NW Dance Project to Perform, Conduct Outreach Event

NW Dance Project
NW Dance Project

The Portland, Oregon-based NW Dance Project makes its first appearance in Amherst on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center (FAC) Concert Hall. The audience is invited to a pre-show talk at 6:15 p.m. in the FAC lobby with NW Dance Project artistic director Sarah Slipper.

On Monday, Oct. 29 NW Dance Project artists will demonstrate their artistic process in developing new work and discuss working in the business of dance from 9:05 to 10:50 a.m. in Totman Gym. This outreach event is open to the public, but participants must register with Joanna Walker in advance at jwalker@fivecolleges.edu. In the afternoon, the company will run a master class open to Five College dance department students only.

Led by acclaimed dancer and choreographer Sarah Slipper, the cutting-edge company brings a mixed rep program of stunning choreography for their Amherst debut. “You Are All I See,” choreographed by Wen Wei Wang, focuses on movement that is both sharp and cool with athletic emotionality that shows off the dancers’ technical skills; “Memory House” by Sarah Slipper, is a gripping, passionate duet; and “Le Fil Rouge,” choreographed by Ihsan Rustem and  set to a suite of old and new love/unrequited love songs, presents a light and airy work featuring “follies”-style vignettes ranging from delightful duets to full-company sections filled with humor, surprise and tenderness.

NW Dance Project was founded in 2004 by Slipper, a renowned dancer, mentor and choreographer. It has fostered the development and Portland premiere of more than 250 original contemporary dance works. Dance International Magazine proclaims that NW Dance is “changing the way dance is created” and has become “a laboratory, factory and repository for risk-taking new works from the next generation of choreographers from Europe and North America.”

Tickets are $45, $35 and $20; Five College Students and youth 17 and under are $15, $12 and $10. Faculty and staff are eligible for 15 percent off tickets (limit two) for this performance. For tickets call the FAC Box Office at 545-2511, toll-free at 800-999-UMAS, or purchase online at fineartscenter.com/NWdance.