The Laura C. Harris "Symposium on Gendered Borders" program will present a performance installation conceived by jill sigman/thinkdance. The work, titled "RUPTURE: A Strange Requiem," will be open from 7:30 until 10:30 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday evenings (March 30-31) at the Mulberry MIX Lab Front Room (202 North Mulberry St.) The audience is expected to arrive at any time during the installation's open hours. The evenings are free and open to the public without tickets or reservations.

RUPTURE is a multi-media performance installation. Sigman describes it thusly: "RUPTURE is a feverish dream, a strange requiem, an Alice in Wonderland story in a time of disorder. Set in a charged landscape that includes hundreds of broken eggshells, the work weaves together the story of an acute calf injury with Sigman's travels in India, Berlin and New Orleans to explore breaking and healing on personal, architectural and global scales."

On Friday night, Sigman will install a newly-conceived version of the parent piece RUPTURE which premiered in New York City's Dancespace on this past February 7. Participants will include guest artists/performers Jill Sigman (choreographer), Donna Costello (dancer), and Kristin Norderval (musician).

Saturday night's installation, guided by Sigman's core ideas and mentored by the guest artists as well as Denison faculty members Alexander Mouton (Art), Gill Wright Miller (Dance), HyeKhung Lee (Music), and Christian Faur (Computing Services), was created by Denison University students from all five of the fine arts departments. Sigman's two-week residency at Denison was coordinated by Miller, an associate professor of dance and women's studies. Students involved include: Seniors -- Michael Craig, Jon Efe, Jordan Fehr, Mariel Gallett, Max Marshall, Matthew Messmer, Justin Scott and Onaisee Syeed; Juniors -- Eric Nelson, Tasmin Pepin-Perry and Julian Phillips; Sophomores -- Ilke Akcasoy, Theresa Daniel, Asad Khan and Kat Lenhart; and First Year Student -- Leigh Courtney.

Founded in 1998, "jillsigman/thinkdance" presents work that exists at the intersection of dance, theatre and visual installation, often using non-traditional environments, formats and ways of engaging the viewer. Trained extensively in classical ballet at the Joffrey Ballet School and Ballet Center of Brooklyn, Sigman discovered traditional modern dance forms at Princeton University, where she earned a certificate in theatre and dance in 1989. Eventually pursuing graduate studies at Princeton in analytic philosophy, Sigman became increasingly interested in linking her continuing work in dance and performance with the philosophical questions she was exploring.

The company has received support from the New York State Council on the Arts, the Puffin Foundation and the Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation. She has had works commissioned by Dixon Place, the University of Iowa and the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center.

Calendar Listing:

CALENDAR LISTING: Denison University, Granville -- "RUPTURE: A Strange Requiem," a multi-media performance/installation; anytime between 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on Friday (March 30) and/or Saturday (March 31) in the front room of Mulberry House (202 N. Mulberry Street). Enter and exit at any time. Free and open to the public without reservations. Call 740-587-6712 to confirm information.

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.

For press inquiries:

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