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Raritan Valley Community College’s (RVCC) Visual and Performing Arts Department will present DanceWorks, an evening of student and faculty dance, Tuesday and Wednesday, April 24 and 25, at 8 p.m. The event will be held in the Edward Nash Theatre at the College’s Branchburg campus. The concert is being produced by Loretta Fois, Director of RVCC’s dance program.

The program will feature works created by faculty and students—all performed by RVCC student dancers. Faculty choreography will include the premiere of Hooplah, choreographed by Professor Loretta Fois. The piece will be performed by the Raritan Valley Dance Ensemble, which tours local K-12 schools, senior centers and assisted living facilities.

Six student pieces were chosen for the concert and the choreography covers a diversity of styles including Chinese dance by Tina Chen (Branchburg); Flamenco by Gillian Gottlieb (Hillsborough); aerial dance by Ariel Lleva (Raritan); and modern dance pieces by Elanna Etemad (Warren), Nathan Forster (Warren), and Emily Stecher (Berkeley Heights). The student choreography is the culmination of a semester of classwork as the students created and rehearsed the new works to be performed.

Hot Miss Lil, choreographed by guest artist Barbara Angeline, is inspired by 1930s jazz dance and music. It incorporates the music and life story of Lil Hardin Armstrong, a jazz pianist, singer, composer and band leader who excelled in the music industry for almost five decades but whose reputation was overshadowed by the fame of her husband, Louis. Barbara Angeline is Artistic Director of Hysterika Jazz Dance, a dance company dedicated to expanding the legacy of jazz dance as an American art form. She is a full-time professor at Rutgers University and guest teaches at Drew University, Hofstra University and New York University’s Steinhardt School.

Knowing – Embodied Truth is a new work by Kimani Fowlin, an African dance artist and master teacher. The piece, featuring four dancers and live percussion, reflects on community, empowerment, connection, blessing, individuality, acceptance, cooperation, justice, love, one’s unique self and collective expression—all set to the rhythm of the drum. Fowlin is the Director of Dance at Drew University and a faculty member at Rutgers.

General admission tickets cost $12 each, $8 for students and seniors. For tickets, call 908-725-3420. For additional information, call 908-218-8876.

Raritan Valley Community College’s main campus is located at 118 Lamington Road in Branchburg, NJ. Serving Somerset and Hunterdon County residents for close to 50 years, RVCC is an educational and cultural center that is nationally recognized for its innovative programming, service to the community and environmental leadership. The College offers more than 90 associate degrees and certificates, as well as career training, professional development, and adult and youth personal enrichment courses. The College also has a performing arts center and planetarium.

RVCC is committed to offering a quality and affordable education through effective teaching, liaisons with the community’s businesses, and state-of-the-art technology. For further information, visit www.raritanval.edu.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 4, 2018

Media contact: Donna Stolzer, 908-526-1200, ext. 8383

PR #131