Thank you for attending this performance of the 2022 Fall Dance Concert: Moving Forces.

We are incredibly excited to share with you new and re-staged works for you by faculty members Erica Helm, Daniel Padierna, Yauri Dalencour and guest choreographer Danielle Sten-Guillermo. Erica Helm's Blue Danube, Perpetuum Mobile and Voices of Spring were originally choreographed for the 1998 Viennese Opera Ball held in Washington, D.C., . . . hopefully your spirits will soar with the glorious music of Strauss as well as the joyful exuberance of our beautiful dancers! Daniel Padierna's masc4masc is a term which fetishizes society’s perception of men through a hyper-masculine lens. This male-presenting duet aims to challenge the socio-normative ideas of masculinity and calls attention to the denial of femininity in queer digital spaces. 2 U, choreographed by Danielle Sten-Guillermo, is a representation of the beauty of movement and the creative process as a community. We value the time we spend together and find deeper meaning in interpersonal connections. Finally, Yauri Dalencour presents Out of Body: Mine, Body and Those and Dialectic Art: Untrapped. Out of Body: Mine, Body and Those is a dance and new media performance where monologue and movement are used to explore impacts inequality, discrimination, bias, the - “isms” and so forth have on mental health. Dialectic Art: Untrapped is another dance and media performance where dialogue between dancers and art pieces (conflict, opposition, discovery and unity) are used to explore visual culture, exhibition and visibility to show the use of personal voice, perspective, crafting narrative and deconstructing socially constructed norms and expectations.

Dance is a universal form of expression that strives to communicate; be it to form community, worship, philosophize, entertain, share stories, express emotions or give visualization to aspirations, struggles and triumphs. In all cases, there is a sharing of information that happens when the performing body moves and is viewed by others . . . and the identification of meaning is based on the many individual & unique factors that each viewer, (including you!), brings to the performance experience.

I hope you enjoy this performance and invite you to become a Friend of the Conservatory with a contribution to the Dance Division. Your support helps this, and future, dance initiatives provide current and impactful experiences for our students.

Enjoy the performance!

– Maurice Fraga