This year, the much heralded annual Spring Dance Concert will feature several original pieces, including one by guest artist Rakiya Orange, who graduated from Bowdoin in 2011. The performances are May 4-6, at 7:30 p.m., in Memorial Hall, Pickard Theater.

Orange, from Baltimore, Maryland, went to Hollins University for her graduate degree in dance. “[The university program has] produced a lot of exciting choreographers that have changed the dance field,” said Assistant Professor of Dance Aretha Aoki. Orange also writes about and teaches dance. “She is someone who has found a way to enter the field in multiple ways, and for that reason is an extraordinary example for our students about what is possible after they graduate,” Aoki added.

Gina Fickera ’18 and Ben Eisenberg ’17 will each perform their own solo pieces. Dance students in the introductory modern dance course taught by Senior Lecturer Gwyneth Jones will perform an original dance by Jones, “Nightshift.”

The last piece, “Well-drawn fields,” will be danced by advanced students Modern III. Aoki choreographed the dance in collaboration with the eight students in the course.

Dance footage by Ann Basu ’20