Dance: An Investigation of the Human Spirit
Lesley Farlow, Assistant Professor of Theater and Dance

A supplement to the Fall 2003 issue of the Trinity College Reporter
 

Lesley Farlow, assistant professor of theater and dance, earned her bachelor’s degree from Smith College and her master’s degree in performance studies from New York University. She has performed in the United States and Europe with noted dancers and performance artists Ann Carlson, Johanna Boyce, Martha Bowers, Douglas Dunn, Ping Chong, Moses Pendleton, and Ara Fitzgerald. In addition, she ran the Oral History Project at the Dance Division of the Library for Performing Arts at Lincoln Center and started the AIDS Oral History Project. Along with B. J. Goodwin, Farlow formed her own dance company, AKA Movement Theater, and has created a number of solo works, including pieces that explore the contemporary relevance of such complex figures as Little Red Riding Hood and Eve.

According to Farlow, “The guiding principle in my work as a dance/theater artist, as well as in my approach to teaching, is that dance and theater are primarily an investigation of the human spirit. The performing arts enable us to examine and reflect upon our experience in the world, from the stuff of human relationship to the interplay of movement, sound, and light. In my own solo work, I create pieces that combine movement, text, and music. They often center around a journey of some sort: the discovery of a comet by a 19th-century astronomer, Eve leaving the garden, or Little Red Riding Hood’s emergence from the old, old story into her own. Fundamentally, however, movement is our native language. I look to create and teach from that source.”

back to top

Return to Fall 2003 issue of the Trinity College Reporter