Macalester’s Theatre and Dance Dept. Presents “Voices of the Silenced”

St. Paul, Minn. – The Macalester College Theatre and Dance Department showcases the work of six student and faculty choreographers and guest choreographer Dmitri Peskov from Illinois Wesleyan University in the fall dance concert “Voices of the Silenced” in the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, Main Stage Theater, 1600 Grand Ave., St. Paul, Minn. Performances are at 7:30 pm December 9 and 10 and also at 2 pm December 10. For ticket information, call 651-696-6359.

“Voices of the Silenced,” the Theatre and Dance Department’s seasonal theme, gives voice to displaced persons and citizens struggling with trauma, using languages of movement, light, darkness, spoken word and deep quiet to communicate a refusal to give in to silence. In her piece Rendered Obsolete, faculty choreographer Becky Heist uses the music of Edith Piaf, Billie Holiday and Judy Garland to capture the tragic lives of female entertainers in the forties and fifties. Fellow faculty member Wynn Fricke presents Women on the Shore, a lush and intricate dance for seven women set to the haunting melodies and vocal rhythms of Meredith Monk, sung live by Thalia Kostman ’12 (Los Olivos, Calif.). Guest artist Dmitri Peskov presents restless, a dance piece about five women driven by a dynamic need to communicate with the outside world, set to the electronic score of Carsten Nicolai/Alva Noto. Macalester student Carly Silva ’13 (Southport, Conn.) explores the idea of home in her piece Madly On, evoking the feeling of being away from home and away from the people connected to that special place.

Faculty members Patricia Brown, Sharon Varosh, and student Alexandra Brandt-Barnard ’11 also contribute pieces.

Macalester College, founded in 1874, is a national liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 1,958 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, multiculturalism, and civic engagement. Learn more at macalester.edu