YOUNG CHOREOGRAPHERS'
SHOWCASE AT OU JAN 25-28

Young Choreographers’ Showcase Opens the Spring Season

at University Theatre

 

Courtesy University of Oklahoma School of Dance and University Theatre

  Select student choreographers create a production of imaginative, original dance works from the full spectrum of movement styles as the University of Oklahoma School of Dance and University Theatre present Young Choreographers’ Showcase, a program that always surprises and delights audiences. Young Choreographers’ Showcase is scheduled to open at 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, in the Reynolds Performing Arts Center, 560 Parrington Oval, Norman.  Additional performances are at 8 p.m. Jan. 26-27 and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 28. This production is suitable for all audiences.

                OU School of Dance faculty adjudicated students’ choreography to showcase ten exceptional dance works for the production. The choreographers offer a brief description of their work.

                  Amber Bailey is a ballet performance and physical therapy senior from Traverse City, MI. Tautly Linked is a piece choreographed in response to the social tensions within today's society. The work explores how tension can be built and released between people using different dynamics.

Amanda Evans is a ballet performance senior from Copper Canyon, TX. I've Got Sunshine juxtaposes the idealized notion of 'love' sung about in classic love songs with a caricature of a romantic relationship. This piece explores the possibility that perhaps finding your own groove in life is the best way to love yourself and others as well.

                  Gianna Hagnell is a modern dance performance and health and exercise science junior from Lake Bluff, IL. Echos of a Judas Kiss embodies the emotions that an individual transitions through as a result of feeling betrayed.

                  Hannah Knorr, a ballet performance major and health and exercise science minor sophomore from Dayton, OH, choreographed Everybody Swing in a fusion of jazz music with ballet to create a fun and flirty atmosphere. Consumed by the playful aesthetic of 1940s jazz music, an animated couple and a dazzling young woman express each note through the joy of movement.

                  Jessica Liske is a ballet pedagogy junior from Garden City, MI.  Her work Alleviation, shows the struggle of letting go of painful or harmful emotions, and the peace you find once you finally leave them behind. 

                  Emily Nichols is a ballet performance and journalism senior from West Palm Beach, FL. Image is about the painful, internal struggle of someone suffering from an eating disorder and negative body image. The work explores the relationship between mirrors and one’s sense of self.

A 2^nd year MFA dance candidate from Kokomo, IN, Sara Pecina choreographed En Route iabout three individuals facing different struggles on their own paths to the same destination.

                  Laura Pratt is a 2^nd year MFA dance candidate from Durango, CO. Amor Fati seeks to explore the negotiations necessary for the unfolding of the past, present and future relationship of man and woman experienced through the physical practice of falling. As philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche writes in his book Ecce Homo, " My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati, that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity.

                  Chiara Ruff is a ballet performance junior from St. Paul, MN: Banyon is a combination of contemporary ballet, music and poetry. The inspiration behind this work is a poem called "Banyan" by Sudeep Sen. The story, told through dance, unfolds with rejected love. A young man turns to write his woes of love on paper, but it all comes out as fragmented poetry, for how can words describe everything in his heart.

Claire Willcutt is a modern dance performance junior from Denver, CO. The Wall is a narrative about a mother, a daughter and a wall.

                These dance works are created in collaboration with Helmerich School of Drama student lighting designers Lydia Brinkmann, Olivia Deluca, Jarrod Fries, Joshua Robbins, Aaron Wade and Brandon Wade.

                Always an audience favorite, Young Choreographers’ Showcase presents talent, imagination and energy in an innovative production of choreographic premieres.

For more information call the OU School of Dance office (405) 325-4051.

Advance purchase tickets for Young Choreographers’ Showcase are $25 for adult; $20 for senior adult, OU employee and military; and $10 for student, plus handling fee. Tickets at the door are $35 for adult and $15 for student, cash or check only.  Tickets also may be purchased online at http://theatre.ou.edu, by calling (405) 325-4101 or visiting the OU Fine Arts Box Office in the Catlett Music Center, 500 W. Boyd St. For accommodations, please call the box office at (405) 325-4101.