HARTEL DANCE GROUP
TO PERFORM
"EIGHTH DAY"
AT LYRIC THEATER

 The Hartel Dance Group presents “On the Eighth Day” at the Lyric Theatre at the Plaza at 8 p.m. on Friday September 9 and Saturday, September 10, 2011.
Hartel Dance Group is a newer dance theatre production company focused on developing dramatic forms of physical expression while expanding the dance audience. The HDG has a strong Oklahoma following with recent performances at Rose State College Performing Arts Center in 2010 and Opening Night New Year’s events in 2011. 
Under the direction of internationally acclaimed dancer and choreographer Austin Hartel, the dances to be presented are renowned for their movement invention, athleticism, and cultural commentary.  Reviewers in Europe have called the Hartel’s performances “without a doubt, one of the most captivating examples of new choreography.”
Tickets, purchased in advance are $18.00 for Adults and $13.00 for students. Those purchased at the door are $20.00 for Adults and $15.00 for students.
Advance purchases and additional information about the Hartel Dance Group can be found on-line at www.harteldancegroup.org

FAST FACTS ABOUT HDG

• Hartel Dance Group spent one month on an international residency with performances and education programs in Asuncion, Paraguay.

• In 2011, the Hartel Dance Group performed in the SXSW National Arts Festival

BRIGHTMUSIC  PRESENTS

FIRST CONCERT OF ITS SEASON:

“TWILIGHT OF ROMANTICISM”
Featuring the works of four of the most important
European composers of the Late-Romantic Period
 

From the website

On September 12-13, 2011, the Brightmusic Chamber Music Ensemble will present two performances of its first concert of the 2011-12 Season.  Each will feature the works of four of the most important European composers of the Late-Romantic Movement.

The works on the program are: Quartet for Piano and Strings in A Minor by the Czech-Austrian composer Gustav Mahler (who lived and worked in Vienna and New York City, where he conducted the New York Philharmonic); Adagio from the Chamber Concerto by the Austrian composer Alban Berg;  Trio in A Minor, op. 40 by the Ukrainian-born, Austrian composer Carl Frühling; and Piano Quintet No. 1 in C Minor, op. 1 by the Hungarian composer Ernst von Dohnányi.

Brightmusic musicians appearing are: Gregory Lee (violin), Katrin Stamatis (violin), Royce McLarry (viola), Tomasz Zieba (cello), Chad Burrow (clarinet) and Amy I-Lin Cheng (piano).

The performances will take place: on Monday, September 12^th at 7:30 pm in the St. Edward’s Chapel on the campus of Casady School, 9500 N. Pennsylvania Avenue at Britton Road (use the Britton Road

entrance) and on Tuesday, September 13^th at 7:30 pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, 127 NW 7^th Street at Robinson. 

Admission, new this year, is $10 per adult; and students are free of charge.  Season Memberships for the 2011-12 season are available through our website, http://www.brightmusic.org/. 

A reception with the musicians will follow each performance. 

This concert is made possible by season grants from Chesapeake Energy Corporation, the Oklahoma Arts Council and Ad Astra Foundation, and a grant for this concert from the Kirkpatrick Family Fund.   

 

 From the press release and website

                                                                                   

OKC BALLET TO HOLD
CHILDREN'S AUDITIONS

FOR THE NUTCRACKER

                                                                                   Photo provided

Auditions for the children's roles in the Oklahoma City Ballet's holiday favorite The Nutcracker, performed in the Civic Center Music Hall, are open to dancers ages seven and up with prior experience and/or training.  Dancers must be seven years old on the day of the audition.

Auditions will be held Saturday, August 27th at the Oklahoma City Ballet studios,

7421 N. Classen Blvd.

  Please arrive at least 30 minutes prior to your scheduled audition time so that you may register.  Older dancers make sure you are warmed up and ready to dance. There is a $20 non refundable audition fee payable by cash or check (made payable to OKC Ballet).  Audition fee will not exceed $40 per family with more than one auditioning dancer. 

Times are as follows:

Ages 7-9               10:00 to 11:00 a.m.
Ages 10-13           11:15 to 12:15 p.m.
Ages 14 & up   12:30 pm to 1:30 p.m.



PERPETUAL MOTION

TO PERFORM AT

ST. GREGORY'S

Picture provided

By Nancy Condit

Perpetual Motion modern dance company will be performing the opening show for the Performing Arts Season at St. Gregory University at 8 p.m. on Friday, August 26.  The performance will be in the Sarkeys Performing Arts Center, 1900 W. MacArthur in Shawnee at St. Gregory's University.  Tickets are 10 for adults, $8 for students, and $5 for children.

The program includes Bastis, an aerial duet, and Inequity, performed for the first time by Perpetual Motion, and choreographed by Stephanie Letendre and performed by a St. Gregory's alumna Vicki Horn.

"I like their work. They set a high standard for modern dance in Oklahoma.  I think their work is intellectually challenging," said Fabrice Conte, department of fine arts.

The day before the performance, members of the company will give a free aerial dance workshop for

St. Gregory's students.

SUNDAY TWILIGHT SERIES

The free Sunday Twilight Series continues through August on the grand lawn of the newly renovated Myriad Gardens from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

This Sunday's, August 21's, concert is the choral music by the OK Choral.

On August 28, the last concert, Tekumbe presents Latin fusion music.

Patrons are encouraged to bring picnics, blankets and chairs, may not bring glass or pets.

ISTVAN GALLERY:
STORYSLAM,
MISS BROWN TO YOU,

AND OKC IMPROV

Istvan Gallery, 1218 N. Western, is hosting three events this weekend, in addition to its current show for six artists: Jesse Whittle, Luis Saenz, Trish McCain, Todd Jenkins, Spencer Tracy, and Brittany Rudolf, who is also the gallery assistant at Istvan.

Friday from 7 - 10 p.m., August 19, the StorySlam topic is Hot Hot Heat.  The monthly open-mic event is open to all, with a story telling time of seven minutes max a person.

Saturday at 8 p.m. Miss Brown To You -- Mary Reynolds and Louise Goldberg -- plays a mix of jazz, folk, country, and Latin, "refuses to be confined to one style of music," reads the email from Istvan.  This is suitable for all ages.  Admission is $7 at the door, with refreshments available.

Sunday, from 3 to 6 p.m. OKC Improv is hosting next Improv Community Jam for area improvisors. Admission is free.

Meet and play with improvisers from all over the metro in a friendly, free-form atmosphere. Network with each other and find like-minded performers with whom to develop new projects. You don't have to be in an established troupe to participate. Guests are welcome.
-- Nancy Condit

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

PLAYS AT THE MYRIAD GARDENS

WATER STAGE:

PRESENTED BY OKLAHOMA

SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK

Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park¹s final production of the 27th Summer
 Season is Shakespeare's delightful pastoral fantasy A Midsummer Night¹s Dream,

 which combines humans and fairies in one of the Bard's best loved comedies.

It is being performed at the newly renovated  Myriad Gardens Water Stage

in downtown Oklahoma City.

 A Midsummer Night¹s Dream continues through September 3
 with performances each Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening at 8 pm.
 Tickets are available ($15 adults, $10 students/seniors/children/military)
 online at oklahomashakespeare.com or at the box office on site beginning at
 7 pm on performance evenings. Concessions and ample seats are on site.

Guest director Clayton Guiltner directs the closing production, which
 features Colin Ryan and Michelle Swink Gibbons as Oberon and Titania and
 Lane Flores as Puck.  The lovers are played by Chris Damen (Lysander), Addie
Work (Hermia), Katherine Wortley (Helena) and Joel Behne (Demetrius).
Michael Gibbons is Theseus, Erin Singleton is Hippolyta, Michael Cross is
 Egeus and Jon Haque is Bottom.  The mechanicals are played by Javon Johnson,
 Josh Henry, Bryant Belknap, Aldan Olds and Tyler Waits.  Also in the cast
 are Heath Jones, Valerie Sharp, Anne DeFilippo, Brett Garrett, Andrew
 Rathgeber, Mike Newton and Brendan Kane.  Scenic design is by Jason Foreman
 and costume design is by Robert Pittenridge.

From the press release

    From duke.edu

PERPETUAL MOTION TO START CLASSES

Perpetual Motion's fall session classes, ages 13 and older, in modern, beginning/intermediate, aerial and intermediate/advanced dance will begin August 15th at City Arts Center.

Open auditions for the 2011 - 2012 pm2 dancers will be held October l, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

For more information, visit http://www.perpetualmotiondance.org/

DANCE FUND RAISERS

By Nancy Condit

Both Perpetual Motion Modern Dance and HartelDanceGroup have just completed or are in the middle of fund raisers.  This posting is intended to be a heads up rather than an in-depth piece.  Please check the companys' website's for more complete financial information.

 

Perpetual Motion raised less than half of the $1,580 needed for the just completed Oklahoma Contemporary Dance Festival.  Michelle Dexter, artistic director, also thanked the Oklahoma Arts Council from the stage Friday night for making the festival possible.  For more information contact http://www.perpetualmotiondance.org/.

HartelDanceGroup is fund raising for their fall season at Lyric on the Plaza.  With 62 hours left in their campaign, Austin Hartel, artistic director, announced yesterday by email that they had raised $2,000 and had been approved for a Kirkpatrick Foundation grant.  They can be contacted at http://www.harteldancegroup.org/Home.html

This posting is intended to be a heads up rather than an in-depth piece. 

Both of the topics of classes and financial updates are new to danceartandokc.blogspot.com, and will be done as time permits.

OKLAHOMA CONTEMPORARY

DANCE FESTIVAL A SUCCESS:

LAST SHOW TONIGHT

By Nancy P. Condit

The Oklahoma Contemporary Dance Festival brought four professional Oklahoma dance groups together in a rousing performance for the first time in Oklahoma City’s dance history Friday night. 

Their last performance of a variety of modern styles will be tomorrow night, Saturday, August 6^th at Bruce Owen Theatre at Oklahoma City Community College, 7777 S. May, at 8:00 p.m.  Tickets are available at the door, and run $15.

Under the sponsorship of Perpetual Motion Modern Dance, the companies performing were Hartel Dance Group, Perpetual Motion, and RACE, with 25 dancers chosen by audition.  Also choreographing pieces for the dancers were Austin Hartel of Hartel Dance, Hui Cha Poos of RACE, Michelle Dexter of Perpetual Motion, and Robert Mills of OKC Ballet.

What impressed most about the students was their training, their talent, and, above all, the way they came together as a company in less than two months.

The dancers were particularly memorable in Hartel’s choreographed modern “Sunrise on Hatteras.”  Poos choreographed “Random Conformity” modern street ballet with a good sense of musicality.  Mills choreographed “Queen 2 (squared),” which had the dancers spoofing the well-known lyrics, to the audience’s delight, miming huge eyelashes with their hands, and the group climbing up on each other to a climax.

Among the professional companies, RACE’s “Hide and Seek” choreographed and danced by Olivia Graeff stands out for its ridiculousness.  Graeff danced on stage in a large black frou frou tutu over black shorts with curls in her ponytail to the line “Don’t you think I’m funny.”

Jr. RACE was charming in “Il M’aime…Non” choreographed by Amy Nevius. 

“Ashes, Ashes,” choreographed by Hartel, and danced by Hartel Dance Group, was notable for its flow of the moves of the company – the angles used by individual dancers in the first half of the piece, and the dance as a place for the audience to be in the second half.

Dexter’s “Garuda,” danced by Perpetual Motion, was full of juice and energy as one dancer moved almost motionlessly as the other circled her.   Perpetual Motion also performed guest choreographer’s Amy Querin’s “Belonging,” premiered at a previous performance.  The piece is noteworthy for the strength of emotions of the three couples, which alternately reject and accept each other.  A note: roles originally intended for men are frequently danced by women because of the lack of male dances.  And vice versa.  While it’s appropriate to interpret that a shove is a shove in dance, it may not always be accurate to assume that two women dancing together were originally choreographed that way.

The costumes added to the dances, as expected from these companies. 

Perpetual Motion has found a very nice performance venue in the Bruce Owen Theatre.

LOOKING FORWARD:

Perpetual Motion will be performing at St. Gregory’s University, which offers a bachelor’s of arts in dance, at 8 p.m. on August 26.  Tickets are $10.

HartelDanceGroup presents “On the eighth day” on September 9 and 10 at Lyric on the Plaza.

RACE and Jr. RACE will hold auditions on August 13 and 14.  Go to http://www.racedance.com/ for more details. 

 

FAIRY BALL POSTPONED 'TIL

SEPTEMBER

BECAUSE OF HEAT

This is just in from Lorrie Keller, artistic director of StarDanceSwan:

StarDanceSwan and the Paseo Artist Association have postponed the Fairy Ball due to the extreme heat.  High temperatures  can be especially dangerous for the elderly, infants and children, homeless and poor, people with a chronic medical condition and those who work and exercise outdoors. Acoustical and electronic instruments are also vulnerable to high temperatures.

 

The Fairy Ball has been rescheduled for the evening of Saturday, September 24.  I will be sending you information and details on the September Fairy Ball soon. All the art supplies, set, props, dancers and Steve McLinn are ready and waiting.

From Keller's email

TWO DANCE EVENTS THIS

WEEKEND: FAIRY BALL

AND OKLAHOMA

CONTEMPORARY DANCE

FESTIVAL

By Nancy Condit

THE FAIRY BALL: POSTPONED UNTIL SEPTEMBER 24

Photo by Nancy Condit

On Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. children of all ages, parents and grandparents are invited

by Theatre Upon a StarDanceSwan to gather on the Fairie Green in the Paseo at

N.W. 38 and Dewey for the Fairy Ball.  Dress at home, and at 7:30 p.m., in Flower Magic,

add the flowers before the StarDanceSwan dancers perform at 8:30 p.m., and everyone joins in the

dancing until 9:30 p.m.

Music will be provided by Steve McLinn of Ojas. 

OKLAHOMA CONTEMPORARY DANCE FESTIVAL

Perpetual Motion/ Modern Dance Oklahoma is hosting the 5^th annual Oklahoma Contemporary Dance Festival August 5th and 6th, 8:00pm at the Oklahoma City Community College Bruce Owen Theater at 7777 S. May.  The Festival will include performances by 30 local dancers selected by audition who will perform choreography by Oklahoma City company directors Michelle Dexter (Perpetual Motion), Austin Hartel (Hartel Dance Group), Kim Kieffer-Williams (Perpetual Motion), Robert Mills (Oklahoma City Ballet) and Hui Cha Poos (R.A.C.E. Dance). 

The following is a link to a map of the campus:

The stand alone theater is in the northwest central section of the campus, connected  to the Arts and Humanities building. 

Tickets for the Oklahoma Contemporary Dance Festival are available at www.perpetualmotiondance.org or at the City Arts Center box office one hour prior to show time.  Ticket prices are $18 for Adult ($15 in advance) and $10 for Students and Children.

From the press release

http://www.occc.edu/Maps/Outside-Map.pdf

HEAT WAVE BRINGS HEAT RAGE TO

SOME SCORCHED OKLAHOMANS

 As highs continue to surpass 100, tempers are heating up, notes
a criminology professor at Oklahoma City University.
“People who are usually angry get a lot angrier when it’s hot,” said OCU
Criminology Professor Howard Kurtz, Ph.D.
Criminologists have studied the impact of heat on aggression for the past 40
years and have found that individuals prone to anger are especially affected.
Other factors may enhance aggression when temperatures soar. Those
who drink alcohol tend to consume more when it’s hot and that can lead to
increased aggression, Kurtz said.

While some forms of aggression stem from social interaction, heat is a non-social

trigger that may make someone more prone to anger, Kurtz explained.
On the flip side, Kurtz also advises against staying indoors too much, which can
also swing your mood.
“You still need sunlight every day,” he said.