CHESTERTOWN, MD—The Washington College Department of Dance presents its first-ever Fall Dance Concert on Thursday, October 30, and Saturday, Nov. 1, offering ballet, tap and modern dance selections choreographed by students and faculty under the artistic direction of Asa Trinh-Smith. 

The performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday and 1:00 p.m. on Saturday in Decker Theatre, Gibson Center for the Arts, on the College campus, 300 Washington Avenue. They are free and open to the public. 

Titled “The Four Seasons,” the fall recital will offer two acts divided by an intermission. As part of the first half, sophomores Brooke Burghardt and Dazhane Merrit will dance solo to their own choreography. Other selections in the first act are choreographed by Trinh-Smith, who teaches ballet and modern dance, and her department colleague Paula Lynn Klopcic, who teaches ballet and tap. 

A native of North Vietnam, Trinh-Smith studied dance in Hanoi and was an instructor and featured dancer with the National Dance Company of Vietnam from 1975 to 1987 before coming to the United States. Klopcic’s experience includes performing on Broadway (including Evita and Sophisticated Ladies) and in films (The Cotton Club,  Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and So Fine), and choreographing acts for a variety of venues, from Ringling Brothers Circus to opera stages in Germany and Ohio.   

The second act features student-designed dances that interpret the individual characters of summer, fall, winter and spring through physical moves, lighting and sound. The student choreographers are Brook Burghardt ’17, Nicole Morgan ’16, Anna Nazario ’16, Pheobe Shelor ’15 and Trish Langley ’16. 

Faculty member Polly Sommerfeld, a lecturer in drama, will narrate the “Four Seasons” performances. Lighting design is by assistant professor of drama Laura Eckelman, and the stage director is Larry Stahl, a lecturer in drama and technical director of the Gibson Center for the Arts. 

“I am beyond excited to celebrate the academic dance program and give the students in Asa and Paula’s classes the chance to showcase their work,” says drama professor Michele Volansky, who serves as program director of the dance minor. “Asa’s careful and inspired curation of ‘The Four Seasons’ should make for a tremendous night of dance.” 

– Kaitlyn Fowler ’17