Spring Dance Concert to feature aerial dance, more
Issue date: 2/23/09 Section: The Scene
Aerial dance will be one of the highlights in the second annual Spring Dance Concert presented by the East Tennessee State University Division of Theatre and Dance.
Performances will be held Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 26-28, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 1, at 2 p.m. in the Bud Frank Theatre on the ground level of Gilbreath Hall. Tickets are $15 for adults and $7 for students from any school (college students must show ID), and group discounts are available.
Building on the success of the division's first dance concert last spring, this year's event features the ETSU Dance Company performing classic and original choreography by master dancers Cara Harker, Jennifer Kintner and Judy Woodruff, in partnership with the Mountain Movers Dance Company.
One low-flying trapeze dance is included in this year's concert, featuring Harker and students Garryn Howard and Rebekah Shibao.
Harker participated in an aerial dance workshop that was held last summer at ETSU with Jayne Bernasconi, a 13-year veteran and master instructor of the art.
"I was so inspired by it that I knew I just had to choreograph something with aerial dance for the concert," Harker said, adding that using this technique "promotes the aerial dance summer workshop that Dr. Delbert Hall (an ETSU theatre professor and internationally known theatrical flying effects expert) has brought to ETSU and demonstrates our commitment to offering a really diverse program of dance styles. I will certainly include more aerial dance pieces in future concerts!"
The program also features "Suite Simone," which includes three numbers choreographed to the music of the late Nina Simone, a singer, pianist, arranger and composer who was dubbed the "High Priestess of Soul," including "Feelin' Good," "My Baby Just Cares for Me" and "Sinner Man."
"It seems fitting to honor the work of Nina Simone this time of year," Harker says. "She would have been 76 on February 21. It is my hope that the dances capture a bit of her eclectic style - her unique sense of timing, her use of silence as sound, and her one-of-a-kind wails, whispers and sighs."
Enrollment has increased this past year in the dance program in the Division of Theatre and Dance, which is part of the Department of Communication in ETSU's College of Arts and Sciences.
"More students are showing an interest in pursuing a dance minor - which should be on the books' soon, I hope," Harker said. "Evidence of our growth is that 28 talented dancers are performing in this year's concert."
Harker hopes the audience will "feel engaged and feel that they have transcended to another place" after seeing this year's Spring Dance Concert. "And I want them to leave the theatre ready to sign up for a dance class!"
For tickets, more information or special assistance for those with disabilities, call (423) 439-7576 or 439-6511.
Performances will be held Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 26-28, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 1, at 2 p.m. in the Bud Frank Theatre on the ground level of Gilbreath Hall. Tickets are $15 for adults and $7 for students from any school (college students must show ID), and group discounts are available.
Building on the success of the division's first dance concert last spring, this year's event features the ETSU Dance Company performing classic and original choreography by master dancers Cara Harker, Jennifer Kintner and Judy Woodruff, in partnership with the Mountain Movers Dance Company.
One low-flying trapeze dance is included in this year's concert, featuring Harker and students Garryn Howard and Rebekah Shibao.
Harker participated in an aerial dance workshop that was held last summer at ETSU with Jayne Bernasconi, a 13-year veteran and master instructor of the art.
"I was so inspired by it that I knew I just had to choreograph something with aerial dance for the concert," Harker said, adding that using this technique "promotes the aerial dance summer workshop that Dr. Delbert Hall (an ETSU theatre professor and internationally known theatrical flying effects expert) has brought to ETSU and demonstrates our commitment to offering a really diverse program of dance styles. I will certainly include more aerial dance pieces in future concerts!"
The program also features "Suite Simone," which includes three numbers choreographed to the music of the late Nina Simone, a singer, pianist, arranger and composer who was dubbed the "High Priestess of Soul," including "Feelin' Good," "My Baby Just Cares for Me" and "Sinner Man."
"It seems fitting to honor the work of Nina Simone this time of year," Harker says. "She would have been 76 on February 21. It is my hope that the dances capture a bit of her eclectic style - her unique sense of timing, her use of silence as sound, and her one-of-a-kind wails, whispers and sighs."
Enrollment has increased this past year in the dance program in the Division of Theatre and Dance, which is part of the Department of Communication in ETSU's College of Arts and Sciences.
"More students are showing an interest in pursuing a dance minor - which should be on the books' soon, I hope," Harker said. "Evidence of our growth is that 28 talented dancers are performing in this year's concert."
Harker hopes the audience will "feel engaged and feel that they have transcended to another place" after seeing this year's Spring Dance Concert. "And I want them to leave the theatre ready to sign up for a dance class!"
For tickets, more information or special assistance for those with disabilities, call (423) 439-7576 or 439-6511.
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