The Department of Dance at Hope College will present Dance 42 on Friday and Saturday, March 4 and 5, and Thursday-Saturday, March 10-12, at 7:30 p.m. at the Knickerbocker Theatre in downtown Holland.
Dance 42 will feature choreography by guest artists Nic Lincoln and Sharon Wong, and faculty members Matthew Farmer, Crystal Frazier, Linda Graham, Steven Iannacone, Julie Powell and Angie Yetzke. More than 60 students will perform in works ranging in style from contemporary and contemporary ballet to jazz and hip hop. Lighting and set designs have been created by Erik Alberg and costumes by Darlene K. Veenstra.
Guest artist Nic Lincoln was recently named One of 25 to Watch by Dance Magazine. He describes his new work, created specifically for Hope students, as a “theatrical movement essay with wit, style, curiosity and fearlessness; a non-linear story that takes its cues from contemporary art and culture.”
Faculty member Steven Iannacone has recreated BOLERO in celebration of the work’s 15th anniversary. Following its premiere at the Knickerbocker in 2001, BOLERO was performed in Japan, Mexico, Belgium and throughout the United States. Iannacone describes BOLERO as a “dark, bold and questioning work filled with images of unity and singularity, man and machine, conformity and disharmony, reality and the imagined.” He states that images in the work suggest “time and place as endless, repetitive and monotonous in a taut balance with bursts of individuality, identity and self-awareness.”
Another highlight of the concert will be "Hidden Knick," Linda Graham's original work for six dancers, which offers an unconventional, playful exploration of live performance, space and audience perception.
In addition, the Hope dance faculty will honor department founder Maxine DeBruyn, who is the Dorothy Wiley DeLong Professor Emerita of Dance and received the prestigious 2015 National Dance Education Organization’s “Lifetime Achievement Award” in October. “This award recognizes Maxine’s significant contribution to dance education and the dance community,” said Farmer, assistant professor of dance and department chair.
Farmer will also announce the launch of a new “International Dance Fund” during the Dance 42 festivities. Monies raised will fund off-campus opportunities for Hope students beginning with participation in the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the world's largest arts festival for dance and theater, in Scotland. More information is available at crowdfunding.hope.edu/dance.
Individual tickets for the concert are $10 for regular admission, $7 for senior citizens, $5 for students, and free for children 12 and under. Tickets are available online at hope.edu/tickets as well as at the ticket office in the Events and Conferences Office located downtown in the Anderson-Werkman Financial Center (100 E. Eighth St.). The ticket office is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be called at (616) 395-7890.
The Knickerbocker Theatre is located at 86 E. Eighth St.