UW News

November 17, 2005

Local talent: Faculty Dance Concert slated for Dec. 1–4

The Dance Program at the UW will open its annual performance series with an eclectic concert showcasing work choreographed and performed by Dance Program faculty, guest artists and students. The concert is slated for Dec. 1–4 in Meany Studio Theater.


Mark Haim, the program’s artist in residence, is presenting excerpts from his 90-minute piece, The Goldberg Variations. The work, composed of 30 concise and evocative variations, will be performed by Haim, Dance Program Director Betsy Cooper and special guests from the Seattle dance community. The Goldberg Variations will be presented in its entirety at On The Boards in late March.


Assistant Professor Jennifer Salk will premiere a solo choreographed by Haim to piano music by Sergei Rachmaninoff. The work is built on palindromic sequences that challenge the viewer to discern forward from backward and beginning from end.


Jürg Koch, a lecturer with the program, will perform a collection of short contrasting solos to the music of Bach’s Art of the Fugue and contemporary interpretations of songs by Elizabethan composer John Dowland. Koch also contributes a new work featuring a diverse assemblage of participants who collaborate to create a group portrait of women.


What do the music of The Beastie Boys, South Park’s recent “Global Warming” episode, and a jetlagged layover have in common? All are sources of inspiration for Seattle-based choreographer Tonya Lockyer’s unpredictable new dance for seven UW undergraduates. Lockyer is a frequent guest instructor at the UW whose award-winning dances been presented throughout the U.S. and in Canada, France, Poland and Russia.


Tinka and Dannul Dailey will display their mastery of musical theater dance in Cut Loose the Body, a new work inspired by the legendary choreographer Jack Cole and the unique qualities of the New Orleans jazz funeral. The music, pulled from Ken Burns’ film Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, features New Orleans Bump by Jelly Roll Morton and High Society and Troubles My Soul by Wynton Marsalis.


Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Dec. 1–3 and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 4. All performances are in the Meany Studio Theater. Tickets are $10, $8 for students and seniors and available at the UW Arts Ticket Office 4001 University Way NE, on the web at www.meany.org or by calling 206-543-4880.