It all started when Marisa Lieberman ’15 received the College’s Edward Villella dance fellowship at the end of her junior year. The award allowed her to take six weeks of aerial silk classes in New York City last summer, learning how to climb and wrap her body around the fabric to create expressive, elegant lines.
“I fell in love with this new art form and wanted to continue with it at Union,” Lieberman said. “Fortunately, the interior height of the newly completed Henle Dance Pavilion allowed for a set of aerial silks to be installed in the studio.”
For her dance project this year, Lieberman decided to pursue choreography using the silks. Her finished piece, using the title song from the James Bond movie, “Skyfall,” is among the works included in the program at the Winter Dance Concert, March 4-7.
“This piece is different than anything I have ever done before,” says Lieberman, a dance minor who is majoring in economics. “The inspiration comes from the scene where Bond is shot and falls into the ocean. He sinks down while ribbons of his own blood encircle him. Then a mysterious woman grabs his hand and pulls him farther down. I have invested a lot of time training and working on this dance, something I couldn’t have done without the help of Miryam Moutillet.”
Moutillet, director of Union’s Dance Program, conceived the show, titled ACTION! It features 20 students in dances and physical theater pieces set to soundtracks from major films in all genres.
Both Moutillet and instructor Marcus Rogers created pieces for the show. In addition to Lieberman, other student choreographers include Olivia Cipriani’17, Giorgia Comeau’16, Lily Herout ’17 and Fadeelah Ziyad-Islam ’15.
Guest visual designer Patrick O’Rourke’s digital animations are inspired by 10 movies, including “The Fifth Element,” “Forrest Gump,” “Mission Impossible,” “Pink Panther” and “Slumdog Millionaire.” Theatrical lighting design is by Robert Bovard and attire by Costume Designer Brittney Belz. Guest composer Andy Iorio brings his expertise as a film scoring graduate of Berklee College of Music.
The concert will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, March 4-7, and there is a 2 p.m. matinée on Saturday, March 7.
Tickets are on sale at the Yulman Theater Box Office. The cost is $7 with a Union ID and $10 for the general public. The box office is open Monday through Friday, 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. For more information or reservations, call (518) 388-6545.