The Glenn Korff School of Music’s dance program presents its annual Evenings of Dance performances April 10-13 in the Lied Center’s Johnny Carson Theater.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. April 10-12 and 2 p.m. April 13. Tickets are $13.50 general and $8 students/youth (including fees) and available online.
The concert features lighting design by students in the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film, led by Michelle Harvey, assistant professor.
This is the 20th anniversary of the renaming of the spring dance concert to Evenings of Dance. This year’s performances are directed by Susan Ourada, associate professor. Hye-Won Hwang, associate professor of practice, is serving as associate director for the recital.
“When I learned I would be staying at the university on a tenure track following a year as a visiting lecturer, I decided to rename the concert in honor of my beloved university dance mentor, Alta Lu Townes,” Ourada said. “As an undergraduate studying with Professor Townes, I performed many times in an annual ‘An Evening of Dance’ concert. Naming the UNL concert Evenings of Dance provided the honoring and acknowledged the multi-performance aspect of the UNL show. The concert also includes a Sunday matinee, but the name still resonates.”
Evenings of Dance features students performing in works by faculty and guest artists. In addition, it is the tradition to include the student-choreographed pieces that have moved forward to the American College Dance Association Regional Conference that the students and faculty attend each spring.
“This year will be even more student forward,” Ourada said. “In addition to pieces by dance faculty Hye-Won Hwang and myself and guest faculty Gloria Flores, there will be four student works on the show. Three of these works were brought to ACDA in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, in March.”
The student works include senior dance and exercise and sports science major Addi Weeder’s dance titled ‘The Thief of…,” which features performances by eight dancers to music by cello virtuoso Zoë Keating.
“’The Thief of…’ is based on the concept of comparison being the thief of joy, ultimately masking individuality,” Weeder said. “Through the piece, dancers shift from fixating on one another and their surroundings to embracing individuality ultimately shedding the weight of comparison. The piece evolves from conformity to embracing originality and has a strong all-female cast, including eight dancers. They dance to ‘Optimist’ by Zoë Keating.”
Junior dance and Spanish major Vanessa Uriostegui’s work, “Humanity is Not for Sale,” addresses topics of belonging and inclusion and uses music by two Mexican composers, as well as “The Buttress.”
“’Humanity is Not for Sale’ came from this place of not only anger, but the feeling of injustice,” said Uriostegui, who is from Schuyler. “When I first started creating this piece some questions/intentions that came to mind were ‘diasporic displacement of bodies,’ ‘superiority,’ ‘How can they make space instead of filling space?’ and ‘What is the intent behind this movement?’ With my dance style, I am captivated by indigenous bodies and cultural identities while still creating this space for movement and performance. I also think about how an outside perspective can analyze and view these bodies outside of this space.”
Dance minors Grace Thomsen and Aimee Wiebelhaus, who both major in textiles merchandising and fashion design, will also have their work included in the concert.
“Each of the four student works is unique and offers a glimpse into the expansive interests that each student brings to their study of dance,” Ourada said.
Following the performance on April 12, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Dance Alumni will be holding a post-performance dancer meet and greet in the foyer of the Carson Theater. It will be followed by social time at a local establishment. For more information, send e-mail to unldancealumni@gmail.com.
