Reception: Downstairs and To the Left
Thursday, 11/29 from 6-8pm in The Hartnett Gallery.
Cary Peppermint and Leila Nadir (ecoarttech) will be leading a participatory event immediately following the reception around 8pm.
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The Hartnett Gallery is pleased to announce its semi-annual faculty exhibition featuring the works of fifteen artists working in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Rochester: John K. Archer, Stephanie Ashenfelder & Amos Scully, Derek Crowe, Cary Peppermint + Leila Nadir | ecoarttech, Rachael Hetzel, Alysia Kaplan, Heather Layton, Evelyne Leblanc-Roberge, Amy McLaren, Colette Quaglia, Allen Topolski, Robert Wolfe, and Bill Wolff.
Titled “Downstairs and To the Left,” the exhibition showcases an extensive selection of media – painting, photography, sculpture, installations, and a participatory event. This group exhibition also offers a unique opportunity to engage the variety of artistic viewpoints possessed by our faculty and staff members in a collective conversation.
Tying the work together is the Sage Art Center, home to the studio program, and located on the north end of River Campus between Anderson and Wilder residential halls. While the students’ studios, photo and computer labs, woodshop, and metal shop occupy the upper levels of Sage, the lower level houses storage areas, lockers, and the faculty studios. With plenty of foot traffic being directed downstairs (to visit studios and office hours, use the bathrooms, deliver goods to the loading dock and find replacement staples), the title of the show, “Downstairs and to the Left,” is an accurate summation of current – internal and external – affairs.
A reception will take place on Thursday, November 29th from 6:00 – 8:00pm in the gallery. A participatory performance using ecoarttech’s app Indeterminate Hikes+ led by Cary Peppermint + Leila Nadir will immediately follow the reception at 8:00pm.
The exhibition will be free and open to the public as of Thursday, November 15th.
NO DANCING ALLOWED
Friday, November 30th, 2012, at 8pm Hochstein Performance Hall
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BIODANCE presents its fifth anniversary home season, No Dancing Allowed, on Friday, November 30, 2012 at 8 p.m. at Hochstein Performance Hall (50 N. Plymouth Ave.). Tickets include a post-performance reception at Hochstein, and are available at Parkleigh (215 Park Ave.) or at the door. $25 General/$8 for students.
The season’s title piece, “No Dancing Allowed,” is the Rochester premiere of a collaboration between BIODANCE and Rochester sculptor and University of Rochester professor, Allen Topolski. Topolski’s metal sculptures and period set pieces work with BIODANCE Artistic Director Missy Pfohl Smith’s choreography – a mix of popular dances of the 1940’s with a contemporary perspective – to explore how World War II changed the culture of America.
“The federal government began taxing dancing in nightclubs in 1944 and ‘No Dancing Allowed’ signs went up all over the country,” says Smith. “Today, dancing is banned at the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials in Washington, D.C. And, just as World War II brought families and communities together in a patriotic effort, U.S. citizens today are united in a war against terrorism while so many are blissfully unaware of our soldiers in the Middle East. This kind of ‘recycling’ of American history is at the core of this work.”
The season also reprises “Liebeslieder” (or “Love Songs”), a collaboration between BIODANCE and Rochester Oratorio Society’s 30-member vocal ensemble, Resonanz, under the direction of Eric Townell. The beloved song series composed by Brahms sets the stage for sweeping and lush dancescapes that mark a new direction for BIODANCE, one that is both classic and contemporary. An edited version of the piece, entitled “Love at First Waltz,” was presented during September’s First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival, but the work will be presented in its entirety for the first time since its world premiere on March 9, 2012 at Hochstein.
No Dancing Allowed also celebrates the choreographic premieres of BIODANCE company members for the first time in its repertory: Eran David P. Hanlon, Laura Regna and Courtney World. Company members performing in addition to Hanlon, Regna, World and Smith include Kathryn Bowering, Jeanne Schickler Compisi, Brittany Lang, Alaina Olivieri, and Julie Schlafer. This event is made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the the Arts, administered by the Arts and Cultural Council for Greater Rochester.
In addition, BIODANCE’S season is dedicated to Rochester dance/movement therapist, Dr. Danielle L. Fraenkel, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit Kinections Dance/Movement Therapy (718 University Ave.), which she founded more than 25 years ago.
“Danielle is not only a deeply-caring innovator in the world of dance/movement therapy who has brought hope and inspiration to thousands of children and adults all over the world, but she’s also a true champion of dance in Rochester,” says Smith. “She has provided BIODANCE with rehearsal space since its relocation to Rochester, and is living rebuttal to the idea of ‘No Dancing Allowed!’”