Moderator: Anita Page
Role of participants: Participants will choose one or more of the suggested artists (or suggest a comparable one) and prepare a presentation that includes a dance video or visual to analyze and discuss with seminar members. A seminar member could also choose to lead a discussion on the live performance which we will see.
Number of participants (including the moderator): 15-17
Time: Tuesdays, 2:00-4:00 pm
Place: Applewood, 1st Floor Meeting Room, One Spencer Drive, Amherst
Parking: Ample parking on site; please park on the outside curve of Spencer Drive, not in the parking lot!
A chance for participants to examine American Modern Dance in the 20th Century through videos and dance books.
American Modern Dance has made a major contribution to world dance. In this seminar participants will have an opportunity to examine exciting dance creativity through videos, texts and attending a live performance in the area. We’ll begin by looking at the founding greats such as Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Hanna Holm, then their immediate descendants such as Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham, Erick Hawkins, and Alwin Nikolais. We will also look at the second half of the century’s post-modern movement including the Judson Dance Theater, The Grand Union, Meredith Monk and the black dance pioneer Alvin Ailey. Finally, we end the seminar with looking at choreographers such as Mark Morris and David Parsons.
Format: Viewing and analyzing dance videos, books and discussing the choreographers and dancers.
Resources: Dance videos and the extensive dance book collection found in the 5 College library collections.
The moderator: Anita Page, a long time student of dance, wrote on dance for fifteen years in the Western Massachusetts area. Her reviews and feature articles appeared in the Valley Advocate, Daily Hampshire Gazette, Springfield Republican, the Hartford and Worcester Advocates. She was also chosen for the NEA Critics Conference held at Connecticut College.
Additional Information: I am open to presentations on music and dance or art and dance, or a presentation which calls for some actual physical participation.