Take Back
Photos by Derek Fowles
Take Back
Amherst & Mount Holyoke Colleges Faculty Dance Concert “Amalgamate” – Fall 2023
About: “This is for us, by us. We are taking back time by honoring these styles and
their histories. We are taking back the stage. We are taking back the
culture. We are taking back the power.” – Amanda Amoabeng and Kylie Gregory
Cast: Amanda Amoabeng, Catherine D’Agostino, Krista Lawson, Mina Stern-Wenk, Di’ Anna Bonomolo, Jessica Sotindjo, Warren Wang, Naia Owens, Madison Hernandez, Josefina Ortiz, Devon Fischer, Kylie Gregory, Katie Pimentel, Lucy Ducharme, Andrea Rivera
360°
Photos by Derek Fowles
360°
Amherst College & Mount Holyoke College Faculty Dance Concert- Fall 2021
About: We hold the memories that come before us.
We recognize the drum as the heartbeat.
We allow space for liberation and trance.
We communicate through dance, music, and song.
We honor African Diasporic dance forms.
We acknowledge the history and the evolution.
We embody the core values of knowledge, peace, unity, and love.
Cast: Catherine D’Agostino, Tye Dixon, Krista Lawson, Miranda Lawson, Sam Murray, Laura Rosenstone, Kayla Samuel, Sasha Toole, Jesmyda Viyano, Chenlu Wang
Win In Doubt
Photos by Charles Flachs
Win In Doubt
Five College Faculty Dance Concert- Fall 2019
About: “Shakia Johnson, Five College Lecturer, is creating a new work around trauma, struggle, persistence and celebration. Johnson brings a deep awareness of Hip-Hop’s history and cultural implications to Smith College, in addition to her visceral, energetic choreographic style.” -Melinda Buckwalter, Smith College Dance Administrative Assistant
Cast: Soukeyna Abbott, Elizabeth Brison, Jade Farrell, Maire Frances Psomas-Jackloski, Elizabeth Harrington, Reem Ibrahim, Daisy Maass, Sara Maurer, Paige McCoy, Amisi Nazaire-Hicks, May Pena, Allana Scudder, Leah Shipulski, Jesmyda Viyano
Our House
Photos by Charles Flachs
Our House
Five College Faculty Dance Concert- Fall 2018
About: We have witnessed the power of HOUSE, blues, jazz, funk and hip hop to not only bring us joy and strength but to allow us space to grieve and to connect us to one another across race and culture. The rhythm and the movement heals us, and welcomes us all. The poly-rhythm invites us to remember what it means to be a community, to be together in the pulse, the heartbeat. We use that heartbeat, that togetherness as a foundation to riff, to solo, to freestyle, to express our uniqueness and to offer our beauty to the whole.
Cast: Soukeyna Abbott, Brandon Barker, Maire Frances Psomas-Jackloski, Elizabeth Harrington, Sienna Jessurun, Sarah Maurer, Leah McLeod, Kiara Mickens, Amisi Nazaire-Hicks, Destani O’Brien, Sabrina Reppert, Sally Robson
Battle My City
Photos by Jim Coleman
Battle My City
Five College Faculty Dance Concert- Fall 2017
About: “The building of New York’s Cross Bronx Expressway razed through many of the city’s ethnic neighborhoods, destroying homes and jobs and displacing poor black and Hispanic communities in veritable wastelands like east Brooklyn and the South Bronx, while the government turned a blind eye to those affected” – Rebecca Laurence for BBC Culture (read full article here)
Cast: Kiara Badillo, Alexa Gonzalez, Joey Haley, Sienna Jessurun, Zoe Konstantino, Kelly Lincoln, Zeyu Liu, Sarah Maurer, Asia Miller, Maya Mizrahi, Amisi Nazaire-Hicks, Rikkia Pereira, Paulina Schaefer, Miranda Schmidt, Kattye Soares, Colleen Unda