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Contact: Liz Carroll
Phone: 413/775-1420
E-mail: carroll@gcc.mass.edu

Media contact: Liz Carroll
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413/775-1420 | carroll@gcc.mass.edu

Release date: May 22, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Collaborative performance brings together all the arts

"Sylvan” set for Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m.

"I was inspired by the idea that musicians make music like artists paint and dancers dance and it's all sort of integrated,” says Daniel DeLuca of Shelburne Falls. "Everybody's tied together within the creative process.” That insight led DeLuca to approach fellow students at Greenfield Community College who were taking different artistic classes like dance and music. "I basically told them the idea that I had for a collaborative performance,” says DeLuca. "I got several people interested and we started having meetings.”

The result is a multimedia, interdepartmental performance that intertwines improvisational music, African-inspired dance and ballet, and the whole panoply of stage arts in an original production entitled "Sylvan,” written, directed and produced by DeLuca under the supervision of Kimberly Morin, Coordinator of the Theater Department.

"It's the story of a young man from a small village who goes in search of a cure for his father's illness,” says Deluca. "It's rumored that this illness plaguing the village and the kingdom has come from bad water. The hero has to face challenges of mind, body and soul to obtain the cure for his father.”

The plot, which has contemporary parallels with its references to water pollution, was influenced by DeLuca's exposure to traditional myths and the work of Joseph Campbell, one of the pioneers of comparative religions and the foremost expert on myths from traditions around the world. "He was known for making connections between different cultures,” explains DeLuca, "and unifying themes from the different cultures of the world.”

Even more than making a statement about environmental pollution, DeLuca wanted to create the model for this type of collaborative performance at the college. "Having taken classes in the art department, the music department, theater department and the dance department, I really can see the community within each of those departments,” says DeLuca. "Individually, there's a lot of wonderful connections being made as students express themselves and help one another through the artistic process. But what I don't see as much is the sense of community among the departments as a whole. So I thought it'd be great to bring them all together.”

The experience has taught him how important good communication is. But the most lasting gift of the whole project, DeLuca says, has been the relationships that have formed as a result of this performance. "Getting to know the other students and sharing in the creative process, seeing how we work together, and then after rehearsals just spending time with them has been extremely valuable,” says DeLuca. "These people have become friends and been a network of support for me throughout the school semester. That's been the greatest thing that has happened, and it's really given me a sign that this is one way that community can be built among faculty and students at GCC.”

DeLuca has been accepted at the UMass. College of Art in Boston, where he will be entering the Studio for Interrelated Media.

"Sylvan” will be staged in the Dance Studio of the GCC East Building this Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. There is a suggested donation of $7.