Dancers offer their take on sustainability in ‘Trash’

MCVTS dancers offer their take on sustainability in ‘Trash’

“Trash” is the theme of the fall dance program of the School of the Arts on the East Brunswick Campus of the Middlesex County Vocational and Technical Schools.

The performance is in keeping with a campus effort toward sustainability that resulted in its recognition as a National Green Ribbon School, the first vocational school in New Jersey to be so designated.

“The set is going to be a 16-foot mound of garbage – clean garbage,” said dance instructor Cleo Mack. “It’s not going to smell.”

There also will be a 6-foot-high, 16-foot-long “wave” of plastic bottles.

The 75-minute program is being created by Mack and 58 dance students with the assistance of 20 students in the new MCVTS theater technology program, as well as the building trades and digital film shops.

 The piece will open with a solo dancer and a digital bee, Mack said, and in the middle will be a fashion show of gowns made of recycled materials.

The program will be presented Thursday and Friday, Dec. 15 and 16, at 7 p.m. in the auditorium on the East Brunswick Campus, 112 Rues Lane.

“The big goal for us design-wise was how to make something with a really clear message that would be entertaining,” Mack said. “It was important for the students to understand that art can be impactful without being heavy handed.”

The program is being aided by a grant from the Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission.

The Middlesex County Vocational and Technical School District, the first full-time county vocational school district in the nation, has seven schools on five campuses, in East Brunswick, Edison, Piscataway, Perth Amboy and Woodbridge. The district celebrated its centennial in 2014.

More information on the Middlesex County Vocational and Technical Schools is available at www.mcmsnj.net.  Like us on Facebook – there’s a link on the home page.

11/30/16