A spectacular evening of ballet, contemporary dance, tap, and jazz choreographed by nationally and internationally acclaimed guest artists and faculty. Muhlenberg dancers will perform Alwin Nickolais' magical masterpiece "Crucible" as part of the international Centennial Celebration of Nikolais' birth.

Featured on PBS in the American Masters series, Nikolais worked for nearly sixty years as a pioneer of multimedia dance performance.

Faculty Choreographers include Charles O. Anderson, Karen Dearborn, and Shelley Oliver. Alberto Del Saz is this year's Guest Choreographer.

Alberto Del Saz is the Artistic Director of the Murray Louis and Nikolais Dance Company as well as Co-Director of The Nikolais/Louis Foundation for Dance. Del Saz is the Reconstruction Director of the Nikolais/Louis repertory and has staged the Nikolais/Louis repertory on university and professional dance companies around the world. Among others: The Juilliard School, Conservatoire de la Danse de Paris, and The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago.

Alberto Del Saz will be staging Alwin Nikolais’ “Crucible” as a part of the Master Choreographers dance concert.

Other concert highlights include original works by Meredith Rainey of the Pennsylvania Ballet and Ballet X, Nicholas Leichter of Nicholas Leichter Dance in New York City, and a restaging of the classical ballet "Paquita."

Muhlenberg Faculty Choreographers

Charles O. Anderson is the Artistic Director of his Philadelphia-based company dance theatre X. He was recently awarded a Dance Advance Grant (sponsored by Pew Charitable Trusts) and named one of “25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine.

Karen Dearborn, is the Professor, Founder, and Director of the Dance Program at Muhlenberg College. She has choreographed over 70 works in concert, theatre, and musical theatre, including national tours of the Tony Award-winning National Theatre of the Deaf and several Equity theatres.

Concert Lighting & Costume Designers

The professional concert designer is Constance Case, a member of the Muhlenberg Theatre & Dance faculty.  She has designed costumes for Shelley Oliver, Karen Dearborn, Charles O. Anderson, Zane Booker, Clare Byrne, Tiffany Mills, and many other choreographers in concert.

Muhlenberg’s Theatre and Dance programs are nationally recognized and critically acclaimed. The Fiske Guide to Colleges names both Theatre and Dance among the top small college programs in the United States; Muhlenberg is one of only eight colleges so honored in both art forms. In 2008, Charles O. Anderson's dance evidence of things (un)said premiered in the Master Choreographers concert and was awarded a performance at the American College Dance Festival Association’s National Festival in New YorkCity. This was the seventh consecutive year adjudicators have recognized Muhlenberg College dancers and choreographers for their excellence, and the third time that the work of Muhlenberg choreographers have been presented at the National Festival.