lab residency

The Residency with
Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance

October 19-25, 2007

Marlboro, Vermont

VPL collaborated with Marlboro College to bring Brooklyn-based choreographer Shannon Hummel and her dance company Cora Dance to Southern Vermont for a creative residency in October. Hummel is a dancer, choreographer and educator with deep interests in promoting the relevance and necessity of art in the daily lives of every person. Her artistic works are vivid explorations of the human condition that lay bare the intimate emotional underpinnings of movement.

As a 2007 Lab Artist Shannon Hummel chose to bring her dance company, Cora Dance, to Vermont to work intensively to develop a new work using the dance Studio on the campus of Marlboro College.  For Hummel and the dancers they developed new material for a new piece that is informed by drastic shifts: emotional polarity, brutality and tenderness, insecurity and confidence. During the residency audiences had several opportunities to meet the artists and learn about their work through discussions, open rehearsals, masterclass and informal showings of the company's work.  In addition, Ms. Hummel participated in a choreography class giving College students feedback on their work and she and members of her company, Kelly Bartnik and Donna Costello met with students during Dedicated Hour to talk with them about working as professional dancers and choreographers.

Some of the highlights ....

Masterclass in Modern Dance with Shannon Hummel

Thursday October 25, 2007 @ 4-5:20PM

Choreographer Shannon Hummel offered a master class for modern dance students at Marlboro College. The dance studio was packed with students and members from the Marlboro community. 
During the class Hummel taught the group a section from the new work-in-progress so participants had a first-hand experience of the choreography.

Informal Showing with Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance

October 26 & 27, 2007 @ 8PM

The creative residency with Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance culminated in two evenings of informal showings at the Serkin Center at Marlboro College.  The company work from their repertory and excerpts from the new work-in-progress.  The first piece on the program was "Good Side" performed by Cynthia Thompson Originally created in 2000, this solo work has been set on different dancers, and expresses vulnerability and humor. The new work, inpired by a piece of music by Richard Einhorn "Voices of Light" explores the extremes of brutality and tenderness in relationships as they relate to food, sex, religion and death.   Following the showings each evening Hummel and the dancers answered questions and talked about the work.

Visit Shannon Hummel's Lab Artist page or check out www.coradance.org to see what Shannon and the company are up to.

photos by Adam Keller