An Innovative Concert of New Dances
Artistic Director, Charles O. Anderson.
Baker Theatre, Trexler Pavilion for Theatre & Dance
November 13 – 14 @ 8 pm and Nov 15 @ 2 pm and 8 pm
The Muhlenberg College Department of Theatre and Dance presents a concert of original choreography by talented young choreographers from one of the top dance programs in the country. The works create a rich visual tapestry in motion to touch and move. Under the artistic direction of Charles O. Anderson, student choreographers develop contemporary works in collaboration with their peers. The result is a graceful, athletic display of bodies in motion.
 According to Artistic Director Charles O. Anderson, Moving Stories incorporates “visceral tales that excavate the inner landscapes of the dance makers. These stories are not narratives in the traditional sense of verbal or written story-telling, but rather they embody the complicated, illogical and conflicting journeys experienced in the recesses of our minds and hearts.” Student choreographers include Amanda Ebert ’09. Rebecca Haverson ’10, Laura Mayerson ’10, Dana McGowan ’10, Meghan Meehan ’09, Lauren Naab ’09, Michele Sasso ’10, Janel Sipla ’09, and Olivia Wingerath ’09. In their pieces, the students honor the interrelationships between different disciplines in the arts and sciences, drawing on their experiences in fields from philosophy to neuroscience to create multi-dimensional performance art. Performing to music from Bach to Radiohead, the diverse liberal arts experience pushes the boundaries of dance.
Faculty guest artist Sarah Carlson, Assistant Professor of Dance at Muhlenberg College, is creating a new work titled "response/ability" - the dance explores the nature of human reaction. High powered and unrelenting, the dancers tumble in and out of urgent situations that test their limits. Lassique Benthaus’ gritty score fuels the frenzy in this environment where moments of hesitation can have dire consequences. Carlson has danced professionally in NYC with numerous companies including Alexandra Beller/Dances, Brian Brooks Moving Company, Clare Byrne Dance, Paul Mosley Dance and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet. As an independent choreographer, her own work has been presented throughout New York, as well as in Boston; Charlottesville, VA; New London, CT; Hattiesburg, MS; Seattle, WA; The Yard on Martha's Vineyard and in Benin, Africa, where she completed a Fulbright Grant studying Vodou ritual dance in Benin, Africa, furthering an ongoing inquiry into sacred dance forms.
 Moving Stories is produced under the artistic direction of Charles O. Anderson. Anderson is the artistic director of the Philadelphia based company, dance theatre X. He joined the faculty of Muhlenberg in 2003, where he teaches such courses as modern technique, dance composition, African Dance and Culture. In 2007, he was named one of 12 recipients of the prestigious Pew Fellowship in the Arts. In 2008, Professor Anderson was named “One of 25 to Watch” in 2008 by Dance Magazine.
With an assortment of perspectives as diverse as the choreographers, Moving Stories promises to impart powerful stories drawing from the renowned liberal arts perspective of the Muhlenberg dance program.
The 2008 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges ranks Muhlenberg among the top 20 small college programs in the nation in both Theatre and Dance - one of only 8 schools in the country to appear on both lists. Muhlenberg College is one of only 30 schools from across the nation selected to perform at the 2008 National American College Dance Festival.
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