Members of the Bates Dance Company. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)
{"Image ImageWidth": "5760", "Image ImageLength": "3840", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image ImageDescription": "A senior dance major\u2019s thesis piece for a solo performer and a work by New York City\u2019s influential Urban Bush Women are among highlights of Leaning In, the Bates College Dance Company\u2019s annual autumn program, presented in performances at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16; 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 17; and at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 18.\n \nPerformances take place in Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St. Admission is $6 for the general public and $3 for seniors and students. Tickets are available at batestickets.com. For more information, please call 207-786-6161.\n\nLeaning In features a senior thesis work in hip hop by Leroy Barnes \u201914 of Woodbridge, Va., and pieces by faculty and guest choreographers, including the Urban Bush Women \u2014 founded in 1984 to, in the words of the company\u2019s website, \u201cbring the untold and under-told histories and stories of disenfranchised people to light through dance.\u201d\n\nUBW members Kendra Ross, Keisha Turner and Marjani Fort\u00e9 traveled from Brooklyn to Lewiston to teach Bates dancers an excerpt from the 2004 piece \u201cWalking with Pearl\u2026.Africa Diaries,\u201d based on the writings of dance pioneer and anthropologist Pearl Primus.\n\nThe 20-minute excerpt gives a glimpse into Primus\u2019 quest to discover her cultural roots through dance. West African, Orisha and modern-dance movements are performed to traditional music, soundscapes and excerpts from Primus\u2019 unpublished diaries, which will be read in this program by Bates senior Bethel Kifle \u201914 of Chicago.\n\nDuring their two-week Maine residency, Ross, Turner and Fort\u00e9 gave master classes to more than 150 students at Bates, the Lewiston Public Library, Tree Street Youth and Bowdoin College.\n\nAlso at Bates for a residency was choreographer Meredith Lyons, admissions director and operations manager for the Bates Dance Festival and a dancer and teacher active in Philadelphia before coming to Bates.\n\nLyons\u2019 piece, titled \u201c::subconscious::\u201d is inspired by \u201cthe part of the mind that a person is not aware of,\u201d says Lyons. \u201cBoth myself and the dancers created the movement in the moment. Each performance shifts and changes through cues and actions within each performer.\u201d\n\nBarnes performs Bates\u2019 first-ever solo senior thesis in dance. A rapper and dancer, he conceived his performance as a dialogue with hip hop itself, challenging the form with words and motions delivered with eloquence, power and vulnerability.\nThe program features an improvisation ensemble directed by Assistant Professor of Dance Rachel Boggia. Her improvisation class has spent the semester \u201cinventing movement, creating composition on the fly, listening to each other and the environment,\u201d says Boggia. Offering a new piece for each performance, the four dancers come from backgrounds including theater, circus, modern dance and hip hop.\n\nAlso on the program: \u201cWhat\u2019s Left,\u201d choreographed by Associate Professor of Dance Carol Dilley, director of the Bates dance program, and students; and \u201cGershwin Project,\u201d choreographed by Debi Irons of the applied dance faculty and dancers in her jazz repertory class.\n\nThrough the swirling, lush \u201cWhat\u2019s Left,\u201d Dilley and her dancers explore loss. Tender pairs emerge from a group of dancers who shuffle, bend and swish like marsh grasses to the gorgeous swells of G\u00dbrecki\u2019s \u201cSymphony of Sorrowful Songs.\u201d\n\nIn \u201cGershwin Project,\u201d dancers and musicians perform a trio to \u201cRhapsody in Blue.\u201d This is an excerpt of an evening-length work commissioned by Aranka Matolcsy of Mahoosuc Arts in Bethel, where it will be presented with live music in January.\n\u2018Intricate Glances Will Meet Here\u2019\n\nIn her dance thesis, Fitzgerald of Granby, Conn., explores the fluid integration of Argentine tango and contemporary dance. She draws from the themes of intimate interaction, unpredictable yet mesmerizing movement, and invigorating musicality that are all present within the tango. This piece breaks the rigid barriers between social and concert dance, audience and performer, foreign and familiar, intimate and public.", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 5D Mark III", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2014:03:21 09:28:05", "Image Artist": "Phyllis Graber Jensen", "Image Copyright": "Bates College", "Image ExifOffset": "4432", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5146", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3125", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "2500", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "2500", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:11:15 18:20:40", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:11:15 18:20:40", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "477741/62500", "EXIF ApertureValue": "1485427/500000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-4/3", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "353/50", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "75", "EXIF SubSecTime": "12", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "12", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "12", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1620", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1080", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "160", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "160", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "4", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "082024010185", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[70, 200, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "000041ce59"}