Noted Chicago Dance Company Brings Expertise, Performance April 7-8 to UA Campus

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Dance COLEctive, a top contemporary company from Chicago, will present two days of master classes and lectures culminating in a free public performance of its seminal work, “Written on the Body,” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 8, at The University of Alabama’s Morgan Auditorium.

The Dance COLEctive is presenting “Dance COLEctive Southeast Tour – Tuscaloosa,” a collaboration between the company and UA’s department of theatre and dance. The company’s artistic director, Margi Cole, is a graduate of the Alabama School of Fine Arts and has served as a guest choreographer and teacher with the Alabama Ballet. She uses her company to challenge assumptions about dance: who dances; what they dance; where, how and when dance takes place; and why dance happens.

“The Tuscaloosa residency is important to my company and my work on a number of levels,” Cole says. “Not only is it an opportunity for us to maintain existing and develop new relationships in the area, it is also an opportunity to work with people from all walks of life — rural, urban, young, old, privileged, poor, men and women.”

“Written on the Body” uses the lives of the Bronte sisters — Charlotte, Emily and Anne – to explore gender roles and stereotypes. As writers, the Brontes published their works under pseudonyms. The hidden identities of the Bronte sisters, as well as the hardships they endured throughout their lives in Victorian England, provide the framework. Cole interprets the Brontes’ masculine and feminine personas using images of power, strength, vulnerability and intimacy, exploring how each attribute can be related through movement.

“A pseudonym represents a way of disguising one’s identity to remain invisible,” Cole says. “It is also a way to represent yourself as something other than what you are in order to be accepted. During the 19th century, Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte’s pseudonyms — Ellis, Currer and Acton Bell — allowed the three sisters to conceal their identities under masculine persona. The work is titled ‘Written on the Body’ because our bodies are where our truest histories are written.”

As part of the residency, activities include a modern dance technique class for dance majors at UA, taught by Cole, and a lecture-demonstration, open to the public, discussing the creative process behind “Written on the Body.” During the lecture, held in Morgan Auditorium at 7 p.m. on April 7, the company will show and discuss excerpts of the dance and will answer questions.

The Tuscaloosa visit is the final stop of the Dance COLEctive’s three-week tour of Alabama. Other tour locations include Talladega, Birmingham and Huntsville. The tour is made possible by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information, call the Dance COLEctive at 773/604-8452 or Sarah M. Barry in the dance program at UA at 205/348-8699. Because of a generous contribution from University Programs, there is no charge for admission to the concert. Arrive early to ensure you get a seat

The theatre and dance department is part of the College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.