Autorino hosting dance-heavy 2020-21 season
Despite some daunting obstacles, Autorino Center at the University of St. Joseph has been putting together a 202021 season of performances. The season is anchored by the Connecticut-based dance troupes Pilobolus, which is based in Washington Depot, and the Hartford-based hip-hop dance collective 860 MVMNT.
Many colleges and universities have not yet announced their intentions regarding live performances. The Autorino schedule mixes live presentations for small audiences with professionally produced videos. The center’s director Steven Raider Ginsburg says “we’ve had to do a lot of pivoting, a lot of redeveloping.”
Ginsberg says that before the coronavirus shutdown began in March, the Autorino had been negotiating with Pilobolus for performances in the spring of 2021, as part of the annual “5x5 dance series. That spring show will still happen (whether live or on video), but the discussion broadened to include a fall appearance, which will take the form of three 5-minute performances to be created by Pilobolus for a group of 15 USJ student dancers during a four-week residency. They will be performed live for an audience of fellow students, then filmed by a professional videographer using drone cameras. The videos will be edited and streamed online.
860 MVMNT will also make more than one appearance at University of St. Joseph this school year. In December, 860 MVMNT will premiere a new piece with the working title “Human Be-In,” which uses a ‘60s protest framework to touch on current issues like COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter. The group will also appear in the Autorino’s segment of a national performance project organized by the
Kennedy Center in Washington DC
A third dance company, yet to be determined, will perform in the spring.
Ginsberg says a dance-heavy schedule appealed to him because of general “health and wellness” concerns. “We say people have Zoom fatigue from doing everything on screens, but it’s also about sitting and
watching other people sitting.” He sought to find work that was lively and physical. He made a particular effort to support Connecticut-based artists.
Beyond dance, the Hartford-based nonprofit music organization Cuatro Puntos will have a year-long artistic residency at the University of St. Joseph, hold
ing livestreamed concerts in the school’s chapel. Details on that series, and on other yet-to-be-announced projects in the Autorino Center 2020-21 series, will be shared later.