The Sonia Plumb Dance Company will explore ‘The Odyssey’ at the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford.

Sonia Plumb Dance Company members. Photo credit: Carrie Ricciardelli

Submitted by Herb Emanuelson, Sonia Plumb Dance Company

Celebrating its 25^th anniversary season, Sonia Plumb Dance Company will premiere “The Odyssey: An Epic Dance Journey” at the Carol Autorino Center at the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, CT, on Oct. 2–4, 2015.

As part of their 25th anniversary season, Artistic Director Sonia Plumb and her Company of modern dance professionals bring a contemporary retelling of Homer’s The Odyssey to the Carol Autorino Center. “The Odyssey: An Epic Dance Journey” is a multimedia feast for your senses — with dance, masks and costumes, lighting and scenic effects, underwater video projections and original music.

Using modern dance as the medium to tell the theatrical tales of Odysseus’ travels home from the Trojan War, audience members will experience the wrath of Poseidon, traps of Cyclops, guidance from Athena, seduction of the Sirens, temptations by the Lotus Eaters, and challenges by Hades. Love, loyalty, courage, and cunning all keep Odysseus alive to return back home to Ithaca…and his loving wife Penelope.

Sonia Plumb Dance Company members. Photo credit: Carrie Ricciardelli

One hour before the start of each dance performance, audience members can attend a 30-minute “Prep Talk,” which is held in the second-floor reception room of the Carol Autorino Center. These pre-show lectures about “The Odyssey” are led by Dr. James Shivers, Ph.D. from Hall High School in West Hartford and are designed to bring audience members up to speed on Homer’s epic poem.

Performances of “The Odyssey: An Epic Dance Journey” are held at the Carol Autorino Center at the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford on Friday, Oct. 2 and Saturday, Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 4 at 3 p.m. The pre-show discussions run from 6:30 to 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 2 to 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.

The dance performance is 75 minutes long and does not have an intermission. Audience members can attend the discussion and the dance performance or just arrive in time for the 7:30 p.m. or 3 p.m. dance performances.

Tickets are available at the University of Saint Joseph box office at (860) 231-5555, in person at the door or online at USJ.edu/Arts. Prices are $25 for adults, $15 for seniors (60 years old and up) and $10 for students (18 years old or younger and college students with ID).

“The Odyssey: An Epic Dance Journey” is sponsored in part by the Ensworth Charitable Foundation, the Greater Hartford Arts Council, the William & Alice Mortensen Foundation and the Edward C. & Ann T. Roberts Foundation.

For more information about Sonia Plumb Dance Company and other events connected to “The Odyssey,” be sure to visit www.SoniaPlumbDance.org or www.Facebook.com/SoniaPlumbDance. You can also contact the Company directly at (860) 508-9082 or [email protected].