Jane Franklin Dance Presents Plane

Jane Franklin Dance Presents Plane

Jane Franklin Dance returns to the Athenaeum with Plane, a collection of new works that respond to the location through themes of balanced predictability, progression, self-awareness and passion.

Stratum – Dance is inspired by the role of the performer and by the performer’s impulse as it shifts under sight of the audience view. The multi-part dance closely connects to music and emotion. Astor Piazzolla’s Libertango for a trio of dancers contrasts the desire to not-be-seen with the opposite urge to become larger than life. “Libertango” is a portmanteau merging “Libertad” (Spanish for liberty) and “Tango”, symbolizing Piazzolla’s break from Classical Tango to Tango Nuevo. Spanish guitar by Manuel Granada, Romance Anonimo accompanies duets that accumulate and dissolve. A group of six dance to Piazzolla’s Escualo taking on the quality of shark-like abruptness.

Robert Rubama’s new work for Jane Franklin Dance, Drone is a quartet that frames unlikely partnership with balanced symmetry. Surprising movement responds to Fantas for Saxophone and Voice by Bendik Giske & Caterina Barbieri. Robert Rubama graduated from George Mason University with a BFA in Dance. He has been able to perform with companies such as Agora Dance, Haus of Bambi, Groundworks Dance Theater, PrioreDance, Carolyn Dorfman Dance, LaneCo Arts, Orange Grove Dance, & Peridance Contemporary Dance Company.


The Forty+ Project dancers perform a new work choreographed by Kelsey Rohr and set to music by Elvis Presley: Down in the Dumps. The piece is for anyone who wants to throw a fit, sooner or later. Kelsey Rohr (Assistant Artistic Director) started studying dance at Richmond Ballet through their public outreach program. She later graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas with a BFA in Dance and minor in Women’s and Gender Studies. She went on to dance with Joshua L. Peugh’s Dark Circles Contemporary Dance and then worked in Geneva, Switzerland with Ballet Junior de Genève and Guilherme Botelho’s Alias Dance Company.


Additionally, a new work by Washington DC choreographer Robert J. Priore is performed by seven dancers. Robert J. Priore founded his company PrioreDance in the fall of 2016. He is also very proud to be a founding member of Company | E, where he has had the honor of dancing works by Ohad Naharin, Andrea Miller, Sharon Eyal, Rachel Erdos, Roni Koresh, Marco Cantalupo and Thomas Noone. Robert continues to hone his craft while being the Choreographer-in-Residence for the CityDance Conservatory as well as an Ignite Artist.

Jane Franklin Dance partners with music, media, visual artists and community participants. Jane Franklin Dance has been presented at multiple venues and festivals and internationally in Mexico. A recipient of the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region Creative Communities Award, Jane has developed innovative and collaborative projects combining dancers with the round wall skateboarding community, with a life size kinetic sculpture, with the architecture of a specific site, with dogs & owners, and with interactive live video and sound for numerous public art projects.

Plane will be performed this Thursday, October 27 at 7:30 pm at The Athenaeum, home to Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association. Tickets are $20. Click here to learn more.