Dancescapes, the Fall Faculty Dance Concert, will showcase four independent pieces choreographed by dance department members. It will be performed at 8 p.m. on Thursday through Saturday (Nov. 16 to 18) in the Doane Dance Center. There will be an additional matinee performance at 2 p.m. on Saturday (Nov. 18).

Choreographed by faculty members Robert Cole, Sandra Mathern-Smith, Gill Wright Miller and Kay Poursine, the concert represents a gathering of widely varied dance forms and backgrounds: postmodern, ballet, Bharata Natyam, and contemporary dance. Performed by students, the concert is the culmination of a semester's worth of work.

Associate Professor and Chair of Dance Gill Wright Miller has created a post-modern work, "No Safety Zone," to the music of Ry Cooder. Miller conversed at length with the dancers, identifying shaping moments in their lives and then translating these experiences into movement. The seven four-minute solos were merged and are experienced simultaneously. This work will be danced by seniors Sara Harris, Jennifer Malaquias, and Jessica Ray; and juniors Brittany Gagne, Carleen Healy, Ilana Silverstein and Laura Spencer.

Ballet Instructor Robert Cole has created a showpiece demonstrating the 12 dancers' technical abilities. As yet untitled, Cole's work is not a story ballet. Rather, Cole's primary goal is entertainment of the audience. Inspired by the music from the ballet "Paquita" composed by Ludwig Minkus, the piece has a certain Spanish flair evident in the double pas de deux and the grand finale. Dancing this ballet are: seniors Emma Draves and Kerry Farrell; juniors Brittany Gagne, Chris Million and Sarah Enterline; sophomores Jessamyn Schmidt, Nick Hearing and Emily Stenken; and first-year students Allison Cartmell, Megan Cherry, Sarah Seitz and Desire Searles.

"Kriti: Ananda Natana," originally choreographed by T. Balasaraswati as a solo, has been set for seven Denison women by Kay Poursine, world dance assistant professor. Bharata Natyam is a highly narrative dance involving rhythmic stamping and stylized gestures. The dancers depict Siva, as well as their desire for him, to melodic Sanskrit poems of devotion to the god. Dancing in "Kriti" are: seniors Shala Agha, Aimee Codarmaz, Seema Kapur, Swathi Sridharan, and Floy Stewart; junior Emily Rybinski; and sophomore Ratna Sheth.

The concert concludes with "4 Square" by Associate Professor Sandra Mathern-Smith. As a work of contemporary dance, the piece demanded that Mathern-Smith create her own movement vocabulary rather than conforming to a traditional technique. The lifted wings leave dancers without space for exits and entrances, emphasizing the four-sided stage and a theme of the inevitable aging process. "4 Square" will be danced by: seniors Emma Draves, Sara Harris, Jennifer Malaquias, and Jessica Ray; junior Carleen Healy; sophomores Jessamyn Schmidt and Ratna Sheth; and first-year students Cassandra Smith, and Kathy Jorck.

Tickets for Dancescapes are $2 for students and $10 for general public. To reserve tickets contact Denison's Dance Department at (740) 587-6712.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

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