UW Presents Spring Dance Concert

UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING PRESS RELEASE:

Urban, modern, contemporary ballet, vertical dance and screendance pieces will be featured in the University of Wyoming Department of Theatre and Dance spring dance concert, "Movement Landscapes," March 6- 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the UW College of Arts and Sciences auditorium.

Tickets cost $14 for the public, $11 for seniors and $7 for students. For tickets and information, visit the Performing Arts or Wyoming Union box offices, call (307) 766-6666 or go online at www.uwyo.edu/finearts.

“Movement Landscapes” will feature original works by UW Theatre and Dance faculty members Marsha Knight, Margaret Wilson and Lawrence Jackson; guest artist Jacob Mora; visiting faculty member Rachael L. Shaw; and guest choreographer and performer Julia Mayo.

“Cinq cadeaux de Chopin” (choreography by Knight) is a ballet in five movements, set to familiar Chopin mazurkas, nocturnes, and a lesser-known piece titled “Trois Ecossaises.” Piano performance graduate student Sarah Kim will join the dancers as part of the onstage performance. The performance highlights the abilities of eight UW dance majors in a variety of short solos, duets and ensemble dances.

“Fissure” is a contemporary ballet piece choreographed and performed by guest artist Mayo, a graduate of Julliard and New York University’s Tisch School for the Arts, and faculty member at Western Wyoming Community College.

Mora's piece, “Beneath the Surface,” is set to music by M.I.A. and Shed. This politically charged work explores the symbiotic ways in which African contemporary and jazz dance morph to create a unique movement vocabulary.

“Sastrugi” (choreography and rigging Wilson and Neil Humphrey) is a vertical dance piece designed for the UW Arts and Sciences stage. The piece is architectural and atmospheric, with groups of dancers working together -- pulling apart and re-forming in other spaces, both on the ground and in the air. It features costumes designed by Darci Deaver as a part of her senior project for the BFA in dance performance.

Using the concept of chapters as a structure, “Somewhere,” choreographed by Shaw, explores how past experiences inform who we are and serve to propel us into our own unique futures.

Shaw’s video dance short “by and in” explores what it means to be influenced by, and fully present in nature, and captures the dancers' visceral experiences of being directly related to and connected with the Wyoming landscape.

Closing the concert is Jackson's “Borderline,” a contemporary jazz-infused work set to the music of Mikel Rouse and performed by four graduating seniors from the Department of Theatre and Dance. The piece examines feminine empowerment through the use of technically demanding choreography.

For more information, call Kathy Kirkaldie at (307) 766-2160 or email at kirisk@uwyo.edu.