Santa Monica College's Synapse Dance Theater — the innovative and widely praised contemporary dance ensemble — will present a program of new repertory by professional guest artists, award-winning faculty artists, and up-and-coming student choreographers on May 30 and 31.
Performances are at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 30, and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, May 31, at The Broad Stage, located at the SMC Performing Arts Center (Santa Monica Boulevard at 11th Street, Santa Monica).
The concert features Contemporary Modern Dance, Contemporary Jazz, Hip-Hop, House, and more. The program will feature works by Synapse Co-Artistic Director Mark Tomasic; guest artists Andre Tyson and Jay Carlon; and faculty choreographers Seda Aybay, Denise Leitner, Angela Jordan, Jessica Kondrath, and Meri Bender. Also creating new dance works for the performance are student choreographers Tamer Abdo, Alex Perez, Rachael Servello, and Jordan Slaffey.
SMC Dance faculty member Angela Jordan has created a contemporary jazz piece featuring three dancers and three percussionists who will perform live at every performance.
SMC dance professor, Synapse co-director, and professional choreographer Mark Tomasic will present excerpts from the Purcell opera "Dido and Aeneas," a collaboration with the SMC Music Department.
Guest artist Andre Tyson, former principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, served as special Artist-in-Residence for the Spring 2015 semester. His original work "Harmonium" explores the search for personal inner peace and truth through mental and physical investigations to achieve harmony with oneself and others through sharing revelatory movement experiences.
SMC student Tamer Abdo — born and raised in Ramallah/Palestinian territories — received a full scholarship for a ballet summer intensive at the Academy of Ballet in San Francisco. He is presenting "Another day in Paradise," which illustrates a vicious circle of life.
Kozue Kasahara is a featured Synapse dancer who is from Kanagawa, Japan. She studied British literature at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, and is currently studying dance at Santa Monica College to become a professional dancer in the United States.
Synapse has earned a reputation for artistic excellence and innovation since it was founded more than three decades ago. The student troupe has performed throughout the nation, including the Electric Lodge in Venice; the Cast Theater in Hollywood; the Getty Center in Los Angeles; and the American College Dance Association Conference in Arizona, California, Georgia, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Utah.
Tickets range from $15 to $18. Parking is free. For tickets, go to www.smc.edu/eventsinfo or call (310) 434-3005. For more information, please see www.smc.edu/dance or call (310) 434-3467.
