Cellist and Professor Emeritus of Musicology at Widener University, Dr. Mara Parker, has initiated a collaboration of music, poetry, and dance. At 4 p.m. March 28, at Widener University’s Kapelski Recital Hall, Dr. Parker will be joined by choreographer/dancer Jessica C. Warchal-King, who is an Artist-in-Residence in Dance at Alvernia University and director of JCWK Dance Lab, and Widener Professor of English and Creative Writing, Dr. Jessica Guzman.
Parker will perform “Songs and Poems for Solo Cello” by Phillip Glass. Warchal-King’s ballet and modern dance-informed movement slinks, tumbles, and repeats in an embodied mirror of Glass’s composition and Guzman’s poetry.
“There are seven sections of ‘Songs and Poems’ and seven sections to Jessica Guzman’s poetry. Individually, we researched Glass’s process and found similar intention and phrasing in our different mediums,” described Warchal-King.
Separately devised, the whole of the mosaic is informed by its collective. “It strikes me that this kind of collaboration puts the work’s connection with the audience at the forefront since we are each other’s first audience – we have to connect with one another first,” reflected Dr. Guzman.
“It has been a privilege to collaborate with both Jessicas,” said Dr. Parker. “The process of crafting a single, unified work out of three separate art forms has been an amazing experience.”
The Kapelski Recital Hall is located on Widener’s Chester campus. There is on-street parking. The performance is approximately one hour. It is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Dr. Mara Parker at [email protected].
