For immediate release: 25 June 2001
For further information: Polly Morris
(414) 372-2077 or
pmorris2@earthlink.net
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For immediate release: 25 June 2001 |
Summer Dance Festival 2001 is the second of an ongoing series of summer dance festivals that bring together local companies (including many School of the Arts alumni), the UWM faculty, masters degree candidates (some of whom are already professional dancers and choreographers) and, when appropriate, guest artists and companies. The Festival is the city's most ambitious summer dance event and involves collaboration at many levels.
The UWM Dance Program opens its second annual summer faculty concert, UWM Summerdances, on Friday, July 13 at 7:30 PM. The program will be repeated Saturday, July 14 at 8 PM and Sunday, July 15 at 3 PM. Tickets for UWM Summerdances are $10/$7 for students & seniors, and may be obtained by calling the Peck School of the Arts Box Office at (414) 229-4308. The Friday night performance will be followed by a free reception.
Summerdances will feature works by guest artist Lisa Race and by UWM Dance faculty Janet Lilly, Ed Burgess and André Tyson. Guest artists are a regular feature of the UWM Dance Program's curriculum, and this year Lisa Race spent two weeks in residence teaching and creating "Social Climb," a funny, energetic and spirited work for ten dancers. Race, a native of New Jersey, "enjoys dancing on feet and hands." She was educated at Rutgers University and is best known for her work with David Dorman Dance, for whom she has performed and taught internationally and throughout the United States since 1989. In 1995, Race was honored with a New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for her dancing in the company. In addition to creating dances with her own company, Race Dance, Lisa has collaborated on duets with Sondra Loring, Ginger Gillespie, and Tom Thayer. She has twice been an artist-in-residence at Movement Research and her choreography has been featured in New York at Danspace Project, Dance Theater Workshop, First Night New York, Movement Research at the Judson Church, The Kitchen/Dance in Progress and The Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse, as well as at venues in Vermont, Iowa, Maine, Kentucky, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Argentina. Race has received choreographic commissions from James Madison University, the University of Maryland, Texas Women's University and Aaben Dans, a dance company in Copenhagen.
AndréTyson is choreographing a new piece and remounting two older works for Summerdances. These include the popular "duet 9/18 the Action Figures" which premiered on the UWM Winterdances concert. In "Personal Imperatives, " the premiere, Tyson examines the idea that "things are never black or white but only shades of grey." He has constructed a stirring quartet that explores the choices we make, the ones we are confronted with as well as the innate directives we follow when we listen to our internal monologues in search of truth. Tyson has incorporated a beautifully haunting solo choreographed by graduate student Veronica Whiteside that further resonates with this premise. Tyson is also re-setting "Curvilinearity," a quintet to music by Bobby McFerrin that is an excerpt from "Linear Sphere," a ballet that he plans to remount in its entirety next January. "Curvilinearity" is about the energy, heat, passion, tension, and sensuality that are generated when a line becomes a curve and when a curve forms a line.
Ed Burgess has created a new dance for eight entitled "Not in Kansas." According to Burgess, "Not in Kansas" has to do with "the type of emotional melodramas and relationship concerns that tend to lead one away from, not toward, one's growth. The dance is both physically acted and danced." The sound score, designed by Dan Gnader, combines Pink Floyd, the voices of the dancers, the singer Eva Cassidy, and various sound quotes from the "Wizard of Oz."
Burgess and Janet Lilly have created "Love Stew," a new duet they will perform with five inflatable cast members to music by John Prine, Iris DeMent, and Conway Twitty. "Let's just say that we are not an average couple," notes Burgess. "We have a past but no future. Sex, lies, and murder are the topics." Lilly has also choreographed a new duet for students Monica Rodero and Diana Le Mense. "Bougainvillea" will be performed to a new score by Josh Schmidt.
Summer Dance Festival 2001 continues with the following events:
UWM SUMMERDANCES
July 13 at 7:30 PM, July 14 at 8 PM & July 15 at 3 PM
New works by UWM faculty members Janet Lilly, Ed Burgess, André Tyson
and guest artist Lisa Race.
OLDER NEW DANCEMAKERS
July 27 at 7:30 PM & July 28 at 8 PM
New works by UWM Dance Program graduate students.
Tickets for UWM Summerdances and Older New Dancemakers are $10/$7 for students & seniors and may be obtained by calling the School of the Arts Box Office at (414) 229-4308.
DANCES-TO-GO
June 28: Lake Park, Lake Park Light HouseJuly 5: South Shore Park, Community Building
July 19: Lake Park, Lake Park Light House
Light Steps begins at 7:30 PM. All events are free.
DANCES-TO-GO features large group works by UWM Dance faculty member Marcia Parsons and smaller pieces by UWM dance majors. The evening begins at dusk with a light installation by New York-based artist Peter Terezakis. Grab a blanket and come on over!
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