The Department of Dance presents a virtual dance concert, featuring student performers in works by faculty choreographers E.E. Balcos, Audrey Baran, Marissa Nesbit, and Delia Neil. This blend of dance-for-camera video and filmed site-specific and staged dance pieces will be streamed via Vimeo.
Tickets for this virtual performance are "Pay What You Can" (PWYC). Please select the ticket amount of your choice when purchasing. All ticket revenue supports the Department of Dance scholarship fund. Thank you for your support!
program notes
See Hear Look Here
Choreography: Audrey Ipapo Baran
Music: Tiptoe, Pollen, or Plurals by Sweat Transfer
Film: Toby Shearer
Dancers: Alyssa Bainey, Chloe Dos Reis, Kayley McLamb, Darin Morrow, Carly O'Rourke, Kenny Raynor, Erika Rush, Ella Sanchez, Jackie Wingard
See Hear Look Here is site-specific work performed in the round between the Rowe Arts building and Belk Plaza. Created in collaboration with the dancers, this piece revolves around concepts of perspective, varying viewpoints, and shared experiences. In this “choose your own adventure” experience, audience members should bring their own phone or device and headphones or earbuds to hear music while watching See Hear Look Here. Each viewer will select one of the three tracks provided through links, and the option to watch and listen in silence is also available. Additionally, spectators are invited to walk around the perimeter of the performance space, finding different angles and perspectives from which to witness the work.
Révérance for a Restless Year
Choreography: Marissa Nesbit in collaboration with the performers
Music: Original Score created and performed live by Shamou
Costumes: Rachel Engstrom
Film: Toby Shearer
Dancers: Alison Arnette, Arelys Duran Llorens, Mykelanne Madonna, Malia McCarthy, Martha Murray, Sydney Spangrud, Donna Thompson, Taylor Wachowicz, Sarah Webb
Révérance for a Restless Year takes place on the trail surrounding Hechenbleikner Lake. The run time is approximately 28 minutes, during which time the dancers make 1 ½ circuits of the trail. We invite you to join us in experiencing the environment of the lake and encourage you to walk along the trail and surrounding areas as the dance unfold, or to rest and savor the scenery from any of the benches around the lake. Allow your attention to wander among the dance, the water, and the emerging foliage along with your own reflections on the changes of the past year. In a dance class, we often end with a révérance, a sequence of slow, connected movements in which we bow, breathe, and give thanks for the lesson, in a ritual that provides closure and a chance to reflect on what we have learned. Created through a collaborative process, Révérance for a Restless Year began with the dancers reflecting on individual changes in their own lives through journaling and discussion; we then generated and arranged movement sequences in response to these ideas. Working around the lake, we developed the material into traveling phrases and repeating sequences that create an ongoing ritual of reflection and connection as we move toward closure.
Resonant Bodies
Choreography: E.E. Balcos in collaboration with the performers
Music and Music Direction: Music from albums Spirits Dance, Traces and Nebulae all composed and performed by Shamou, live drumming direction and arrangements Shamou
Film: Toby Shearer
Dancers: Brandy Brown, Calvin Coleman, Aaryanna Henry, Kenneth Raynor, Erika Rush, Charity Williams
This dance and music film was created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, quarantine, and social distancing; social justice of BIPOC communities and BLM; and liberatory community practices.
Pas de Quatre
Choreography: Sir Anton Dolin
Restaging: Delia Neil
Music: Cesare Pugni
Film: Toby Shearer
Stage Manager: Carolina Candeloro Campos
Lighting Design: Gordon Olson
Dancers: Leah Adams, Neha Kissler, Allie Schultz
Pas de Quatre is a ballet divertissement originally choreographed by Jules Perrot in 1845. It brought together the four greatest ballerinas of the time and displays the essence of the Romantic style of classical ballet. Each ballerina has a solo variation showing their specific talents as a dancer. For this performance, due to circumstances caused by the pandemic, there are only three of the Romantic ballerinas represented: Lucille Grahn, Fanny Cerrito, and Marie Taglioni. The version seen in this performance was choreographed in 1941.
Faculty & Guest Bios
E.E. Balcos, BA, MFA, RSDE and Associate Professor, trained with modern dance pioneer Hanya Holm and began practicing contact improvisation in 1982. He has performed and choreographed for over 35 years for numerous well-known choreographers and has presented his work nationally and internationally. He explores somatic practice in creative process, performing, and teaching. He recently presented and performed at venues including Body-Mind Centering Conferences and Somatic Dance Conference & Performance Festivals nationally; the 2019 Dance and Somatic Practices Conference in Coventry, UK; the 2019 Body IQ Festival in Berlin, Germany, and the 2021 International Movement Education and Therapy conference (online). Balcos is a member of the dance company, Movement Migration, and has performed in Mexico, Italy, NYC, and Charlotte, NC. Balcos and musician/composer Shamou have been collaborating on dance and music projects for over 5 years.
Audrey Ipapo Baran is a Filipina-American dance performer, maker, and educator based in Charlotte, NC. She holds an MFA in Dance from Hollins University and a BA in Dance from UNC Charlotte where she is the Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance. As the founder / artistic director of Baran Dance, Audrey is dedicated to broadening definitions and accessibility of contemporary dance throughout the Southeast. An award-winning choreographer, she has presented work at national festivals and conferences as well as numerous DIY productions. Also a Registered Yoga Teacher, Audrey thrives on sharing movement and mindfulness throughout the Queen City and beyond.
Delia Neil (Associate Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies for Dance and Coordinator of the UNC Charlotte/Charlotte Ballet Professional Training Certificate in Dance) holds a BA degree in Dance from Butler University and a MFA in Dance from UNC Greensboro. She was a student of the renowned ballet teacher Gabriella Taub-Darvash for over 10 years. Ms. Neil is a Professional Choreographer, an American Ballet Theatre Certified Teacher and a Certified Pilates Mat Instructor. She has been a Finalist for the Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence at UNC Charlotte. Her choreography has been supported by numerous grants from the NC Arts Council, including a Choreographic Fellowship.
Marissa Nesbit, PhD, MFA (she/her) is deeply committed to the ideas that all children should have the opportunity to attain an excellent dance education centered in the arts and that all communities should be supported by strong public schools. As Assistant Professor and Dance Education Coordinator at UNC Charlotte, Dr. Nesbit supports aspiring dance educators to craft rigorous and engaging learning experiences that immerse their students in the creative process. Her teaching interests include improvisation, performance, pedagogy, and curriculum design; her creative work often involves collaborations with musicians and dancers and explorations of physical objects.
Shamou (Music Director) began his music career in his native Iran where he also studied and danced with the Iranian National Ballet. He began his formal music training in Tehran, studied with teachers from the Royal College of Music in London, and holds a BA in Music from Berklee College of Music. Shamou is known for his collaborative work with world-renowned choreographers and dance companies. He has composed original scores for numerous companies/choreographers, including Delfos Danza Contemporanea, FJK Dance, NY2 Dance, Sacramento Ballet, ODC Dance Jam, Prometheus Dance Company, Stephan Koplowitz, Robert Moses, Judith Smith/AXIS, and others.
Toby Shearer is a filmmaker, marketing specialist, and video artist working in Charlotte, NC. In 2013 he completed his first feature documentary film, From the Back of the Line, following the lives of undocumented immigrants in the Charlotte area. In 2015 Toby joined Charlotte Ballet producing social media, documentary, and archival video projects. In 2017 Toby joined UNC Charlotte’s College of Arts + Architecture producing photo and video content. He co-created the cross-disciplinary class Digital Skills for Artists. Toby’s documentaries and dance films have screened at the North Carolina Dance Festival, the American Dance Festival, JoeDance Film Festival, and others.
Going under the recording alias Sweat Transfer, Charlotte-based producer and composer Ryan Persaud has never shied away from a new musical challenge . Raised a percussionist, Persaud has taken his influences of complex percussion and transitional emotional expression and created a vast catalog of experimental electronic music that can only be described as intensely composed chaos. Drawing from many influences, everything from classical to jazz to an array of subgenres within the modern electronic world, his sound design also features distinct moments of multigenerational influence weaved into a contemporary embracement of technology and music theory.