OU School of Dance presents two programs of student choreography

Ada Evening News

Ada — NORMAN — The University of Oklahoma’s School of Dance announces upcoming performances of graduate and undergraduate creative work.  MFA candidates will present 6 Degrees of Rotation on Feb. 27 at Kamp’s Deli in Oklahoma City at 7  p.m. and  March 5-6 in Norman, in Room 3002 of Reynolds Performing Art Center.

Tickets will be available at the door: $7 for adults and $5 for students and children in Oklahoma City. In Norman, the event begins at 8 p.m. with a suggested donation of $5 at the door. 

Six Degrees of Rotation features a mixed program of modern dance by Cheyla Clawson, Lieneke Mous and Kristi Schaffner, as well as contemporary and classical ballet by Charlotte Hart and Kerri Lambert. The choreographers have experimented with a variety of ideas including societal issues, the beauty of the human body, the evolution of body language into dance, and manifestations of humanity through empathy and humor.  Lighting design for the production is by Michael Cole.

On March 7 at 6 p.m. audiences will be able to see works from seven undergraduate choreographers in Room 3002 of Reynolds Performing Art Center.  These students are presenting senior Capstone Projects and works supported by grants from the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, administered by the OU Honors College.

Capstone students have worked extensively with faculty mentors to research a topic and to create choreography based on those findings.  Among these dances will be Lindsey Marchand’s Lives Cut Short, which received the world premiere earlier this year at Young Choreographers’ Showcase.  The work deals with deforestation and endangered animals.  Kelsey Schwenker will present externalized map of internalized self, a piece that investigates eating disorders, domestic violence and grief. Other Capstone choreographers are Rebecca Glazier, with Rwanda, a reflection for five dancers on the aftermath of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, and an untitled work about Michael Jackson by Cameron Lee.

Also featured during the evening will be three compositions from dancers who have been awarded a UROP grant.  In order to receive the grant, students must submit a summary of project objectives, propose a budget and be recommended by a faculty member.  Mario Romero’s abstract piece Flawless Deception explores the individuality of the dancers and their relationship to the music, while Adryan Moorefield’s choreography in Searching shows an individual looking for the person or idea that is missing from her life.  Kristin Young has created Corrie to portray a family living during the Holocaust.

The University of Oklahoma’s program in dance was founded in 1963 by Yvonne Choteau and Miguel Terekhov, former principal dancers with Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. What had been a department became the School of Dance in 1998, with Mary Margaret Holt as Director. Undergraduate and graduate dance majors, along with general education students, total approximately 1000 enrollees in dance classes per semester. The School of Dance’s state-of-the-art facility in the Donald W. Reynolds Performing Arts Center was completed in 2005.

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