ALLENTOWN, PA — Muhlenberg College dancers explored personal experiences and narratives through movement as the Theatre & Dance Department presented “Reset: New Dances” Dec. 1 through 3.
Alena Craig, a 2020 graduate of Cordova Jr/Sr High School, was a crew member in the production put on by her college. Craig is part of the class of 2024.
“One of the major themes of ‘Reset: New Dances’ is this questioning of what dance has been and what dance can be,” says Artistic Rirector Natalie Gotter, a member of Muhlenberg’s dance faculty. “The dancers have a wide range of interests, and putting these interests on the stage really allows the audience to know more about who our students are and how they approach the field of dance.”
Working closely with the 10 student choreographers, Gotter witnessed the ways they are investigating their experiences through their dance works.
“What really excites me about working with this community is getting to see all different perspectives,” Gotter says. “Our dancers bring a huge variety of backgrounds and movement perspectives to this process. I get to see how we, as a community, are thinking about dance— which is really exciting to be a part of.”
Along with the unique movement profiles, Gotter emphasizes the wide range of genres that audiences will see, including tap, hip-hop, jazz, contemporary, modern and improvisation. The works will explore a variety of themes, such as partnership and friendship, sleep cycle research and corporate business culture.
Choreographer Bella Pansera ‘23 was inspired to create her piece after studying abroad in Italy. The experience sparked an idea of what it means to call a place “home.”
“Every few months I have to recreate home in a new place,” Pansera says, “so the piece is also exploring what it means to do that.”
In her modern piece, choreographer Nicola Ferro ‘23 investigates self-care through movement. As a dancer with a chronic illness, Ferro explores her own approach to movement and the work she does every day to alleviate tension and pain. She encourages her dancers to explore their own practices of self-care through choreographic phrases.
“I’m really interested in reimagining the way we consume dance,” Ferro says. “This piece is really about the dancer’s experience—it’s more of a ritual that we are inviting an audience to be part of than it is a dance that’s being performed for the audience.”
Other featured choreographers include Ruthy Freeberg ’23, Emma Giordano ’23, Marissa Haluch ’23, Riley Hammett ’24, Lily Knowles ’23, Claire Spenard ’23, and Des Suarez ’23. Marissa Cohen ’25 serves as the associate artistic director. Paul E. Theisen Jr. designs lights and Kiana Grella ’23 designs costumes.
Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg is a highly selective, private, four-year residential, liberal arts college offering baccalaureate and graduate programs. With an enrollment of approximately 2,200 students, Muhlenberg College is dedicated to shaping creative, compassionate, collaborative leaders through rigorous academic programs in the arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences; selected preprofessional programs, including accounting, business, education and public health; and progressive workforce-focused post-baccalaureate certificates and master’s degrees.
