乐播传媒

Marcy Plavin, who won a devoted following of friends as she built 乐播传媒’ academic dance program, often said that 鈥渕odern dance is many points of view.鈥�

From the very beginning of her work at 乐播传媒, in the 1960s, 鈥淢arcy never felt that dance students should only get her perspective or the perspective of any single faculty member,” says Rachel Boggia, associate professor of dance. 鈥淪o we believe that exposing students to a lot of different artistic perspectives is important for them to understand the field.鈥�

Which makes it only fitting that the college has chosen to commemorate Plavin, who died in November 2016, by renaming, in perpetuity, its annual Fall Dance Concert after her. Known henceforth as the Marcy Plavin Fall Dance Concert, this event has always featured work by visiting dance artists.

鈥淲e choose them to bring diverse points of view about contemporary dance,鈥� says Boggia, 鈥渟o we felt that this concert really represents Marcy鈥檚 legacy in terms of the philosophy of the 乐播传媒 dance program.鈥�

This year’s program, in in Schaeffer Theatre, incorporates work by recent visitors including Marlies Yearby, Vanessa Justice, and the late Trisha Brown, taught to the 乐播传媒 company by Trisha Brown Dance Company member Samuel Wentz.

The Plavin concert also features thesis work by a senior, as well as Passing, a tribute to Plavin by Boggia, dance professor Carol Dilley, and composer William Matthews, Alice Swanson Esty Professor of Music.

A genuine 乐播传媒 legend, Plavin brought heart and mind to building dance at the college. Her dedication to dance 鈥� and to her students, many of whom remained close friends long after graduation 鈥� was fierce, deep, and irresistible.

Marcy Plavin was predeceased, in 2010, by her husband, Leonard, an avid photographer of 乐播传媒 dance. The couple’s children 鈥渨anted 乐播传媒 to do something to honor Marcy,鈥� says one of those children, David Plavin 鈥�77.

It was Boggia who 鈥渟uggested renaming the fall concert, and I thought it was a great idea,鈥� says Plavin, whose siblings are Stephen Plavin and Lynda Plavin Fitzgerald 鈥�79.

Previewed in September as a work in progress, Passing will be a fully realized premiere for the December performances. Dilley, who succeeded Plavin as head of 乐播传媒鈥� dance program and is on leave this year, returned to campus to collaborate with Boggia in creating the choreography for the 26 student dancers.

Matthews鈥� participation is striking in part, says Boggia, 鈥渂ecause he did so many collaborations with Marcy over the years and was a big part of the dance program. For him to be accompanying this homage to her feels really right.鈥�

As for the guest artists represented on the program, Yearby is known for her choreographic contributions to the Broadway hit Rent. At 乐播传媒, she worked with students on a piece reflecting concerns about genetically modified foods.

The work has a score by keyboardist Divyamaan Sahoo 鈥�17, who will perform the music live for the Plavin performances. A double major in math and music from India, Sahoo has stayed on at 乐播传媒 to work with the dance program as a guest composer and dance accompanist.

Justice鈥檚 piece on the Plavin program pays homage to the so-called analytic post-modern choreographers. Working in the 1970s, these dance artists minimized considerations of rhythm, musicality, and drama to achieve the purest possible focus on movement. Justice鈥檚 piece, set to music excerpted from Philip Glass鈥� Einstein on the Beach, 鈥渋s hypnotic, interesting work,鈥� says Boggia.

Justice has also worked with 乐播传媒 dancers on the Alexander Technique, an approach to movement that enhances mindfulness and aims to resolve physical tensions and inefficiencies. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a chance for our students to understand the kind of subtle training that supports a long life in dance,” says Boggia.

鈥淭his concert really represents Marcie鈥檚 legacy.鈥�

The third visiting artist, Wentz, has taught the 乐播传媒 dancers 鈥� or set on them, as dance artists say 鈥� Son of Gone Fishin鈥� Restaging Project, based on the original Son of Gone Fishin鈥�, choreographed by Trisha Brown and premiered in the early 1980s. Wentz is a former member of Brown’s company who is now with Backhausdance, in California.

Offering senior thesis work is Riley Hopkins of Augusta, Maine. Presenting an excerpt from another Brown piece, For锚t Foray, Hopkins is 乐播传媒鈥� first dance major to undertake a thesis in performance, rather than choreography. (Performances of the complete For锚t Foray, Boggia notes, usually include a marching band playing outside the performance space. For his four-and-a-half-minute excerpt, Hopkins will use a recording.)

The student performers 鈥� and, of course, their audiences 鈥� will experience not only aesthetic but historical diversity in the inaugural Marcy Plavin Fall Dance Concerts, Boggia points out. Alongside the new work on the program, Justice鈥檚 work looks back to the 1970s, and the Trisha Brown pieces are from the 1980s and 鈥�90s (Yearby’s work on Rent also dates to the 1990s).

鈥淪o, in some ways, all of these pieces are giving the students a sense of recent dance history from an experiential perspective.鈥�