Article.NewsBriefs
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Polls Dancing at MPC
Local choreographer Laura Akard wants her audiences to sit up, take notice and get voting.
Akard, who has planned the October 29 and 30 Monterey Peninsula College Dance Concert, created a multi-media show that she hopes will wake people up and get them into the voting booths. The show combines dance, painting and spoken word. The jazz, modern jazz and contemporary dance pieces are designed to give the audiences and her dancers a voice in the political system, and to warn people what will happen if they don’t vote.
“There is a whole movement in the arts about getting your own voice,” Akard says. “Get off your ass and stop complaining. Complacency is not the way to act.”
The dancers will wear T-shirts with various slogans such as “Rock the Vote” and “Every Vote Counts As Long as It’s Counted.” A screen in the background of the stage reads “VOTE,” “Vote or Get Drafted” and “Vote or Die.”
Akard, who is a dance teacher and also a local director of plays and musicals, was struck with inspiration for the concert while traveling to Texas to choreograph a show.
“I was listening to music on my iPod, and all of the pieces started falling into place,” she says. “I thought, the government will keep oppressing us if we don’t vote. If we don’t vote, we’ll all be locked down.”
The MPC Dance Concert takes place at 8pm on Oct. 29th and 30th at the Morgan Stock Theater, 980 Fremont St., Monterey. $7; $5/students. 646-4220. (JT)
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