Spring dance concerts to highlight talents of KU choreographers


Tue, 02/12/2013

author

Kristi Henderson

LAWRENCE – The University Dance Company spring concerts will showcase works by emerging and master choreographers in a new setting. The performances will be held at the Lawrence Arts Center on Feb. 22 and 23.

The venue will be familiar for two performers in the company. Two seniors from Lawrence, Juliet Remmers and Lucy Shopen, were scholarship students in the children’s dance program at the Lawrence Arts Center.

“The LAC has been a training ground for some of our most talented dancers,” said dance department chair Michelle Heffner Hayes. “It makes us very proud to produce their work in the setting that nurtured their talent as children.”

Two other seniors’ work will be featured in addition to Remmers’ and Shopen’s: Kristi Moore of Colorado Springs and Kenna Sullivan of Chicago. The inclusion of their choreography reflects the outstanding caliber of talent in the program, as the concerts do not typically feature student works.

Another emerging choreographer featured on the program is KU dance alumna Meggi Sweeney Smith, a Carrollton, Mo., graduate who completed her BFA in 2007. Smith is a professional dancer and choreographer in New York. She set a new work on members of the University Dance Company in an intensive-two week residency in January, taught master classes and advised students on how forge the path following graduation.

“It is such a pleasure for me to reinforce this sense of history and connection with the dancers from my alma mater,” says Smith, who performs with the New York-based CorbinDances and the internationally recognized New York Baroque Dance Ensemble, among others.

The concert also will feature works by master choreographers on the KU faculty, including “Fives” by James Moreno, “Tír na nÓg” by Jerel Hilding and “Womansong” by Muriel Cohan.

Performances are Friday and Saturday, Feb. 22-23, at 7:30 pm. Tickets are on sale at the Lawrence Arts Center: $15 public, $10 students, senior citizens 62 and older, and group sales. KU students are eligible for a $5 advance purchase price before the opening day of the show. Call 785-843-2787 for tickets.

The Department of Dance is one of four departments in the 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.

Tue, 02/12/2013

author

Kristi Henderson

Media Contacts

Kristi Henderson

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

785-864-3663