Lake State Dance Theatre to present fall concert

NEWS RELEASE

LAKE SUPERIOR STATE UNIVERSITY

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SAULT STE. MARIE, MI – Lake State Dance Theatre will present its fall concert, re.action: a story of us, at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 18-19, in LSSU’s Arts Center.

Ticket information is available by running a Web search on "LSSU Arts Center", or by calling the Arts Center box office, 906-635-2602. Prices are $10 for adults, and $5 for seniors, students and children 12 or younger.

“This concert is a look at how we respond to tragedy,” says Joshua Legg, who directs LSSU’s dance program. “As I was contemplating what our fall concert might address over the summer, I kept coming back to loss and grief. On the national level, this was a very violent summer with multiple shootings, as well as devastating floods in West Virginia and Louisiana.

"At the same time, on the personal level, friends and I dealt with three unexpected deaths in short succession, and my goddaughter was sexually assaulted on a college campus in Virginia," he says.

In the midst of those events, he adds, “three things started to emerge as focal points for the concert: the ways in which places hold public and private memory, the choices we make in response to tragedy, and how those things shape the narrative of who we become as individuals and a community in the aftermath.”

The creation of that narrative became a central theme for the concert.

“If I was wanting to examine some of those concerns artistically, I was sure my colleagues and our students might want to as well,” says Legg.

The evening features works by faculty and students from dance, creative writing, and visual art. Legg invited colleagues and students from those programs to develop works that address various facets of how we respond to crisis and the arc we take toward healing as individuals and a community.

“Every response was unique,” Legg says. "Works respond to both personal and public tragedy, and range from domestic violence to suicide, mass shootings, and this summer’s floods, among other topics.

“Professor Mary McMyne grew up in Louisiana where flash flooding just outside her hometown of Baton Rouge devastated many people’s homes,” he says. "I lived in Louisiana for a time as well, and I grew up in West Virginia. This summer’s flood waters moved so fast in my father’s hometown that they tore apart cinderblock buildings and washed houses off of their foundations.”

McMyne, who is on the creative writing faculty, and art professor Lloyd Eddy collaborated with Legg on a multimedia reaction to those floods.

“Professor Julie Barbour also contributed poetry that I used to inspire several of the other dances I made," Legg notes. "And, the concert features choreography and dance improvisation, poetry, and art by Lake State students, as well.

“We took all of the material that students and faculty created, and wove it together to create this story," he says. "There is a lot going on in that narrative, with overlapping events, choices, and reactions. The audience will see loss, but they will also see people taking care of each other.”

Along the way, there’s a look at the role of faith in rebuilding for some people. And, there are moments of levity and humor as well.

“Eventually, we see people moving forward, refusing to be defined by devastation, but rather, to define themselves through their choices and reactions," says Legg. "We are left, ultimately, with an image of a community that is uplifting.”

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