Princeton Dance Festival Reimagined
Presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Dance on
December 3, 2020, at 8:00 PM (EST)
Emergence and Discovery: Digital Dance Portraits (premieres)
Concept, Design, Editing and Directorial Consultant: Francesca Harper
Assistant Directorial Consultant: Marissa Maislen
Film Supervision and Editor: Derrick Belcham
Music Composition and Supervision: Vince di Mura
Costume Design and Supervision: Mary Jo Mecca
Endurance
Creation, Editing and Direction: Liam Lynch ’21*
Sound Design: Vince di Mura
Costume Design: Mary Jo Mecca
Special Thanks: My roommates Cristina, Alex, Maddie, and Andrew for supporting me through the process. Thank you also to my thesis advisor, Miguel, for helping guide my thinking.
Stretched
Creation, Editing and Direction: Leila Ullmann ’21*
Videography: Leila Ullmann ’21* and Alejandro Roig ’21
Sound Design: Vince di Mura
Costume Design: Mary Jo Mecca
Special Thanks: So much gratitude to the faculty and staff of the Program in Dance for all of the incredible amounts of creativity and support you have given to my final PDF.
Shadows Within
Creation, Editing and Direction: Emma Wang ’23
Videography: Emma Wang ’23
Music: Vince di Mura
Costume Design: Mary Jo Mecca
Special Thanks: My roommates
// CONVERSATION WITH THE ARTISTS //
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Creation, Editing and Direction: Camryn Stafford ’23
Videography: Camryn Stafford ’23
Soundscape Design and Editing: Camryn Stafford ’23
Costume Design: Mary Jo Mecca
Special Thanks: Asmani Sanders
Physically Here, Mentally Unavailable
Creation, Editing and Direction: Julie Shin ’22*
Videography: Julie Shin ’22*
Sound Construction: Vince di Mura
Costume Design Consultant: Mary Jo Mecca
Settle
Creation, Editing and Direction: Jonathan Golden ’22*
Videography: Malcolm Blinder ’22
Music: Bach Lute Suite in g minor
Costume Design: Mary Jo Mecca
Special Thanks: To Jess Sheehan and her father, Bill.
Wake
Creation, Editing and Direction: Tori Edington ’22*
Videography: Nicole Meister ’22
Music: Claude Debussy
Sound Design: Vince di Mura
Costume Design: Mary Jo Mecca
Special Thanks: Thank you to the Princeton Dance Program for all of your support and the successful re-imagining that made this work possible.
// CONVERSATION WITH THE ARTISTS //
Dear Windy
Creation, Editing and Direction: Leah Emanuel ’22*
Videography: Schuler Small
Original music and Soundscape: Vince di Mura
Costume Design: Mary Jo Mecca
My Mother
Creation, Editing and Direction: Molly Gibbons ’22*
Videography: Molly Gibbons ’22*
Costume Design: Mary Jo Mecca
Poem text and Performance: Molly Gibbons ’22*
While We Wait
Creation, Editing and Direction: Runako Campbell ’21*
Videography: Nyah Campbell
Sound Design and original music: Vince di Mura
Costume Design: Mary Jo Mecca
Special Thanks: Thank you to all of the faculty and staff of the Program in Dance for making my final Princeton Dance Festival a special one.
// CONVERSATION WITH THE ARTISTS //
Special Thanks to Susan Marshall, Mary-Susan Gregson, and Rebecca Lazier.
*denotes a certificate student in the Program in Dance
Creative Team Bios
DERRICK BELCHAM (Video Consultant and Editor) is a Canadian filmmaker based out of Brooklyn, New York, whose internationally-recognized work in documentary and music video has led him to work with such artists as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Laurie Anderson, Paul Simon and hundreds of others in music, dance, theater and architecture. He has created works and lectured at such institutions as MoMA PS1, MoCA, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Whitney Museum Of American Art, Musee D’Art Contemporain, The Philip Johnson Glass House, Brooklyn Academy of Music and The Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati. His work regularly appears in publications such as The New York Times, Vogue, Pitchfork, NPR and Rolling Stone as well as being screened at short, dance and experimental festivals and retrospectives around the world.
Photo by Nina Wurtzel
FRANCESCA HARPER (Faculty) joined and performed soloist roles with The Dance Theater of Harlem and later as a Principal Artist in William Forsythe’s Ballet Frankfurt. Francesca has choreographed for The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Richmond Ballet, and her own company, The Francesca Harper Project, which was founded in 2005 and tours Internationally. She performed in four Broadway productions including The Color Purple, then toured in leading roles in Sweet Charity, Sophisticated Ladies and Lady Day at Emerson Bar and Grill. She also served as a Ballet Consultant for the Oscar-winning film, Black Swan. Francesca Harper was Movement and Casting Director for the Bessie Award-winning piece “The Let Go” commissioned by the Park Avenue Armory and for Zendaya and Tommy Hilfiger’s Apollo Theater production for Fashion Week in 2019. She is currently engaged as Executive Producer with Sony Pictures on a series in development while pursuing an MFA in performance creation at Goddard.
MARISSA MAISLEN (Assistant Directorial Consultant) received her BFA in Dance at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. As a perfomer and aerialist, Maislen has created performance-installations for Microsoft, Clinique, Verizon and Nestle, along with toured abroad in Italy, Czech Republic and Bahrain. Maislen has led residencies at Hofstra and De Sale’s University. In 2013, Maislen joined Off-Broadway show Sleep No More and played eight different roles. Other collaborations include CreArtBox, Mostly Other People Do the Killing, David Lang’s Mile-Long Opera, and photographic series with Bill Hayward and David Michalek. In 2016, Maislen began working with The Francesca Harper Project (FHP) as Dancer, Rehearsal Assistant, and Project Manager. Maislen is also an established Yoga Instructor for the NYC Yoga Community, Dance Community, and Rock Climbing Community.
Programs for Individual Performances
View the Main Dance Festival Program information »
View the Program for November 23 performance choreographed by Peter Chu »
View the Program for December 4 performances led by Rebecca Lazier + Dean Moss »
View the Program for December 5 performances choreographed by Merce Cunningham staged by Silas Riener + choreographed by Olivier Tarpaga »