Here, actor Michael Allen discusses Shakespeare as music.

Kate Williams

Heather O’Connor

After explaining that pilobolus is also the name of a mushroom that is 1/4 inch tall but throws its spore more than 8 feet, the students demonstrated how everyday movements like jumping, running, leaping, and weight shifting are incorporated into dance pieces.

Walklyndon, choreographed in 1971, was performed by Pilobolus at their October performance at Keene State. KSC dance faculty members Marcia Murdock and William Seigh are directing the piece, which will be performed as part of An Evening of Dance, now in its 33rd year, from Wed. to Sat., Apr. 16 to 19, at 7:30 p.m. in the Main Theatre of the Redfern Arts Center.

This reconstruction of the Pilobolus dance was supported by an American Masterpieces grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. The students rehearsed this spring and performed it for after-school programs in the region. For tickets, call 8-2168.

Press inquiries can be directed to Robin Dutcher from College Relations at rdutcher@keene.edu / 603-358-2119.

Dr. Gee’s PowerPoint presentation.

So we went over to talk to Nora Travis, one of the faculty leaders of the project – and we were actually a bit struck by the scale of the project they were working on. It’s a full life-cycle project to collect waste grease locally, process it locally into clean fuel, and then use it locally in city and college vehicles.

(Did I mention this all happens locally?)

Some other neat things:

• They are partnering with the city of Keene to do some of this, and it could have a very real positive impact on Keene’s air quality and aging infrastructure.
• It’s cross-disciplinary – they are working from both the health and environmental angles, and even partnering with the architecture students to produce a green processing facility.
• The team gets to take its project to Washington and pitch it to the National Academies. If they like it, they could get up to $75,000 to fund it.

But I’ll let them tell you directly in the snippets below:

Response to “What is the P3 competition?”

Response to “Where does waste grease come from?”

Response to “How and where can bio-diesel be used?”

You can view the full interview here.

Dr. Nora Travis (from the video above) also did an interview for WTSA radio on Wednesday about the project. That interview is available here.

Press inquiries can be directed to Nora Travis at nvelazquez@keene.edu / 603-358-2974 or Melinda Treadwell at mtreadwe@keene.edu/ 603-358-2945. Robin Dutcher from College Relations is also available at rdutcher@keene.edu / 603-358-2119.

“A piano of this caliber will expand the repertoire of the music department,” said Menezes. “In the past, we have rented a concert grand for $1,000.” Melinda Mosier, director of development, reports there will be a spring event to celebrate the instrument’s arrival.