‘Art and Activism’ focus of dance residency discussion session
A week-long dance residency of Sumi Clements will culminate with “The Choreographic Process: A Conversation on Art and Activism,” a question/answer session, at the Merrins Dance Theatre in the Rockefeller Studio Complex on Friday, Feb. 24, from 5 to 6 p.m.
Ms. Clements, artistic director and co-founder of New York City-based Summation Dance, will discuss the process of her new work of choreography which investigates how individual challenges brought on by the pandemic reflect society’s broader economic and social realities.
“I'm excited to bring Sumi to campus so she can offer her unique lens of choreographic creation to our Dance majors and her expertise as a teacher, choreographer and artistic director and co-founder of a successful dance company,” said Associate Professor Dance Paula Peters.
“These experiences provide our dancers with a framework for the possibilities they can pursue in their own dance careers, and provide the campus community with an opportunity to hear the perspective of a dance artist currently working in the field about how they use the art of choreography to investigate social issues,” Ms. Peters, who is the Dance program coordinator, explained.
A California native, Clements has a M.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and a B.F.A. in Dance from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Clements has conducted numerous university residencies, is on faculty at the Boulder Jazz Dance Workshop in Colorado and is a Dance Education Laboratory graduate.
The question/answer session is free and open to all members of campus and community. Funding for the residency is provided by the Carnahan Jackson Fund for the Humanities of the Fredonia College Foundation.
