This weekend, Poughkeepsie’s Bardavon 1869 Opera House will host the annual gala performances by the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre (VRDT), the resident company at Vassar College. This 36th annual celebration of the talents of faculty, student and guest choreographers and dancers will be presented twice: beginning at 8 p.m. on Saturday and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 4.
At the top of the bill is a 2016 work by guest choreographer Kate Weare, Marksman, inspired by Eugen Herrigel’s Zen in the Art of Archery, with an original score by Curtis Robert Macdonald. VRDT director John Meehan has staged a compilation of excerpts from four works choreographed by Marius Petipa in honor of the ballet icon’s 200th birthday: La Bayadère, Le Corsaire, Don Quixote and Sleeping Beauty.
Faculty works include Steve Rooks’ Zenith, Miriam Mahdaviani’s Joie de Vivre, Kathy Wildberger’s Pain Dog and Abby Saxon’s Vesuvius. Student choreographers featured this year are Margaux Lieser, Turner Hitt, Megan Jackson, Kayla Miron, Anna Beeman, Jake Butter, Leora Randall-Tavori, Maya Talwar-Hebert, Jordan Nasif, Sydney Majka and Henry Gilbert.
Tickets to the VRDT Gala cost $11 general admission, $9 for students and seniors. They can be purchased by calling (845) 473-2072 or online at http://bit.ly/2EWiWx0. To view a trailer for this year’s show, visit http://bit.ly/2t0GkE3. For more details, visit http://bit.ly/2EZScYy. The Bardavon is located at 35 Market Street in Poughkeepsie.
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