UW Professors Collaborate on Bees Dance/Drama May 5

What happens when a dance performance teams up with science?

Find out when three University of Wyoming professors present “Get Buzzing: The Effects of Chemicals on Bees Dance/Drama” Thursday, May 5, from 3:30-4 p.m. in Studio 253 at the Laramie Plains Civic Center.

“Bee Aware” is a 10-minute dance/drama performance, followed by a post-production workshop for participants led by UW Department of Theatre and Dance students. An educational packet also will be provided as part of the workshop.

Cecilia (CiCi) Aragon, UW Department of Theatre and Dance assistant professor, and UW Department of Zoology and Physiology Associate Professor Michael Dillon collaborated on the dance and science portion of the performance.

Anne Guzzo, UW Department of Music associate professor, and her graduate students composed the musical score. Aragon and Dillon also worked with local Laramie bee farmer Chris Moody, who helped introduce story line ideas and bee issues particular to Laramie.

During the semester, Aragon’s students learned a new movement and dance technique, Laban Movement Analysis. The dancers worked on a collaborative dance/drama with Rachael Lee Shaw, dancer and choreographer.

Dillon provided scientific knowledge of bumblebees to the UW student performers. He previously has collaborated with UW Department of Art and Art History Associate Professor Ashley Hope Carlisle on a project that brought science and art together. They created a “little buzz” about the science of bumblebees. They made the science more palatable for a general audience by creating an interactive bumblebee sculpture exhibit in UW’s Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center last year.

Actors and dancers for the performance are Aragon, Makayla Buszek, Brikai Cordova, Morganne Harper, Shanise Hernandez, Victoria Ramos, Adrianna True, Meredith Wells and Tyler Wolfgang. Musicians are Josiah Baker and Shawna Wolf, who also is the composer.

For more information, contact Aragon at (307) 766-4124 or ccaragon@uwyo.edu.