Associate professor of dance Liz Maxwell is one of several faculty choreographers who will be contributing to the Department of Dance’s Fall Dance Concert.  The theme of Professor Maxwell’s piece is related to the idea of “liminal space”, which is defined as “occupying a position at or on both sides of a boundary or threshold.”  The idea of threshold will be represented by a set piece that is a large cube in which the dancers will move in and around.  For the first section, the cube will be set to face the audience from one side so the frame can represent that of a house, picture-frame, or mirror.  In the second section, the cube will be set on an angle so that the point of the cube will face the audience. The first section of the piece will be more abstract, with 4 dancers, the second section will be more dramatic or narrative in nature with 4 new dancers, followed by a final section blending all 8 dancers with their alter egos or shadow natures.  Professor Maxwell was inspired by Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland:  “I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.”  She says, “It will be tricky to cast this piece because I will want different types of dancers to be in the same role in the two differing sections. I’m thinking of a sort of Cloud Atlas type of casting where the dancers represent the same person yet the move through time inhabiting different bodies. It is always tricky to cast this concert since we want to give as many roles as possible, but this time I wanted to work on a smaller and more intimate scale.”

The Fall Dance Concert is November 20-23 in the Waltmar Theatre.  The concert will also feature choreography by dance faculty members Dale Merrill, Nancy Dickson-Lewis, Sean Greene, Alicia Guy and Holly Johnston.  For tickets, call 714-997-6812 or visit www.chapman.edu/copa.