Denison’s department of dance will present four new works in a collection titled “AKA(S),” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 13, 14 and 15, at the Doane Dance performance space (231 West College Street). All performances are free and open to the public.

AKA(S) is an acronym representing the first names of the four choreographer/artists in the program; Adrienne Hawkins, Keith Thompson, Amalia Schelhorn and Sandra Mathern-Smith. Each of the guest artists spent a week at Denison teaching class, auditioning for their piece, setting a piece on students and rehearsing.

Hawkins, the artistic director of Impulse Dance, has taught at the American Dance Festival and extensively in Japan and Europe. She is an award-winning concert choreographer who has also choreographed rock musicals and videos. Her work’s title is “Ta-Ka-Ta Da” and features music by Sheila Chandra. The dancers are Ilke Akcasoy ’10, Elizabeth Giffin ’12, Samantha Hyde ’12, Kelsey Kerr ’11, Kayla Mahalchak ’12, Aprana Rao ’12 and Effi Taylor ’12.

“Unconscious Entrainment” the title of Thompson’s work, is derived from a scientific term that explains the neuroscience of dance. It addresses the propensity of humans, and only humans, to respond kinesthetically to rhythms. Thompson is a choreographer and teacher who formerly danced with the Trisha Brown Company and currently dances with the Bebe Miller Company. Thompson’s work will be performed by Ilke Akcasoy ’10, Kathleen Dean ’10, Courtney Ego ’11, Ana Mirzashvili ’12 and Alexandra Rose ’11.

Schelhorn’s piece, “Turtles All the Way Down,” references an old creation myth. In a light-hearted manner the ballet touches on universal themes of emergence and retreat into safety, the busy-ness of daily life, and reverence for the unfathomable. “Turtles” features the music of Karl Jenkins and the talents of dancers Kathleen Dean, Diana Dixon ’09, Brittany Jackson ’09, Jenna Kelly ’10, Heather Robertson ’10, Alexandra Rose ’11, and Kathryn Starrett ’11. Schelhorn is associated with the Canadian College of Performing Arts, Victoria, BC.

A video by Christian Faur and Mathern-Smith is integral to “We are Here and This is Now,” Mathern-Smith’s contribution to the event. This work asks the viewer to consider the relation of past to present. Through the projection of a mix of live, pre-recorded and buffered (live but recorded and played in a delay) video of the dancers, serving as a backdrop to the live performance, the dance and its various past iterations are made to happen simultaneously. Featuring music by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Hamza El Din and recorded sounds mixed by Terrence Karn, the work is performed by Ilke Akcasoy ’10, Diana Dixon’09, Alexandra Rose’11, Tricia Smit’10. Mathern-Smith is an associate professor of dance at Denison and explores improvisation as a performance form. She has been awarded more than 20 grants for her work from the Ohio Arts Council, Arts Midwest, Greater Columbus Arts Council, Wisconsin Arts Board, and the Portland Oregon Arts Commission, among others.

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