Macalester College Theatre and Dance Department Presents Face to Face, Dec. 7-8

St. Paul, Minn. – The Macalester College Theatre and Dance Department presents Face to Face, the 2012 Fall Dance Concert, with new works by students, faculty, and guest artist Luke Olson-Elm. Performances are at the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, Main Stage Theater, 1600 Grand Ave., St. Paul, at 7:30 p.m. on December 7, and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on December 8. For ticket information, call 651-696-6359.

Face to Face considers our experience of connection and disconnection, in solitude and in relationship. Guest Choreographer Luke Olson-Elm’s #lostconnection looks at the costs of how the current generation chooses to communicate via social media and messaging. The following members of the Macalester Theatre and Dance Department have choreographed their own dances for the concert.

Krista Langberg’s Things on the Inside examines durability and fragility, looking at layers of perception, confusion and clarity, as well as the potential to experience the sublime in unexpected places. Becky Heist offers Vagabondage where five fiercely independent vagabonds cavort through the Irish hinterlands to the sounds of electric guitar played live by Macalester alumnus Benjamin Abrahamson ‘08.  Wynn Fricke’s Into White is a surreal and sharply intimate view into a moment of dying performed by award winning guest dancer Nic Lincoln of the James Sewell Ballet. Patricia Brown’s joyous ensemble work is inspired by West African and Caribbean dance forms and celebrates community with rhythmically intricate choreography performed to music by Samba Mapangala.

Student works include Phoebe DeVincenzi’s ’13 (New York, N.Y.) Eye rEvolve which focuses on the momentum of bodily consciousness and the ways bodies fit into and disrupt space. The Source, by Carly Silva, ’13 (Southport, Conn.) looks at the journey of people whose lives intersect as they work towards a common goal. Emma Buechs ’13 (Glendale, Wis.) draws inspiration from the poetry of Margaret Atwood in her choreography, Elsewhere, created in collaboration with her dancers. Finally, Julia Davidson ’13 (Lawrence, Kan.) in her duet, ambulo; ambulem works with the notion of how two bodies can move as one physical unit and how one body can move as two.

Macalester College, founded in 1874, is a national liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 2,035 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, multiculturalism, and civic engagement. Learn more at macalester.edu