The ETC. Performance Series, established by Director, Charles Tyson, provides an opportunity for performance artists of all genres to show their work to new and diverse audiences in a more intimate and informal venue.

Music & Motion Dance, as part of their 10^th aniversary season, will be presenting works in porgress from their upcoming premiere of Bubble Wrapped. With Bubble Wrapped, the dance company explores textures, layers, sounds and light through a series of modern dance pieces that incorporate this unique, poptastic material. Featured dancers are Emily Alexander, Kristen Blundi, Breanna Dancy, Brooke Fiorito, Megan Ganter, Victoria Sarau, Britney Terra and Lindsey Terra. Choroegrpahy for this unique dance work is created as a group process by the dancers themselves.

Celebrating its tenth anniversary, Music & Motion Dance has established itself as a significant and vital modern, youth performance company, that is an integral part of Philadelphia’s arts and cultural scene. Since Steven Weisz founded Music & Motion Dance in 2000, the company has served as a platform to empower youth through dance, movement and the performing arts, ultimately building self-esteem and inspiring creative self-expression as well as community action and interaction. Steering away from competitions and recitals, typically offered to this age range, Weisz sought to expose his dancers to more professional venues as well as reach a wider range of audiences. The results have been magnanimous as this group continues to win both critical acclaim as well as a new fans.

Figure It Out: Kristen Blundi, Brooke Fiorito, Megan Ganter

15 Step: Emily Alexander, Breanna Dancy, Victoria Sarau, Brittney Terra, Lindsey Terra

Iris: Emily Alexander, Kristen Blundi, Breanna Dancy, Brooke Fiorito, Megan Ganter, Victoria Sarau, Brittney Terra, Lindsey Terra

To hear more about this poptastic material and day, listen to a short podacast from National Public Radio. ( http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122937636 )

Sherman hosts annual dance extravaganza on Sunday

Triskaidekaphobes might want to break the jinx by attending the 13th annual Mountain Dance Concert on Sunday at the Sherman Theater.

The concert is co-sponsored by the Fine Arts Discovery Series and PA Dance Vision, founded by Maria Triano. She explains that the idea of a dance concert corresponds exactly with its musical counterpart. The challenge is to present various pieces which have a pleasing variety while still adding to the overall theme or feeling of the event.

“It’s based in art. It’s not like a recital where everyone is standing on the same line. The choreographers are creating a visual statement, a vision. Their work is about different human conditions: ego, social issues or science. My job was to put together different individuals who had different statements to make,” Triano said.

Twelve dance companies and more than 70 dancers, mostly from eastern Pennsylvania, will combine their vision and talent for the production, which will feature dance styles such as hip-hop, fusion, tap and modern dance, as well as more classical forms like ballet.

Although all the performers are professional or semi-professional dancers, the program is really geared toward showcasing the skill of the choreographers in creating the outer form of what begins as an inner vision, according to Triano.

“Dance starts in the choreographer’s head. It’s grasped by the dancer, then performed out into the audience. I look for people who are up-and-coming artists, who have pre-professional and professional dancers,” she said.

The life experiences and interests of the choreographers include diverse works which ensure that the program has a visual and textural richness for the audience. Jill Fitzgerald studied with tap masters such as Buster Brown and LaVaughn Robinson. Ballet Northeast of Kingston presents dance in the classical tradition of Russia’s Kirov Ballet, while Music & Motion employs all of those with a splash of funk and acrobatic styles.

The experience is not lost on the choreographers and dancers who participate, either. Long-time participant Dr. Elizabeth Gibbons, head of East Stroudsburg University’s growing dance program, explained that the concert is like a dancer’s Christmas.

“Everybody’s going to be running around downstairs. Maybe you get the chance to talk to someone, for a minute. It’s a great experience for the students to come and see the talent and what a real production is like. Very often I see groups I didn’t even know existed. It’s like opening a big box of treasure. Once the curtains and lights are on stage, it glitters and glows like a box of hidden treasure,” she said.

Technical rehearsals are held on two separate nights to accommodate the schedules and distances the troupes have to travel, so that most dancers never see the other routines until the time of the concert.

“I’ve been involved off and on since (Triano) started it. Each group comes up on stage to see the size of the stage,” said Gibbons, and to attend to details of lighting and sound, so that each troupe has but a single bite at the technical apple.

Gibbons explained that most troupes have rehearsed the pieces innumerable times for other shows, and in fact pieces are sometimes conscripted for the concert after having been seen performing elsewhere, as was the case with the ESU contingent.

According to Triano, the bad old days of receiving tapes from choreographers in the mail are over, and the Internet makes selecting dance companies far easier than it was at the first Mountain Dance Concert. While interested choreographers still need to apply, provide mission statements and credentials, judging the quality of a studio’s work is less daunting than in the past.

“Thankfully nowadays it makes it a lot easier to pick the work. Through the beauty of YouTube I can look for choreographic excellence. First and foremost, I look at the choreographer’s work. There is a story to follow. Like watching a good movie, you want to watch a good dance. If you aren’t captivated, what’s the point?” Triano said.

Proceeds from the concert will help the Sherman Theater capital campaign as well as pay for a dance scholarship to a graduating high school senior who will major or minor in dance. Auditions for the scholarship will be held in late spring.

Refresh page to view again.

Dancer: Emily Alexander
Photo by Stephanie McDowell