Introduction

Water infuses SF College Fine Arts Hall activities on Feb. 8, 2014

Water infuses SF College Fine Arts Hall activities on Feb. 8, 2014

"Springs Cavern," painting by Margaret Ross Tolbert

The inspiration of water infuses all three activities planned for the Santa Fe College Fine Arts Hall on the evening of Saturday, Feb. 8—a free improvisational dance and free gallery talk in the lobby as well as a performance by the Joffrey Dance Group in the theatre, for which admission is charged.

At 6:30 p.m. in the lobby—one hour before the performance of the Joffrey Dance Group—members of Dance Theatre Santa Fe will perform an improvisational dance with a water theme and Gainesville painter Margaret Ross Tolbert will offer a gallery talk about “AQUIFERious:  Enter the Springs,” an exhibition of three of her large paintings that are now on view on the lobby’s north wall.

Melissa Canto, a faculty member in the SF College Dance Department, is working with six dance students—four women and two men—to create what she describes as a “structured improvisational dance” in which the dancers are drawing inspiration from Tolbert’s paintings. Part of their dance will involve interaction with water bowls. “As we work to create the framework for the dance, the students are talking about water and movement and considering how visual art conveys movement as well,” Canto explains.

At 90 x 90 inches, Margaret Ross Tolbert’s paintings communicate the experience of immersion in Florida’s freshwater springs. “Immersion is a metaphor that partners with the activity and energy of painting and the creative force,” Tolbert says. In addition to creating paintings and installations that are exhibited internationally, she writes, dances and advocates for Florida’s waters. Tolbert’s book, “Aquiferious,” won two Florida Book Awards in 2010 and she has participated in performance groups for Turkish and Romanian dancing as well as other forms of dance.

The Joffrey Dance Group’s performance begins 7:30 p.m. and will include “Light Rain,” a signature piece that was created for the Joffrey Ballet’s silver anniversary by choreographer Gerald Arpino. Tickets are $25 Orchestra and Mezzanine; Balcony $15; Senior, Children, and UF $12. Tickets for Santa Fe Faculty, staff, and students are $9. For ticket information, call the SF Box Office at 352-395-4181 or Bob Fetterman at 352-395-4133. Tickets may be purchased on line at:

http://www.sfcollege.edu/finearts/