Migration

2017-2018 Season

Performing Arts at CCBC

presents

MIGRATION

By Peter Pucci

A World Premiere Dance Event

Featuring the music of Dawn of Midi
From the Album Dysnomia
Courtesy of Erased Tapes
www.erasedtapes.com

January 28, 2018 at 2pm

CCBC Essex, Wellness and Athletics Center

CCBC Dance Company

Artistic Director
Melinda Blomquist

The CCBC Dance Company is in residence on the Essex campus, under the Artistic Direction of Melinda Blomquist and Associate Director Kristi Schaffner. The Company does main-stage performances twice a year. The company is also involved in community outreach with local schools. They provide special performances for middle schools and high schools as well as master classes and lecture/demonstrations. The company provides student dancers with opportunities to work with professional choreographers, to stage original work, and to participate in the American College Dance Festival. The company also performs in numerous community events and with other regional universities.

The Collective

Co-Artistic Directors
Alyson Jacques
Sonia Synkowski

The Collective promotes dance as an art form and strives to generate meaningful opportunites for experiencing dance, participating in dance classes/projects, or developing collaborations among artists. The Collective has strong roots in the Baltimore dance community and is dedicated to foster growth among professional dance artists, adult learners, and pre-professional dance students.

George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology

Dance Department Chair Maria Royals

The Carver Center Community cultivates life-long learners whose passion for their craft empowers them to be creative, successful, inspiring contributors to society and the world.

Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts

Dance Department Chair Claire Sweet

Patapsco High School’s dance program focuses on individual growth by using dance as a vehicle for the student’s creative expression. Dancers are exposed to aesthetic criteria, choreographic principles, multicultural perspectives and dance history, as well as a healthy attitude toward the body. Performance allows new avenues for artistic expression which encompasses creating, practicing, working with others and producing concerts.

Towson University Community Dance

TUCD Director of Education Candice Webster

Towson University Community Dance is an extension of the Department of Dance and its mission reflects the department’s mission of advocating “Dancing for a Lifetime.” The comprehensive curriculum, renowned faculty and highly trained instructors offer excellence in dance education for children, adults, and professionals.

St. Timothy’s School

Dance Company Director Adrienne Latanishen

St. Timothy’s Dance program offers students the opportunity to explore and continue their progress in a variety of dance techniques, from ballet to tap to modern. Our philosophy is to cultivate insightful individuals and to equip them with yet another way to express themselves and understand their world. We believe that skills learned in dance contribute to a better quality of life and can be utilized in all aspects of life. We teach and engage our girls in dance, believing that each has something unique to contribute to this art form.

THE DANCERS

CCBC
Leanne Gibson | | Melissa Lloyd
Anastasia McKenzie | Anita Samek | Charlie Sacco

THE COLLECTIVE
Natalie Boegel | Paij Hardy
Adrienne Kraus Latanishen | Gianna Rodriguez

PATAPSCO HIGH SCHOOL AND CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Jessica Kirkner | Destinie Mayo
Allison McConnell | Naomi Muthama | Abagale Neuberger

CHOREOGRAPHER’S NOTE

Migration was inspired by the research of Dr. Spencer Wells, a geneticist who founded the Geographic Project with National Geographic. His study of genetic data revealed that all humans in present day society share a common origin. Dr. Wells was able to trace human migration over the past 50,000 years showing how our current population developed from one source and spread out across the globe. This migration allowed society to evolve to the diverse world in which we now live in. As we look around the world, people seem to be very different from each other, yet we are all connected by our shared genetic roots.
Migration has been a fascinating choreographic journey. Over the last four months I have had the great pleasure of working with this wonderful cast of diverse and dedicated dancers ranging in age from 12 to 32 years old – from young dancers to professionals. I have had the unique opportunity to work individually with each group and with all the groups together as an ensemble. This cross pollination of dancers, from different parts of the Baltimore community, have come together through their interconnectedness, to become immersed in the powerful
commonality of a shared artistic experience.

Peter Pucci

PRODUCTION STAFF

Choreographer and Director | Peter Pucci
Production Coordinator/Assistant to the Choreographer | Melinda Blomquist
Assistant to the Choreographer | Alice Howes
Production Manager | Brad Norris
Costumer | Charisse Secrest
Sound Consultant | Brian Comotto
Sound Assistant | Madeline Guerra
Lighting Consultant | Terri Raulie
Pre-production Assistants to the Choreographer | Laurel Higa, Rachel Johnson
Pre-production music advisor | Elmer Johnson
Videographer | Nate Brigham
Rehearsal video editing | Craig Blomquist
Videographer’s assistants | Jalen Lomax, Josh Woodson
CCBC Dance Company Artistic Director | Melinda Blomquist
CCBC Dance Company Associate Director | Kristi Schaffner
Box Office Staff | Lisa Boeren, Eva Grove, Thom Purdy

SPECIAL THANKS

Dawn of Midi, Brooklyn, NY
Julie Blake, Erased Tapes Music Publishing LTD
Iris Solomon, Barnspace, Katonah, NY
Sonia Synkowski, Dance Resource Teacher, Baltimore County Public Schools
Jaime Alvarez, Campus Director, CCBC Essex
Greg Witkop, Assistant Director, CCBC Athletics
Rocco Geppi, Operations Assistant, CCBC Athletics
Candy Carr-Smith, Coordinator of Physical Education, CCBC
David Evans, Rebecca Plantholt, Matt Ryan,
Jarrett Simms, Joe Sperato, WELL Bldg Staff
Julie Brown, Major Gifts Officer, CCBC
Terri Charles, Media Relations Coordinator, CCBC
Hope Hall Davis, Media Relations Director, CCBC
Dr. Anne Lefter, Performing Arts Director, CCBC
Professor Patti Crossman, Chair of Performing Arts and Humanities, CCBC
Dr. William Watson, Dean of Liberal Arts, CCBC
Dr. Sandra Kurtinitis, President, CCBC
Dr. Spencer Wells and Kristie Wells, Insitome
MacKenzie Finkles, Chloe DeMars
Natalie Boegel, Paij Hardy
Adrienne Kraus Latanishen, Gianna Rodriguez

Peter Pucci

Peter Pucci was born and raised in Baltimore. He graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts with a BFA. For nine years he was a member of Pilobolus Dance Theatre, where he served as principal dancer, co-choreographer, and rehearsal director. While with Pilobolus, Peter toured and taught worldwide, made several film and television appearances, performed on Broadway, collaborated on many Pilobolus pieces, and presented his own works on Pilobolus programs.

Pucci has worked for the last 20 years as Choreographer/Movement Director with extensive credits in theater, ballet, modern dance, opera, fashion, and dance education. Recent theatrical productions include: Master Harold and the Boys directed by Athol Fugard at the Signature Theatre; Incognito, directed by Doug Hughes Off Broadway at the Manhattan Theater Club; Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Gregory Boyd at The Alley Theater in Houston; Desire, directed by Michael Wilson Off Broadway at 59E59; One Man, Two Guvnors, directed by Gregory Boyd at The Alley Theater and Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Ethan McSweeney at The Shakespeare Company in Washington, DC.

Dance company commissions include the world premiere of Dream On By with music by Paul Simon for the State Street Ballet in California, PUCCI:SPORT for the New Mexico Ballet, and new ballets for Dance Theater of Harlem and the Joffrey Ballet Ensemble in New York City. Pucci is currently working on a new NEA funded production, Baltimore Stories, with the Community College of Baltimore County, where he will create a new group work for 60 local dancers.

Pucci has taught extensively for all levels of dancers; high school to college to professionals, including teaching at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City and has been a guest artist at Juilliard School of Drama in NYC. Pucci is also a Guest Moderator and Programmer for the Dance On Film Series at Jacob Burns Film Center

Pucci has also directed and choreographed for his own company, Peter Pucci Plus Dancers, which has performed in New York City, including six appearances at The Joyce Theater, and has toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe. The company has twice been presented on public television by KRMA-TV Denver, One Night Only and Peter Pucci: Curtain Time. The second program has been rebroadcast nationwide on PBS. PP+ had its Broadway premiere at The New Victory Theater. In addition to creating numerous ballets in the US Pucci has choreographed over 50 repertory works for PP+.

One of Pucci’s greatest strengths as a choreographer is his ability to spark an interest in dance among diverse audiences. His work is imbued with a sense of athleticism and humor that, combined with a keen and thoughtful vision and a true integration of music and dance, makes his work appeal to a wide range of ages and backgrounds – both for dance novices and dance aficionados.

Pucci was honored as the first recipient of the Samuel H. Scripps Humphrey/Weidman/Limon Fellowship, a choreographic commission awarded by the American Dance Festival. Pucci is also the winner of an Absolute Joffrey Award for Choreography and two Choo-San Goh Awards for Choreography. Pucci was a Drama Desk Award Nominee for Outstanding Choreography and a Lucille Lortel Awardee for Outstanding Choreographer for his work on Queens Boulevard. Pucci has received the Westchester Artist of the Year Award from ArtsWestchester. Pucci also received a Drama Desk Award for his work on The Orphans’ Home Cycle.

Dawn of Midi

Brooklyn-based acoustic ensemble Dawn Of Midi is made up of Aakaash Israni from India on double bass, Amino Belyamani from Morocco on piano and Qasim Naqvi from Pakistan on drums. The trio met at CalArts in Los Angeles in 2006, where late night tennis matches on the campus court led to improvisational sessions in total darkness and the foundation of the band in 2007. Although their earliest recordings were completely improvised, their most recent work, the critically-acclaimed album Dysnomia, abandons improvisation altogether in favour of a meticulous composition of sophisticated rhythms inspired by North and West African folk music traditions. The result is a sonic tapestry of trance inducing groove. http://www.dawnofmidi.com

Migration is commissioned by the Performing Arts at CCBC, as part of Baltimore Stories 2017-2018.

Migration is generously supported by

and the

Virginia Cretella Mars Foundation

Thank you!