Company description::
The concert will begin with Martha Graham's rarely performed Heretic, now being reconstructed on 12 undergraduate and graduate students. Choreographed in 1929, the piece established a totally new, modernist movement style of tremendous force and dramatic tension. It has been staged only twice since its premiere and is considered one of the early masterpieces of Modern Dance. This CU performance in March will be the first ever performance of this piece by a student dance group.
Denver resident Melissa McCorkle is engaged, with support of the Roser Visiting Artist Program, in teaching a semester-long course focusing on Graham's highly specialized and demanding movement style, and on the restaging of Heretic. McCorkle is a superbly
accomplished performer and teacher, having completing a degree in Dance Pedagogy, and pursued a remarkable career as dancer with a number of major dance companies in New
York City and abroad. A former soloist with the Martha Graham Dance Company, she is one of the very select group of dancers given the rights (after a lengthy court
battle) to reconstruct and teach the Graham repertory.
In February 2004, CU dance majors will create a new incarnation of Trisha Brown's 1980 masterpiece Set and Reset. Shelley Senter, appointed representative of the work of Trisha Brown and internationally known teacher and performer, will be in residence at CU for a 3-week period in March 2004, supported by a major grant from the National Collegiate Choreography Initiative, a program of Dance/USA. Senter will teach daily modern technique classes for the entire group of 70 undergraduate and graduate dance majors and work with an auditioned group of 6-8 dancers in evening and weekend rehearsals in the restaging of Set and Reset.
The restaging of Set and Reset will also involve the collaboration of Bob Shannon, CU's stellar lighting/set designer, who will recapitulate the collaboration between
Trisha Brown and the original designer Robert Rauschenberg. Costumes will be executed by students in the BFA/Design track in the Theatre Division of the department.
The March 10 performance will be open to the public (ticket information below) and also serve as the opening night performance of the American College Dance Festival
(Central Region) that that will bring 350 dance students and faculty from around the country together for 4 days of classes, adjudications, panel discussions, film
screenings, and general celebrations of both the past and the future of dance in this country.
In Brief:
Legacies: Dance in the 20th Century - and Beyond
Program:
* Heretic (1929) by Martha Graham set on CU dancers
* Choros (1941) by Katherine Dunham performed by the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance
Ensemble, one of the crown jewels of Colorado's cultural heritage
* Set and Reset/Reset (1983) by Trisha Brown, performed by CU students,
* Rein/Bellow (2003) by Bill Young, performed by his 6-member New-York-based company
* Almost Together (2003) by Gabriel Masson, a deeply human dance-narrative about an
older man, a young woman and two chairs
* A premiere by cutting-edge multi-media artist Michelle Ellsworth
* A Hip Hop finale by CU MFA Larry Southall
Wednesday, March 10, 2004, 8 p.m.
University Theatre Mainstage
University of Colorado/Boulder
Tickets will go on sale in January 2004
General Public: $18 and $25, Seniors: $15, Students: $10
For Box Office information, please call 303- 492-8181. For concert information, call:
(303) 492-5037.
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