HARTEL DANCE GROUP TO PERFORM
 WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT

Highlights include the world premiere of “PopArt” by Austin Hartel in collaboration with visual Artist Marwin Begaye, as well a collaborative dance theater piece with Tonia Ellis set to music by composer Aaron Robinson with poems by local artist Skip Largent. When:      November, 8th & 9th    at 8pm Where:    Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center                           3000 General Pershing Blvd. OKC 73107  Hartel Dance Group, Oklahoma City ‘s internationally acclaimed modern dance company, is pleased to announce the program for its fall season.  This season will include a rich variety to of collaborations between local Oklahoma artists.  Artistic Director, Austin Hartel is an award winning, internationally acclaimed choreographer who has been presenting his unique brand of dance on stages worldwide for over 25 years, is pleased to announce the lineup for this show. His vision for “What’s love got to do with it?” will weave together many facets of connections, networks, and rituals that define our lives. Journeying through life, we inherently create relationships—some lasting, some passing, and some that impact us in the most transformative of ways. We have more means to access human connection than any generation past. Yet for some reason, there remains a cold undercurrent of isolation, loneliness, and separation that bridles many of our experiences—whether we are aware of it or not. All humanity craves acceptance and love, but Hartel poses the well-known question, “What’s love got to do with it?” While love is a powerful, deep-seated emotion, active relationships do not flourish on love alone.   Hartel’s World Premiere PopArt, with the help of Visual Artist Marwin Begaye will also include original music by Aaron Robinson. In this piece, the choreographer is exploring the possibilities that lay between performing arts, the artist and the result of that interaction by tracking the movements of dancers Becca Schmedt, Karen Boyd Bethel, Thyrsa Da Rosa, Nicolette Battle, Kira Blazik, and Maggie Boyett, musician Aaron Robinson and the concept of visual arts. “Dance is an ethereal form of art, it is experienced the moment it happens. You can take home a painting, a sculpture, a piece of music, but dancers and choreographers, give you sensations and feelings.    With PopArt, I am looking for ways to give the dance a more permanent visual record, to create unique pieces of art each night that can be taken home and hung on the wall as a way to recall the visceral experience of the performance”. says Hartel.   Choreographer Chris Castleberry will present his hilarious “Delicious," a study of some of the absurdities presented by the dating rituals of human beings.   SleepWalkers, a poem written by local artist Skip Largent, will also be presented in this evening of  “WLGTDWI”.  Choreographed in collaboration with Austin Hartel and Tonia Sina Ellis and original score by Aaron Robinson, this piece will take us through a journey of a couple, that’s walking through someone else’s dream, or not. Additional works to be presented to round out this performance are Tears for Maria, choreographed by Hartel and exquisitely performed by Karen Boyd Bethel. Searching For… a US premiere by Austin Hartel danced by Nicolette Battle and Maggie Boyett. This duet was originally commissioned for the Momentum Dance Company in Guatemala City. Kira Blazik’s  Banksy My Warhol, a street dance layered onto contemporary movement solo that pokes fun at the artist’s ego and the adoration that inflates it.  Love Me Tender, a suite of short pieces choreographed by Hartel, representing three aspects of the evenings theme “ What’s Love got to do with it?” Tickets, purchased in advance are $15.00 Those purchased at the door are $20.00 Students Tickets are $10.00 Advance purchases and additional information about the Hartel Dance Group can be found on-line at www.harteldancegroup.org/new Performances are on Friday November 8th        8:00 pm. Saturday November 9th    8:00pm.  Where: Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center 3000 General Pershing Blvd. OKC 73107 (Due to construction, enter at Gate 5, which is Gordon Cooper Boulevard, and head west. Once you reach Land Rush Street, you will need to turn right (north) and head until you see the Arts Center).