ODU Fall Dance Concert Program Features Ballroom, Jazz and Modern Selections by Faculty and Students
November 05, 2014
Dancers rehearse for the 2014 Dance Theatre Spring Concert
The Old Dominion University dance program will present its annual University Dance Theatre Fall Concert Nov. 19-22, featuring ballroom, jazz and modern dance choreography by ODU faculty members and selected students. Shannon Hummel, guest artist and the artistic director of Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance, a company based in New York City, will also showcase a group piece.
Concert performances will be held Nov. 19-22 at 8 p.m. and on Nov. 22 at 2 p.m. in the University Theatre on Hampton Boulevard at 47th Street. Hummel will be in residence at ODU Nov. 6-9, teaching classes and working with dance students. The group piece presented in the concert will be the product of this four-day residency.
Hummel runs The Cora Studio in Red Hook, Brooklyn, N.Y., which offers professional dance classes to students regardless of their ability to pay. Working with low-income and isolated communities is a passion of Hummel's and inspired her to start "The Crossroads Project" to create accessible performing arts experiences for people living in rural areas.
Selections featured during the ODU concert include a modern dance to funky jazz music by Bernard Purdie that Amanda Kinzer, ODU's dance program director, will premiere. "The piece, entitled 'Three Steps Forward...,' explores the circumstances that sometimes interrupt our forward momentum through work and life," she said.
In another work, Marilyn Marloff, associate professor, explores mixed media and perspective in a new experimental group work, yet to be titled. Playfully challenging the perception of "up" and "down," Marloff moves her dancers through a world created by light and projection.
Another premiere will feature a group work, "Grey Noise." Megan Thompson, assistant professor, said this explosive piece is set to a layered score compiled and edited by her and which includes samples from AGF, Delay, Ben Frost and additional sound effects.
Also on the program is "Behind Cobwebs," a contemplative new work choreographed by Katie Iacono, adjunct professor and guest artist. The piece is primarily set up in a three vs. one configuration in which the soloist uses internal fight to overcome metaphoric and physical struggle. The piece does not necessarily resolve, but one can identify with the struggle and the soloist.
Another adjunct professor and guest artist, Cara Goodwin, will present a contemporary jazz trio, entitled "Moving Rhythms." This dance focuses on body shapes and lighting effects and is set to music by Caroline (Dntel Remix).
The concert will also include new works by adjunct faculty member Danny Charles, as well as undergraduate students.
Tickets are $14 for general admission and $12 for Old Dominion University students. Tickets are available online at www.oduartstix.com, at the Arts and Letters Box Office in the University Theater, or by phone at 683-5305 and at the door. For more information, call 683-3002.