One Big City, Four Walls and “19 Stories” – May 19 & 20

CoSA’s Conservatory of Classical and Contemporary Dance is excited to bring its version of a groundbreaking modern dance trailblazer to the stage. “19 Stories,” inspired by the 1955 production Rooms by Anna Sokolow, chronicles the interior spaces we occupy and the life stories contained within. The production, which features 19 original pieces created by 15 different faculty and student choreographers, takes the stage on May 19 and 20 at 7 pm at the Coronado Performing Arts Center. Tickets can be purchased at this link.

“We are excited to create an opportunity to understand another person’s experience and see a slice of life from their point of view,” said Gina Bolles Sorensen, Director of the Conservatory of Classical and Contemporary Dance. “As I have watched these dances develop over the last four months, I am struck by how these experiences are so universal and idiosyncratic at the same time.”

Audiences will see into many different “rooms” and witness the occupants in a range of experiences, explained Sorensen. For example, there is a room that represents the occupant’s messy mind, one room that is being robbed, and rooms where occupants are experiencing a range of emotions from joy to sadness.

“This term we created an exciting challenge for ourselves,” said Sorensen. “Instead of creating a concert comprised of separate dances, we conceived of and approached the creation of this concert as if it was one evening-length dance, so the majority of our ensemble remains on stage for the duration of the entire concert.”

The performance is a collaboration with three animation students from CoSA’s Conservatory for Digital Arts. The animation students created the transitions between dances that provides a cohesive thread to seamlessly stitch the pieces together, explained Sorensen.

“The animations reveal a door to the next dance and invite us to the next room,” said Sorensen.

She said they are incredibly grateful to Juniper Clark, Nadia Lugo, and Charlotte Winkler for their work in animation, as well as CoSA’s Conservatory of Theatre Production and Design.

About CoSA

Coronado School of the Arts (CoSA) is San Diego County’s premier public school arts conservatory, home to 200 scholar artists grades 9 through 12, who attend the nationally ranked Coronado High School. CoSA provides an intense, pre-professional arts education to students from Coronado and from all over San Diego, who are admitted after a competitive application/audition process.

Each school day CoSA offers three or more hours of instruction, pairing young artists with educators who are also industry specialists. With a curriculum designed by professional artist/educators, students are immersed in their chosen specialty in one of six conservatories: Classical and Contemporary Dance, Digital Arts (Animation, Filmmaking, Game Design, and Graphic Design), Instrumental Music, Musical Theatre & Drama, Theatre Production, Design & Management and Visual Art. CoSA is a State of California-approved Career Technical Education program.

Our award-winning student artists perform and exhibit at the Coronado Performing Arts Center on the Coronado High School campus, in either the 570 seat Main Stage or 80 seat Black Box theatre. Coronado Performing Arts Center is also available for rent to local organizations. About twenty five percent of the CoSA budget is raised each year by the CoSA Foundation. If you would like to see the arts continue to thrive in education, please consider making a donation at www.cosafoundation.org.