West Hartford’s Sonia Plumb Dance Company Receives Connecticut Humanities Grant to Add Discussion The Series on Social Issues to Dance Performances

Submitted Release

Sonia Plumb Dance Company received a $1,200 grant from Connecticut Humanities to expand their latest breakthrough dance production to include post-show discussions with local experts on important and current social issues. Discussions will follow each of the Company’s performances of Privacy Settings, which will be staged at the Carol Autorino Center at the University of Saint Joseph, 1678 Asylum Avenue in West Hartford, CT. at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 20 and at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 21, 2014.

Choreographed by Sonia Plumb, and performed by her Company of professional dancers, the cornerstone piece in Privacy Settings explores our obsession with social media, selfies and the issues that made reality TV and the NSA overreach part of our daily lives. Other dance pieces in Privacy Settings include “Bach in Space” (performing to Bach’s cello suites — live on stage), “Displaced” (addressing the issue of climate change) and “Poseidon” (showcasing one section from Plumb’s full-length dance based on Homer’s The Odyssey).

As part of this post-concert discussion series, Privacy Settings will include a conversation about our new “connected world” with Mala Matacin, Associate Professor of Psychology and Gender Studies and co-chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Hartford. The second speaker will be Eric Dahlin, assistant principal cellist of the Hartford Symphony and the Hartt School, who will be discussing the impact of Bach’s cello suites. This “Encore Series” of discussions will also include behind-the-scenes conversations with the artistic team who created Privacy Settings.

Advance tickets are available through the University of Saint Joseph box office at (860) 231-5555 for $25/adults, $15/seniors and $10/students when purchased by September 15. (Add $5 per ticket for those purchased as of September 16 or on the night of the performances.)

To learn more about Privacy Settings, as well as the artistic work and educational programs of Sonia Plumb Dance Company, visit their website or follow them on Facebook. 

Connecticut Humanities (CTH) is a non-profit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities that funds, creates and collaborates on hundreds of cultural programs across Connecticut each year. These programs bring together people of all ages and backgrounds to express, share and explore ideas in thoughtful and productive ways. From local discussion groups to major exhibitions on important historical events, CTH programs engage, enlighten and educate. Learn more by visiting www.cthumanities.org.

(Photo: Members of Sonia Plumb Dance Company. Photo by Carrie Ricciardelli.)