BIODANCE, Cordancia Chamber Orchestra, and W Michelle Harris in Hochstein Performance Hall’s first shows in the Rochester Fringe Festival, 2024

Rochester, NY – BIODANCE and Cordancia Chamber Orchestra collaborate on Carnival of Animals, a show for the whole family with music and dance celebrating animals.

Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 at 7:00pm and Friday, September 20, 2024 at 7:00pm, during the debut of Hochstein Performance Hall in the Rochester Fringe Festival, accompanied by the premier of original media projection imagery by W. Michelle Harris, a long-time BIODANCE collaborator. A beloved and entertaining classic, Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals is a musical portrait of animals including a lion, elephant, and swan, often performed with narration. Rochester storyteller Jay Stetzer joins Cordancia and BIODANCE with his own humorous take on a text by Ogden Nash, with a choreographic premiere by Missy Pfohl Smith, danced by Sarah Johnson, Natalia Lisina, Shanna Pagán, Doreen Prempeh, Wynton Rice, Euridece Seche, and Missy Pfohl Smith. 

The carnival atmosphere will continue with Darius Milhaud’s Le Boeuf sur le toit (The Ox on the Roof), performed by Cordancia, with playful interjections of Brazilian tangos and other dances. It will also feature Compass, a solo dance work that premiered in June 2024, inspired by Paul Klee’s painting “Strong Dream.” The piece features dancer Alaina Olivieri and new quadrophonic music (surround sound) by composer Austin White. This non-narrative, dynamic, and edgy work plays with sound, light, and movement as if a “deer in headlights,” a metaphor for someone in a mental state of high arousal caused by anxiety, fear, panic, surprise, or confusion.

Location:  The Hochstein School, 50 North Plymouth Avenue, Rochester, NY 14614Tickets: $15 for general admission, $10 for students with ID and free for kids 12 and under and are available online at: https://rochesterfringe.com/tickets-and-shows/carnival-of-the-animals-biodance-cordancia-chamber-orchestra

Carnival of the Animals

The premiere of Carnival of the Animals is rescheduled for Aug. 27, 2024 at the Seneca Park Zoo! (The original June date was postponed due to excessive heat warnings.) BIODANCE is thrilled to partner with Cordancia Chamber Orchestra and conductor Evan Meccarello for this special family-friendly evening at the zoo!

Tickets, $35 general and $10 youth, can be purchased online or at the door. https://spzs.myshopify.com/products/2024-carnival-of-the-animals-biodance?variant=45938456527099

The Program:

Enjoy afterhours admission to the Zoo for the whole family from 5:15 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. while three musical pieces about animals are performed as you stroll the paths and come face-to-face with the animals living in conservation care.

5:15pm – Gates open to guests
5:30pm – 10,000 Birds by John Luther Adams on the Genesee Trail featured choreographic direction for the musicians of Cordancia and dancers of BIODANCE by Missy Pfohl Smith
6:25pm – Five Frogs by Jenni Brandon at the Crater Canteen
7:00pm – Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saens at the Eagle’s Landing Pavilion. A beloved and entertaining classic, Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals is a musical portrait of various animals ­– including a lion, an elephant, and a swan – often performed with narration. Our narrator, Rochester storyteller Jay Stetzer, describes the animals in words with his own humorous take on a text by Ogden Nash. BIODANCE dancers join Cordancia musicians with new choreography by Missy Pfohl Smith and costumes by Natalia Lisina. 

Site-specific dance by BIODANCE will also surprise visitors in various locations.
8:30pm – Gates closed to guests

Dancers include Sarah Johnson, Natalia Lisina, Shanna Pagan, Doreen Prempeh, Wynton Rice, Julie Schlafer Rossette, Euridece Seche, Missy Pfohl Smith, and Donetta Tchoroleev.