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Six students will be part of the cast when the Philadelphia-based Headlong Dance Theater leads off the 2003-04 Footlights series with performances of its new Britney’s Inferno production 8 p.m. today and tomorrow at the Williams Center for the Arts.
Dancers will include International Affairs major Jesslyn Roebuck ’06 (Montgomery, N.Y.), psychology major Rachel Miller ’06 (Short Hills, N.J.), English and history double major Tyler Cohn ’04 (Wantagh, N.Y.), neuroscience major Emily Gallant ’07 (Phillipsburg, N.J.), economics and business major Victoria Picone ’05 (Bethlehem, Pa.), and neuroscience and music double major Ashlee Snyder ’05 (Gilbertsville, Pa.).
Cohn is a member of the Arts Society executive committee and the editorial staff of the Marquis literary magazine. He has performed with College Theater and the Marquis Players.
Gallant, who plans to major in biology and neuroscience, is a member of the Arts Society and thanks Kathy Stout and Trish Steele at Twin Rivers Dance Academy, where she studied ballet and jazz dance for 13 years.
Miller performs with the Lafayette Dancers and studied gymnastics for 15 years. She plans on a career as a clinical psychologist.
Picone says she is pleased to be performing in her very first show.
Roebuck is a member of the Arts Society executive committee and co-editor of the Marquis. She notes that she is a devoted audience member for College Theater and Marquis Players productions.
Snyder is president of the Arts Society, sings with the Soulfege co-ed a cappella group, and has performed in two Marquis Players productions. She is preparing to apply to medical school.
In a witty and lively manner, Britney’s Inferno follows the discovery-infatuation-disappointment cycle that is the curse of pop phenomena. In its ten-year history, Headlong has become known for work that is both sophisticated and accessible, mixing formalism, pop culture, and all-out physicality to create vibrant, hilarious dance that resonates far beyond the “traditional” dance audience.
Individual tickets for each Headlong performance cost $4 with Lafayette ID and $18 for the public. A subscription to Footlights, which costs $59, also includes performances by Reggie Wilson’s First and Heel Dance Company, collaborating with the Noble Douglas Dance Company of Trinidad and the Zimbabwe a cappella group Black Umfolosi to present Black Burlesque (revisited), Tuesday, Nov. 18; Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, featuring live music by Easton’s Mulgrew Miller and his Wingspan band, Friday, Feb. 13; and Stephen Petronio Company, a high-energy, three-part modern dance production, Tuesday, March 9.
All performances start at 8 p.m. The subscription represents a $15 savings compared to the total cost of the individual performances. To order, call the box office at 610-330-5009 from noon-2 p.m., 4-5 p.m., and one hour before performances.
In conjunction with Britney’s Inferno, artist Larry Kirkwood will display his Body Image Project: Beauty as a Relative Concept in the Williams Center lobby Sept. 10-13 and give related talks in room 108 at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10, and noon Friday, Sept. 12. Since 1993, Kirkwood has made more than 300 plaster and resin body casts that have become starting points for discussions about self-image, eating disorders, and the concept of beauty. Free and open to the public, the installation and talks are cosponsored by Lafayette’s Counseling Center, which will provide information about eating disorders and how to develop healthy attitudes and behaviors concerning one’s body image.
Kirkwood’s plaster and resin body casts invariably and deliberately provoke discussions about societal standards, self-image, and the truth of beauty. Kirkwood will be in residence at the Williams Center to create a limited number of body casts. Those interested in being “cast” should contact the Williams Center Gallery at 610-330-5361.
“Headlong Dance Theater makes some of the most affecting dances around,” states The Village Voice, while The Philadelphia Inquirer calls the group’s work “witty, eccentric, lyrical, and savage.”
Winners of a 1999 Bessie Award for its take on Star Wars, Headlong Dance Theater has been choreographing and performing together in Philadelphia since 1993. Its work has been presented in New York, Barcelona, Lisbon, and many other locations.
Last semester, Headlong choreographers Andrew Simonet and David Brick gave a brown bag talk at the Williams Center on “Britney Spears as Cultural Icon: Why Do We Destroy the Things We Make Famous?”
The performances of Britney’s Inferno are supported by Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, with funding from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Vira I. Heinz Foundation, the William Penn Foundation, and the Pew Charitable Trust.
The nationally recognized Performance Series at Lafayette attracts more than 10,000 people each season. It has been cited for performing excellence by the National Endowment for the Arts, National Dance Project, Chamber Music America, Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund, Pennsylvania Arts and Humanities Councils, and Association of Performing Arts Presenters.
The 2003-04 Performance Series is supported in part by gifts from Friends of the Williams Center for the Arts; by the F.M. Kirby Foundation; by provisions of the Alan and Wendy Pesky Artist-in-Residence Program, the James Bradley Fund, and the Ed Brunswick Jazz Fund; and by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, and New England Foundation for the Arts. The Williams Center Gallery program is funded in part thorough a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.