The Seventh Floor April 19, 2012

April 19, 20, & 21 at 8pm and April 21 @ 2pm

The annual MFA Thesis Dance Concert, this year entitled The Seventh Floor, is an impressive contribution to Mills College's long history of dance in higher learning. The concert features group and solo work by seven MFA candidates, presented in two programs.

Program A features the work of Carly Boland, Ada Langley, Caitlin Savage, and Judene Small. These works are mostly introspective, exploring many layers of the psyche from the emotional ups and downs of relationships and self-image, to dreams and memory. Mining and abstracting from personal family dynamics, Carly Boland attempts to uncover the duality of our closest relationships as simultaneously the root of our pain and our jubilation. Caitlin Savage examines the internal relationship to one's self by considering pop culture, audiences and voyeurs, beauty, reality and perception. Delving deeper into the unconscious, Ada Langley gives voice to the darkness of the unconscious in dreams, in order to make beauty from what may have once appeared to be terrible and ugly. Closing the program, Judene Small investigates how memories of our past exist as fragmented occurrences in our mind, deeply affecting our present.

Elizabeth Morales, Cuauhtemoc Peranda, and Kristin Torok offer their work in Program B. These choreographers delve into the realm of space and time. A fascination with skyscrapers is the driving force for Elizabeth Morales's piece, which focuses on verticality and upward mobility. Cuauhtemoc Peranda's work is in two parts and is a study of the anatomy of time and what makes up the present moment. Finally, Kristin Torok uses movement and technology to investigate the influence of the spaces we remember on our perspective, and how these memories bring security and stability while living in a reality of impermanence in her piece.

Both programs are suitable for audiences of all ages, and promise to be thought provoking and entertaining.

Official Website: http://www.mills.edu/dance