The Seventh Annual 5 x 5 Dance Festival - October 23 and 24
Saint Joseph College will present the Seventh Annual 5 x 5 Dance Festival featuring the largest-ever expanded program of 17 collegiate and professional troupes; master classes will also be offered along with an opportunity to view exquisite dance photography by Arthur Fink, which will be on display. All weekend dance events will take place in The Bruyette Athenaeum's Hoffman Auditorium located on Saint Joseph College's West Hartford campus. For ticket information, contact the Frances Driscoll Box Office at 860.231.5555 or place your ticket orders online at www.sjc.edu/arts. Please note: some performances may express mature themes which may not be appropriate for younger audiences.
Pictured here, DancEnlight will perform as
part of the 5 x 5 Dance Festival’s Professional
Showcase on Saturday, October 24 at 7:00 p.m.
- The Collegiate Showcase takes place on Friday, October 23 at 7:00 p.m.and will feature original choreography from Saint Joseph College, Eastern Connecticut State University, Trinity College, Connecticut College, Naugatuck Valley Community College and Central Connecticut State University. The Collegiate Showcase will include the following professional companies: Dance Connect, Full Force, and Tellum-Clark Dance Theatre. Additionally, a special guest performance will feature Aparna Sindhoor Dance Theatre, hailed by critics as a powerful new vice for creating contemporary works of extraordinary artistry, challenging the boundaries of traditional Indian dance. Her dance theatre was founded in 1991 in Mysore, India; since moving to the United States in 1996, Aparna Sindhoor has expanded her repertoire to include more contemporary and global themes. She does not just dance - she becomes one with the stage.
- The Professional Showcase takes place on Saturday, October 24 at 7:00 p.m.and will feature premiere works from ensembles including Adele Myers and Dancers, DancEnlight, James Robey Dance Company, Roman Baca, Scapegoat Garden, Soma Dance Company, and Tony Olivares. Special guest speaker: President of The Connecticut Dance Alliance, Jill Henderson.
- Three dance master classes will be offered on Saturday, October 24 from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. In conjunction with the 5 x 5 Dance Festival, Aparna Sindhoor, Loreli Chang, and Roman Baca will each lead three master classes which will be open to students and the community. Additionally, Arthur Fink will offer a dance photography seminar. For complete details and to register, contact Susan Murphy, artistic director of the 5 x 5 Dance Festival, at 860.231.8703 or 860.232.7848 or smurphy@sjc.edu.
The Seventh Annual 5 x 5 Dance Festival has received grant support from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and the Greater Hartford Arts Council. This funding supports professional services critical to the implementation of the dance festival, as well as program and artistic expenses for the participants. The goals of the 5 x 5 Dance Festival are to provide opportunities for interface and sharing among pre-professional and professional artists; to foster a collaborative spirit among dance companies; to provide Connecticut dance audiences with a festival offering multiple dance genres and diverse cultures. According to Robert J. Smith, Ph.D., director of the Carol Autorino Center for the Arts and Humanities at Saint Joseph College and founder of the 5 x 5 Dance Festival, “Widespread participation of dance companies and growing audiences underscore the important role this festival has played in greater Hartford and Connecticut. The 5 x 5 Dance Festival provides young dancers with an opportunity to experience the scope of artistic visions expressed through dance forms.”
