Concourse

Welcoming a live audience to their first full-produced performance in over two years, Concourse is an evening of new dances created by choreographers Shakia “The Key” Barron and Barbie Diewald. Featuring three works, the performance will take place on **September 16 and 17, 2022**. *Concourse* seeks meeting points between dance forms, embodied histories, and the aesthetics of the project’s creators. Both are Assistant Professors of Dance at Mount Holyoke College and are excited to bring their performance research to their home campus.
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The performance will open with Diewald’s *Duet with Vases*, drawing on religious structures, folk dance traditions, and family interviews. The work brings together two interwoven duets to explore family lineage, queer re-makings, and the relational power of the physical body. Second on the program is Barron’s *Genesis*, which centers Hip-Hop and other street dance forms to build expansive knowledge, understanding, and love. The dance highlights collaboration and community as a means to generate possibilities for embodied connection.
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The evening will close with Barron and Diewald’s first collaborative work, *Concourse*, a project two years in the making. The dance was created in collaboration with composer Jazer Giles and six emerging dance artists who have had both choreographers as teachers: Soukeyna Abbott, Sienna Jessurun, Katherine Kain, Miranda Lawson, Sarah Maurer, and Amisi Nazaire-Hicks. Mentored by acclaimed artists Jennifer Nugent, David Dorfman, and Rennie Harris, this performance centers intergenerational community, affirming that mentorship is multidirectional. Concourse celebrates the feedback loops that occur when we collapse the distinctions between self, student, teacher, & material.
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This project has been generously supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts, Jacob’s Pillow, Bates Dance Festival, High Street Studios, Movement Arts Gloucester (MAGMA), Mount Holyoke College, Five College Dance, and South Hadley Arts Council.
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***Concourse* will be performed at the Mount Holyoke College Studio Theatre in the Kendall Sports and Dance Complex on Friday, September 16 and Saturday, September 17 at 7:30pm. Advance tickets are $5 (student), $15 (general admission), and $30 (able to give) and may be purchased online at concourse2022.eventbrite.com.**
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The performance is appropriate for younger audiences (middle school and older) and has a run time of approximately 80 minutes with one intermission. Seating is limited and will include chairs, risers, and traditional theatre seats. Seating is first come, first served, and the house will open at approximately 7:00 pm.