Temple University's Esther Boyer College of Music and Department of Dance will host the Society of Dance History Scholars 2002 International Conference, Dance & the City: Urban and Urbane, Thursday, June 20, through Sunday, June 23.
Center stage will be the historic city of Philadelphia with its vibrant dance--past, present, and future. Dance scholars and practitioners from as far away as England, Finland, Japan, Spain, and South Africa will converge on Temple's Main Campus to explore the connections between dance and the urban environment through virtual exhibits, film screenings, scholarly papers, panel discussions, lecture-demonstrations, workshops and professional performances.
The theme of the conference, Dance & the City: Urban & Urbane, conjures a broad spectrum of dance manifestations as they intersect with the human choreography of the city.
"It speaks of dance and the arts as infrastructure--sources of community building and social healing," says Joellen Meglin, a Temple dance professor and chair of the local conference planning committee. "Dance, with its diverse languages, idioms, genres, and styles, turns out to be the perfect carrier of community spirit. In turn, the University, with its strong commitment to the arts and to the city of Philadelphia, is the perfect setting in which to study and explore these ideas."
A special concert during the conference titled Three Perspectives will feature choreographies and historical reconstructions by Meglin and fellow Temple dance professors Philip Grosser and Kariamu Welsh. Additionally, it will showcase the talents of students from all levels of Temple's dance program.
Performances will be held on Friday and Saturday, June 21-22, at 8 p.m., in the Conwell Dance Theater, fifth floor of Conwell Hall, Broad St. and Montgomery Ave., on Temple's Main Campus. Tickets are $10 for the general public, and $8 for students, seniors and conference participants. For ticket information, call 215-204-6279.
The concert opens with historical reconstructions by Sprezzatura, a Renaissance and Baroque dance performance ensemble directed by Meglin and comprised of Temple doctoral students. The troupe will play castanets as they perform four works from the Baroque period, accompanied by viola da gamba and harpsichord music.
Grosser showcases his modern choreographies in Three Fragments and Anthem. Performed by Temple MFA students, both pieces "explore emotion recollected in tranquility," says Grosser.
The concert closes with Welsh's neo-African choreographies, Untitled and The Museum Piece, both performed to the beat of live percussion music by members of her dance group, Kariamu & Company, which includes students from all levels of the Temple dance program.
Other highlights of the four-day conference will include an opening-night Argentine Tango dance party, featuring Philadelphia-based dance professionals Kelly Ray and Lesley Mitchell; videotape and virtual exhibits displaying the choreographies of Greater Philadelphia dancers and dance companies, and historical traces of local dance history from the Philadelphia Dance Archive Project; scholarly sessions exploring the plethora of dance idioms, personalities, choreographies, and cultures that have emerged in cities around the world, from street dancers to national ballet companies; lecture-demonstrations featuring Philadelphia tap dancers LaVaughn Robinson and Germaine Ingram; and performances by Rennie Harris PureMovement.
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