Marcy Plavin Fall Dance Concert at Bates Concert

It was wonderful to perform in the Marcy Plavin Fall Dance Concert at Bates College on November 14th with singer Bárbara Martínez and guitarist Antonio Tiriti Tran. We performed a Liviana, a flamenco style that showcases one of the many emotive forms of flamenco. I chose this piece because it highlights a common structure in flamenco that is: guitar intro, song intro, dance intro, followed by verses alternating with sections of flamenco footwork and ending with an energetic finale. In addition, by bringing live flamenco artists to Bates to perform with me, students were better able to see the live conversation between the song, dance and guitar, inherent to flamenco.

By exposing students to live flamenco, it was the Dance Department’s hope that students would be inspired to register for the semester flamenco dance course that I teach at Bates College each year. It worked! This year’s class is already at capacity and excited to learn about and practice flamenco dance when the winter semester begins in the New Year!

This year’s show also featured beautiful and powerful performances by students of Dance Repertory and Repertory Styles dancing works created by Assistant Professor Brian J Evans, and guest choreographers Cameron McKinney from NY and Noelle Price from Seattle. In addition, Musical Theater Jazz taught by Kate Marchessault presented its final class project and guest artist Maho Ishiguro, who will be teaching Indonesian Dance at Bates this winter semester, also shared their work on stage. Cheers to more and more dance of diverse forms in Maine!