The Dance Program of the Department of Drama at the University of Virginia presents its Fall Dance Concert on November 7 – 9 at 8:00 p.m. in the Culbreth Theatre.  This fall’s concert will feature the works of faculty, students, and guest choreographers for an evening of performance that explores multiple perspectives and themes through the medium of dance.

This semester the Dance Program is pleased to present the work of two Charlottesville based guest artists: Faith Levine and Katharine Birdsall.  Ms. Levine received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Modern Dance from the University of Utah in 2005. When asked about her newest work for this concert, Undercurrent, Levine stated that she “was inspired by the calming influence of the ocean, even within its constant rolling movements and predictable lack of consistency.”  Faith began practicing Pilates in 1998 as a complement to her dance training and has been teaching Pilates for over a decade. Currently, she is a Senior Instructor at Posture Studio Pilates in Charlottesville and teaches Dance Conditioning at ACAC.   

Dance artist and choreographer Katharine Birdsall will present her piece Proscenium, which addresses the fourth wall of the theatre in a conventional fashion and then half way through complicates this convention with a reversal of the wall.  The dancers’ arch and spiral through the space and around each other in articulate, full-bodied movement. The spatial play develops the relationship between the dancers until, at last, they start to let go of these constructs and play with the tension between the proscenium and their own relationships.  Birdsall has studied, taught, performed and presented work both nationally and internationally since1991. Katharine was a founding and directing member of the Zen Monkey Project and holds a BFA from TISCH School of the Arts at NYU, is an AMSAT certified teacher of the Alexander Technique (Charlottesville), and a 200-hour RYT in yoga (Body, Mind Spirit in Chapel Hill, NC).

Two members of the dance faculty, Lecturer Meredith Sutton and Associate Professor and Artistic Director of Dance Kim Brooks Mata, will present pieces in the Fall Dance Concert.  Sutton’s piece Notes on Transition, whose title gives a nod to Susan Sontag’s daring literary work, explores the wrenching unpredictability experienced in times of transition and its undoubted rootedness in community and isolation.  Sutton, a native of New Orleans, is a dance educator and choreographer. Inspired by the postmodern dance aesthetic, Sutton’s choreography blends pedestrianism with athleticism. Her choreographic body of work has garnered national attention, most notably in selection for performance at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, three American College Dance Association Gala Concerts, and the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. Sutton holds a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of Southern Mississippi and a MFA in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College.

Brooks Mata’s most recent piece, indelible, was created with 9 student dancers and developed out of a desire to examine how a moment or a shared experience can leave lasting impressions.  This work explores how impressions can linger and continue to reverberate, shift, and manifest within and through us in various ways.

In addition to the above works, two undergraduate students created original pieces for this concert. Carolyn Diamond’s piece https://bit.ly/IqT6zt “explores the relationships we have with media, social media, and ourselves. This piece seeks to navigate how we come to understand ourselves through and despite the technology that has come to define our time. Can we really know ourselves through all the distraction?” Erin Perry’s At the end of the day… employs expansive and intricate movement to question critical perceptions in relation to our images of self.

Tickets for the Fall Dance Concert can be purchased online, by calling 434-924-3376 or in person at the UVA Arts Box Office, located in the lobby of the UVA Drama Building, open Monday through Friday from noon until 5:00 p.m.

Tickets are $7 for adults, $6 for seniors, UVA Faculty/Staff, and UVA Alumni members, and $5 for students. Full-time UVA students may receive one free ticket if reserved at least 24 hours in advance of their desired performance date.

Free parking on performance nights is available in the Culbreth Road Parking Garage, located next to the Drama Building.