Dance Concert at Coker -- TRANSFORMATIONS

The following is a release from Coker's Barb Steadman about this weekend's College Dance Concert at the Watson Theater on the Coker College campus.

Dance Program to Present “Transformations
The Coker College Dance Program will present “Transformations: A Faculty and Guest Artist Dance Concert” Feb. 24, 25 and 26, each evening at 7:30 p.m., in the Watson Theater in the Elizabeth Boatwright Coker Performing Arts Center.
“The dance program was thrilled when the guest company Doug Varone and Dancers from New York City was able to extend its residency at Coker this past fall,” said Associate Professor of Dance and coordinator of Coker’s dance program Angela M. Gallo. “While they were here, Mr. Varone introduced the beautiful work ‘Bench Quartet’ to our students, who are truly looking forward to this opportunity to share it with our community.”
In addition to “Bench Quartet,” the concert will feature six other very different dance works. It will include, for example, “Loneliness Fragment,” a mysterious dance theater work set by Brazilian choreographer Lara Cerqueira.
Another piece, “Particle Influence,” choreographed by Gallo, showcases a contemporary ballet work that incorporates the interactive video software "Isadora." In this piece, video projections accompany the dancers’ exploration of energy as it is distorted though the physics concept of “spacetime.”
Set to a sound collage composed by choreographer Erin Leigh, an assistant professor of dance at Coker, "Just Passing Through" seeks to represent those brief encounters we have with others as we are traveling through a place. The choreography was based on the uniqueness of the cast and is a collaboration of movement invention by the dancers and Leigh.
The concert will also feature the senior thesis projects of Hannah Beard and Kayla Webb. Beard, inspired by the impressionist paintings of Monet, has created a piece that explores change. Webb will present an especially moving piece that deals with forms of child abuse.
Finally, Coker alumna Heather Watkins will perform a set titled “Wild Chile” that offers a glimpse back to the 1960s, the glory days of Rock.
Tickets are $5 for general admission. Admission is free for Coker faculty, staff and students. For more information, please contact Dance Program Coordinator Angela M. Gallo at 843-383-8381 or agallo@coker.edu.