Spring Faculty Dance Concert

Friday, April 4, 2025 at 7:00pm
Patricelli ’92 Theater, 213 High Street, Middletown

Saturday, April 5, 2025 at 7:00pm
Patricelli ’92 Theater, 213 High Street, Middletown

A collection of new works by Associate Professor of the Practice in Dance Doug Elkins, Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance Dewati Rahmayani, and Visiting Instructor in Dance Kellie Lynch.

Lynch will perform a duet with collaborator Lindsey Bauer.

Rahmayani will perform the dance Golek Jangkung Kuning accompanied by musician Talcha Sultanik Hanalaneng on kendhang (Javanese drum). Golek Jangkung Kuning tells the story of a teenage girl who loves to take care of her body and dress up. The title comes from the words jangkung and kuning. Jangkung means tall, while kuning means yellow. Another opinion states that the term Jangkung Kuning refers to the leader of the Netherlands who colonized Indonesia at that time, and this dance was created to satirize the colonialists. The variety of movements in the work is flirtier and more expressive than other Javanese dances. The character of this dance tends to be humorous as can be heard from the lyrics sung by the sindhen (Javanese singer). This dance was first danced by a sindhen (Indonesian female singer) in 1931.

Profiles

Associate Professor of the Practice in Dance Doug Elkins is a two-time New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Award-winning choreographer and 2012 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Creative Arts Fellow. He began his dance career as a b-boy and house dancer, touring the world with break/house dance groups New York Dance Express, The Royal Rockers, and Magnificent Force, among others. Elkins has also performed with and collaborated with Rennie Harris and the legendary House of Ninja (Voguing). Elkins is a recipient of significant choreographic commissions and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Yard on Martha’s Vineyard (Paul Taylor Fellowship 1991 and Resident Artist 2011-2013), Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, The Joyce Theater Foundation, Arnhold Foundation, Dianne and Daniel Vapnek Family Fund, National Performance Network, Jerome Foundation, Choo-San Goh and H. Robert Magee Foundation, and the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts. Elkins is artistic director of doug elkins choreography, etc. which has toured nationally and internationally with works including Fräulein Maria (2006), Mo(or)town/Redux (2012), and O, round desire (2017). Between his current and original companies (Doug Elkins Dance Company 1988 - 2003), he has created over 40 works. He was among the first choreographers commissioned by the late Paul Taylor to make work on Paul Taylor American Modern Dance; The Weight of Smoke premiered at Lincoln Center in March 2016 and remains in their tour repertory. A graduate of SUNY Purchase, Elkins received his MFA in Dance from Hollins University/ADF in 2007. His tenure teaching at The Beacon School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan is the subject of Where the Dance Is, a short film by Marta Renzi.

Kellie Ann Lynch (she/her) co-founded Elm City Dance Collective (ECDC) in New Haven and spent nearly two decades serving the greater New Haven community through the collective’s original productions, dance festivals, workshops, jams, classes, community performance/activism projects, kids programming, and more. While serving as ECDC’s co-artistic Director, Lynch also danced with Adele Myers and Dancers and David Dorfman Dance for many years, as well as with Kate Weare Company and doug elkins choreography, etc. As a freelance artist, Lynch has worked with many incredible choreographers along the East Coast and has received several artist fellowships to support her own choreography. Lynch is a somatic movement educator and holds a BA in Dance from Rhode Island College and an MFA in Dance from Smith College.

Lindsey Bauer (she/they) is a dance artist and teacher-leader. Bauer is a member of the dance department faculty at Towson University, and co-leads a Professional Learning Community in the Connected Arts Network whereby participants build capacity to integrate equity, diversity, inclusion, access, and social-emotional learning in their classrooms. Bauer is co-author of the online course “Gender Inclusivity in the Dance Classroom” (2024). She is the co-artistic director of Elm City Dance Collective, and has worked with artists Kellie Ann Lynch, Àdéjóke Àdéronke Túgbíyélé, Luis Antonio, Mestre Efraim Silva, Cai Ying, Phoebe Hui, Lee Sher and Saar Harari, Olushola Cole, and Rachel Bernsen.

Dewati Rahmayani is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance at Wesleyan University. She is the delegation from the Royal Palace of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Rahmayani teaches Javanese dance, specifically Yogyakarta classical dance. She started learning Yogyakarta classical dance in 2009 by joining dance communities in Yogyakarta. From there, her interest in Javanese dance grew. In 2011, she had the opportunity to learn Javanese dance at the Royal Palace of Yogyakarta and was appointed as Abdi Dalem of the Royal Palace of Yogyakarta in 2018. Abdi Dalem is the devoted caretaker of the Royal Palace in Java. The role of Abdi Dalem is considered an honorable duty that is passed down through generations. Rahmayani is an Abdi Dalem who specializes in dancing; she has danced various types of Javanese dances. There are countless dance performances that she has danced, one of which was in November 2018, when she was one of the delegates from the Royal Palace of Yogyakarta who participated in a cultural mission to the United States and performed at Wesleyan University and Asia Society New York.

Talcha Sultanik Hanalaneng is a musician, drummer, songwriter, and art enthusiast. He studied music at Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta as a percussion major (2011-2018). He started his new journey as an Abdi Dalem who specializes in western music in the Royal Palace of Yogyakarta in 2020, playing percussion for the Yogyakarta Royal Orchestra and for classical dance performances. In the middle of 2022, he became project manager for the Yogyakarta Royal Orchestra, classical dance performances, and another culture and art events of the Yogyakarta Royal Palace.