KU spring concerts to feature work of renowned choreographer


Fri, 04/13/2012

author

Michelle Heffner Hayes

University Dance Company members. Photograph by Becca Dreyfus.


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LAWRENCE — The University Dance Company spring concerts will bring the work of one of the nation’s most innovative choreographers to the stage in a performance not to be missed. Members of the University Dance Company have been transformed into flying sculptures of risk and vulnerability by guest choreographer Carl Flink and members of his Black Label Movement.

Flink spent two weeks in residency at the University of Kansas with members of his Minneapolis-based Black Label Movement. They taught their signature athleticism to students and set “Sea Change,” an excerpt of the evening-length work “Wreck,” on members of the University Dance Company. The performance will premiere at the spring concerts April 19-20 at the Lied Center.

Flink and the members of the Black Label Movement were invited to KU through the Choreographic Fellowship program in the Department of Dance at KU. The dance department has a rich history of invited guest artists who enhance the professional preparation of students. Members of the University Dance Company have performed choreography by Dušan Tynek, Jennifer Hart, José Limón, Twyla Tharp, Mary Anthony, Karole Armitage, Bill Evans, Wally Cardona, Patrick Corbin and William Whitener, among many others.

“The visceral work by Flink and his company represents the progressive edge of contemporary dance theater,” says Michelle Heffner Hayes, chair of the Department of Dance. “Not only do the company members perform exquisite dance, but they also collaborate in cutting-edge scientific research in their work with biomedical engineer David Odde and the ‘Gonzo Scientist’ John Bohannon, with whom they performed in the recent 2012 TED Full Spectrum. This company realizes the kind of interdisciplinary vision we hope to cultivate in our students.”

Set inside the last watertight compartment of a recently sunk ore boat resting at the bottom of Lake Superior, “Wreck” explores the depths of physical and psychological endurance and human fortitude in the face of impending and inevitable destruction. The piece plunges toward the ragged edge of movement and stamina as it seeks the physical event horizon where violence and cooperation, obsession and compassion and the ultimate question of how we will enter death at the edge of the abyss.

Of “Wreck,” Camille Le Fevre of the Twin Cities’ Star-Tribune says, “Carl Flink and his company, Black Label Movement, have created a riveting portrait of humanity on the brink in which community is the bedrock of integrity.”

The University Dance Company will perform its excerpt of “Wreck” at 7:30 both evenings at the Lied Center.

Tickets are on sale at the Lied Center and Murphy Hall Box Offices. Before 6 p.m. April 18, prices are $11 public, $8.50 students, KU faculty/staff, children and seniors. Afterward, prices are $13 public, $11 students, KU faculty/staff and seniors, $8.50 children. There is an added $5 processing fee for internet/mail/phone orders. Call (785) 864-ARTSfor ticket information.

The University Dance Company is a student dance organization supported by the Student Senate, the Department of Dance and the School of the Arts. The UDC produces high-quality performances of ballet, jazz, modern and world dance forms at the Lied Center every semester.

The Department of Dance is one of four departments in the KU School of the Arts. As part of the KU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the School of the Arts offers fresh possibilities for collaboration between the arts and the humanities, sciences, social sciences, international and interdisciplinary studies.

Fri, 04/13/2012

author

Michelle Heffner Hayes

Media Contacts

Michelle Heffner Hayes

Department of Dance

785-864-1098