Fredonia dance concert begins Thursday

Works by three Dance alumni will be among the highlights of this season’s Fredonia Dance Ensemble concert.

“Fredonia Dance Ensemble 2025” will be presented as part of the Walter Gloor Mainstage Series at the State University of New York at Fredonia. Performances will be Thursday; Fridayand Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Marvel Theatre.

Tickets are available online 24/7 at https://www.fredonia.edu/about/ticket-office. Tickets may also be purchased on Monday, Wednesday or Friday by phone at 716-673-3501 or in person at the Campus Ticket Office in the Williams Center during the same hours.

More than 30 students will perform in the program of contemporary concert dance that includes works by Fredonia alumni Abigail Donegan, Charles Fuller, and Briana Kelly; guest artist Jenna Del Monte Zavrel; and a restaging of José Limón’s 1964 masterwork, “A Choreographic Offering.”

Donegan is the founder of the Buffalo-based Donegan Dance Exploration, a contemporary concert dance company and she has presented various work across Western and Central New York.

Fuller is a current master’s candidate in Biology at Fredonia, from which he earned degrees in Exercise Science and Dance in 2023.

Kelly is a multidisciplinary artist and dance educator who holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Fredonia and an MFA in Choreography and Performance from SUNY Brockport. Kelly is a lecturer in Dance at Fredonia, the founder/artistic director of ROCeltic, a Rochester-based dance company, and a freelance photographer (BriBlairKell Photography).

Zarvel is an educator and artist specializing in concert dance, screen dance, and sound score compilation. Her dances and films have been shown across the United States, and Europe, as well as Japan, Greece, Italy, and Argentina. She is a professor at the University at Buffalo. Her piece, titled “Seasons,” is made possible through a grant from the Carnahan Jackson Humanities Fund through the Fredonia College Foundation.

Limón (1908-1972) was one of the 20th century’s “most important and influential dance makers, he spent his entire career pioneering a new art form and fighting for the recognition and establishment of the American Modern Dance.” In the 1940s, he founded the Limón Dance Company and in 1968 he created the José Limón Foundation to carry on his work.

“Fredonia Dance Ensemble 2025” is directed by Sam Kenney, professor of Dance, Dance Program coordinator and recruitment coordinator for the Department of Theatre and Dance.

It is presented by the Department of Theatre and Dance as part of the 2024-25 Lake Shore Savings Season.