Abby Z & The New Utility

dancers

Abby Z and the New Utility: Radioactive Practice Residency

January 24-27, 2024

  • Contemporary Master Dance Class
    Wednesday, Jan. 24, 9:30-11:00 a.m.
    Lang Performing Arts Center, Troy Dance Studio (LPAC 002)
  • Film Screening and Lecture
    Wednesday, Jan. 24, 4:30- 6 p.m.
    Lang Performing Arts Center, Cinema
  • Contemporary Master Dance Class
    Thursday, Jan. 25, 9:55-11:10 a.m.
    Lang Performing Arts Center, Troy Dance Studio (LPAC 002)
  • Radioactive Practice Performance
    Saturday, Jan. 27, 8 p.m.
    Lang Performing Arts Center, Pearson Hall Theatre

Choreographer Abby Zbikowski and crew have created, in “Radioactive Practice,” a genre-bending work that brings together a mosaic group of dancers to redefine purpose for themselves as they labor their way through complex, demanding, and often perplexing physicality as a means to confront expectations and dive into the unknown head-on. 

Utilizing the skills they have honed through their practices in movement traditions including (but not limited to) street dance, post-modern dance, contemporary African forms, tap, synchronized swimming, soccer, and martial arts, the cast draws from an arsenal of physical possibility to shatter assumptions of established forms and test the group’s own physical and mental limits. Working with Senegalese dance artist Momar Ndiaye as dramaturge, this work embodies the amalgam of contemporary living, chock full of cultural collisions, unlikely relationships, minor to major misunderstandings, a desire for logic, and being hard-wired to survive.

The cast features Indya Childs, Fiona Lundie, Mya McClellan, Jennifer Meckley, Benjamin Roach, and jinsei sato. Original music by Matthew Peyton Dixon.

Contemporary Dance Class Description: Immediacy of the Body

In this workshop participants will experiment with pushing their bodies past perceived limits of speed, range of motion, strength, coordination, and endurance, as well as challenge their own held views on conventions of established forms. In her classes, Abby Zbikowski utilizes an intercultural approach to the practice of contemporary dance, placing her methods in direct dialogue with the African Diasporic and African forms that have shaped her perspective as a dance-maker and educator, as a means to identify the confluence of aesthetic worlds and cultural information embedded in the practice of contemporary dance. Dancers should expect a full-bodied rhythmically driven class and should wear sneakers, pants, and knee pads (if you have them).  

All events are free and open to the public on a first come first served basis. These events were made possible by the William J. Cooper Foundation. Presented by the Swarthmore College Dance Program.

All visitors must comply with the College’s COVID policy.

Accessibility Advance Notice

Swarthmore College encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact the event sponsor or Susan Smythe, ADA Program Manager at 610-690-2063 in advance of your participation or visit. 

The closest parking lot to the venue is the Dupont parking lot.