience of holding liminal identities, that is, what it means to navigate between disparate social worlds, each of which may contain conflicting expectations or norms, and how individuals make sense of themselves in the process. Dancers navigate the boundedness of existing in worlds governed by unique sets of rules and the boundlessness of transcending beyond. The work is framed by the composition, layering, and decomposition of acoustic and electronic works by Hispanic artists in an original score by Lewis Center Resident Music Director and Composer Vince di Mura. Pacheco is a senior in the Department of Sociology, studying socioeconomic inequality and the family. She is joined by fellow students Isabelle Clayton, Chris Park, Heather Samberg, and Kiara Wassoodew.
Guest artist Adriana Pierce’s new solo piece, “LUCY,” is a celebration of identity, at once discordant and whole. It explores identity formation as the integration of the dancer’s incongruous selves, reconciling the values of her childhood home in Montana with those of her emerging life on the East Coast, embracing the realization of her queer identity, and making space for dance and movement as she enters the professional academic world. The piece is performed by Lucy Sirrs, a senior in the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, who is pursuing a certificate in gender and sexuality studies in addition to dance. Pierce is a choreographer, director, and dancer trained at the School of American Ballet whose career encompasses work for Broadway, film and TV. Recognized in 2022 by Dance Magazine as one of “25 to Watch,” Pierce is founder of #QueerTheBallet, an initiative with the mission to widen the scope of classical ballet by producing queer work by queer dance artists. Pierce’s choreographic work features movement and partnering that allows dancers of all genders equal agency, and it has been performed by American Ballet Theatre and Carolina Ballet, among others, and featured at numerous dance festivals.
Alumnus Enver Ramadani’s new solo work, “Stitch,” explores the gravity of solitude and the hidden truths behind individuals’ perceptions of one another. It both challenges and leans into the proclivity towards peering into each other’s lives. The piece is performed by Anastasia Poverin, a senior in the Department of Economics, who is pursuing certificates in finance, Russian language and culture, and dance. Ramadani graduated from Princeton in 2021, where he studied public policy with a focus on counterterrorism and received a certificate in dance. While at Princeton, he was a member of and the artistic director of BodyHype Dance Company. He currently works as the content and program manager for Neo, a startup accelerator, venture fund, and mentorship community for young engineers.
Guest artist Yue Yin’s work, an excerpt from “An Essential Point,” is a duet set on two female dancers. The work features strength, support, and unspoken understanding between the two. The dancers in the piece are seniors Heather Samberg, a religion major, and Emma Wang, a neuroscience major. Yin is an internationally recognized performer, choreographer and the founder and artistic director of YY Dance Company (YYDC). Yin studied at the prestigious Shanghai Dance Academy and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where she received her M.F.A. in 2008. In 2018, Yin founded YYDC, a New York City-based, nonprofit contemporary dance company dedicated to the teaching, production and performance of original choreographic works by Yin. The company incorporates Yin’s signature FoCo Technique, which represents a dynamic fusion of Chinese dance, folk, and contemporary movement language into live performances and choreographic commissions, as well as educational endeavors. Yin was the recipient of the 2021 Harkness Promise Award and winner of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago 2015 International Commissioning Project, the 2015 BalletX Choreographic Fellowship, and Northwest Dance Project’s 5th Annual Pretty Creatives International Choreographic Competition in 2013.
The Program in Dance, now in its 52nd year, has grown to include five full-time and nine adjunct faculty and offers 23 different courses serving more than 400 students each year and a curriculum that includes introductory courses, courses suited for dancers at the pre-professional level, as well as courses in dance studies and interdisciplinary contemporary practices. Seniors earning a certificate in dance undertake a course of study and performance, co-curricular classes, technical hours, and an independent project such as choreographing a new work, performing a new or repertory work by a professional guest choreographer or faculty member, or a work of dance scholarship. Dissonance represents these seniors’ work in pursuit of a certificate. They are joined by six other seniors who are presenting original choreographic works in other performances this spring: Naomi Benenson, Becca Berman, Leah Emanuel, Michael Garcia, Mandy Qua, and Camryn Stafford.
Per Princeton University policy, all visitors are expected to be either fully vaccinated, have recently received and prepared to show proof of a negative COVID test (via PCR within 72 hours or via rapid antigen within 8 hours of the scheduled visit), or agree to wear a face covering when indoors and around others.
Visit the Lewis Center website to learn more about the Program in Dance and the more than 100 performances, exhibitions, readings, screenings, concerts and lectures presented each year by the Lewis Center for the Arts.
