Bates Modern Dance Company to perform
The Bates College Modern Dance Company, under the artistic direction of Marcy Plavin, presents Idle Dreams, a concert showcasing the talents of students, faculty and guest choreographer Tere O’Connor at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 21; at 8 p.m. Friday, March 22; at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 23; and at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 24 in Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College Street. The public is invited to attend free of charge with no reservations accepted. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information about the performances, call the Schaeffer Theatre Box Office at 207-786-6161. Please note that the program Thursday and Saturday will vary from the program on Friday and Sunday.
The concert features Screamless by the New York-based O’Connor, who explained, “If you think stroking your hair, patting your heart and tapping your lip are just pedestrian gestures that have no place in dance, think again.” Since 1982 O’Connor has created more than 30 works for his company, including The Organizations of Sadness (1986), In and Around Your House (1987), Heaven Up North (1988), Nursing the Newborn Pig (1991), Your Baby Goes to Tender (1995) and Hi Everybody (1999).
O’Connor’s work has been produced at major venues in New York, including the Joyce Theater, St. Mark’s Church Danspace Project, Dance Theater Workshop, Performance Space 122, The Kitchen and Symphony. Frequent guests at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts, he and his troupe have also performed throughout Europe, South America and Canada.
O’Connor has created numerous commissioned works for dance companies around the world, including de Rotterdamse Dansgroep in Holland and Carte Blanche in Norway. O’Connor created Greta in the Ditch (1995) for Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project.
The annual spring modern dance concert also includes many student pieces, including among others, Future Shock, choreographed by sophomore Yuzo Yamazaki of Chigasaki, Japan; Two of Us, by junior Sara Miller of Farmington; and Hesitations, by sophomore Julie Gage of Clinton, Mass. Guest choreographer W. Barry Dean, a member of the Bates College dance faculty, will also present work.
