Lincoln, Neb.—The Glenn Korff School of Music’s dance program presents their annual Evenings of Dance performances April 10-13 in the Lied Center’s Johnny Carson Theater.
Performances are April 10-12 at 7:30 p.m. and April 13 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $13.50 general and $8 students/youth (including fees) and are available online only at https://go.unl.edu/gksomtickets.
The concert features lighting design by students in the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film, led by Assistant Professor Michelle Harvey.
This is the 20th anniversary of the renaming of the spring dance concert to Evenings of Dance. This year’s performances are directed by Associate Professor of Dance Susan Ourada. The associate director of Evenings of Dance is Associate Professor of Practice in Dance Hye-Won Hwang.
“When I learned I would be staying at the university on a tenure track following a year as a visiting lecturer, I decided to rename the concert in honor of my beloved university dance mentor, Alta Lu Townes,” Ourada said. “As an undergraduate studying with Professor Townes, I performed many times in an annual ‘An Evening of Dance’ concert. Naming the UNL concert Evenings of Dance provided the honoring and acknowledged the multi-performance aspect of the UNL show. The concert also includes a Sunday matinee, but the name still resonates.”
Evenings of Dance features students performing in works by faculty and guest artists. In addition, it is the tradition to also include the student-choreographed pieces that have moved forward to the American College Dance Association (ACDA) Regional Conference that the students and faculty attend each spring.
“This year will be even more student forward,” Ourada said. “In addition to pieces by dance faculty Hye-Won Hwang and myself and guest faculty Gloria Flores, there will be four student works on the show. Three of these works were brought to ACDA in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, in March.”
The student works include senior dance and exercise and sports science major Addi Weeder’s dance titled ‘The Thief of…,” which features performances by eight dancers to music by cello virtuoso Zoë Keating.
“’The Thief of…’ is based on the concept of comparison being the thief of joy, ultimately masking individuality,” Weeder said. “Through the piece, dancers shift from fixating on one another and their surroundings to embracing individuality ultimately shedding the weight of comparison. The piece evolves from conformity to embracing originality and has a strong all-female cast, including eight dancers. They dance to ‘Optimist’ by Zoë Keating.”
Junior dance and Spanish major Vanessa Uriostegui’s work, “Humanity is Not for Sale,” addresses topics of belonging and inclusion and uses music by two Mexican composers, as well as “The Buttress.”
“’Humanity is Not for Sale’ came from this place of not only anger, but the feeling of injustice,” said Uriostegui, who is from Schuyler, Nebraska. “When I first started creating this piece some questions/intentions that came to mind were ‘diasporic displacement of bodies,’ ‘superiority,’ ‘How can they make space instead of filling space?’, and ‘What is the intent behind this movement?’ With my dance style, I am captivated by indigenous bodies and cultural identities while still creating this space for movement and performance. I also think about how an outside perspective can analyze and view these bodies outside of this space."
Dance minors Grace Thomsen and Aimee Wiebelhaus, who both major in textiles merchandising and fashion design, will also have their work included in the concert.
“Each of the four student works is unique and offers a glimpse into the expansive interests that each student brings to their study of dance,” Ourada said.
Weeder said the Evenings of Dance performances are important to students.
“I look forward to Evenings of Dance every year because we get to work with dance faculty for tech and choreography,” she said. “The program builds a strong community, and we get to end the year on a very high note. We also get to celebrate and soak in moments with those who are graduating from the program.”
Uriostegui said the experience attending the ACDA conference this year was rewarding.
“I was honored to be able to present my art at not only a regional level, but also at the gaze of three spectacular adjudicators—Annie Arnoult, Helanius Wilkins and Laura Smyth,” she said. “I was also able to get anonymous feedback from these amazing humans, and I learned a lot of wisdom from also being selected for Laura Smyth’s masterclass on the last day. This experience was beneficial to me because I was able to observe, analyze and understand art comes in many different spaces, bodies, identities and stories all in one place, and it’s amazing.”
Weeder said performing “The Thief of…” at ACDA was beneficial.
“This work was performed anonymously for the adjudicators, which was a beneficial experience in learning how to explore and accept feedback,” she said. “ACDA was a rewarding and inspiring experience getting to learn and take classes from teachers and professors from other schools and getting to see other student works. Feedback from the adjudicators was extremely positive and fulfilling for both me and my cast.”
Uriostegui encourages the community to attend Evenings of Dance.
“Evenings of Dance is a showcase of faculty art, student art and guest artists’ art,” she said. “It has a wide variety of styles, movement, spaces, bodies, and dynamics. Some touch on ongoing societal issues, and some have a deeper human emotion meaning to them. In my opinion, people should attend Evenings of Dance because it shows support not only for dance students, but also for dance faculty, lighting students and lighting faculty.”
Weeder agreed.
“People should attend Evenings of Dance because I think it is important for our art form to be shared and supported,” she said. “We have a very hard-working and close-knit program and at Evenings of Dance, we get to share what we’ve been working towards throughout the year. It is important for our community to get to experience the arts, and this is a very easy and fun way to do so.”
Following Saturday, April 12’s performance at 7:30 p.m., the UNL Dance Alumni will be holding a post-performance dancer meet and greet in the foyer of the Carson Theater, followed by social time at a local establishment. For more information, e-mail unldancealumni@gmail.com. For more information on the UNL Dance Alumni Endowment Fund, visit https://unldancealumni.org.
