Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., September 23, 2015—The ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance at Williams College will host the Taiwanese performance group Sheng Dong, or “A Moving Sound,” from Oct. 6-8. The residency will kick off with a demonstration to the music department’s Chinese ensemble class. The group will lead a tai chi and dance workshop on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 4:10 p.m. on the ’62 Center’s MainStage. They will perform for the community on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m. in the Adams Memorial Theatre.
The Taiwan-based company fuses traditional Taiwanese and Chinese musical ideas with modern song compositions performed on Chinese instruments including the vertically-held and bowed erhu and the Chinese guitar, known as zhongruan, as well as on Western instruments.
The company has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, and has performed at The Kennedy Center and in music festivals around the world. Their visit to Williams is part of their 2015 American tour.
The London Financial Times picked A Moving Sound as a highlight of the World of Music, Arts and Dance festival and the New York Public Theater called their performance “joyous, evocative and enchanting.”
“A Moving Sound explores traditional musical ideas by fusing them into a new music that is part of the burgeoning World Music tradition,” says professor of Chinese Cecilia Chang, who is spearheading the group’s visit to campus. “Their residency at Williams provides an excellent opportunity for our students—in Asian studies, music, and across the disciplines—to explore this new tradition.”
Both events are free and open to the public. The Oct. 7 tai chi and dance workshop requires an online registration. Please sign-up, for either participation or observation, at http://asian-studies.williams.edu/taichi-dance/. The Oct. 8 performance requires tickets. Please visit the Williams ’62 Center Box Office Tues-Sat, 1-5 p.m. or call (413) 597-2425. For more information, http://62center.williams.edu.
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For building locations on the Williams campus, please consult the map outside the driveway entrance to the Security Office located in Hopkins Hall on Main Street (Rte. 2), next to the Thompson Memorial Chapel, or call the Office of Communications (413) 597-4277. The map can also be found on the web at www.williams.edu/map
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Published September 23, 2015
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