On Friday, November 7th and Saturday, November 8th, the Semaphore Repertory Dance Company will showcase a collection of dance routines prepared by Carleton’s student dancers. Both performances will begin at 7:30pm in the Weitz Theater. Dancers in Semaphore have spent all of fall term working diligently with both student and professional choreographers, memorizing and perfecting complicated dance pieces. One of the faculty coordinators, Judith Howard, has provided some information about what Semaphore is and the role it plays for students pursuing dance or choreography.
Semaphore allows student dancers to work alongside several choreographers who offer different perspectives on style and technique. The first choreographer is Judith Howard, a Carleton faculty member and co-director of Semaphore. There are also two professional choreographers who have dedicated themselves to developing Carleton dancers. Sarah Jacobs, who is an alum dance student and Chris Schlicting, who is from Minneapolis. The final choreographer is a senior dance major named Gustave Maisonrouge.
Students have been preparing their fall performance by learning and perfecting pre-set routines from the choreographers. In addition, the dancers have been developing their improvisation abilities for a special improvisational dance piece featured in the concert. In Judith Howard’s words, the performance will be “an intriguing, eclectic mix of pieces, like a gallery of works by different artists.”
Here are some direct responses from Judith:
Q: What does participating in Semaphore demand of the students and choreographers?
Judith: “Semaphore is a pre-professional repertory dance company which requires many hours a week and a high level of commitment as a dancer. As a repertory company the dancers work with many artists in various styles (mostly modern dance/contemporary dance) and through this exposure to the professional dance world and under the expert rehearsal direction of Jane Shockley and producer Judith Howard, they have an accelerated dance training beyond what is possible in class work alone. All of our dance faculty have an influence on the training of the dancers, as they are required to take dance class as part of being in the company. They also attend the American college Dance Festival each year and perform their work before a national panel of adjudicators. Twice, Carleton has been chosen to appear at the National Gala concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.”
Q: How does Semaphore help anyone pursuing dance, choreography, or the performing arts?
Judith: “Semaphore brings dancers into the network of the professional dance field. Alums have gone on to become dancers, artists and arts administrators in the Twin Cities and beyond. Dance Majors who are part of Semaphore can create works for the company. Dance at Carleton happens beyond Semaphore and gives the dance student an opportunity to work with faculty and guest choreographers (Fall and Winter Dance). Serious dance students have formed their own venue in which to perform and choreograph and experiment beyond the curriculum in the new “Experimental Dance Board” which is all student run and operates with an outstanding degree of commitment and dedication to exploring contemporary dance work and cultivating individual artistic voices while providing an egalitarian venue for serious students to dance and create.
Dance at Carleton is flourishing!”