CCBC Dance Company Performs Its Spring Dance Concert Today

The Spring Dance Concert is a rite of spring at the Community College of Baltimore County. This annual event serves as a showcase for the talents of the dancers in the CCBC Dance Company as well as for original and/or restaged works by CCBC dance faculty and guest artists. The concert will be performed at 11:15 a.m. today, May 1 and 8 p.m. May 2 and 3 in the College Community Center (COMM) Theatre at CCBC Essex, 7201 Rossville Boulevard in Rosedale, Md. Tickets are $8 general admission and $5 for seniors, students, faculty, staff and alumni. Current CCBC studentswith IDs are free.

CCBC Dance Company for spring 2014 are: Jay Briley (Pikesville, Md.), Leanne Gibson (Perry Hall, Md.), Deontay Gray (Windsor Mill, Md.), Lia Karagianopoulos (Dundalk, Md.), Anastasia McKenzie (Perry Hall, Md.), Bobby O'Brien (Fallston, Md.), Dayja Parker (Perry Hall, Md.), Lyselle Payne(Perry Hall, Md.), Sara Pistorio (Parkville, Md.), Samantha Roche (Parkville, Md.), Sarah Sears (Essex, Md.), and Claire Thompson (Baltimore, Md.).

CCBC Dance Company Artistic Director Melinda Blomquist has restaged her work, Ternion. The work explores the idea of community as three dancers work together to understand themselves and how they connect through each other to the community around them. Working around a circle the dancers revolve around and through each other as they discover how three can be one. Lyselle Payne, Samantha Roche and Sarah Sears will be dancing in the work.

Assistant Professor Tommy Parlon has restaged his work, Gentle Dissolve. The work, originally commissioned by Colorado State University in 2012, evokes the sense of waves as the dancers constantly shift to and away from each other. Jay Briley, Leanne Gibson, Deontay Gray, Lia Karagianopoulos,Anastasia McKenzie, Dayja Parker, and Lyselle Payne are the featured dancers. Parlon will also be presenting his work, Left-Handed Dream, which explores a lush inner landscape where the dancers interact with each other in ways that are playful, intense, thoughtful and supportive. The dance unfolds from a taut opening tableau and proceeds through space in athletic spirals and slashes. The dancers continually connect to disconnect ultimately discovering their mutual need for unity. The dancers are Deontay Gray, and Bobby O'Brien.

Associate Director and Adjunct Faculty Linda O'Brein has created a new work Children of Nyx, which explores a modern version of the mythological beings known as the Erinyes or Furies, one of the oldest deities in Greco-Roman mythology. The Erinyes were primeval female spirits of justice and vengeance, born of the Night (Nyx). Although the Furies seemed terrifying and sought vengeance, they were not considered deliberately evil. On the contrary, they represented justice and were seen as defenders of moral and legal order. They punished the wicked and guilty without pity but the good and innocent had little to fear from them. Leanne Gibson, Deontay Gray, Lia Karagianopoulos, Anastasia McKenzie, Bobby O'Brien, Lyselle Payne, and Christopher Reed will be dancing in the work.

Adjunct Faculty Member Kristi Schaffner has created a full company piece, True or Farce. There is no question that the dancers at CCBC take their art seriously, but this is a case of serious dance in a silly situation. She will also be presenting her quartet, Me...Among Others, which is a simple story of an individual trying to stay true to his/her own motivations while navigating others who are doing the same. Lia Karagianopoulos, Anastasia McKenzie,Samantha Roche and Claire Thompson are the dancers with Leanne Gibson as a rehearsal assistant.

Guest artists Common Ground Dance Company (CGDC) will perform two pieces in the CCBC Spring Dance Concert. Common Ground dancer and choreographer Renée Newberry has choreographed and will perform, Damsel Rescued (By Self), during the Thursday morning, May 1 show. The piece deals with the dancer's relationship with herself after triumphing over a less-than-positive relationship with another, the dancer's version of a "Take that!"

CGDC will perform a second piece - an ensemble piece titled Shall We...? choreographed by Darby Iva Pack - during the evening concerts May 2 and 3. TitledShall We...?, the piece is festive and fun, a celebration of life within a community, and is a modern dance piece containing elements of folk, African, and ballet movement. Common Ground dancers who are performing in Shall We...? include Dyana Janoscak, Janelle Kornecki, Renée Newberry, Jennifer Hegner,Erin Gum, and apprentice Bria Murphy, with Maria Vitery as an understudy.

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