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Terpsicorps

Ohio Wesleyan Student Dancers, Choreographers to Perform April 15 on Chappelear Main Stage

DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University’s student-led dance club, Terpsicorps, will present its annual dance concert at 8 p.m. April 15, featuring 14 dancers performing seven pieces created by students and one by a guest choreographer.

For the first time in more than a decade, “Terpsicorps 21/22” will be held on the Main Stage of Chappelear Drama Center, 45 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Tickets are $3 (or two canned goods) for general admission and free for anyone with a valid Ohio Wesleyan ID. To reserve tickets and pay (cash only) or contribute canned goods at the door, visit owu.edu/terpsicorps21-22.

Two of the show’s pieces are dance videos created by students as part of their senior capstone projects.

Senior Ellie Bearss presents “Exploring Influences in Dance.” For her video project, Bearss of Franklin, Tennessee, explores how dancers interpret movement and bring their own influences to choreography throughout the creative process.

Senior Tess Meddings will present “Woven.” In her video, Meddings of Marion, Ohio, focuses on the creation of a dance film using different methods of filming, composition, and editing to explore the art of creating dance for camera and producing a final project that portrays movement in a way that is more intimate and unattainable on stage.

In a third piece, the student-led tap dance club, OWU Rhythms, will join the Terpsicorps dancers and present a tap piece. Junior Kayla Rush of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, will lead OWU Rhythms in the ensemble-based number.

Guest choreographer (and OWU faculty member) Rashana Perks Smith will oversee the dancers in “Casting,” a piece that situates itself near dusk, as day transitions to night. Three dancers dive into gray areas and pluralities as they find the dual roles of casting out to retrieve and casting out to expunge. Arvo Part’s “Fratres for Cello and Piano” provides a framework for the connected vignettes that teeter between quiet introspection and charging physicality.

The show’s remaining pieces, all choreographed by Ohio Wesleyan dance students, explore a variety of themes:

• Bearss and senior Anne Raspe of Chicago, Illinois, will dance a duet focusing on taking risks and sharing weight.
• Raspe and Rush will serve as co-choreographers on a company piece focusing on spacing as well as full integration of technique levels.
• Junior Alex Dolph of Middletown, Ohio, will present a group piece for six dancers focusing on taking inspiration from classical jazz styles.
• Sophomore Ali Dix of Marion, Ohio, will present a duet that focuses on the joy of dancing and performing with another person.

Following the performance, guests will be invited to spread out in the lobby and outdoors to greet their dancers.

Learn more about Terpsicorps on the group’s Instagram page, www.instagram.com/owu.terps. Learn more about Ohio Wesleyan’s Department of Performing Arts at owu.edu/PerformingArts.

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Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers more than 70 undergraduate majors and competes in 24 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Through its signature program, The OWU Connection, Ohio Wesleyan teaches students to integrate knowledge across disciplines, build a diverse and global perspective, and apply knowledge in real-world settings. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives” and included on the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “Best Colleges” lists. Connect with OWU expert interview sources at owu.edu/experts or learn more at owu.edu.