Dance Ensemble members. Front row: Julia Lingenfelter ‘26, Natalia Biehl-Narvaez ‘26, Samantha Vanderwerf ’26. Second row: Sabrina LaRosa ‘26, Amelia Caselnova ‘27, Morgan Comstock ‘26, Payton Clark ‘26. (SUNY Geneseo/Matt Burkhartt)
Please join SUNY Geneseo’s Department of the Performing Arts and the Geneseo Dance Ensemble for an evening of diverse, dynamic, and original dance works. Rising to New Heights is dedicated to Myrtle Merritt, PhD, and features works by faculty and student choreographers as well as artist-in-residence Sonia Dawkins.
The concert, artistically directed and produced by professor of dance studies Jonette Lancos, will be presented in the Alice Austin Theatre on March 5, 6, and 7 at 7:30 p.m. and March 8 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12, available at the Brodie Box Office prior to performances. Questions regarding tickets can contact Performing Arts at 585-245-5824.
Dances are mentored by faculty in the dance studies program, including Lancos, lecturer Alissa Bachand, adjunct lecturers Deborah Scodese-French and Allison Thomashefski, and guest adjudicator Norwood PJ Pennewell.
Natalia Biehl-Narvaez ’26 presents Invisible Loss; Julia Lingenfelter ’25 presents Keep the Rain. Clouds Gathering will be performed by the Dance Composition class, using choreographic theory and the elements and principles of design as exhibited in the images of clouds.
Faculty creations include Thomashefski’s Playground-ish; Bachand’s Post-Modern Love, and Scodese-French’s Just for Fun. Lancos choreographed Grande Tarantelle to music by Louis Moreau Gottschalk, and Dawkins choreographed Seeking Tranquility to music by Toneloom with sound designer Charles McCall.
Rising to New Heights is directed by Lancos in collaboration with student assistants Biehl-Narvaez, Lingenfelter, Morgan Comstock ’26, Sabrina LaRosa ’26, and Samantha Vanderwerf ’26. Technical director Brendan Doyle mentors student lighting designers. Costumes are designed by Lisa Miskell, costume shop supervisor, in collaboration with the costume shop crew.
Rising to New Heights is supported by generous donations from supporters and local businesses through the Geneseo Foundation.
Author
Monique Patenaude, PhD
Executive Director of Content Strategy and Media Relations