“SCRIPPS DANCES,” the annual spring concert of the Scripps College Dance Department featuring original dance pieces choreographed by students and faculty, takes place on April 21 at 8 p.m. and April 22 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. in Garrison Theater of the Scripps College Performing Arts Center. The program features original dance-theater works choreographed by students, faculty, and renowned guest artists.
The box office opens at 6 p.m. for evening performances and at 1 p.m. for the matinee. General admission is $10 and $5 for seniors, students, and Claremont Colleges faculty and staff. Payment is accepted by cash or check only. For general concert information, please call (909) 607-2934.
SCRIPPS DANCES is the highlight of the dance department’s spring calendar and presents an eclectic range of dance styles. This year’s concert features Jackie Lopez & Leigh Foaad of the acclaimed Versa-Style Dance Company. Their original work Warriors of Light brings together the virtuosity and vitality of each student performer in an inspiring dance about solidarity and resilience. The evening also presents three new works by Scripps College’s Dance faculty. Phylise (Fatou) Smith’s Koredjuga/Komedenu introduces Komedenu dance movements yet to be seen in the US, and performed to a Malinke’ dance/drum rhythm.
Ronnie Brosterman’s duet Time Refracted, inspired by Richard Cameron-Wolfe’s score for cello and piano, explores a shifting relationship made visible through the use of a simple rope, with live music by pianist Gayle Blankenburg (Pomona/Scripps faculty) and cellist Susan Lamb Cook (UC Davis faculty). Sustain is an original dance choreographed by Suchi Branfman in collaboration with 5C students and inmates of the California Rehabilitation Center. Focusing on what sustains them, in and outside of prison walls, the piece reflects the stories, gestures and ideas from their time generating movement and spending time with one another. The multiple layers of contradiction experienced during the collaboration – physical freedom in the context of confinement, bounding leaps under full surveillance – reveal the complexities of this cherished experience.
Scripps dance major Sharon Keenan’s Try It On, Make It Fit explores systems that exclude underrepresented communities from opportunities while perpetuating competition to fit an idealized norm in this second installment of her senior thesis project. Scripps senior Maile Blume fuses text and movements to explore the challenges of locating oneself within the confines of institutional environments and Rae Fredericks, also a graduating senior and dance major, navigates intimacy and interconnectedness during polarizing times. Pitzer senior, Madelyn Shaughnessy and Scripps junior, Cynthia Irobunda, perform two new solos, In and Out and Meta, and Scripps junior, Jenny Sheasley presents Together, a unique combination of acrobatics and ballet pointe work. Combined, the ten works in Scripps Dances paint a compelling series of portraits for our time.