Arts Monongahela
201 High St
Morgantown, WV 26505

Pictured above, L-R: Kayla Sargeson, dance performance choreographed by Kathleen Sweat, Lori Wilson, performance choreographed by Maureen Mansfield Kaddar.

Arts Monongahela will sponsor an evening of poetry and dance on Friday, March 24th at 7:00 PM, in conjunction with Arts Monongahela’s month of celebrations honoring Women’s History Month.

Poets Kayla Sargeson and Lori Wilson will be reading original poems. Choreographers Kathleen Sweat (WVU Dance major) and Maureen Mansfield Kaddar (WVU Dance faculty)will present “For Sake” (with dancers Gabby Green, Rae Page, and Brooklyn Moran) and “The Place Between” (with dancers Kathleen Sweat and Alison Paul), respectively.

Of her piece, Sweat says, “Over 400,000 American children are in our foster care system. This dance takes a child’s perspective on family abuse, relocation throughout the system, and the effects they can have on a young child.” The dance will be performed to the audio script and music from the short film, “ReMoved.” Mansfield Kaddar’s piece investigates the struggle between the metaphysical and the physical, between spiritual and human desires, and will be accompanied by Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” sung by k. d. lang.

Sargeson teaches at Carlow University and the Community College of Allegheny County. She is the author of the full-length collection First Red (Main Street Rag, 2016) and the chapbooks BLAZE (Main Street Rag, 2015) and Mini Love Gun (Main Street Rag, 2013). Of her poems, Stacey Waite writes, “[they] do not hesitate to rip you wide open so you can come to terms with what you hide. Through the grief and inevitability of the body, through the sharp cut of language, Sargeson teaches us the gorgeous hymn of our anger—its throat open and singing.”

Wilson teaches a satellite poetry workshop in Morgantown, in affiliation with the Madwomen in the Attic at Carlow University. She is the author of the poetry collection, House Where a Woman (Autumn House Press, 2009), of which Jan Beatty writes, “Wilson’s seemingly quiet lines will haunt you, hunt you down in the middle of the night, and change the way you feel about peace and quiet.”

This event is free and open to the public.