History - Wells Dance Ensemble - 2004

The Wells College Performing Arts Department presented its all-women student company, Wells Dance Ensemble, and New York City guest performing artists Karen DiIuro and John Zullo. The November 12 and Saturday, November 13, 2004 in the Sommer Center. The evening’s program of contemporary modern dance with an Asian fusion blend included choreographic works by Filipino-American Jeff Michael Rebudal, who is artistic director of the show and visiting professor of dance at Wells College. Among the dances performed will be Filipinese, Past (the Third), and Sarong Banggi.

Rebudal explores the relationship between Filipino folk and contemporary modern dance in Filipinese, which celebrates womanhood and modern society’s diverse culture and lifestyles. This Pan-Asian dance will feature the full company and is performed to a mixed sound score including Filipino folk music by Ate Mariano and Ramon Obusan. As quoted by The Washington Post, Rebudal “weaves together images and gestures that suggest the complexity of Asian-American life.”

Guest performers Karen DiIuro and John Zullo will be featured with the ensemble in Past (the Third), danced to music by Phillip Glass and Musique. This piece delineates the idea that life has no boundaries and that in any given situation there are “shades of gray” and one’s role or responsibility is often blurred and overlapped with other coexisting thoughts and issues. According to the New Jersey Ledger, this is demonstrated through a “simple, yet powerful device: a line of white powder along the floor that ruled the space.”

To complete the program, a solo titled Sarong Banggi (One Night) will be performed by Rebudal to music by Filipino violinists Gilopez and Corazon Kabayao. Lighting will be designed by Joe DeForest of Wells College, with costumes by Filipino costume designer Zeny Dio and Robin Burnosky.

Wells Dance Ensemble members are: Robyn Bookland ’05, Rachel Gaskill ’08, Ashante McLeod-Perez ’08, Zoe Malinchoc ’05, Christina Miglino ’07, Shelly Ray ’05, Whitney Sampson ’05, Elizabeth Sesera ’05, and Sarah Woodward ’06.

Jeff Michael Rebudal is artistic director of the Manhattan-based Rebudal Dance and is an original founding member of the critically acclaimed Seán Curran Company in which he performed and toured throughout the nation and abroad from 1995 to 2003. Prior to moving to New York City in 1993, he performed professionally in Honolulu, where he has born and raised. He received an MFA in Performing Arts from The American University and a BA in Dance/ Journalism from the University of Hawaii-Manoa. Since 1996, Rebudal has worked in academia as visiting assistant professor at Connecticut College, the University of Oklahoma and currently at Wells College. He is a 2004 Fulbright finalist and a recipient of grants including the Asian- American Arts Alliance/JP Morgan Chase Regrant, Ruth and Seymour Klein Foundation, the 92nd Street Y - Harkness Space Grant, and the R.F. Johnson Grant.

Karen E. DiIuro has performed in New York City with Rebudal Dance since 2001 and is a recipient of the Richard Ellner Scholarship from Broadway Dance Center where she is on the faculty. Ms. DiIuro graduated magna cum laude from Connecticut College with degrees in both dance and international relations.

John Zullo, originally of the Bronx, completed his MA in dance from The American University. He has performed works by Batsheva Dance Company, Heidi Latsky, Peter DiMuro and Dance Alloy. In NYC, he has performed for Andrew Jannetti, TAPFUSION and has been with Rebudal Dance since 2001. He also performed for Project Motion, Sister’s Trousers, and Tony Powell/Music & Movement in D.C. His own choreography has been presented at Dance Place, the American College Dance Festival, and Dance Space Center in NYC. He received the 1998 Emerging Choreographers Award from the Arts Club of Washington.