Abraham Lincoln statue on Carthage College?s campus.
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Poster for the virtual ?Away From the Mirror? dance concert. Join us at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 16 for the virtual premiere of the annual spring dance concert, “Away From the Mirror,” choreographed and performed by Carthage dance students.

Every spring, the Theatre and Dance Departments presents “Away From the Mirror.” This year, due to COVID-19 closures and social distancing mandates, the concert will not be able to be presented in person. However, we are pleased to announce that it will first be performed live to a private Zoom audience, and then made available as a recording to the public on Saturday evening. The video recording will be available on both the Carthage Fine Arts Facebook and Instagram pages.

The video will be presented in the style of a video documentary, with time in between each dance performance for the audience to ask questions and for the dancers to share their experience dancing during these unprecedented times. Unfortunately, due to the need to protect the musicians’ copyrights, we will not be able to play the music for each dance in the video, but a playlist with the music chosen by each dancer will be available for each audience member to enjoy on their own.

“Away From The Mirror” provides Carthage’s emerging artists opportunities to develop their inspirations through dance. Throughout the fall semester, students work to develop and hone their choreography, and in the spring semester, they teach their new pieces to their auditioned casts, while undergoing a stringent review process by an advisory committee of faculty and students. This year’s review process happened partially online, with Mauriah Donegan Kraker joining as a guest artist for the final feedback session.

The student choreographers this season include Kayla Saavedra ’20, Miranda Paikowski ’20, Grace Kosizek ’20, Emma Figge ’20, Sarah Syverud ’21, Geovanni Virella-Torres ’22, and Alecia Corey ’22. Joining the artistic team are Concert Coordinator Kayla Saavedra ’20 (for whom the role fulfills her senior thesis), Assistant Director Kristina Saldarelli, Faculty Advisor Prof. Stacy Pottinger, and Artistic Feedback Consultant Mauriah Donegan Kraker.

Throughout the process, students are encouraged to step “away from the mirror,” turning their focus away from the outward appearance of their work and the common “standards” movement. The result is a beautiful exploration of what it means to be a dancer today, what it takes to bring new dance work to life, and what drives us to dance in the first place. This year’s concert, while presented over Zoom and with few production values, will nonetheless have the same heart and passion as our in-person performances, and we can’t wait to see what our dancers bring to the table this weekend!

SPONSORING DEPARTMENT, OFFICE, OR ORGANIZATION:

Office of Performing and Visual Arts

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Tianna Conway Director of Arts Events & Audience Engagement tconway@carthage.edu