New England Dance on Tour
Friday, February 14, 2020 at 7:30pm
CFA Theater
$28 general public; $26 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, non-Wesleyan students; $6 Wesleyan students, youth under 18
Four regional dance artists showcase the diversity and richness of dance in New England: for the Storied Places Project, Wesleyan Dean of the Arts and Humanities and Professor of Dance, Environmental Studies, and African American Studies Nicole Lynn Stanton collaborates with Professor of Music and African American Studies Jay Hoggard on a work that explores the Great Migration. The Davis Sisters—the choreographic duo of Alexander and Joy Davis—combine physical rigor, theatrical structure, dramaturgical research, and glamour in their Connecticut debut, performing their work "Junk Drawer; Or the Inherited Utilitarian Archive of the Future” (2018). The cutting edge Boston-based tap dance company Subject:Matter directed by Ian Berg blurs the line between choreography and improvisation in their Connecticut debut, performing the work “Blowout” (2018). Scapegoat Garden, directed by Hartford native Deborah Goffe MA ’19, presents “Liturgy l Order l Bridge” (2017-2018), which considers dance and imagination an act of faith, and performance as communal ceremony. Her company is compelled by the centrality of the expressive body and imagination in the quest for transformation and to illuminate the human experience.
There will be a free community tap jam with members of Subject:Matter on Thursday, February 13, 2020 at 7pm at Vinnie's Jump and Jive, located at 424 Main Street in Middletown. Participants will be led through the process of dancing with live musicians from their band. Open to dancers of all ages to learn about jazz and tap dance.
Listen to a conversation with Nicole Lynn Stanton and Jay Hoggard about their collaboration on the work "Storied Places," which explores the Great Migration, as part of New England Dance on Tour on the Center for the Arts Radio Hour podcast on SoundCloud. Limited podcast series made possible by WESU Middletown.
Funded in part by the Expeditions program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional support from the six New England state arts agencies.
Read the Wesleyan Connection article "Stanton Announced as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs."
"One of the wonderful structures here on campus is that we do have a Center for the Arts and these beautiful spaces that are there and available and supportive of faculty work. Wesleyan has really distinguished itself by this deeply creative interdisciplinary process that engages the faculty, the students, the staff, so there's kind of a multi-layered and tiered kind of collaboration that I think is unique for us." Watch Wesleyan Provost, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Professor of Dance, Environmental Studies, and African American Studies Nicole Stanton and Chair of the Music Department and Professor of Music and African American Studies Jay Hoggard discuss their collaboration on the "Storied Places" project, which was performed in the Center for the Arts Theater in February 2020 as part of "New England Dance on Tour."
Nicole Stanton - "Threshold Sites: Feast" (2014) at Wesleyan on YouTube.
The Davis Sisters "Junk Drawer; Or the Inherited Utilitarian Archive of the Future” from Eric Mullis on Vimeo.
Subject:Matter directed by Ian Berg performing the work “Blowout” on YouTube.
“There’s nothing routine about the work of tap dancer and choreographer Ian Berg.”
—The Improper Bostonian
All Things Connecticut "Spotlight On the Arts" feature on Scapegoat Garden on YouTube.
Homepage images: (from left to right): The Davis Sisters by Heidi Wild, Scapegoat Garden by Jim Coleman, Subject:Matter courtesy of the artists, Storied Places Project by Brad Wakoff.
Thumbnail image: Storied Places Project by Brad Wakoff
Images above (clockwise from top left): The Davis Sisters by Heidi Wild, Scapegoat Garden by Jim Coleman, Storied Places Project by Brad Wakoff, Subject:Matter courtesy of the artists.