Apr 26 Friday
The Mount Holyoke College Department of Dance presents the annual Student Dance Concert, “EPIPHANY.” This student-led concert is an expression of a semester of embodied inquiry in the Intermediate Composition course and marks the beginning of many students’ choreographic journeys.
The running thread through these pieces in “Epiphany” is connection. Connection to the self and identity, to others across space and time, to present reality and the future, and connection and communication through movement styles and body language. The choreographers have been exploring these pathways all semester, and they welcome you to join them in finding out where they lead.
Performance Dates and Times:Friday, April 26, 7:30 pmSaturday, April 27, 7:30 pm
Tickets: $5 General Admission | FREE Student Tickets
For more information or to reserve tickets, please visit mhc.ludus.com or contact us at hglick@mtholyoke.edu
"Naughty Bits" is a dance-play set inside Juli’s memories that examines trauma while finding levity within the tragic. Through movement, text, song, projections and humor, Naughty Bits finds the forgotten bits, funny bits (and wobbly bits) of putting one's mind and body back together.
Her mission is to explore her own personal struggles through the medium of performance. In sharing her work, she creates space for audiences to access their own challenges or traumas. Her provocative, introspective autobiographical solo performance fuses movement, text, song, audience interaction and comedy to both acknowledge the gravity of her burdens as well as simultaneously laugh at their reality. Sara Juli has been described as a "skilled comedian, actress and dancer" and "a light of the downtown dance and theatre scene."
Please note: This piece explores one person's experience around trauma.
Apr 27 Saturday
Renaissance Jukebox presents music inspired by the works of Wm. Shakespeare(and beyond): In Spring...As oft 'twixt May and April is to see,When winds breathe sweet, unruly though they be. from A Lover's Complaint, pub. 1609
This program includes quotes, songs, ballads, and instrumental works associated with Shakespeare in his own era, and modern songs that connect with our personal and sometimes unruly responses to Shakespeare’s texts. Works of Campion, Danyel, Dowland, Holborne, and other 17th-century composers, in juxtaposition with modern songs evoking related stories, moods, and/or imagery, by Jason Isbell, Cat Stevens, the Everly Brothers, Phoebe Bridgers, Hozier and others.
Renaissance Jukebox is comprised of longtime early music performers Donnie Cotter (voice), Meg Pash (lute, voice, viol) and Chris Stetson (lute, mandolin), newly joined by McKay Perry (violin) and Liam Birkerts (bass viol). As individual and intergenerational artists they have explored the song literature of the 16th and 17th centuries with modern singer-songwriter styles from folk to rock, country, and jazz, and have come to value and enjoy presenting thematic and expressive connections among multiple genres across the centuries.
Ashley Gearing and Andrea Young are no strangers to Nashville's music scene. Both have numerous accolades and individual successes to their names, working with some of the biggest and baddest in the business. Their pairing exposes Ashley's powerhouse vocals and rhythmic acoustic guitar alongside Andrea's ferocious fiddle playing and angelic harmonies...add in the dynamic of their songwriting and the deck is stacked. American Songwriter calls The Wildcards a "Soaring new partnership...with talent in spades." Joining forces with some of the world's finest musicians, they bring a show filled with unforgettable original music and cover song favorites. With The Wildcards, you bring the good vibes, they'll bring the party. Every time.
May 04 Saturday
Haneef Nelson is a New York born and raised trumpeter, educator, and composer. His lifelong love of music started with his early studies at the famed Jazzmobile program in Harlem. At the Jazzmobile he studied trumpet, music theory, as well as played in ensembles taught by jazz luminaries including Eddie Preston, Cecil Bridgewater, Dr. Donald Byrd; John Stubblefield; Frank Foster; Charles Davis; Roland Guerrero. Donald Byrd continued to be a mentor along with his high school music teachers Cedric J. Lemmie from Uniondale High School and Dave Burns from the Long Island High School of the Arts.
Haneef has performed with jazz greats Yoron Israel, Avery Sharpe, Bill Saxton, Paul Brown, and Charles Tolliver. His original music and arrangements for Big Band have been featured around the world and on the records of the New London Big Band. He holds a Bachelor of Music in African American Music Study from the University of Hartford, a Master’s Degree in Jazz Composition and Arranging from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and he will receive his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Composition from the University of Hartford in May 2024.For this performance Haneef will be joined by Michael Carabello-keyboard, Matt Dwonszyk-bass and Akin Hobson-drums.
May 05 Sunday
The New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA) presents the annual Circus Springboard show, featuring America’s next generation of circus artists. Circus Springboard tours New England theaters connecting rural audiences to inspiring aerialists and acrobats through the powerful storytelling of theatrical circus.
The performers are soon-to-be graduates of NECCA’s 3-year professional training program and this show is the culmination of their study and development as performers and artists. This show is devised with a guest director and each year reflects the artistic collaboration of the director and performers. Stay tuned for this year’s show content closer to the performance date!
Tickets are $12 for students, $15 for seniors(65+), and $18 for adults, plus $1.00 preservation fees.Additional $2.00 convenience charge for tickets purchased in person or over the phone.
May 06 Monday
In an intimate dinner-theater experience, "Domme & Giovanni" is a modern retelling of Mozart's famous opera "Don Giovanni". In this sexy, modern and comedic twist of the centuries-old opera, Giovanni better ensures the relevancy told from a female point of view.
May 10 Friday
J.S. Bach owed part of his creative inspiration to the 17th-century’s Stylus phantasticus, a method that sought freedom of form and expression, especially in instrumental works. This program explores several composers who embraced this approach. With a flourishing send-off in the finale of our 25th anniversary year, birds of a feather include Rosenmüller, Reincken, Westhoff, Schmelzer, Scheidt, and Bach, with his sparkling harpsichord concerto in E major.
With Christina Day Martinson, Megumi Stohs Lewis, violins; Jenny Stirling, viola; Jennifer Morsches, piccolo cello; Timothy Merton, cello; Maggie Cole, harpsichord.
Information at https://www.sarasamusic.org/birds