‘Crossroads’

EVANSTON, Ill. --- The world premiere of a new work titled “how to exit gracefully” by visiting assistant professor of dance Corinne Imberski, a Chicago-based educator, performer and choreographer, is among the highlights of Northwestern University’s 2015 senior dance concert. (Editor’s note: the dance title is correctly shown as all lowercased.)

Imberski, who has created more than 50 works presented across the United States and in France, Bulgaria and Canada, says her latest piece “is a meditation on the conflicting feelings that arise when you must take leave of a place that you love.”

Presented by the School of Communication’s dance program, in the department of theatre, “Crossroads” will showcase the original choreography of three soon-to-graduate Northwestern senior dance majors, whose works will be performed by an ensemble of student dancers.

Open to the public, the dance concert will be staged at 8 p.m. Thursday, May 14; 8 p.m.  Friday, May 15; and 8 p.m. Saturday, May 16, in the Ballroom Studio of the Marjorie Ward Marshall Dance Center, 10 Arts Circle Drive, on the University’s Evanston campus.

“Crossroads” is an active celebration of the lives and development of the Northwestern senior dance majors who, throughout the course of four years, have become a collective dedicated to diversifying and advancing the field of dance.

The three senior dance majors who will perform Imberski’s piece will create a cohesive and entertaining program showcasing diverse and thought-provoking pieces that will expose audiences to the unlimited artistic expressions in dance.

This year’s student choreographers are seniors Hillary Aarons, Jacinda Ratcliffe and Katherine Scott. All three also have collaborated to produce this May 14-16 show.

The work done in each of their featured pieces is regarded as one of many stepping stones to propel the seniors into a future generation of artists. The concert covers a variety of dynamic terrain, with each senior presenting two choreographed works. From the gestural and explosive work of Ratcliffe’s “The Three Faces of Eve,” which studies the dueling personas inside to the comedic world of Aarons’ “At the Salon.”

Other concert highlights will include:

•  Scott’s “The First Stone,” which explores the power of debilitating desire and excessive indulgence, originally inspired by the seven deadly sins, as well as her “Traditions,” which investigates patterns and dynamics of a family through partnering and movement connected to a dinner table.

• Ratcliffe’s “Pillow Talk” interacts with the spoken word poetry of Bea Cordelia Sullivan-Knoff and mines how desires are communicated and fulfilled in relationships. (NOTE: Sullivan-Knoff, “a Chicago born writer, performer and researcher uses her playwriting, slam poetry, blogging and academia for transgender activism and other forms of social change.”)

• Aarons’ piece “On the Front” uses rhythmic interplay to chart the dissonance between the inner self and the presentable façade that communities consent to.

Bleacher-style seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis. General admission is $10 for adults and $5 for both full-time students with valid IDs and children. Tickets are available through the Wirtz Center Center Box Office at 847-491-7282 or online at www.tic.northwestern.edu/dance. Tickets also will be sold at the door prior to each performance.

ARTS CIRCLE DRIVE

After nearly three years of construction, Northwestern University’s Art Circle Drive has reopened to vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The road, drive-up handicap access to all Wirtz Center theaters, the pedestrian path at the lakefront and all sidewalks are now open for public use. New improvements to the South Beach Garage also has eliminated the need to use the stairways at the east and west ends of the two-story parking structure, which is now accessible to persons with disabilities for easy access to the Wirtz Center theaters. Additional parking is also available in the new Segal Visitors Center at 1841 Sheridan Road.