Presented by Lehigh Valley Dance Exchange & Cedar Crest College
SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 2023 | 7pm | SAMUELS THEATER, CEDAR CREST COLLEGE

PROGRAM ORDER

GATHERING

Noah Garabedian – composer and bass player
Gregory Dolbashian – choreographer and dancer
Alik Tamar Barsoumian – Director and editor
Victoria Sendra – Director of photography

“A musician’s solo evolves into a rhythmic dialogue when his muse is summoned by his sound.”

The film GATHERING is a collaborative film inspired by the music of Noah Garabedian and made with the support of the AGBU Creative Armenia Fellowship Noah was awarded in 2021. Filmed in a single day, the piece features improvisational music and dance in three distinct segments that make up its narrative arc: isolation, meeting, and departure. What begins as a musician’s solo evolves into a rhythmic dialogue as the musician’s muse is summoned by his sound. The musical harmony at first manifests into physical movement and then is guided and shaped by it. The unity that results from this dynamic gathering becomes an act of creation.

Guardian Angel

Choreography & Performance: Jessica C. Warchal-King
Music: Passacaglia by Heinrich Biber performed by Dr. Mara Parker

"No one journeys alone and no one should think they're alone" Pope Francis on Guardian Angels

Omni

Choreography: Marcel Gbeffa
Performers: Marcel Gbeffa & Sara Richter
Music: Hawa, The Touré-Raichel Collective; Contre Poids Marcel Gbeffa

Underwater

Choreography:  Malcolm Shute, in collaboration with the dancers
Performers: Stacey Yvonne Claytor, Carrie Monger, Alexander Short, Malcolm Shute
Music: “Adagio for Strings, Op. 11” by Samuel Barber. Performed by Malmo Opera Orchestra,
with Joseph Swensen & Thomas Bowes

Underwater (2023) explores images from below the ocean surface, including kelp leaves and
schools of fish. Dancers simultaneously unpack unconscious material, stowed beneath the surface.

Survivor

Choreography:  Narissa Wescott
Performance: Ashley Cochran, Haley McMaster, Fara Rumbalski, Karli Sartor, Jordan Yasenchak
Music: 2WEI

Surviving the hardest times in life is something that people take for granted. Knowing when to stand up and believe in who you are and what you want is about survival. Break the barriers, break the negativity, and remember we have survived the worst together.

Break Free

Choreography & Performance: Beazthype
Music: Tiny Galvatron

The struggle of being trapped in a mental battle with yourself and how other view you so you make and take time to yourself to BREAK FREE from all of these overwhelming feelings and experiences.

Red and Blue, Bitter and Sweet

Choreography:  Kate St. Amand, SYREN Modern Dance
Performers: Moravian Dance Company; Katelyn Donovan, Stephanie Firling,
Ava Fortner, Ashley Halady, Katherine Langdon, Metea Melton, Mackenzie Sweet
Music: Poppy Ackroyd

This dance is inspired by the dynamic and mysterious world of quantum physics. It explores theories such as Entanglement, Duality, Uncertainty Principle, and Superposition in a way that aims to shed light on them to a lay-person’s understanding. As the great physicist Erwin Schrodinger said in 1954 Cambridge Press: “I am very astonished that the scientific picture of the real world around me is very deficient. It gives us a lot of factual information, puts all of our experience in a magnificently consistent order, but it is ghastly silent about all and sundry that is really near to our heart that really matters. It cannot tell us a word about red and blue, bitter and sweet…” This project premiered at Gibney in NYC, and has been presented at Children's Museum of Manhattan, Cambridge Science Festival, Dixon Place, IONA College, The Chapin School, American Physical Society's New England Conference,
St. Paul's School for Girls, and High Tech High School.

Poinciana

Choreography: Nicole Hockenberry & James Buster Brown
Performance: Nicole Hockenberry & Steph Firling
Music: Ahmad Jamal

Improv & a traditional tap chorus

ABOUT SPRINGUP

SPECIAL THANKS to SpringUP Assistant
Cindy Lozada, Lighting Designer Chris Connnelly, Cedar Crest College Technical Director
Kevin Gallagher, Backstage Assistants
Adjowa Borie, AJ Johnson, and supporters like YOU.

Now in its 11th year, the SpringUP Dance Festival in an annual event that offers Lehigh Valley dancers access to some of the most in-demand regional artists for 2 days of master workshops & shows. SpringUP is the only dance festival of its kind in the area and fulfills LVDE's goal to nurture the physical and artistic potential of the Lehigh Valleys established and emerging professional dancers through a supportive, inspiring festival environment. Brainstormed and developed by seasoned dance professionals, SpringUP fosters the creative potential of its participants in a more accessible and affordable format than similar experiences offered in the dance hubs of major metro areas.

This concert was made possible with generous support from the Pennsylvania Partners for the Arts in the form of a Program Stream grant administered by the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation. Additional support was received from the Cultural Programming Fund and the Dance Program at Cedar Crest College.

Nicole Hockenberry has been tap dancing professionally for 30 years. Teaching at Cedar Crest College, The University of the Arts & currently Moravian University & Muhlenberg College. The artistic director of TAP - Teach All People, Nicole travels the country teaching & performing for tap festivals & tap teacher trainings & has been teaching online via zoom since March of 2020. She is also the owner of Crafty Nicole, which specializes in portable tap floors that are a new & sought after product in the tap community.

Narissa Wescott is a professional dancer, choreographer, and educator with a BA in Dance from DeSales University in 2008 and trained at The University of the Arts from 2004-2006. Narissa also earned a level I teaching certification in dance (K-12) and is currently working on her level II certification and Masters in Dance Education at Temple University. She is the dance director at Renaissance Charter Academy School in Phoenixville, PA and has been an instructor/choreographer at various studios, along with teaching master classes, workshops, and summer dance intensives throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Narissa has been a member of CoExist Dance Company, Fight Vixens Dance Team, and performed for five years with Philadelphia's jazz dance company, Project Moshen Dance Company, as well as a member of the Lehigh Valley Dance Exchange. Narissa has taught in the Philadelphia district and at Arts Academy Charter Middle School in Allentown, PA. She has also been the Dance Advisor for Rêve Dance Company at Penn State. Narissa has performed, taught, and continued her training in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Daytona, Florida with Surfscape Dance Theatre, along with attending the Dance Teacher Summit in NYC. Narissa has also been a Pro dancer with “Dancing with our Future Stars”, an event raising money for Independent Mission schools in Philadelphia. Not only is Narissa continuing to teach and choreograph, but also she is an adjudicator for various dance competitions such as New York State Dance Challenge, Elevate Dance Competition, True Dance Challenge, and The Road to Broadway Dance Competition, and DreamMaker National Talent Competition, where she was on “Dance Moms” Season 8 Episode 7. Lastly, Narissa is the founder and director of Dance the Edge Dance Competition. Narissa is very passionate about her career and continuing the next generation of dancers in the dance community!

Lisa Busfield is an educator, dancer, and choreographer. She received her EdM in Dance Education from Temple University with a BA in Dance from Muhlenberg College. Currently, Ms. Busfield is the artistic director of the Moravian University Dance Company, and dance faculty for both Muhlenberg College and Moravian University. She has been on faculty at: Project Ballet, Purdue University Fort Wayne, Huntington University, University of Saint Francis and has served as the education director and administrative manager for Muhlenberg Community Dance Center. As a professional dancer, Ms. Busfield performed with Mikautadze Dance Theatre, the Fort Wayne Dance Collective’s Touring Company, Six Meters and has choreographed nationally. Her area of interest focuses on embodied practices in contemporary dance techniques through kinesthetic awareness and release applications as they relate to the individual in dance pedagogy, curriculum development, and composition. Ms. Busfield will be presenting her scholastic work with colleagues in the Fall of 2021 at conferences including: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Summit, The National Dance Education Organization, The Original Lilly Conference on College Teaching and is a current representative of the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent College's Dance Consortium.

Jessica C. Warchal-King, MFA, described as a “post mod(ern) ballerina” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, founded JCWK Dance Lab to support her artistic & creative research using physical dance practice, performance & education to create joy, connection & wellness through kinesthetic stories. She has been on faculty at Drexel, Widener & Alvernia Universities & developed programming for adults with movement challenges in communities and hospitals. Currently, at Alvernia, she is the Artist in Residence of Dance. She was a senior dance artist with Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers (KYL/D) & Nora Gibson Contemporary Ballet. She earned her MFA in Dance from Temple University and her BA in Dance and Anthropology from Muhlenberg College.

Malcolm Shute, MFA, CMA, founded Human Landscape Dance (hldance.org) in 2006, and has since brought contact choreography around the world. Specializing in artist partnerships, Human Landscape Dance has given performances, held workshops, and shot video footage in Europe, Asia, and South America, as well as cities across the US and Canada. Noted for “…ingenious choreography and staging...” by the Washington Post, Shute’s dances are characterized by intimate portraits of characters undergoing change. Using touch to communicate, bodies mold with their environment to create a collage of images. Shute has taught workshops in contact improvisation and partnering around the world. He is a faculty member of the Dance Department at Towson University.

Ramel Harold was born in Allentown, PA and started dancing around the age of 6. “I didn’t begin Krumping until the movie RIZE released and when I first saw it I fell In love with the dance ever since! Since then I’ve been putting in work throughout the US for my coast (EAST) and state and I was able to join the best crew/family in KRUMP: DEMOLITION CREW! I also am a leader of a whole state movement I started called PAK (Pennsylvania Krump movement)! Been Krumping for 10+ years and I don’t plan on stopping I truly love it!”

Fullbright Scholar Marcel Gbeffa is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Multicorps Choregraphic Center in Cotonou, Benin, where he advocates for greater access and promotion of contemporary dance.
Gbeffa is also the director of the Connexion festival and the Labo workshops Benin. Gbeffa trained at the 'Ecole des Sables' (Senegal) and began his career in 2008 with his solo "Et si" which launched him internationally at the Rencontres Chorégraphiques d'Afrique et de l'Océan Indien. As a performer and assistant choreograpner, he has worked and collaborated with choreographers such as Andreya Ouamba, Marceline Lartigue, and Reggie Wilson and has performed in venues as the "Théatre de la ville" in Paris and BAM in New York. Since 2010, Gbeffa has been developing his own movement vocabulary, creating several collaborative works in Benin, Brazil, and throughout Europe. In recent years, he has worked with Anikaya Dance Theater (USA).

Gregory Dolbashian (born and raised in New York City), received his dance training at the Alvin Ailey School, then graduated cum laude from SUNY Purchase dance conservatory. He debuted his own company, The DASH Ensemble, in December 2010 at The JOYCE SoHo. DASH Company performance credits include The JOYCE Theater, Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York Live Arts, Guggenheim Works and Process Series, Kaatsbaan, Joe's Pub, Central Park Summerstage, Tribeca Film Festival, Venice Biennale in Madison Square Park, Bryant Park Dance Fest, as well as domestic touring all over the U.S. including Dallas, L.A., and North Carolina. Gregory Dolbashian, in partnership with dance education specialist Lindsey Pettus, is the co-founder of The DASH Academy. He has been commissioned for original works by American Ballet Theater, including exclusive creations for Jeffrey Cirio, Daniil Simkin, and Hee Seo. Ballet commissions also include Atlanta Ballet, St. Louis Ballet, and Ballet Austin. He was the recipient of the highly selective Footprints commission at American Dance Festival, and most recently for Limon Dance Company's newly formed Limon 2. Awards for Choreography include Hubbard Street 2 International Competition, Ballet Austin's New American Talent, and Northwest Dance Project's Pretty Creatives. Commissions for Contemporary/ Rep companies include LA Contemporary Dance Co., Owen/Cox in Kansas City, Dark Circles CD in Dallas, TU Dance in MPLS and Northwest Dance Project in Portland, OR. His collegiate and training program commissions include Juilliard, Princeton, Point Park, LINES Ballet, BODYTRAFFIC Summer Study, MOVENYC YP & S.W.E.A.T programs, NYU, SUNY Purchase, Earl Mosely's Diversity of Dance, University of Minnesota, Fordham/Ailey, Montclair State, and SAM Houston State. Faculty positions include Broadway Dance Center, Gibney Dance, The Martha Graham School, Ballet Hispanico, Dallas Black Dance Theater, and Peridance Capezio Center. Adjunct positions held at SUNY Purchase and The Hartt School. He has conducted multiple masterclasses around the country including Juilliard, NYU, UNCSA, The Hartt School, Ballet Hispanico, UC Irvine, SUNY Purchase, Point Park, Booker T Washington HSPVA, OCSA and HSPVA in Houston. In addition, Gregory, alongside fellow choreographer Loni Landon, is the co-founder of The PlaygroundNYC, a choreographic initiative that was voted 25 to Watch in 2013 by Dance Magazine.